Dan Vadis Movies

This sword-and-sorcery fantasy is about Han (Lou Ferrigno), a "hulk" of a man who is chosen by a village of desperate women to defend them against the half-god Nicerote (Dan Vadis). Nicerote comes into the village on a yearly basis to slaughter any boys who may have reached adult status, and he demands an onerous tribute. Han agrees to the women's request then searches out the gladiator Scipio (Brad Harris) and the female warrior Julia (Sybil Danning to add to his lean-and-mean team. Meanwhile, he gears up for a showdown with Nicerote. The plot lines here follow the basic story of the Seven Samurai by Akira Kurosawa and The Magnificent Seven which successfully copied Kurosawa's tale. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

This sequel to Every Which Way But Loose finds Philo Beddoe (Clint Eastwood) on the road, orangutan companion Clyde in tow, as he makes his way as a bare-knuckle fighter. The action begins with Philo punching out a new victim while Clyde relieves himself on the seat of a police car, setting the tone for the rest of the story. From there, Philo and Clyde return home, where Philo, who still lives with Ma (Ruth Gordon), is offered a contest with Jack Wilson (William Smith), the Mafia-sponsored East Coast bare-knuckle champ. Philo inadvertently saves Wilson's life, but then the Mafia kidnaps his girlfriend (Sondra Locke) to force him to go ahead with the match. Philo and Wilson team up to battle the Mob, but somehow they end up fighting anyway in a grueling climactic sequence. Country music, bikers, the Mafia, an orangutan, pick-up trucks, defecation jokes, fighting, drinking, and swearing -- it's all here in this lowbrow comic stew. ~ Don Kaye, Rovi

Playing police stooge Ben Shockley, Clint Eastwood sends up his Dirty Harry-ness in this 1977 cop film-action movie-romantic comedy. Ben is assigned to escort tough Vegas hooker Gus Mally (Sondra Locke) to Phoenix for a Mob trial because, he thinks, he always "gets the job done." But corrupt commissioner Blakelock (William Prince) chose alcoholic Ben precisely because Ben does not get much done at all, and Blakelock has no intention of letting them get to Phoenix alive. Once Gus figures this out and makes Ben see the truth, Ben resolves to prove Blakelock wrong, even if it means surviving car bombs, a house shot to pieces, a helicopter-motorcycle chase, and finally driving an armored bus through a gauntlet formed by scores of shooting cops. Amidst the mayhem, Ben falls in love with the smart-mouthed, college-educated Gus, and she insists on riding out the gauntlet with her Ben. An obedient cop who is not as clever as his female charge, Ben Shockley is the opposite of Eastwood's ultra-capable loner Harry Callahan from the Dirty Harry series, allowing Eastwood to poke fun at his image even as Shockley eventually does get the job done. While the exaggerated action set pieces also parody the Eastwood cop hero's usual invincibility, their efficient, energetic staging still makes them effective; The Gauntlet was another popular success for Eastwood as director as well as star. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi

"Who are you?" the dwarf Mordecai (Billy Curtis) asks Clint Eastwood's Stranger at the end of Eastwood's 1973 western High Plains Drifter. "You know," he replies, before vanishing into the desert heat waves near California's Mono Lake. Adapting the amorally enigmatic and violent Man With No Name persona from his films with Sergio Leone, Eastwood's second film as director begins as his drifter emerges from that heat haze and rides into the odd lakefront settlement of Lago. Lago's residents are not particularly friendly, but once the Stranger shows his skills as a gunfighter, they beg him to defend them against a group of outlaws (led by Eastwood regular Geoffrey Lewis) who have a score to settle with the town. He agrees to train them in self-defense, but Mordecai and innkeeper's wife Sarah Belding (Verna Bloom) soon suspect that the Stranger has another, more personal agenda. By the time the Stranger makes the corrupt community paint their town red and re-name it "Hell," it is clear that he is not just another gunslinger. With its fragmented flashbacks and bizarre, austere locations, High Plains Drifter's stylistic eccentricity lends an air of unsettling eeriness to its revenge story, adding an uncanny slant to Eastwood's antiheroic westerner. Seminal western hero John Wayne was so offended by Eastwood's harshly revisionist view of a frontier town that he wrote to Eastwood, objecting that this was not what the spirit of the West was all about. Eastwood's audience, however, was not so put off, and an exhibitors' poll named Eastwood a top box-office draw for 1973. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi

For his third feature outing, director Sydney Pollack helmed this comedic western starring (Burt Lancaster) as fur trapper Joe Bass. While heading for the trading post for his pay after a successful hunting season, Bass runs into a band of Kiowa Indians, who offer to trade the educated slave Joseph (Ozzie Davis) for Bass's furs. Severely outnumbered, the uneducated Bass reluctantly agrees to the swap at gunpoint. Bass and Joseph then follow the Indians in hopes of retrieving the furs. Along the way, the Indians meet up with Jim Howie (Telly Savalas), who not only steals the furs from the Indians, but Joseph from Bass. From there, Jim and his mistress Kate (Shelley Winters) head for Mexico, a move that is fine with Joseph because slavery is outlawed there. But they may not make it south of the border, as the Indians have regrouped and are on their trail with plans to take back the furs. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi

This well-paced spaghetti western from director Giorgio Ferroni deals with Southern Major Sanders (Jacques Sernas), who continues fighting the North after the conclusion of the Civil War. Former Rebel Gary Diamond (Giuliano Gemma), now a guide, leads a pair of Union soldiers to stop Sanders before he can pull off a raid on Fort Yuma. Little does Diamond know that one of the Union officers is actually Sanders' spy. More complications ensue, pairing Diamond with saloon-girl Connie Breastful (Sophie Daumier) before Sanders' plot is foiled. A rousing melodrama with a labyrinthine storyline, Ferroni's film sometimes crosses the line into silliness, but remains entertaining throughout, aided by a fine score by Ennio Morricone and Gianni Ferrio. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

Dan Vadis, one of the better Steve Reeves imitators of the 1960s, stars in Triumph of the Ten Gladiators. Vadis of course plays the leader of the titular ten. His great rival is an evil prime minister who rules a timorous populace with an iron hand. Fortunately he isn't wearing that iron hand when he tussles with Vadis. Though Hercules doesn't make an appearance in Triumph of the Ten Gladiators, many local TV stations included the film in their "Sons of Hercules" syndicated packages. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this sword and sandal film, the courageous Ursus fights to free his people from slavery by taking on the fiercest gladiator in Rome. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Roger Browne, one of the busier of the Steve Reeves clones of the 1960s, stars in Ten Gladiators. Old reliable Nero is once more the villain, oppressing and slaughtering with cheerful abandon. A group of formerly loyal gladiators form an alliance against the mad emperor. They are headed by a Spartacus-like former slave, played by Browne. Produced in Italy in 1960, Ten Gladiators was released in America as part of a sword-and-sandal TV syndication package in 1963. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi