THE SECRET SEVEN (1963)

In the 4th century BCE, with the fall of Athens to Sparta, democracy is swept away. The tyrant Rabirio rules from Sidone, though a band of rebels live in the mountains outside the city. Axel, one of the rebel leaders, is captured, but his brother Leslio buys five slave prisoners and says if they help him free Axel, Leslio will free them. They agree and the six men manage to free Axel from prison. Back in their home village, Leslio and Axel discover that the village was attacked by Rabirio's men and their mother is among the dead. The former slaves decide to stick around and, led by Leslio and Axel, become the title force, heading off to exact revenge against Rabirio. Leslio poses as an architect who has been hired by Rabirio, gets into the tyrant's good graces, then discovers that Rabirio's mistress is Lydia, an old flame of his. She, however, soon agrees to help Leslio. The seven plan to hit Rabirio where it will hurt by stealing the gold he has amassed. One of the slaves is something of a primitive inventor and when they discover the gold, they use a large catapult to shoot the gold chests out of a tower window into the sea where a raft is waiting to salvage it, then use it to catapult themselves out. They do wind up in a face-off with Ranirio's troops, but with the help of an arrow-firing Gatling Gun device (and a last minute approach by friendly Macedonians, I think), the seven are victorious. This is sold as a peplum film grounded in history rather than myth, but ultimately this is more an adventure movie than a muscleman movie, as actual muscles are in short supply. The lead, Tony Russel, was better known for adventure and spy movies; he’s fine though he's no Hercules or Maciste. Massimo Serato (Axel) was in more peplum films but usually in a supporting role. Both are effectively heroic here. Gerard Tichy, as Rabirio, is a bit less impressive, as is Helga Line as Lydia, though she went on to an impressively long career in Italian movies and TV. There are a couple of fairly improbable but spectacular free-for-all fights which are fun, as are the catapult and the arrow gun. Aka THE INVINCIBLE SEVEN. Pictured are five of the secret seven, celebrating a victory. [YouTube]