Mirthful Muscle Marys: The Giant of Marathon

The loony comic talents behind Mystery Science Theater 3000 (Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett) are back cracking wise behind another crappy movie in a new series called "The Film Crew" from Shout Factory. Their new outing is The Giant of Marathon, a 1959 swords and sandal epic from Italy starring Steve Reeves which was actually directed by the great Jacques Tourneur (I Walked With a Zombie, Cat People), with cinematography by Mario Bava (Black Sunday).

It's this big bloated bore about a Greek soldier leading an army against the Persians, but it's great fodder for jokes. "Chariots of Diapers" they nickname it, and when a female is hurtling along in a chariot they cry out, "Ben Her!" They joke about the Greek army: "How in God's name did we invent math?" and when Andromeda is reading stories to her female servants: "Read Andromeda, if it isn't a strain!" During a big battle scene they keep showing countless shots of horses being tripped and they groan: "No horses weren't harmed during the making of this film." And at all the shots of Muscle Marys wrestling and oiled up they wonder, "is this film too gay or what?" It's really a riot.