An adequate attempt at portraying Homer's Iliad which suffers from miscast leads and a biased viewpoint. Ms. Podesta and Monsieur Sernas as the instigators of the ensuing carnage don't give off the melodramatic lust of doomed lovers,while some of the other actors look as if holding their weapons and armor for any length of time would have been a strain. Torin Thatcher is a good cynical Ulyssees,but is overshadowed by Kirk Douglas and Armand Assante portrayal of the tough and wily king of Ithaca. Robert Douglas does capture Agamemnon though a proud,ambitious overlord with over arching delusions of his own importance while Stanley Baker though not physically my image of Achilles the greatest warrior of that far off age,does bring out his easily stung sense of honor and his bloodthirstiness. Also in scene there is a hint of a "relationship" between he and Patroclus that has caused gossip since Virgil's day. Only Menelaus in this film is portrayed as a complete chump The intervention of Aphrodite/Venus into his his marriage and the fact that in Homer, though not as skilled and renowned a warrior as Achilles, Ajax,Ulysses and others on the Greek side he is brave and noble unlike the weasel Paris in the story who is constantly berated by family and Helen for his less than stellar participation in the war. The first assault on the walls of Troy, the duel between an enraged Achilles and a in over his head Hector, and the sacking of the city are the highlights of this Wise effort. If only Steve Reeves and Sophia Loren had been available.
Review of Helen of Troy
