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The Arena (aka Naked Warriors)
Starring: Margaret Markov , Pam Grier , Lucretia Love , Paul Muller , and Daniele Vargas Director: Joe D'Amato , and Steve Carver Manufacturer: New Concorde ProductGroup: DVD Binding: DVD Similar Items: ASIN: B00000JGKR Release Date: 1999-09-14 |
Customer Reviews:
Classic Grier.......2005-02-10
You Gotta Love the 70s -- Action - Nudity - Lust - Catfights.......2004-04-26
Pure Awful!.......2003-02-11
A must-be for Pam Grier-Fans.......2001-07-17
Not the greatest Grier..........2001-07-12
Grier is great, as always, and Margret Markov gives good gladiator as well, but the film really starts to sag in the second half when it can't make it's mind up if it wants to be a tounge in cheek catfight movie or a serious Ben Hur style epic.
Good...but not good enough - thumbs sideways.
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New Gladiators
Starring: Darnell Garcia , Ron Marchini , Benny Urquidez , Emil Farkas , and Roy Kurban Director: Bob Hammer Manufacturer: Rising Sun Video ProductGroup: DVD Binding: DVD Similar Items: ASIN: B00007JO6Y Release Date: 2002-08-15 |
Description
A feature film financed by Elvis Presley found restored and released 30 years later. Music Score by David Crosby and Graham Nash. A film in the tradition of surfings Endless Summer a group of the top karate fighters from the USA travel the country and globe in search of the perfrect tournament and opponents. Feature man fighting stars of the Golden Era of Karate in America the mid 1970's. Great historical collector's piece,This story is so good, it sounds like a Hollywood story, which it is. For years there has been a rumor that Elvis Presley financed a feature length documentary on sport karate in the 1970s entitled, "The New Gladiators."
American martial arts history books mentioned the film, but no one ever said they actually saw it. References indicated that it was an unfinished project that died with Elvis in 1977. Now, 25 years after the passing of Elvis Presley, the original 16mm film stock has been discovered and restored.
The "The New Gladiators" is a 93-minute documentary that chronicles the exploits of the U.S. Karate Team of Ron Marchini, Benny "The Jet" Urquidez, Darnell Garcia, Tom Kelly, and John Natividad. Additional fighters showcased in the film include Steve Saunders, Roy Kurban, Ed Parker, Ticky Donavan, Geert Lemmens and other American and European stars of the day.
This remarkable film is fully narrated and even has an original soundtrack by David Crosby and Graham Nash of Crosby, Stills, and Nash fame!
Customer Reviews:
new gladiators.......2007-01-06
New Gladiators.......2006-01-31
Must have.......2005-10-17
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The Arena
Starring: Karen McDougal , Lisa Dergan , Olga Sutulova , Julia Chicherina , and Severina Kamugish Kemirimbe Director: Timur Bekmambetov Manufacturer: New Concorde ProductGroup: DVD Binding: DVD Similar Items:
ASIN: B00005LC4Y Release Date: 2001-08-28 |
Customer Reviews:
Violence, violence, violence and bad acting by 2 former Playmates.......2005-07-05
A strange little movie.......2004-12-20
Simply unwatchable due to rapid fire editing.......2004-05-24
A piece of fluff.......2004-04-14
GLADIATOR wannabe.......2004-03-14
The highlight of the film is that it stars two playmates: Lisa Dergan and Karen McDougal. While there is some gratuitous nudity, it is brief and not nearly as erotic as it could have been. However, as you probably imagine, both girls are lookers and have exquisite bodies (especially McDougal).
Beyond that, there is not a whole lot that is redeemable about this film. The script is absolutely horrid and the acting is not much better. Dergan has some decent facial expressions that could pass for acting, but everyone in the film looks like they're reading off of cue cards. Some of the scenes are so silly that I swear they came straight from Monty Python.
The story also fudges history a great deal. As indicated in the film, Rome was sacked in 410CE. However, I can assure you that gladiatorial games had nothing whatsoever to do with the impetus of this incident.
Rather, the real story was that the Visigoths were trying to escape from the Huns in the late 4th century. The Huns were sweeping westward and invaded the territory of the Visigoths. So, the Germanic tribe requested to come under the umbrella of the Roman empire for protection from the Huns.
The Visigoths were betrayed by the Romans and tens of thousands of them starved due to Roman empty promises. This led to furious resentment and ultimately a rebellion that overwhelmed the resources of Rome.
In the end, the Germans sacked Rome in 410, as is stated in the film. However, Rome did recover from being overrun and it was not officially "over" for the western half of the empire until 473CE. People who watch this DVD need to be aware that the story seriously fudges this so that history may cater to Corman's plot.
To be fair, there was one subtle aspect of the film that had undeniable historical veracity. In the final sequence, Dergan wears gladiator mesh that extends down her right arm. This was normal fare for gladiators as it protected their sword arm.
The Romans wanted the contests to last awhile, and one of the best ways of doing that was ensuring that the gladiator had maximum protection on the arm which held their sword. Otherwise, if the fighter lost the faculty of his sword he could do little to defend himself / herself (the Romans considered this to be very boring).
However, the filmmakers hardly went overboard in their familiarity with the games. While the trident / net was a common feature in the games, they would be apt to go up against fighters who had extensive armor. The point was to pit opposites together: one with light armor but a long reach vs. the other with lots of armor but a much shorter reach.
Also, one of the gladiators in the film has a shield that's about as big as a dinner plate. I'm pretty sure that was not normal fare in the gladiator arsenal!
When I purchased this film I figured I would be getting a poor man's GLADIATOR, and that's pretty much what I got. While there really were female gladiators in the Roman empire, I would think that any women who looked like Dergan or McDougal would have been spared the arena. Unless you have an insatiable curiousity about this movie, I would recommend that you spare yourself from ARENA as well.
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The Gladiators
Starring: Arthur Pentelow , Frederick Danner , Hans Bendrik , Daniel Harle , and Hans Berger (II) Director: Peter Watkins Manufacturer: New Yorker Films Video ProductGroup: DVD Binding: DVD Similar Items: ASIN: B000EMHWV4 Release Date: 2006-03-28 |
Customer Reviews:
"Basic humanity--that's what's wrong with that boy.".......2007-07-11
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The New Gladiators
Starring: Jared Martin , Fred Williamson , Howard Ross , Eleonora Brigliadori , and Cosimo Cinieri Director: Lucio Fulci Manufacturer: TROMA ENTERTAINMENT INC. ProductGroup: DVD Binding: DVD Similar Items: ASIN: B00005MKN6 Release Date: 2001-08-07 |
Customer Reviews:
Science fiction schlock.......2004-06-08
Forget the Fulci of horror with this movie. Instead, cast your mind back to the days when Italian directors went on a sci-fi bender, pumping out product to ride the success of Carpenter's "Escape From New York" and the Mel Gibson vehicle "The Road Warrior." Fulci dove on the bandwagon with this "shocker" about a futuristic society that uses televised gladiatorial combat shows to keep the masses in line. I know what you're thinking: Schwarzenegger's "The Running Man" and reality television, right? Maybe, except most of this film's focus has little to do with either of these two concepts. Jared Martin plays Drake, the champion racer in the "Thrillkill" program who just happens to murder some goons roughing up his wife. He's arrested, convicted, and sentenced to television's latest program, a new gladiatorial combat program advertised as the successor to the Coliseum games of ancient Rome. Martin ends up in a jail/training program with Abdul (Fred Williamson), Akira (Al Yamanouchi), Kirk (Al Cliver), and a few other miscreants. Also in the picture is Cortez (Claudio Cassinelli), a ruthless television executive, and Raven (Howard Ross), the sadistic guard in charge of training the "contestants" with cheesy ray gun effects and laughable punishments.
The training programs look positively awful. In one series of scenes, Fulci has his actors fighting while strobe lights flash. Why? Who knows, but it looks ridiculous. The extreme training eventually unites all of the personalities, with Martin's character emerging as the unofficial leader of the group. By the time Drake swallows a device that allows him to melt metal, I knew I was watching an absolute clunker of a film. The contest does take place, but it's the tamest gladiatorial combat scenario I have yet witnessed in a sci-fi film. All you see are a bunch of guys riding around on bikes hacking away at one another. A bit of the old trademark Fulci gore livens things up briefly, but not enough to salvage the film. The scenes, shot in extreme close up to hide glaring flaws in the set pieces, are interesting only when you compare them to other movies. And wait until you see the conclusion! What a groaner. I won't spoil the fine points for you, but at one moment a satellite blows up in space, which we see on a computer monitor. Fine, but should we see smoke rising off a celestial object? I think not, Mr. Fulci! There's simply no excuse for this sort of sloppy special effects work, even in low budget Italian boilerplate. What did he use as a stand in for that satellite, a Christmas ornament?
