Considering the sheer amount of cast and crew members that were ported over here from THE TWO GLADIATORS (1964), it appears the two films were made back-to-back; for this one, however, co-scriptwriter Alfonso Brescia was elevated to the director's chair (it proved to be his debut) and, likewise, a silver-haired(!) Piero Lulli rose the ranks to take on chief villain duties as Emperor Domitian!! Unsurprisingly, the plot was very similar as well – as centurion Richard Harrison and close friend Giuliano Gemma (a senator this time around, so that he eventually ends up in charge of righting the wrongs done to the people) lead the revolt against the tyrannical ruler and his ambitious Egyptian god-worshipping High Priestess consort Moira Orfei.
Amusingly, added camp value comes by way of Harrison having to hide his identity literally under wolf's clothing and, since he still sports his red undergarments, gets dubbed "Red Wolf" by the enemy – thankfully, he did not take the example of Batman and become Wolfman
seeing how he was already Roman (get it?)! Incidentally, the title has little bearing on the narrative as well, because when the Praetorians join the insurrection, it is in the very last stages of the climax and, soon after this, the oppressor's forces lay down their weapons in submission! Typically, too, Harrison's girl is coveted by the Emperor and hated by the latter's neglected (if over-dressed!) wife; Orfei does get kidnapped at one point in order to root out the rebels and locate their hide-out (ingeniously, a slave camp – but, then, when the legionnaires arrive to ambush the group, the prisoners keep tilling the land as if nothing at all was happening around them!). By the way, Lulli has a dwarfish (and, reportedly, virile!) jester who first learns of Harrison's ruse but, surprisingly, is sympathetic to his cause; that said, when he turns up for a couple of secret meetings – thus endangering his personal safety and that of his comrades – he never contributes much to the table!
Though the copy I acquired off "You Tube" was in the original Italian language, the credits were all in French and, for what it is worth, cuts off rather too abruptly at the end (barely giving the obligatory cheering crowd a chance to register!). All things considered, the movie – colourful and action-packed (with a few athletic stunts for the two male leads a' la Gemma's star-making MY SON, THE HERO {1962}) as it is – emerges as no more than routinely enjoyable
but, for ardent fans of the genre, that is all one asks for from such undemanding fare (except that the format was well able to rise above the norm when its makers put their mind to it)! Finally, it is worth noting just how many peplums were made with the word revolt in their titles: in short order, we had gladiators, slaves, mercenaries, barbarians, etc.
