The Colossus of Rhodes (1961)

THE COLOSSUS OF RHODES  (1961)  ¢ ¢ 1/2
    D: Sergio Leone
    Rory Calhoun, Lea Massari, Georges Marchal,
    Conrado San Martin, Ángel Aranda, Mabel Karr
A few years before he went to Spain to make westerns with Clint Eastwood, Sergio Leone directed and co-wrote this sand-and-sandal epic about a slave revolt in the Mediterranean in the third century B.C. Rory Calhoun channels Victor Mature as a Greek war hero who just wants to get back home but ends up joining the rebellion instead. The climax has a lighting storm, an earthquake and the final battle between the slaves and the invading Phoenicians happening all at once. Sergio's budget apparently didn't cover the Phoenician ships. They're mentioned in the script - a thousand of them - but you never see them on the screen.