Samson and Delilah (1996 miniseries)

Samson is chosen by God to destroy the Philistines, who have occupied the land of Canaan. He is given the greatest strength ever known to man as long as he remains true to his vow and its conditions, yet he is not convinced of his purpose, preferring instead to spend his time with Philistine company. He eventually falls in love with a Philistine woman and decides to marry her, but is betrayed by her on his wedding day. He soon learns that she was blackmailed by the Philistine leaders who are plotting his demise, and goes to reclaim her, but she has been murdered along with her entire family.

Meanwhile, one of the king's courtiers, Delilah, is convinced of her ability to bring even the mighty Samson to his knees. She engineers a meeting, andSamson is immediately taken with her. They begin a relationship, and Delilah convinces Samson of her love, ultimately seducing him into telling her the secret of his strength, and renders him helpless. Samson is therefore captured by the Philistines, who blind him and make him into a slave, forcing him to grind grain at a millstone. At a celebration of his defeat, he is brought in chains to be both an example and entertainment for his captors. Unbeknownst to them, his strength has returned through divine intervention, and as he stands between the two pillars that support the building, he asks God for forgiveness. He then pushes against the pillars, collapsing the building and killing those inside, including himself and Delilah.

The film was entirely shot in Ouarzazate, Morocco from early March and late June 1996. The Italian actor Giorgio Francesco Palombi was one of the film's stunt performers. He later appeared in TNT's biblical television film David as Goliath of Gath. A male African lion from Thousand Oaks, California's Animal Actors of Hollywood named Sudan was trained by Hubert G. Wells, Sled Reynolds and Victoria Vopni.[1] Wells and Reynolds previously trained Sudan in Big Top Pee-wee followed by The Ghost and the Darkness. Animatronic engineers from Jim Henson's Creature Shop in London provided a mechanical lion for the animal's attack sequence.

• Samson and Delilah at IMDb