SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Sabah Hensley This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Brennan Camacho Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

pjb2354 As much as I am a fan of Michael Forest from Star Trek, The Outer Limits,to name a few - this movie is an absolute farce. Frank Wolf who up to this point is really a 3rd rate actor, is the lead bad guy in this movie that plays out like a high school play with just a handful of extras. 1st blunder is when they announce that the wrestling match will begin when the trumpets blow. The trouble is that the horns are never heard. The Wardrobe Designer must have been on break with Barbara Morris wearing shorts that look like she should be on the set of Beach Blanket Bingo and not a Greek sword and sandal movie. The story line is very poor and really makes no sense. Soupy Sales could have played the lead baddie with the same results.

chow913 Scariest Villain Ever... Proximates!!! What the f......... heck is it with all these negative reviews? It's a good movie. It sounds like these other reviewers didn't even watch the whole film and are just trashing it as Roger Corman based on internet rumors.Don't worry, Roger Corman had little or nothing to do with this film, otherwise it wouldn't be good. Don't worry. It's NOT Corman.Villains that truly frighten me to think such evil could exist in the human soul or on screen, have always been Chris Sarandon as a rapist in 'Lipstick', Jane Badler as Diana in 'V' and Louise Fletcher or Michael Ironside in ANYTHING.Now make way for Frank Wolff (no, not my congressman) as Proximates! (Prox-ah-me-tays) Proximates doesn't start out as a villain, just a Roman style slime ball. This is why 'Atlas' has rather a slow start the first 30 minutes. Proximates hasn't shown his true evil.The army of Proximates is involved in long siege of a plateau inhabited by a people whose leader Telekos wears a yamaka. This is obviously based on the historic Roman siege of the Jews at Masada.Noble and just Telekos hopes to end the long siege, and agrees to surrender the city if any champion can defeat his son Prince Indros in a duel to the death.Proximates has ten days to find such a champion. He uses this as an excuse to take some RR and attempt to get back into the toga of his former girlfriend Candia (Barboura Morris) at the Olympic Games, (or the Coliseum, or whatever).There they meet a wrestler Atlas. (See he's strong. Get it?) Proximates and Candia set out to con Atlas into fighting as their champion but get a rude surprise. Atlas isn't just strong he's an educated stand up philosopher at the forum.Yes, I too was reminded of Mel Brooks as stand up philosopher is 'History of the World: Part 1.' "Oh, a bullsxxx artist." Being intelligent, Atlas disapproves of wars of conquest, and killing in general. He accepts Proximates offer only to prove that he can win the duel and the city without taking any human life.Sure enough Atlas defeats Prince Indros, sparing his life.With the city now at Proximates disposal, Atlas sees first hand his true evil and the necessity for war. A war to free the city from Proximates evil grip.As I said, it has a rather slow first 30 minutes, which why the other reviewers here just gave up on the whole film. But it really is a powerful story with powerful characters which makes up for the total lack of large scale battle scenes in the movie genre of large scale battle movies.Frank Wolff as Proximates is something you have to see to believe. It's a great film! The best evidence for Roger Corman's lack of involvement is changing sets and locations. Throughout his whole "career" Corman's "film making" was infamous for not changing sets and merely repositioning the cameras around the same location claiming to was someplace else.Remember, 'Teenage Caveman' where every village was always just the same rock filmed from different angles? Or 'The Undead' where a 12x12 set comprised an entire medieval kingdom? Or the wild western 'Gunslinger' where every town was just the same western set (complete with phone lines) filmed from different angles? I digress. None of this silliness is in 'Atlas' so don't be frightened by these false internet rumors. 'Atlas' is happily Roger Corman free.

heckles Sometimes you see a movie and wonder if it was made just so the crew could enjoy a six-week vacation in a nice place. Unspoiled Greece in 1961 was probably a very pleasant locale indeed for Roger Corman and friends to take such a vacation.The story is a familiar one: Buff, good-hearted but naive hero is tricked by a more worldly man into using his great strength for his benefit until the hero wises up. This is a plot used in the great sagas of Hercules, Sigfred, and Tom Cruise. Here the trusting hero, Atlas, is invited by a city-state tyrant, Praximedes, to be his champion in a fight to the death so that Praximedes can annex some defiant holdout city.The problem with all of this is: the movie is boring. Very boring. The fight scenes lack drama; the battle scenes look like extras throwing sticks that are supposed to be spears at each other. Michael Forest as Atlas can't act - period. Barboura Morris is the sex interest of changeable loyalties; she isn't bad looking, but she doesn't take off near enough clothes. --Oh, don't tell me it was 1961. "Spartacus" was made a year before, and that had a bathing scene. Plus a reference to homosexuality. "Atlas" was never meant to be a big-budget epic. So no excuses, Roger. This kind of movie, you have to sex up if you don't do anything else.Frank Wolff's Praximedes seems to be having a good time; but rather than coming across as a figurative tyrant (he makes no secret that he is a -literal- tyrant), he seems more like a glad-handing jerk, and a distinctly American one at that.I hope the crew enjoyed their vacation. The rest of us, if we want a Greek vacation, should catch "Summer Lovers" or "Venus on Fire".

John Seal Trust Roger Corman to go all the way to Greece, shoot in widescreen against a backdrop of real ancient monuments, and STILL end up producing the cheapest looking sword and sandal 'epic' of them all. If you squint hard enough the battle scenes might start to look vaguely impressive. Only Frank Wolff's ripe performance as the evil Praximedes provides much entertainment.