User reviews

Enjoyable crossover with adventures , emotion , intrigue and spectacular fencing . ¨Zorro versus Maciste¨ by Umberto Lenzi stars the good-looking Pierre Brice , the bouncing Alan Steel , the ruthless and selfish Moira Orfei , the blonde and virtuous Maria Grazia Spina and the nasty Massimo Serato . The King Felipe IV of Nogara (it is actually a town from province of Verona) , Spain , leaving behind a testament naming one of his two nieces , the good girl , Isabel (Maria Grazia Spina) and the bad girl , Malva (Moira Orfei) as his successor , both of them desire eagerly for the throne and there , then , takes place the subsequent dispute . Meanwhile , general Saavedra carries the document that exposes the last will , walking through the Guadarrama jungles , but soon after he is attacked and killed . To bring the valuable document is assigned by one hand , El Zorro (Brice) , and the other hand Maciste (Steel). Meanwhile , Isabella to be aware El Zorro's true identity , an identity which both surprises and pleases her . Along the way the giant starring showing some hunk skills , such as : Samson (in U.S. version) or Maciste throwing a stone over a Croc , lifting prison bars and a bridge , and , ultimately , fighting against multiple enemies .

This Spaghetti Zorro/Musclemen in middle budget is filled with noisy action , thrills , spectacular fights , horse pursuits by Zorro and sword-play . This Zorro is decently starred by Pierre Brice , he took a chance and jumped from modern action and Western genre to costumed Italian adventure . That same year , 1963 , German producer Horst Wendlandt searched for an actor who should play the Native American chief Winnetou on a Western movie titled ¨Apache Fury¨ adapted from novels by Karl May and got to know Brice at the Berlin Film Festival . Pierre got the role and portrayed "Winnetou" in ten more movies with his co-star Lex Barker as "Old Shatterhand". Here Brice steals the show as a mild-mannered poet , Ramon , and as the brave Zorro . Soon after Zorro/Pierre Brice team up with Maciste to bring about a proper resolution to the crown succession , this is Alan Steel . Sergio Ciani made lots of roman-epic-Italian films also called ¨Musclemen movies¨ or ¨Sword and sandals¨ as well as costumer sword-fight and a few adventures , and Spaghetti Western . Steel's luck changed when Italian director Gianfranco Parolini persuaded him to star ¨Sansone¨ (1961) along with Brad Harris and later on , he continued to play several others . On numerous occasions Steel was asked to play the legendary Greek hero , as well as the equally well-built demigods , even though the film titles often fused (or confused) them in their titles . Steel played the mythic Maciste in great number of movies was randomly assigned the identity of Hercules , Goliath , Samson or Aron for U.S. viewing . As he played a great number of Peplums , such as : 1962 Ursus, Il Rebel Gladiatore , 1962 Rocha , son of Sanson , 1964 Sansone e Il Tesoro Degli Incas , 1964 Maciste against ghosts , 1964 Ercole Contro Roma , 1964 Sansone Contro Il Corsario , 1963 Golia e Il Cavaliere Mascherato , 1964 Ercole, Sansone, Maciste e Ursus , and 1964 Three avengers .

The first Spanish/Italian Zorros were ¨Vengeance of Zorro¨ and ¨L'Ombra di Zorro¨ (1962) by Joaquin Romero Marchent with Frank Latimore , Paul Piaget and Robert Hundar . Other Zorro filmed by that time were ¨Zorro I Tres Moschietheri (1962) by Luigi Capuano with Gordon Scott ; ¨Zorro all Corte di Spaña¨ (1963) by Luigi Capuano with Giorgo Ardisson ; ¨Zorro all Corte Di Inghiterra¨ by Francisco Montemurro with Franco Ressel ; ¨Three swords of Zorro¨ by Ricardo Blasco with Guy Stockwell and Mikaela ;¨ El Jiuramento Di Zorro¨ by Blasco with Tony Russell ; ¨Zorro Il Ribelle¨ by Piero Pirotti with Howard Ross ; ¨Zorro Marquis De Navarre¨ (69) by Franco Montemurro with Moretti ; Il Figlio Di Zorro¨ (1973) by Gianfranco Baldanello , ¨Adventures of Zorro¨ with George Hilton and two directed by Jose Luis Merino with Charles Quiney and Maria Pia Conte as ¨Zorro the rider of vendetta¨ and ¨Zorro of Monterrey ¨ .

