Alan Steel and Dan Vadis duke it out...not just once, but twice in this above average peplum opus. That alone is worth your time, but the film is actually a good one, with lots of action, telling the story of Marcus Aurelius' heir, Commodus, who succeeds to the purple but is more interested in being a gladiator than a Ceasar. Steel has a great time and does a good job portraying this whack-job of an emperor, more convincingly than Joaquin Phoenix and just as good as Christopher Plummer. The scriptwriters got it right,as far as they went, but it's tame compared to the facts. Vadis (who is better playing villains and whack-jobs himself) is miscast and the weakest part of the film. It would have been a much better film if the Ursus character were eliminated and the chief opponent of Commodus were Septimius Leto (Carlo Delmi), the handsome young senator's son who resembles a wavy-haired Lex Barker. His role starts off promising to be an important character and then just gets lost and forgotten during the proceedings which sorely need him. This film needs to be restored and seen by those who enjoy this fare, it's one of the better entries in the genre.
Review of Rebel Gladiators
