A passable historical film about a Spanish historical hero , set long time ago , when the Roman army invaded Spain, but they were stopped by a Cantabrian leader named Corocotta. According to Roman sources (the only written history of the time), he was a guerrilla warrior or bandit in Cantabria during the 1st century BC, who, according to Cassius Dio, raided Roman territory causing considerable depredation in the area. Dio says that Corocotta's depredations caused Augustus to offer a large reward for his capture. Whether Corocotta was a bandit or a leader of local resistance to Roman occupation has been a matter of dispute. The name "corocotta" has been interpreted as a nickname indicative of his ferocity, a variant of crocotta, a word used to refer to a type of canine-like beast from Africa, most likely a hyena or jackal. Corocotta himself came forward to receive it, impressing Augustus with his audacity. The Cantabrian story says that he was probably a respected chief or warrior of some of the Cantabrian tribes and that such was the Romans anger towards him, that they set an enormously high price on his head. In response to this, Corocotta turned himself into the Roman Emperor with the purpose of claiming the big financial reward himself and he willingly offering his life (head) in exchange. This decision by Corocotta is viewed by Cantabrians as an act of self-sacrifice and it is believed that his act was intended to avoid any problems that could be created by the reward acting as a temptation for fellow Cantabrians to betray him or turning him in. Instead, Corocotta would take that vast sum of money (or his people would do for him after being killed) and distribute it amongst the people of Cantabria, who had suffered from years of war against the Romans. Such an act of bravery would affect the Roman morale, and the Cantabrians were well known for coming up with very creative and efficient warfare techniques, like singing hymns of victory from the Roman crosses that crucified them or cavalry and infantry moves in which they used the Cantabrian labarum as a flag to signal army manoeuvres, a tactic later copied by the Romans themselves. The story sometimes ends by saying that the Roman Emperor, bemused by Corocotta's bravery, let him go with his life and his money, but this ending is not always clear. Others tell that he was more likely to have been an anti-Roman rebel than a simple bandit, and should be seen in the context of the Cantabrian wars (29-19 BC), the last stand of independent Spanish Celtic tribes against Roman control. He probably led a band of rebels who continued resistance to Roman power in northern Spain for some time after other leaders had given up and that he must have surrendered to Augustus at some time during the emperor's visit to the area c. 26-25 BC. Corocotta to be appropriated in Spain as a patriotic hero of resistance to Roman rule, comparable to the status of the Lusitanian anti-Roman resistance leader Viriatus in Portugal , though his surrender possibly belongs to Augustus' sojourn in Spain 15-14 B. C . In Los cántabros(1980) emperor Octavius Augustus (Andrés Resino) sends his best general Agripa -who subsequently to marry him to his daughter Julia- to Spain where a rebel leader , Corocotta (Dan Barry) , is decimating his troops. Corocotta is married Turenia (Blanca Estrada) and about to have a son to succeed his lineage to fight Romans and the main General Agripa (Paul Naschy or Jacinto Molina) . In his tribe there is the greatest druid (Alfredo Mayo) , a pythoness or augur (Julia Saly) who predicts the dark future , the brave sister (Veronica Miriel) of the leader , the usual strongman (Ricardo Palacios) , and of course the ordinary traitor (Antonio Iranzo) who deceives the tribe by collaborating with the Romans , among others.
Stars Corocotta : Dan Barry , the valiant hero of this Paul Naschy's 1980 sword and sandal film Los Cántabros (The Cantabrians), and has appeared as a resistance hero against the imperial Romans . This movie is passable, but it is deeply damaged due to the painful copy that circulates, it feels extremely necessary for a perfect remastering because today it is truly unwatchable. There are spectacular frames , beautiful Cantabrian landscapes and impressive battles with many slow-moving images in Sam Peckinpah style . And the final highlight , a colorful confrontation between Corocotta and Agrippa himself on a gorgeous Cantabrian beach. The motion picture was regularly played/written/directed by Paul Naschy assisted uncredited by Amando de Ossorio.
