Battle of the Amazons (1973)

- Le amazzoni - donne d'amore e di guerra
I think it was filmed through a layer of mud, 27 February 2008

I watched Battle of the Amazons only a few hours ago and I'm already having problems remembering many of the particulars about the movie. It wasn't necessarily as bad as some of the other movies I watch, just unmemorable. You'd think a movie about a band of Amazon warriors that raids a town to kidnap young men for sex slaves would standout more than that. But that's apparently not the case.

The movie follows the same plot line we've all seen any number of times. The Amazons raid a small village. Those left in the village fear the Amazons will be back. The villagers hire a band of outlaws to train them to fight. Of course it all leads to a climatic brawl where the villagers come out on top and, in the end, the outlaws redeem themselves and decide to stay on. Can anyone tell me where they've seen this before? Magnificent Seven maybe? How about Seven Samurai? As I indicated, it's been done to death.

Battle of the Amazons is a dreary looking affair. It's almost as if the director decided to film the movie through a layer of mud. The acting is generally abysmal. The lone exception is Lucretia Love (Is that a cool name or what?) who I've begun to notice recently in a few movies. By the way, I got a kick out of the fact that Love's character, Eraglia, was the only Amazon that brought back a female when they raided the village. The final fight scene is pretty much a letdown. I also found it humorous that the Amazons don masks for their climatic battle. This was done so that the females could be replaced by men in wigs. Did they think no one would notice that the shapely Amazons suddenly turned into beefy men? One highlight from Battle of the Amazons for me was the score. Although it would have been more at home in a Spaghetti Western, the music was quite nice.

4/10