Amazons and Gladiators (2001)

User Rating:

2.7/10   

Director:

Zachary Weintraub

Writer:

Zachary Weintraub (writer)

Genre:

Drama | Action | Adventure

Tagline:

The fight is just beginning.

Plot:

During the Roman Empire, General Crassius ruled a small province with an Iron fist. Serena, a young girl in a village...

Plot Keywords:

Gladiator | Amazon | Roman Empire | Nudity | Female Nudity

Cast

Patrick Bergin	...	Crassius
Jennifer Rubin	...	Ione
Richard Norton	...	Lucius
Nichole Hiltz	...	Serena
Wendi Winburn	...	Gwyned
Melanie Gutteridge	...	Briana
Mary Tamm	...	Zenobia
Janina Matiekonyte	...	B'Shara (as Janina Matekonyte)
Darius Miniotas	...	Dance Master
Rona Waddington	...	Lead Dancer (as Rona Wadington)
Tomas Ereminas	...	Gallo
Gabija Danileviciute	...	Young Serena
Lauren Wilcox	...	Young Briana

Directed by
Zachary Weintraub

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Zachary Weintraub		writer

Produced by
Eve Brandstein	....	associate producer
Tom Kuhn	....	producer
Rainer Mockert	....	executive producer
Robertas Urbonas	....	producer
Fred Weintraub	....	producer
Jackie Weintraub	....	executive producer (as Jackie Dubey Weintraub)

Original Music by
Tim Jones

Cinematography by
Thomas Hencz

Film Editing by
Eric Torres

Casting by
Dalia Daugilyte

Production Design by
Galius Klicius

Set Decoration by
Genovaite Vidauskaite

Costume Design by
Daiva Petrulyte

Makeup Department
Vilma Jasinskaite	....	key hair stylist
Aursra Juskaite	....	key makeup artist
Egle Mikalauskaite	....	assistant makeup artist

Production Management
Tony Roman	....	post-production supervisor
Robertas Urbonas	....	executive in charge of production
Marius Vilunas	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Tomas Aleinikovas	....	second assistant director
Kestas Drazdaukas	....	first assistant director (as Kestutis Drazdauskas)
Richard Norton	....	second unit director

Art Department
Darius Bastys	....	set dresser
Vytautas Drazdauskas	....	property master
Rimantas Gailius	....	props
Gintas Matonis	....	construction coordinator
Aurika Seleniene	....	set dresser
Indre Selenyte	....	set dresser
Egidijus Vaitkevicius	....	on-set props
Arturas Vaitulevicius	....	carpenter
Tatjana Zemciugova	....	set dresser

Sound Department
Greg Back	....	sound effects editor
Greg Back	....	sound re-recording mixer
Darius Baltusis	....	boom operator
Gregg Barbanell	....	foley artist
Scott Bernstein	....	adr editor
Larry Ellis	....	dialogue editor
Michael Golin	....	stereo sound consultant
George R. Groves Jr.	....	sound effects editor (as George Groves)
George R. Groves Jr.	....	sound re-recording mixer (as George Groves)
Barry Keys	....	adr mixer
Barry Keys	....	foley mixer
Noel Thompson	....	sound mixer
Joseph Zappala	....	sound mixer
Joseph Zappala	....	supervising sound editor

Special Effects by
Anatolij Afanasjev	....	special effects assistant
Artiom Grigorian	....	special effects assistant
Edvinas Urbonas	....	special effects coordinator

Stunts
Stanislav Adamickij	....	stunts
Tomas Ereminas	....	stunts
Vladislavas Jacukevicius	....	stunts
Saulius Janaviciu	....	stunts (as Saulius Janavicius)
Arturas Nemanis	....	stunts
Richard Norton	....	stunt coordinator
Slava Samuchov	....	stunts
Jonas Tamulevigius	....	stunts (as Jonas Tamulevicius)

Camera and Electrical Department
Aleksej Afranasu	....	grip
Algis Babravicius	....	still photographer
Dainius Belazaras	....	electrician
Danius Cerniauskas	....	dolly grip
Michael E. Gonzales	....	first assistant camera: "a" camera (as Michael Gonzales)
Vytaitas Gudlevicius	....	dolly grip (as Vytas Gudlevicius)
Vytaitas Gudlevicius	....	key grip
Leonid Gunovic	....	electrician
Rolandas Joneliukstis	....	first assistant camera: "b" camera
Rimas Jurgelevicius	....	electrician
Laimantas Kairys	....	second assistant camera
Vidmantas Kralikauskas	....	key grip
Bo B. Randulff	....	director of photography: second unit (as Bo Randulff)
Konsta Sohlberg	....	gaffer
Danute Zitkeviciene	....	electrician
Algirdas Zitkevicius	....	best boy electric

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Greta Bogusiene	....	on-set costumer
Dana Inciute	....	assistant costume designer
Aneta Savickiene	....	on-set costumer

Editorial Department
Doug Ledin	....	color timer
Tony Roman	....	assistant editor
Andrea Stern	....	post-production coordinator

Transportation Department
Darius Jarasunas	....	transportation coordinator

Other crew
Aleksandr Belous	....	customs coordinator (as Alekxandr Belous)
Keiann Collins	....	script supervisor
Ilona Dranseikaite	....	production coordinator
Tomas Dumcius	....	computer/internet assistant
Olga Fariga	....	location manager
Diana Gaideltye	....	set production assistant
Jonas Lazauskas	....	deputy managing director
Saulius Ligeika	....	security captain
Maxwell Meltzer	....	production accountant
Arunas Paukste	....	craft service
Almutis Raila	....	horse wrangler
Christianna Sherbanee	....	production coordinator: Los Angeles
Danguole Tamkunaite	....	office production assistant
Tomas Zakrys	....	set production assistant
Igoris Zenevicius	....	craft services coordinator

Production Companies

• MBP (Germany)
• Weintraub/Kuhn Productions

Distributors

• Beyond Films

Other Companies

• Magic Film and Video Works  negative cutting
• Melrose Titles & Opticals  titles and opticals
• Zap Studios  sound post-production

MPAA:

Rated R for sexuality and violence.

Runtime:

Canada:94 min | Spain:89 min

Country:

USA | Germany

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Singapore:M18 | Australia:MA | Germany:16 | Spain:13 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Vilnius, Lithuania

Company:

MBP (Germany)

Quotes:

[A slave discovers Serena and Briana disguised as dancing girls:]
Briana: "It's okay: we're Amazons!"

Movie Connections:

References C'era una volta il West (1968)

A modern and better than 'middle of the road' B movie

This little sexploitation film, which was presumably designed for TV and direct to video release, has already secured two pages of comments, many of them very erudite, from IMDb users who say all that needs to be said about the film itself. The comments fall into two groups, viewers who fully recognised what it was about and settled down to enjoy it just for what it provided seem to have rated it very generously, but a larger group appear to have expected a poor man's "Gladiator" and to have rejected it totally when they realized this was not what they were viewing. Currently IMDb user ratings show peaks at both 10 and 1 - this is an interesting although not unique situation, but my sympathies (although not my judgment in so far as any rating near ten is concerned) lie entirely with the first group. I find it very hard to understand how any viewers would have had expectations of watching an historically viable film, rather than what is so clearly a work of fiction that has been set in a recognisable historic period.

Historically we are only very gradually beginning to learn something about the legendary female warriors we know as Amazons. Early European settlers followed a largely matriarchal form of society in which women took a prominent role; but these were later often absorbed by incoming Indo-European tribes, who traditionally gave women a much more subservient role. Archaeology largely replaces history for this period but these two very different cultures intermingled for a long period before many of the matriarchal groups were absorbed by the dominant Indo-Europeans and there is general recognition that many of the matriarchal groups resisted male dominance to the point of migrating and fighting for their independence. The Greek legends about Amazons, a name possibly coming from the Greek "a mazos" (without breast), appear to relate to groups which settled in Asia Minor as female warrior tribes that played a significant role in very early history, but these were almost certainly wiped out long before they could become entangled with the legions of the Roman Empire. There has been a great deal of controversy about the legend that they cut off the right breast of their female children to enhance their future capabilities as adult fighters. Given the medical standards of the time, this would almost certainly have been a fatal procedure and it has therefore been discounted by most historians - which has unfortunately led some of them to discount all reports about even the existence of such female warriors. However Hippocrates has described in some detail how this was not a surgical procedure but was the result of applying an iron hot enough to inhibit normal anatomical breast development to female babies whilst very young in order to encourage the muscular development of their right arm. This is quite compatible with the many early legends (and even semi-historical reports) of Valkyrie like one breasted female warriors who were active in Asia Minor, probably until shortly after the founding of Troy - long before Rome was founded or Gladiators appeared. I am not a student of archaeology but I have read somewhere that at least one archaeologist claims to have discovered a bronze 'branding iron' device the right size and shape to have been used for this purpose. Other IMDb users could probably provide more accurate information about this.

Even ignoring the dates, the idea of such a tribe of female warriors encountering and disrupting a force of almost invincible Roman warriors should provide great fun whether it is presented as a novel or as a film - neither should be expected to have any pretensions to being historical, and rejecting either for historical errors is I feel only laughable. But, certainly in the case of the film, part of the appeal the promoters would depend upon for recovering their investment would involve transmuting the Valkyrie like warriors into attractive (and probably scantily clad) young women that young male viewers would enjoy watching and young female viewers would wish to emulate. Clearly therefore any legends about disfigurements intended to enhance fighting performance would be forgotten - we are in the realm of neither history nor mythology - but straight fiction. Judged on this basis, I would regard this film as a very commendable 'B' movie, distinctly superior to many of its genre. Comparisons with 'Gladiator', which has pretensions to being a historically based film, cannot be made in any meaningful way. But I very much preferred 'Amazons and Gladiators', because it showed much more ongoing character development than was allowed by the pointless and unceasing violence in 'Gladiator', and could even be regarded as providing role models for young women who feel they are being exploited and victimised by the society in which they live. Further reasons for this preference can be found in my user comments on 'Gladiator' in this database.

IMDb does not list any alternative versions for this film, but there appear to be two very different versions. I saw it on Public TV in a 90 minute PG version totally without nudity, but the large screen version was given an R rating for nudity, and both IMDb users and external reviewers have commented that many topless extras were featured. Although this may explain wide differences in the ratings received from IMDb users, the large number of one ratings seems inexplicable. What do these reviewers do when they see a really bad film? I would have rated it at five, but this led me to award it a marginally justified six.