Bad Hair Day

The thing with PEPLUM films is that there's always have something in it which might take you out of the picture. It's usually some anachronistic detail but most of the times these errors are somewhat forgivable. But the one thing that's never forgivable AND takes me out of film is a bad hair on a dude. Since most women wear wigs in this genre and this is not a post about wigs I won't show any female examples. Now before you say "so what?" remember that good hair on a hero is a very important detail in regards to the genre re: SAMSON & DELILAH: after Samson's hair is cut he loses all of his vitality. So,  symbolically, hair is important.

Dan Vadis in THE TEN GLADIATORS: his Howdy Doody hairstyle is by far the worse. It's so flat and stupid looking it becomes ditracting. Oddly enough his hair is fine for a few brief moments at the beginning of the film and in the 2 following Ten Gladiator films some stylish finally fixed it. Dan's hairstyle is also the same in COLOSSUS OF THE ARENA. Thank god he changed it for all of his future PEPs.

Mark Forest in MACISTE VS THE MOLE MEN: in what I consider one of the best PEPLUM films ever made it's a shame that it's also Mark' absolute worst hair in any of his films. It's totally unflattering. Ages him more than it was necessary and he looks dorky. It seems to be an afterthought. The film is also known under the title THE STRONGEST MAN IN THE WORLD...with the weakest hair in the world.

Rory Calhoun in COLOSSUS OF RHODES: hair gel didn't exist back in the day. It just looks too modern and styled. It's a really distracting element in the film.

Kirk Morris in MACISTE AGAINST THE CZAR: his blondish poodle hair-style is not very flattering.

Giuliano Gemma in MY SON THE HERO: probably as bad as Dan Vadis in THE TEN GLADIATORS. Blonde is simply not his color.