Also known as: Krigere Sejrer, 7 raivoisaa gladiaattoria, 7 taistelijaa, De sju gladiatorerna, De zeven gladiatoren, Die sieben glorreichen Gladiatoren, Han el Barbaro, Les 7 gladiateurs, Los siete magníficos gladiadores, Oi 7 yperohoi monomahoi, Oi epta yperohoi monomahoi, Sete Magníficos Gladiadores, Yedi Muhtesem Gladyatör
Description: Bruno Mattei, jack of all genres and master of none, gets his chance at the sword and sandal genre and has no problem emulating the best of the monster-less entries in the field. He's helped of course by having a supremely jacked up Lou Ferrigno, but even more than that is the presence of Brad Harris and Don Vadis as the evil Nicerote.
Harris and Vadis are legitimate peplum legends from the 1960s with Harris starring in films like Samson, Goliath Against The Giants, and The Fury Of Hercules while Vadis brawled his way through The Ten Gladiators, The Rebel Gladiators, and The Triumph Of Hercules among others. It's a nice torch passing that goes on in this movie with these two guys symbolically handing over the sweaty jockstrap to Ferrigno. That nothing other than those two Luigi Cozzi Hercules movies ever followed is immaterial. The whims of the film Gods are not for us to question.
The story involves a village being harassed by Nicerote who is invulnerable thanks to some kind of voodoo laid on him by his witch mother. The village has a magic sword and it turns out only Lou can use it. He and his pals battle Nicerote and his men to rescue the villagers.
While not as flashily terrible as some of his more famous efforts, Bruno finds success in the small touches such as the poorly shot chariot race scene that seemed to have an audience of about five spectators, the fruity emperor, the casting of a fat guy as Goliath, and outfitting Lou's character with a belt that has the letter "H" on it, presumably standing for his first name, Han. And just to make sure that even as he pays homage to the great musclehead movies of the past, Bruno still puts his stamp on things by featuring an overlong, pointless scene of two greased up girls wrestling one another! A very sturdy and studly, if second-tier Bruno/Claudio Fragasso collaboration, but only because they set the standard so freaking high!