IRON WARRIOR (Italy - 1987) Directed by Al Bradley (Alfonso Brescia). Written by Steven Luotto and Al Bradley (Alfonso Brescia). Cast: Miles O'Keeffe, Savina Gersak, Elisabeth Kaza, Iris Peynado, Tim Lane, Tiziana Altieri, Frank Daddi, Josie Coppini, Malcolm Borg, Conrad Borg, Jon Rosser. (R, 87 mins) One of the countless Italian ripoffs of CONAN THE BARBARIAN, 1983's ATOR THE FIGHTING EAGLE helped keep Miles O'Keeffe employed following his career-killing Hollywood debut opposite Bo Derek in her husband John's 1981 fiasco TARZAN THE APE MAN. Directed by the venerable Italo sleaze king Aristide Massaccesi (aka "Joe D'Amato") under his "David Hills" pseudonym, ATOR led to the 1984 sequel THE BLADE MASTER, better known today by its MST3K incarnation CAVE DWELLERS. The third in the franchise, IRON WARRIOR, is an odd in-series reboot of sorts that almost feels like it wasn't intended to be part of the ATOR universe. Made not by Massaccesi and his Filmirage outfit but by producer Ovidio G. Assonitis (BEYOND THE DOOR, THE VISITOR, PIRANHA II: THE SPAWNING), IRON WARRIOR gives Ator a completely different origin story and puts him in decidedly different, R-rated surroundings with gore and T&A that doesn't gel with its two PG-rated predecessors. Assonitis farmed out directing duties to Alfonso Brescia as a consolation prize after removing him from 1986's CHOKE CANYON during pre-production when he decided the action-and-stunt-heavy film was too much for Brescia to handle. Better-known by his Americanized pseudonym "Al Bradley," and a perennial Italian D-lister, Brescia (1930-2001) cut his teeth on low-grade peplum (1964's THE MAGNIFICENT GLADIATOR), spaghetti westerns (1968's CRY OF DEATH) and men-on-a-mission WWII movies (1969's KILL ROMMEL!), never distinguishing himself in any conceivable way as his filmography ranked several notches below mediocre. As his career went on, he made the 1974 action comedy SUPER STOOGES VS. THE WONDER WOMEN and even managed to get Jack Palance to star in the 1976 GODFATHER knockoff BLOOD AND BULLETS, but it wasn't until his quartet of oppressively dull post-STAR WARS space operas (and the sexually explicit 1980 offshoot THE BEAST IN SPACE, which featured hardcore footage) that Brescia cemented his place in Eurocult history, even if it was for all the wrong reasons.
Shot on the same sets with most of the same supporting cast and looking like inept community theater versions of Antonio Margheriti's GAMMA 1 quartet over a decade earlier, 1977's COSMOS: WAR OF THE PLANETS, 1978's BATTLE OF THE STARS, 1978's WAR OF THE ROBOTS, and 1979's STAR ODYSSEY are virtually interchangeable and are differentiated only by their leading men (John Richardson in the first two, followed by Antonio Sabato in ROBOTS and Gianni Garko in ODYSSEY) and rank among the ultimate feats of cine-masochistic endurance. COSMOS: WAR OF THE PLANETS actually made it into some US theaters in 1979 but the other three went straight to syndicated TV and later surfaced on any number of public domain DVD sets, though I wouldn't be surprised if someone put them out on Blu-ray box set if the elements are able to be tracked down (nor would I be surprised when I clicked on "pre-order" when that hypothetical listing turns up on Amazon). With Scorpion's release of IRON WARRIOR, we're forced to confront what was once unthinkable: the stunning realization that an "Al Bradley" joint is on Blu-ray which, depending on your tolerance for bad movies, is either cause for celebration or the cracking of one of the seven seals that will open the gates of Hell.
IRON WARRIOR isn't exactly an expensive epic, but it's obviously got the biggest budget that the perpetually hapless Brescia was ever granted. It's his most polished and professional-looking film, shot on some stunning locales on Malta, where the production also took full advantage of some still-standing sets left over from Robert Altman's POPEYE seven years earlier. Brescia also had the added bonus of having veteran optical effects technician Wally Gentleman as a cinematographer. A real person despite his name sounding like a hastily-blurted alias, Gentleman worked on the effects crew of Assonitis' BEYOND THE DOOR and scored a visual effects gig with Francis Ford Coppola on 1982's ONE FROM THE HEART. Gentleman also worked on Douglas Trumbull's effects team for Stanley Kubrick's 1968 landmark 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, and how he went from that to serving as Alfonso Brescia's cinematographer on the third movie in the ATOR series is a story that demands to be told. Watching IRON WARRIOR in a pristine HD transfer is quite a different experience than seeing it on VHS back in the late '80s. It's less of an ATOR movie and more like a companion piece to Lucio Fulci's hallucinatory 1983 sword-and-sorcery saga CONQUEST. It's trippy and surreal, like if an Italian CONAN ripoff was directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky.
The script, credited to "Al Bradley" and veteran voice actor Steven Luotto (who can be heard dubbing Mark Gregory in 1990: THE BRONX WARRIORS), is a hot mess of curses, hexes, and mysticism, with Brescia shamelessly stealing iconic imagery from SUPERMAN, STAR WARS, and RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. Believing in a prophecy that she would be destroyed by twin brothers, evil old witch Phoedra (Elisabeth Kaza) spies on eight-year-old siblings Ator and Trogar and kidnaps Trogar as part of a revenge plot against Deeva (Iris Peynado), who freed Phoedra's enslaved people. 18 years later, Phoedra summons the Iron Warrior (Frank Daddi) to kill the King (Tim Lane), who sends his princess daughter Janna (Assonitis' girlfriend Savina Gersak) away for her own safety. Deeva puts Janna in the care of lone warrior Ator (O'Keeffe), but not before he's seduced by Phoedra in the form of a nude young temptress (Tiziana Altieri). Prophesied to protect the King's daughter ("She for who you are fated needs you now!" Deeva gravely intones), Ator leads Janna on a treacherous journey where they're constantly thwarted by the supernatural shenanigans of Phoedra, who pits brother against brother as the deadly Iron Warrior is--you guessed it--the grown Trogar, whose body and soul have been taken over by the spell of Phoedra.
Or something like that. IRON WARRIOR makes absolutely no sense and there's no chemistry between O'Keeffe and Gersak, reunited from Ruggero Deodato's 1986 Indiana Jones ripoff THE LONE RUNNER (released in the US in 1988 by Trans World Entertainment, who also got IRON WARRIOR on a whopping 17 screens in January 1987), but it's so hypnotic and strange from beginning to end that it ultimately doesn't matter. It's disorienting by design, especially a scene where Ator and Janna cross a precarious suspension bridge that's genuinely dizzying to watch. It's an ATOR movie on shrooms, something that Red and Mandy would watch while eating TV dinners, and the only reason it hasn't been embraced by the stoner crowd is because they just aren't aware of it. There's enough craziness here that I'm willing to bet Assonitis--known for firing directors and finishing movies himself--had more to do with the creative direction of this than Brescia, especially when you consider the bizarre imagery in something like THE VISITOR. But for all its visual flair, it's still tough to take it seriously when Deeva's trial of Phoedra employs the same type of "Council of Elders" faces on a giant screen behind the accused, who stands there shackled by rotating hula hoops on loan from Jor-El. Or the Iron Warrior's resemblance to Darth Vader. Or a long action sequence where Ator and Janna are in a cavern being chased by giant RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK rolling boulders. O'Keeffe's catatonic performance actually enhances the hazy, stoned vibe, though he wouldn't be back for the fourth and final ATOR installment, 1990's QUEST FOR THE MIGHTY SWORD. That marked the return of Massaccesi and the introduction of a new Ator in the form of Grand Rapids, MI native Eric Allan Kramer, who presumably got the job after playing Thor in the 1988 TV-movie THE INCREDIBLE HULK RETURNS (Kramer is probably best known as Little John in Mel Brooks' ROBIN HOOD: MEN IN TIGHTS, and he's currently co-starring on the critically-acclaimed AMC series LODGE 49). As far as IRON WARRIOR is concerned, Scorpion's Blu-ray certainly makes the case that there's some artistic merit to it, even if the method to its madness gets lost along the way. Nevertheless, it takes a lesser-ranked place among other threequels--HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH or THE EXORCIST III, for example--that either break from established formula or serve as outliers or stealth secret weapons in their respective franchises, an ATOR: TOKYO DRIFT, if you will.
Written and directed by David Hills (Aristide Massaccesi). Cast: Miles O'Keeffe, Sabrina Siani, Edmund Purdom, Laura Gemser, Ritza Brown, Dakkar. (PG, 92 mins)
The success of 1982's CONAN THE BARBARIAN spawned an entire subgenre of mostly Italian-made barbarian/sword & sorcery ripoffs that flooded drive-ins, video stores, and cable in the early 1980s. One of the most recognizable is 1983's ATOR THE FIGHTING EAGLE, written and directed by Italian exploitation legend Aristide Massaccesi (1936-1999). Massaccesi was known for extreme gore classics like 1979's BURIED ALIVE and 1981's ANTHROPOPHAGUS (aka THE GRIM REAPER) and numerous BLACK EMANUELLE films but dabbled in every genre imaginable, including hardcore porn, and had worked under countless pseudonyms, with "Joe D'Amato" being the most commonly known. He uses two on ATOR: as writer/director, he's "David Hills," and functioning as his own cinematographer, he's "Frederick Slonisco." ATOR THE FIGHTING EAGLE, just released on DVD in a surprisingly nice-looking 1.78 anamorphic transfer by Scorpion, was one of the first CONAN ripoffs to hit theaters, and unlike its inspiration, keeps things generally clean and PG-rated, much like 1984's CONAN THE DESTROYER would.
'80s Italian barbarian movie fixture
Sabrina Siani, with Miles O'Keeffe.
Starring as Ator is Tennessee native Miles O'Keeffe, who made a splash in 1981, co-starring with Bo Derek in the highly-publicized laughingstock TARZAN THE APE MAN. Because of this fiasco, O'Keeffe's Hollywood A-list career ended as quickly as it began, but he found plenty of work in Italy throughout the 1980s and in numerous low-budget American DTV titles in the 1990s. He went on to play Ator in two of the three sequels in addition to starring in the British-made EXCALIBUR knockoff SWORD OF THE VALIANT for Cannon in 1984 and appearing as Dracula in Anthony Hickox's 1988 cult horror favorite WAXWORK. Now 58, O'Keeffe hasn't appeared in a feature since the 2005 DTV horror film CLAWED: THE LEGEND OF SASQUATCH, though he did get a bit of notoriety in the UK around 1999-2000 when comedian/talk-show host and O'Keeffe superfan Graham Norton would routinely prank call him, which eventually led to O'Keeffe appearing on Norton's show, much to the host's delight.
Black Emanuelle herself, Laura Gemser,
sending a subtle message to Ator.
ATOR THE FIGHTING EAGLE opens with a hopelessly confusing exposition voiceover by mellifluously-voiced dubbing veteran Tony La Penna. Something about newborn Ator (who's born looking eight months old and, judging from the camera angle, appears to slide out of his mother's womb already cozily pre-swaddled) being your typical Chosen One to bring down the evil reign of Thulsa, er, I mean, Dakkar the Spider King (who, as luck would have it, is played by the actor Dakkar, of ZOMBIE). The infant Ator is given to a couple to live in anonymity until he is old enough to take on Dakkar. Years later, Ator marries his (adoptive) sister Sunya (Ritza Brown), who is abducted by Dakkar and his evil followers. After being trained by mentor Griba (Edmund Purdom), Ator sets off on his quest with bandit/warrior Roon (Sabrina Siani) and his trusty bear cub sidekick Keog, who gives the film's best performance. Keog is introduced in this scene, which also features one of the greatest dialogue exchanges in cinema history.
From Ator's heroic quest and his various adventures to Dakkar's very James Earl Jones-ish presence to Carlo Maria Cordio's obviously Basil Poledouris-inspired score, ATOR THE FIGHTING EAGLE is about as blatant a ripoff of CONAN THE BARBARIAN as you can imagine. The only real differences are the PG-rating and that Ator's quest is motivated by his new bride, so there's no hookup with Roon. He's hypnotized and almost seduced by an evil witch (Laura Gemser), echoing an early CONAN vignette. He's ultimately rescued by Roon, but not before Massaccesi gives us some shots of Gemser oiling her hands and holding a slithering snake, because he's still Joe D'Amato at heart and probably can't resist. And instead of a giant snake, Ator battles a really hokey-looking giant spider. ATOR was clearly made fast and cheap, but given his roots as a cinematographer, Massaccesi does manage to offer some frequently very well-staged shots and beautiful scenery, even if it's accidental. O'Keeffe seems to invest a little more into this than he would his later Italian films, such as THE LONE RUNNER, where he appears to be half-asleep. The 20-year-old Siani is effectively cast as Roon, clearly modeled on Sandahl Bergman's Valeria from CONAN. Siani quickly became the go-to female lead for Italian CONAN knockoffs, appearing in THE INVINCIBLE BARBARIAN and Lucio Fulci's CONQUEST later the same year, and THE SWORD OF THE BARBARIANS and THE THRONE OF FIRE in 1984. Audiences were losing interest in the barbarian genre by 1985-1986, but I'm still surprised that Siani was never given her own RED SONJA knockoff to headline.
ATOR THE FIGHTING EAGLE is a total cheesefest, but it's good fun for '80s Eurotrash ripoff completists, and it's never looked as good as it does on Scorpion's DVD. The film was enough of a success to spawn three sequels. THE BLADE MASTER (1984), again directed by Massaccesi as "David Hills," finds Ator (O'Keeffe, also returning) and his Asian sidekick Thong (Chen Wong) teaming up to help Ator's mentor Akronas (Charles Borromel), who has discovered something called the Geometric Nucleus that's fallen into the hands of the evil Zor (David Brandon). Or something like that. THE BLADE MASTER is pretty terrible, and is better known under its alternate MST3K title CAVE DWELLERS, which became one of that show's most popular episodes ("How much Keeffe is in this movie, anyway?"). The MST3K crew have said that O'Keeffe contacted them at some point to request a copy of the CAVE DWELLERS episode and that he really enjoyed it, which is very much in line with his willingness to self-deprecatingly guest on Graham Norton's TV show. O'Keeffe may have been a washout as Tarzan, but he managed to keep working, and if nothing else, seems to be a good sport about the number of bad movies he's headlined.
O'Keeffe returned as Ator in 1987's dismal IRON WARRIOR. I'm not entirely sure this is meant to be an official Ator sequel. It was made by others (producer Ovidio G. Assonitis, director Alfonso Brescia, aka "Al Bradley"), and O'Keeffe doesn't appear to be playing the same Ator that he did in the two previous films. In this one, Ator is revealed to have a twin brother who was possessed by an evil witch and turned into the evil Iron Warrior, a pawn in her plot to kill the king and his princess daughter (Savina Gersak) and usurp the throne. Brescia, who helmed a lot of coma-inducingly dull post-STAR WARS sci-fi films like WAR OF THE ROBOTS in the late '70s, managed to go his entire career without making a good film, but IRON WARRIOR is probably his best-looking one, simply because Assonitis had access to a little more money. The film still makes no sense and shamelessly rips off past blockbusters like SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE, and O'Keeffe doesn't even seem to be entirely awake.
Massaccesi and his "David Hills" moniker made a triumphant return for the final chapter of the ATOR saga, 1990's QUEST FOR THE MIGHTY SWORD, aka ATOR III: THE HOBGOBLIN (further evidence to suggest that IRON WARRIOR wasn't supposed to be an Ator film). O'Keeffe sat this one out, forcing Massaccesi to do his best Dick York-to-Dick Sargent with Ator now played by one Eric Allen Kramer, perhaps best known for appearing as Little John in Mel Brooks' ROBIN HOOD: MEN IN TIGHTS (1992). Kramer, sounding like Seth Rogen and looking like Philip Seymour Hoffman in a bad wig, plays both Ator and Ator's son (also named Ator). Ator Jr must help an imprisoned goddess (Margaret Lenzey) and in the process, battles a two-headed robot, a guy in a half-melted Godzilla costume, and an evil troll left over from the Massaccesi-produced TROLL 2. Other than Eurocult legends like Donald O'Brien (DOCTOR BUTCHER, M.D.), Marisa Mell (DANGER: DIABOLIK), and a brief appearance by a returning Laura Gemser (playing a different character than she did in ATOR THE FIGHTING EAGLE), there's little reason to watch QUEST FOR THE MIGHTY SWORD unless you love bad movies. Interestingly, QUEST was shot with direct sound since a large number of cast members spoke English, and one highlight comes from Lenzey clearly and painfully flubbing a line and Massaccesi just leaving it in the finished movie. You can even see the other two actors seemingly waiting for someone...ANYONE...to yell "Cut."
