"Atlas in the Land of the Cyclops" has two magnificent assets and her name is Chelo Alonso. She also has gorgeous eyes. Born in Cuba, Miss Alonso was a hit at the Paris Folies Bergeres before plunging into Italian peplum movies in the late fifties. Here she plays the evil, evil, Queen Capys, who starts the movie by sending out her army to slaughter a peaceful village, and then ruthlessly searches for a cute, gurgling, tyke so she can feed him to her pet cyclops. The purpose, we are told, is to remove an ancient curse. In a stab at depth, the movie reveals that Queen Capys frets about being so evil and when not understandably admiring herself in the mirror which she carries with her at all times, muses about how much better things will be after the cyclops devours the toddler and she can relax into being just another bloodthirsty tyrant.
Enter our muscular hero, Maciste, the staunch enemy of injustice and evil queens everywhere. Once Capys lays her doe eyes on his pecs, its lust at first drool, always dangerous for a wicked queen. Even an oversexed queen can not shuck her evil ways easily, and there is tension galore as she gets the hots for our hero and hits on him with a distinct lack of subtlety, all the while assuring her worried underlings that she is in fact planning to make him into a cyclopsburger.
Now for the fly in the ointment. Maciste is so pure, innocent, and naive, he makes Roy Rogers look decadent. He seems oblivious to Capys' abundant charms. Oh, my, is this frustrating.
In the meantime, an underling captures the toddler and heads to the island abode of the hungry cyclops. Finding a very, very, very deeply buried streak of decency, and also perhaps hoping that turning good might arouse the big fellow's slumbering libido, Capys leads Maciste to the island.
As veteran viewers of these type of movies can probably predict, nothing works out for her. Capys follows Maciste into the Cyclops' cave, only to see her newly found goodness go for naught when she has to jump in front of the big lug to block a dagger thrust by her own henchman. Life can be cruel for a cruel queen.
The movie dies when Capys dies in the indifferent Maciste's strong arms, although Maciste does finish off the cyclops and saves the toddler and his mother. The ending has the tyke on the throne and everyone happy a child will be governing the land. Why not?
All in all, worth it if you don't expect too much, have a sense of humour, and can get off on an absurdly beautiful, evil, evil, queen.
Enter our muscular hero, Maciste, the staunch enemy of injustice and evil queens everywhere. Once Capys lays her doe eyes on his pecs, its lust at first drool, always dangerous for a wicked queen. Even an oversexed queen can not shuck her evil ways easily, and there is tension galore as she gets the hots for our hero and hits on him with a distinct lack of subtlety, all the while assuring her worried underlings that she is in fact planning to make him into a cyclopsburger.
Now for the fly in the ointment. Maciste is so pure, innocent, and naive, he makes Roy Rogers look decadent. He seems oblivious to Capys' abundant charms. Oh, my, is this frustrating.
In the meantime, an underling captures the toddler and heads to the island abode of the hungry cyclops. Finding a very, very, very deeply buried streak of decency, and also perhaps hoping that turning good might arouse the big fellow's slumbering libido, Capys leads Maciste to the island.
As veteran viewers of these type of movies can probably predict, nothing works out for her. Capys follows Maciste into the Cyclops' cave, only to see her newly found goodness go for naught when she has to jump in front of the big lug to block a dagger thrust by her own henchman. Life can be cruel for a cruel queen.
The movie dies when Capys dies in the indifferent Maciste's strong arms, although Maciste does finish off the cyclops and saves the toddler and his mother. The ending has the tyke on the throne and everyone happy a child will be governing the land. Why not?
All in all, worth it if you don't expect too much, have a sense of humour, and can get off on an absurdly beautiful, evil, evil, queen.