The Macho Movie Review: Last Of The Vikings
My friend Wintle bought me a 50 pack of Sword And Sandal films before I left for Hollywood. He then bought a pack for himself, and we began discussion about going through the series together. Soon after we decided to share our journey with all of you; and thus the Macho Movie Review was born.
Over the next 50 weeks, every Week we plan to have a short podcast for you discussing the Sword and Sandal movie of the week. We will be going through the Warriors Movie Pack made available through Mill Creek Entertainment. You can find the set for about 20-30 USD. We encourage all interested to buy the pack, and/or download the films that are public domain. Many of these films are 40-50 years old and we find it a delight to mull over the Macho Movies of yesteryear, and would like nothing more than for you to join in on the discussion.
We are both fond of old warrior movies and are happy to be digging through the series for some glorious gems and wretched mistakes. Many of the films are Italian in origin and were made with shoestring budgets, often you will see rubber swords and the use of stock battle footage. None the less, a great story is a great story, and the Sword and Sandal film is always a celebration of the classic manly, macho hero.
The Rating System: To go with the theme we will be rating the films out of 9. The hydra has 9 heads, so we will be giving each film a rating out of that number - and will post a picture. For those of you that wish to skip the podcast and are not that keen on buying the set - keep an eye on the hydra. If you you see a film with 7-9 Hydra heads - you may want to track that particular film down.
Today Wintle and I discuss the fourth and most fantastic film in the series to date Last Of The Vikings
Plot synopsis from IMDB: Harald and younger brother Guntar return to Norway after a 3-year voyage to find their father murdered and his lands now ruled by the villainous Sveno. As part of his plan to rally the Vikings against this tyrant, Harald disguises himself as the Danish ambassador and enters Sveno’s stronghold. There, he falls in love with Hilde, Sveno’s cousin, who’s been betrothed against her will to the Danish king. Harald must devise a new plan when Guntar is captured by Sveno and when the real Danish ambassador arrives on the scene.
This movie was outstanding and beloved by Wintle and myself. By far one of the greatest viking films I have seen in my tender life, this was a hidden treasure and a glorious participant in the macho movie review! Be sure to get this one so you can join in on the discussion!
Ladies and Gentlemen; it is my great pleasure to present our review for Last Of The Vikings:
To Listen To The Podcast Click Here
Wintle deems this film to be worth 8 Hydra Heads out of 9.
Nagy deems this film to be worth 7 Hydra Heads out of 9.
1. Omar replies at 26th February 2008, 1:25 am :
Doug.
I’m from the land of Ice and snow, the country that Led Zeppelin wrote about after a drunken few days here playing for an audience of people who mostly did not know who the Zep were.
And since you are obviously a dude who likes things to be manly, bad ass and cock knocking I have a couple of suggestions of viking films from Iceland.
The Raven Flies. Possibly the best viking film ever. Mix Kurosawa with Leone and throw in a ass load of dirty, ugly, meat eating, sword bearing ass kickers, then you got yourself a viking film that’s utterly unique, well aside from the Kurosawa and Leone films it’s obviously ripping off.
I don’t know if you can get it on DVD but I’m sure you can *coughdownloaditcouch*.
The Viking Sagas. Picture a viking film starring Arnold’s best friends and directed by an Oscar winner….for cinematography and you got yourself a pure muscle pumping action adventure film. Starring Ralph Moeller and Sven Ole Thorsen and directed by Michael Chapman. This one came out on DVD last year and you owe it to yourself, for shaving that manly beard off, to see it. It’s quite amazing.
2. takata replies at 26th February 2008, 2:26 am :
HAIL THE HYDRA!!
Good review Doug and Wintle,sad that where a live i can see “only”old samurai soap operas.
3. dougnagy replies at 26th February 2008, 2:41 am :
THANK YOU OMAR!!! I will check them out asap!
4. Wintle replies at 26th February 2008, 7:09 am :
Thanks for the recommendations, Omar! I have a copy of The Raven Flies, though I have not tracked down any of its sequels, nor have I heard of The Viking Sagas. I will do my utmost to track those fuckers down for Nagy’s return to the land of ice and snow we call Canada.
Takata, I’m sorry you have no access to the manliness we are discussing, but I hope you are being sarcastic in your dismissal of samurai soap operas. Macho cinema knows no boundaries. Samurais rule.
5. Omar replies at 26th February 2008, 11:17 am :
The sequels to The Raven Flies have not been released on DVD yet. The director did a complete recut of the third one The White Viking that featured only the female lead and I think he cut out the afore mentioned white viking completely out of it. It was recently shown in some university in the states with the director attending but I can’t remember the name of it.
The Viking Sagas for me falls in to the “so bad it’s good” category but there are folks out there who genuienly think it’s good. Maybe it is so for me because all the actors, aside from Moeller and Thorsen are Icelandic and speak with silly ass accents that breaks the mood for me, also the story is a bit silly as well.
It was rumored that New Line Cinema made this film, knowing it would bomb and could use it as a tax write off.
6. takata replies at 27th February 2008, 2:20 am :
Wintle@
a samurai is like a sniper rifle.
a viking is like a claymore mine.
manliness on diferent styles,but still macho!
arigato!