By the Gods!

The 6 Invincible Gladiators from REVENGE OF THE GLADIATORS (1964)

From left to right: Giovanni Cianfriglia, Franco Daddi, Aldo Canti (below), Aldo Cristiani, Giulio Maculani, and Benito Stefanelli.

The helmet on Franco Daddi tells me that its not the actor but a stuntman. Aldo Canti, the shortest man here, was also a gladiator in the TEN GLADIATORS series. Giovanni Cianfriglia was the favourite stuntman of Steve Reeves, who also acted along with Reeves in some of his movies. A common theme in PEPLUM movies, men teaming up, forming a militia of sorts to help the hero (or are the heroes themselves) in order to overthrow the villain. GLADIATORS 7 (1962), THE SECRET SEVEN (1963), the TEN GLADIATORS movies, all utilized this plot line with numbers in their titles. This team kicks butt just with Giovanni Cianfriglia, Aldo Canti and Benito Stefanelli. They  could have had their own series but they are simply supporting Mickey Hargitay in this production. Cianfriglia, Canti and Stefanelli should have been starring in more PEPLUM movies, not just being supporting actors.

Aldo Cristiani appeared in just a handful of movies, all PEPLUM titles, including JASON & THE ARGONAUTS (1963). Both Franco Daddi and Giulio Maculani had long careers in supporting roles. Maculani appeared in a good number of genre movies. 

Benito Stefanelli is one of my favourite supporting actors and I made a profile of his career here at the blog.

I like the movie. Hargitay, who was so goofy in THE LOVES OF HERCULES (1960), is good in this lead role. It's his best performance in a PEPLUM film but the stars are the gladiators themselves. They should have had more screen time.

I recently acquired a nice copy of this title. In widescreen and Italian. It's still not pristine but it's better than the previous widescreen copy I had and made a Fan Dub with. Should I make a Fan Dub with this copy? I dunno. I also have the 4:3 version with the Drive-in Classics logo. Drive-In Classics was a Canadian TV channel I used to watch on a regular basis before the channel was sold and the format was changed.

Benito Stefanelli and Mickey Hargitay

Mickey Hargitay and Aldo Canti

Aldo Cristiani

Franco Daddi and Giulio Maculani