AllMovie

"Sword and sandal" movies experienced the height of their popularity in the 1950s and 1960s. The loosely defined genre includes films (often foreign) set in ancient Rome or ancient Greece, or tales involving ancient Greek or Roman myths. The third volume in the Sword & Sandal Classics video series provides a plethora of trailers for such movies, including El Cid (1961), an epic starring America's biggest sword and sandal star, Charlton Heston. Co-starring Sophia Loren, this adventure is a historical, knightly tale set in 11th century Spain, with less sandals than ancient Rome, but with plenty of swords. Other trailers include those for The Colossus of Rhodes (1961, Italy), directed by Sergio Leone, who went on to make Clint Eastwood famous in spaghetti Westerns; Quo Vadis? (1951), the huge Hollywood production that was a remake of an Italian Biblical epic, filmed three times previously (1902, 1912, and 1924); Hercules, Samson, and Ulysses (1965, Italy); The Trojan Horse (1962, Italy), starring Steve Reeves and John Drew Barrymore; and many others.