R-T-C Tim

A British actor who never starred in any British films - but as the first Brit to win Mr Universe and the first ever three time champion I think he deserves his own thread.

His film career was the result of the success of his rival Steve Reeves' film Hercules (1958) which lead to a boom of Sword and Sandal (Peplum) films in Italy. Pretty soon Reeves was getting the biggest salary in European cinema at the time, and producers looked to other musclebound stars to take the parts. Park got the call in 1961 and starred in a duo of impressive titles that still rank as some of the genre's best. He later returned to shoot a trio of films in 1964/5 that were rather less successful. When sword and sandal become guns and whisky thanks to Leone, the genre died and Park returned to his Mr Universe competitions and training his young Austrian protege Arnold Schwarzenegger.

All five of Park's film are available on DVD, although some with rather low quality prints, my full reviews are at:

Hercules and the Captive Women (1961)
Hercules in the Haunted World (1961)
Hercules Prisoner of Evil (1964)
Hercules the Avenger (1965)
Maciste in King Solomon's Mines (1964)

I have also put together a more detailed biography of Reg Park.

Mondo Esoterica - Cult and obscure DVD reviews from Spaghetti Westerns to Hammer Horror.

Lord Brett

Thanks for putting something out there about the late Reg P. It looks like we share the same taste in Italian films!

Off topic, but I was reminded by your avatar that I'm loking for a CD of the Django theme (mainly for Lady Brett). I've got an instrumental version on My Beautiful Spaghaetti Western (or some similar sounding title), but I want those lovely sub Scott Walker vocals.

batman

I am sure you'll find it on this CD m'Lord?

DJANGO [CD SOUNDTRACK] (Japanese Import)

lordtednfs

My Lord, have you tried checking out Albums by Scott Walker – Listen free at Last.fm

It contains every album he has released and you can listen to the tracks for free plus thousands of other artists. Hope you find the track you are looking for.

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Hooked off the line

batman

Scott Walker didn't actually sing the song m'Lord is referring to .... it just sounds a bit 'in the style of'.