Watch The Giant of Marathon For Free

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

I wanted to but couldn't!

Absolutely Fantastic

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Once again there is ample costumes and props that are eye-candy for the viewer, a few lovely sets and a somewhat political story, some romance thrown in with little action. It did not take me long to fast-forward through this one.The film is about: A Greek soldier leads the fight against an invading Persian army. But it's very talky with little action. They spend almost the entire film just talking with all the stuff that lead up to the "great battle scene" which had Andromeda tied to the front of a ship as if she was suppose to be some kind of martyr like Joan of Arc.Sadly, I was unimpressed with this story. I only enjoyed some of the costuming and props.1/10

Why is this epic so good? Because it has J. Tourneur as its director, thus even in a genre movie the director still makes a great difference. This lavish epic is one of the best of its genre, doubtlessly because it has been directed by J. Tourneur, whose consummate knowledge and intelligent subtlety shows, and who restored here the glamour of the genre, somewhat irrespective of the actual script, as if a less schematic, more dramatic script was required, the one he got is passable, the political turmoil is well conveyed (dissensions between Athenians, between Greeks, the Persian threat), but a bit schematic; thus we verify the principle that the director makes the movie, because he makes everything come together and gives it style, even in the unpretentious genre cinema, where a good director is still needed, is still indispensable.'Marathon''s style is very smooth, J. Tourneur taking the script as an occasion for displaying his mastery, thus giving it an almost generic and refined feel, very suitable for an eminently classical story, and highly representative for how the French generally feel the classical age. The evening scene, when Philippides visits the courtesan while the Athenian girls gather at an altar, is refreshing. Prior to the battles, the plowman has two fight scenes, one with a wrestler, another with the henchmen sent to stop his travel to Sparta. This might be the one s & s movie that, by its smoothness and elegance, doesn't resemble structurally the '30s B movies, like most other s & s installments do.The travel, the messaging are a running theme. The leading character is Philippides, and the story ends with his triumph. The lavishness gives poignancy to the landscapes and the sea views.The surreal look of the underwater scenes was ably emphasized.Here Daniela Rocca reminded me of Stefania Sandrelli's look, perhaps the same youthful plumpness.The leading bodybuilders of the '50s and '50s genre cinema were handsome, unlike many of those of the '80s and '90s; even Ursus looked like Dudikoff. The fashion and trend of having athletes and bodybuilders in suitable movies did begin in the '50s, but has been preceded by kindred fashionable movies, like the early epics and some jungle yarns, therefore something else was needed other than showing undressed bodybuilders to begin a trend and a fashion, and one could wonder why the '20s and '30s athletes didn't start this trend ….There are avoidable anachronisms, like the style of Philippides' country home. Also, it seems likely that the director believed less in this movie, which results in it having the look of a trailer, of a video, until the Persians arrive, then the battle scenes, either on ground or on sea, are unrivaled.

Most of the other reviews are on target, I will limit myself to a couple of points needing consideration.This was not intended as a muscleman-'sword & sandal' show, but a straight-ahead epic and a war movie. The reason this is easy to miss is because of the choice of Reeves for the lead. He actually tries hard to act in this film - but he has no capacity for it whatsoever.In order to give him a chance to demonstrate this, the film gives Reeves an annoying romance that takes up half the film.As an epic, the film is only half here, the second half, the battle itself. The battle sequences aren't bad at all, they are all technically correct, well mounted and nicely shot.In fact, the visuals of the film are very striking, especially in the meetings with city elders trying to decide strategy. The print used for the DVD is an old TV copy, washed out and grainy; but remembering its original colors, and that it was made in wide-screen, a lot of this must have looked pretty awesome in theaters on first release.However, visuals work best when the acting isn't important; besides the Reeves' problem, in fact only the central villain is performed with any gusto or skill. Everyone else walks around like cardboard on string. For the better actors involved, that may be partly because, with the exception of the romance, there's very little character-based drama involved here.I suggest watching it for the battle sequences, and to forgive the damage done to it by the fortunes of poor preservation.

Giant of Marathon was made during a very busy 1959 for Steve Reeves, as he completed "Hercules Unchained", "The Great White Warrior", and "Goliath and the Barbarians" while also making Giant of Marathon. Steve Reeves was by far the king of these so called "sword and sandal" epics churning out of Italy during the late 50s and early 60s...and why not? Reeves had a muscle bulging physique second to none and was by far the best looking of the muscle guys who made these Hercules type films in Italy. The story concerns the city of Athens and all of Greece being invaded by sea and land by the traitor Darius and his Persian army. Reeves is the hero of the olimpic games and a hero to all of Greece. As such a duo of traitors tries to convince him to team up with the Persians and attempt to lure him with wicked women and seduction. Along the way a very lovely Mylene Demengeot, a 1960s Angelina Jolie look alike with the big lips becomes his love interest. Plenty of action on land and sea and a good wresting match with Reeves and a blubber gut wrestler who feels insulted by Reeves. Check out the underwater scenes with Reeve's greeks planting long speared boulders in the water to sink Persian ships. This is a typical Reeves muscleman epic. Just watching the lovely Demengeot throughout is fun for the male audience. Reeves basically single handedly wipes out the persians and the traitors and wins his love interest in the end. Good fun for the Saturday afternoon crowd and Reeves fans in general.