After the success of Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (1954), many imitators tried to capitalize on the film's formula. Some, like John Sturges The Magnificent Seven (1960), are more well known. Others, like Claudio Fragasso and Bruno Mattei's The Seven Magnificent Gladiators, are much more obscure. Set in Ancient Greece (which somehow is already covered with destroyed ruins), the film follows a group of villagers who set out to find a man capable of wielding a sword of power that will enable him to kill an immortal bandit that has terrorized them for years. They eventually find the prophesied hero in the form of Han (Lou Ferrigno), a barbarian warrior who recruits six other fighters. The film is a surprisingly clean and non-graphic offering from the filmmakers responsible for such violent pieces of exploitation like Porno Holocaust (1981) and Zombi 3 (1988). And yet, the film is easily one of their most enjoyable and entertaining. The characterizations are fun (particularly Ferrigno as Han and Sybil Danning as Julia, a conniving, money-hungry female gladiator), the fight scenes compelling, and, remarkably, the film never gets boring or tedious. However, the film does have one major problem: the characters have 5-second memories. I can't count the number of times that the protagonists conveniently forget that they are on the run from a power-mad emperor or that the immortal bandit might come back after they fight him off but fail to kill him. These are all clearly transparent ploys on the part of the directors to inject the film with more action beats and fight scenes. And I can't help but feel disappointed by how unceremoniously several of the gladiators are killed off. But The Seven Magnificent Gladiators is still reasonably enjoyable.
5/10
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