Surprisingly, I liked several things about the movie. That scene where we see the convicts suspended over an electrified floor was hilarious. Too, the set pieces for the city, which looked like cardboard cut outs adorned with holiday lighting, worked in an odd way. The best part of the film was a glance at a rival network's show about people who sign on to face their fears through some sort of computer simulation. We see a lady reclining on a bed as a giant pendulum swings closer and closer to her throat. Nifty! They ought to try that out on one of the reality shows on our television networks. Overall, "The New Gladiators" is too ridiculous to take as a serious entry in the science fiction genre. The ideas behind the shoddy pacing, acting, and effects work, however, does seem highly prescient considering what came after. In that regard, Fulci's film is worth watching if you don't mind laughing too hard at the whole thing. By the way, Riz Ortolani scored the movie.
Troma released the DVD version of the film and made a mess of it in the process. Supposedly "restored" for our viewing pleasure, the picture is a fullscreen transfer of what looks like a murky VHS tape. Extras include an interview with Dario Argento (?), several schlock Troma trailers, an intro from Lloyd Kaufman, and an interview with Fulci's daughter (the director passed away in the 1990s from diabetes). Fans of the Italian science fiction era-roughly the early 1980s-should probably check this one out. Rent it first, though.
New Gladiators is Definately 'Old School'.......2003-01-13
This movie is very similar to the dozens of other low-budget 'dark future' movies of the time, and if you've seen one you've seen them all. The story is slow and often difficult to follow and the ending makes zero sense.
However I do give this movie points for originality. This movie is a lower budget version of 'The Running Man', except this movie was first. I also enjoyed the god-awful special effects; they were another saving grace of the film (read: the fly by city miniature scenes). Not to mention the soundtrack that consists of one song repeated over and over (not a bad song though).
Even though the movie is not too enjoyable, I would have given in three stars because of the extras, unfortunately the awful quality of the movie took away from its rating. But in true Troma fashion there are a decent array of extras included with this flic.
Bottom line don't expect 'Zombie', but rather a lower budget 'Logan's Run' or 'The Running Man'. If these kind of movies are your thing then you can probably get your money's worth from this film.
Mid quality Fulci - Low quality DVD.......2001-11-19
ROLLERBALL, Italian-style.......2001-07-27
This is set in a BLADE RUNNER-style world of shuttles zipping across high skyscrapers, and is ruled over by corrupt TV stations who keep the human race in control with ever-more violent TV game shows. One such station stages a re-staging of the Ancient Rome Gladiator games - on motorbikes!
Though it has many faults (tacky FX, poor action scenes, hard-to-follow story), it still has some good ideas and decent acting from Italo-exploitation regulars like Jared Martin, Al Yamanouchi, Claudio Cassinelli, Howard Ross and Al Cliver. Fred Williamson's also around, but he barely gets twenty words to say!
Effective scenes on cruelty include prisoners forced hang over electrified floors, a pair of gory decapitations, and a good psychological torture scene. Best aspect of the film is Riz Ortolani's pounding theme tune, but this becomes overused with time.
Not a great film, but it's certainly worth seeing.
Forget Gladiator, The New Gladiators will always be newer........2001-07-16
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New Gladiators : Golden Era Karate Documentary DVD
Manufacturer: Rising Sun Productions ProductGroup: DVD Binding: DVD ASIN: B0007XO1M8 |
Product Description
Brand new, never viewed. Shrink-wrapped. Elvis Presley and Ed Parker's pet Karate project, found, restored, and released! Features martial arts legends Benny "The Jet" Urquidez, Ron Marchini, Ed Parker, Fumio Demura, Emil Farkas, Eric Lee, Blinky Rodrigues, and more! 93 minute documentary about the Golden Era of Karate in America. Not a "How To" video but an entertaining film featuring a soundtrack by David Crosby & Graham Nash. Narrated by Chuck Sullivan.
Customer Reviews:
Great Martial Arts Video........2005-09-29
DVD: