The waters off the coast of Ithaca are being ravaged by a sea monster. Hercules (Kirk Morris) and Ulysses (Enzo Cerusico), along with a crew of men set sail to find and kill the monster. During a vicious storm the monster is sighted and harpooned, however, the storm causes the ship to sink. In the morning there are only six men alive on a makeshift raft from the wreckage of the ship.
Eventually the six men find land. Walking from the sea inland they reach a village of the Danites. The shipwrecked men discover they are in Judea. The Danites are being terrorized by the Philistines. Hercules tells the village elders that they are Greeks and need a ship to take them back to Greece. They are told they must go to Gaza to find a ship. Hiding in the village is Samson (Iloosh Khoshabe). The village elders are suspicious that the men who say they are Greeks are really Philistines looking for Samson. Samson hides while the Greeks are sent to the Philistine merchant, Azer (Pietro Tordi) to rent horses to take them to Gaza.
On the way to Gaza they are attacked by a lion. Hercules strangles it. The Philistine merchant thinks that Hercules is really Samson. He heads to Gaza to tell King Saran (Aldo Giuffre) that Samson is on his way. Hercules and his men are captured by Saran. To prove that he is not Samson Saran’s mistress, Delilah (Liana Orfei) suggests that Hercules go and capture Samson while his men stay prisoners.
In the meantime a group of Philistine soldiers found the dead lion and believe Samson did it and his hiding in the village. They burn down the village, kill most of the villagers and take the rest to be slaves. Samson believes that Hercules and his men were Philistine spies are responsible for the village being attacked.
When Hercules and Samson meet they have a battle. Eventually they realize that they work better together against their common enemy the Philistines than trying to kill each other.
“Hercules, Samson and Ulysses” was released in 1963 and was directed by Pietro Francisci. It is a sword and sandal film. It is a sequel to “Hercules Unchained” but with Kirk Morris as Hercules instead of Steve Reeves. Reeves was the standard for Hercules but he only played the strongman twice.
Iloosh Khoshabe was an Iranian actor and body builder. He used the screen name Richard Lloyd in some of his films. Although Ulysses’ name is in the title of the film, he is a minor character in the movie.
The helmets the Palestinians were are modified WWII German helmets.
There is quite a lot of action in the film. The big highlight of the film is the fight between Samson and Hercules. Their big fight is in the middle of the ruins of a city that they manage to ruin even more. Boulders are tossed back and forth like basketballs. In the final reel the two of them are working together and manage to bring down an entire stone building on some scurrying Philistines. There is also a storm at sea that is nicely done. All together it was an enjoyable addition to the sword and sandal genre.