The motion picture was poor but professionally directed by Umberto Lenzi who made his directorial debut with an adventure movie : ¨Queen of the Seas¨ (1961) . Other pirate/sword flicks followed, starting with ¨Pirates of Malaysia¨ (1964) starred by Steeve Reeves, which was part of the height of the career of fictitious tales of historic or legendary characters including Robin Hood , Catherine the Great , Zorro , Sandokan and Maciste . He subsequently directed a ¨Fumetti¨ titled The mask of Kriminal (1966) . After directing a war film and two "spaghetti westerns" , Lenzi turned to the Giallo genre with ¨Orgasmo¨ (1969). During the 1970s, Lenz filmed a number of Giallo and thrillers , among them : ¨So Sweet, So Perverse¨, ¨Seven Blood-Stained Orchids¨ and ¨Eyeball¨ . Lenzi turned to the police thrillers called ¨Polizieschi¨, which rejuvenated his confidence and his popularity . Titles like ¨Almost Human¨ , ¨Free Hand For a Tough Cop¨ and ¨Brothers Till We Die¨ were the most popular and brutal of the thrillers . Lenzi is an expert on wartime genre as he proved in ¨Desert commandos¨ , ¨Battle of commandos¨ , ¨From hell to victory¨ , ¨Young Lions¨ and ¨Bridge to hell¨. Prior to the Polizieschi , Lenzi directed ¨Man from Deep River¨ , which was the start of the Italian cannibal sub-genre . Later on , he directed two very gory jungle cannibal features , ¨Eaten Alive¨ and ¨Make Them Die Slowly ¨which was banned in 31 countries , made Lenzi distance himself from the cannibal genre . This attractive adventure ¨Zorro versus Maciste¨ is rated 5.5/10

And splendid movie yarn tale about the Zorro and Maciste/Smapson battle and teamup.

This rare costume adventure differs from other Italian films made in the same era, for it actually takes place in a setting highly reminiscent of 16th century Spain. When the king of Nogara dies of the plague, his two nieces, Malva and Isabella, find themselves in a bitter deadlock for the throne. Malva, the evil one, gets Garcia, the captain of the guard, to intercept the king's troops and confiscate the scroll-case containing the king's will. To this end, Garcia employs Samson (Alan Steel) to steal the scroll-case and deliver it to Malva. Of course, Samson does not know what she has in mind. Meanwhile, Isabella enlists the aid of Zorro (Pierre Brice) to get the scroll-case himself, and thus thwart Malva's evil plans. I really enjoyed this film because it contains lots of action and vibrant colors, as well as a nicely done soundtrack. Alan Steel is at his best, and Pierre Brice is perfect in his role as Zorro. Lenzi has created a worthy film, and it will survive many viewings. It is a shame that this is unavailable on VHS or DVD. Well, maybe soon!

I remember this movie well, as it was shown many times at late night drive-ins and later on TV. Alan Steel was part of the "Golden Era" in Rome when most of these strongman movies were made. Alan Steel was from Ostia and later retired there. He made a lot of different movies but will be mostly remembered for this title and HERCULES AGAINST THE MOONMEN. Both of which were blockbusters in Canada and the USA. Seeing Alan Steel fight the crocodile is worth viewing the price of admission. There are many good versions on Y/T for you to enjoy. I have also added a few choice pics in the IMDB gallery. Watch it for some great fun. Larry Anderson.