This is one gutsy ending with Ulysses going unhinged, releasing his wrath on those that have taken advantage of his family. WOW! What an amazing turn of events!
My dad who has passed at 72 yrs of age introduced this movie to me as a child. I've been enchanted ever since and will continue the legacy and introduce this golden era of cinema to my kids.
The ancient Greeks had the best stories ever!!!! Who else could have thought of such a story of war, betrayal, love and honor? Only the ancient Greeks had such mind numbing stories to tell only with the words of the blind poet/storyteller, Homer!........ well before books, before films and cinema, before TV, before the Internet..the best story tellers the world will ever know!!!!
And also met.warlord do you know Mahabharata is ten times the illiad and the Odyssey combined and has every arc and subplot your homer couldn't even have thought
@@jeamesbombaymassage6154 you are wrong. Indians got to know the Greek culture after the fall of the Persian Empire from Alexander the Great and were influenced by it in the 4th century
@@sweetanstudioz4480 you are wrong. Indians got to know the Greek culture after the fall of the Persian Empire from Alexander the Great and were influenced by it in the 4th century
Being Indian I appreciate Lady Penelope. She seems pure, pious and Loyal to her husband. Awaiting such long period of arrival of her husband is remarkable. I further appreciate such wife.Thanks to all.Love to all.
Yeah but what if he never came back and died , she would have wasted her 1 life . And many men are not pious. That is not equal. I believe since man and woman come from God , neither is better than the other
@@jamesplunkett8912 And before to it, you must read Homer's Odyssey. The film has many changes, and even it omits both many facts, characters and deities to understand its plot well.
In Spartacus, Douglas played the rebellious slave character as humble and meditative. Not so in Ulysses; Douglas played this hero of Homer as an arrogant king, extroverted and even boisterous.
Ulysses (or Odysseus, as the Greeks called him) was being punished by the gods for just such arrogance you pointed out. Kirk Douglas wasn't just an "action star", he was a fine actor capable of great range.
Strings the bow, there's a clap of thunder -- that's straight from the text of Homer as written! Homer would have been a screenwriter for sure if he lived in our era.
Love watching classics films like this one. High end actors, talented directors, amazing scenic perspectives, and detailed to the T designs. Hollywood will never be as great or golden ever again.
There are two details here that I think are good changes. 1. In Homer's Odyssey, after Antinous is shot, Eurymachus tries to apologize to Odysseus/Ulysses, offering to repay him for everything the suitors have taken while he was gone. Odysseus refuses the offer and says that nothing can persuade him not to kill them all. This adaptation changes it so that the suitors immediately attack as soon as they realize Ulysses is back. This makes the killing of the suitors more justified, since there was no opportunity to negotiate with them. 2. After the suitors are all slaughtered, in Homer's version Odysseus has 12 serving women who slept with the suitors clean the room before they are all hanged, which seems grossly unfair, to say the least. This adaptation shows the serving women actually bringing weapons to the suitors and encouraging them to kill Ulysses, so it's more clear that they truly are traitors.
You mean Homer's Ulysses has been "woked": slaughter now justified because he was anice guy in a bad place...and the Sirens? Typical "flirtacious harlots"? What next, Achilles's friend Patroclus wasn't his lover? The Olymic games weren't a gay pickup event? Ancient Greece was no paradise; it was rough.
In the book, she doesn't know. Not until after the fight...But it's a good idea to make aware now. Text is simply a different medium. It doesn't translate well in visual language. My favorite films from books are the ones that do not follow the book exactly, and take any liberties that allow them to convey the essence and the voice of the book rather than the plot
This was truly a great movie, although it was panned at the time. Ulysses set the tone for the rest of my life. It's haunting beauty and marvelous action scenes made me a true scholar of Homer - the Iliad and the Odyssey. That was over 60 years ago, and this movie still thrills me.
I saw this movie in a double feature with "The Vikings" when I was a kid a long time ago. And I have loved Kirk Douglas ever since. The "double feature" was like a "double header" baseball game and both have become extinct. But when I was a kid, you could see two "features" for the price of one. Movie theatres had to complete with a new invention called "television" that was gaining popularity and they tried all kinds of things.
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Yes, she waited and weaved and untangled and re-weaved and untangled her tapestry to buy time for her husband, knowing the great warrior King Oddyseus would return from the Trojan War....at the start only Odysseus's faithful dog, Argos recognised him.........what a great, epic story of love, honor, commitment, courage, loyalty, patriotism and heroism, a story that was born from reality, that only the Greeks could concieve and which has lasted till this very day! That is why Western Civilisation prospered, on the back of Hellenic culture!
That's how Homer wrote it. He killed them all with his son's help. Antinoos died first. They teach us the full book in school rapsody by rapsody for a whole year.
@@Lundahlium It's a good movie and Kirk Douglas the best Odysseus ever in cinema. But it could be better. Here they made Kirki the which and Calypso the nymph in one person, and I would like to include the adventure in Aeolus (god of the winds) island.
I remember that as a young lad I was absolutely gob smacked when the one eyed giant picked up one of Ulesses's crew & bit him in half. "Hmmm these Greeks are tough.....stringy meat." Wow. That was pretty graphic for those days.
They laughed at the old man.... until it was too late to be kind to the old veteran They made too many mistakes, each punishable by Death First, they landed in his island and pretended to rob him of his kingdom Second, they tried to steal his Wife who as clever as him fooled them for years Third, they mistreated his subjects and servants and lounged freeboard upon his wealth and forcing hospitality of his Queen with unwelcomed demands Fourth, they plotted to have the fruit of his wife and his love, their son usurped aside and murdered And last, and most lethal of all, they thought they could outmatch the old veteran of Troy's War, the Man who singlehandedly made it possible through brow not brawn to ultimately conquer that city impossible to be defeated by all war means. Douglas was magnificent in this Epic of Epics films demanding a physical overlord against his odds. Her catatonic acting was not in line to Quinn's and Douglas but they carried the show above just honoring the Master of all bards
Italian-made with some Hollywood talent, including the cinematographer and some of the (many) writers. Directed by Mario Camerini, whose career went back to the silent era. He directed one of the earliest sword-and-sandal (peplum) films - Maciste Against the Sheik - so he had experience in this sort of thing. However, he doesn't seem to be much of a director of actors. Anthony Quinn does only the obvious sort of epic-y stuff here, as do the other suitors.Silvana Mangano didn't have to do much but look beautifully stoic, or stoically beautiful - she was the wife of one of the producers (Dino De Laurentiis). Douglas is fine, playing to his strength of volcanic pressure just under the surface, then erupting. I checked this out because the design of some lampposts I see form a similar "tunnel" effect as the curves of the axes, and I started thinking about this sequence. Thanks to the Internet and You Tube, here it is. Yay. Now for the sequence with the Cyclops, Polyphemus...
I love how the scene is played out. The beggar who is laughed at bends the bow that no-one can bend and then fires the arrow through 12 axe heads. Then, the detractors realise who they were laughing at was Ulysses.
One of the greatest finales in movie history. All plot points are wrapped up in true epic fashion. Ruthless and deeply satisfying at same time. A happy ending only through the blood of traitors and cowards. Long Live Ulysses! Death to all usurpers!
@@HopliteWarlord The Iliad and the Odyssey are amazing. The gods and goddesses of Olympus are all in it. Ulysses has Poseidon's wrath and the kind help of clear eyed Athena.
I like the scene where he comes back and only his old dog recognised him ,and some body kicks his begging bowl out of his hands... warning.. bad move tosser
Silvana Mangano has been a very beautyful italian woman,but not really an actress! She was the spouse of an rich italian producer who wanted to have his wife in his movies !
Kudos to the uploader. Kirk had the best musculature on the screen. I saw this back 1970ish on the late show. It certainly wasn't the the definitive version of the Odyssey, but at the time it more than sufficed.
Well Armand Asante and Kirk Douglas have lived on different time on movie film. What i love in Armand Asante is when he was asked what the suitors crime? They said we treated your queen with respect, we eat your house but that can be replaced, we never killed anyone.Then King Odyseus replied . The crime is that you try to stel my world , the world which i built with my life , my hands, my wife who bore me my son and for that you will die.......Kirk Douglas memorable scene for me i think was when i remember him disguising as a beggar where the first to recognized him that he already returns was his Dog Percy ..I loved the scene that it really vivids my memory.. I loved this Iliad and Odyssey of Homer novel...
I saw this film during my school days around 1960 . this is the most admirebal scene implanted in my memory.i have viewed this about 100 times.according to me he is the most admirebal actor in the western cinema.i have seen many films represented by this actor.also he had the opportunity to live beyond 100 years.
It was odiseus spirit that brought him back home after the conclusion of the war & after the long adventure cruise complication & he wait for the right moment no important how hard it was for him to jump on the dumb that stealing his property opposing anything that belong to him his kingdom & his beloved wife suffering of all these years waiting straightforward for him to come back which as I said before he jumped on them & cleared up the situation for once & for all
Kirk Douglas was in 3 great hero films --- Ulysses, The Vikings, and Spartacus. Which one is best??? They are all great. The dancing on the oars he did in the Vikings he ad libbed.
This is one gutsy ending with Ulysses going unhinged, releasing his wrath on those that have taken advantage of his family. 율리시즈가 고통(苦痛)을 겪으면서 놀랄만 한 분노(憤怒)를 표출(表出)하는 거친 결말(結末)입니다.
My Junior high school played this film for us and no one was goofing off as usual but quiet watching and the bus bell went off but everyone stayed till we seen this amazing ending. I bought the dvd 10 years ago .
im glad i was able to watch this clip. my father used to tell me this story when i was a kid and until now i could still remember the story. hope they can have a remake for this❤️
@@acdragonrider : with the technology of today, those myths and legends could be made into quite wonderful films. I really miss these great epic films, a lot!
This is an old movie - so awesome to see Kirk Douglas young and strong! He died in February of this year 2020 - at age 103. RIP Mr. Douglas - you were always a fascinating and beautiful man - I will remember you this way. Edit: I had his age at 104. My bad.
This is pretty much right out of Homer. All the suitors fail, Odysseus in disguise asks to make the attempt, he is roundly ridiculed (Homer has him pelted with garbage at this point). Effortlessly he strings the bow, all are struck silent, "oh crap, we're done for." most dramatic moment in literature.
Exactly right. And in Homer, Penelope's faithfulness is strongly contrasted with the unfaithfulness of Clytemnestra', Agamemnon's wife, who not only cheats on him but murders him with the aid of her lover when he returns from Troy. Mind you, Agamemnon not only fooled around himself in Troy, but claims Achilles' "prize", one of the women captured by the Acheans, thus setting up the quarrel which is the subject of the "Iliad".
@@jennytawler2653 Clytemnestra and Egidus kill Agam because he sacrificed his and Clyt's young daughter for faithful winds as they left for Ilion/Troy. Clyt and Egidus are then murdered in their bath by her and Agam.'s own son, Oreste. Talk about family night.
Amazing that he uses a simple pinch of the thumb and forefinger to pluck the bow that no one can bend. They could have at least taught him the three finger method.
the trick was that they used the traditional hold to pull the string as hard as they could to the bow ridge, when the string will never stretch as only the bow will bend. BUT, in doing so their own fingers take space for the string to come closer to bow. He simply scooped the string hole in his palm and with the tip of his finger tucked in the bow the loop. That's a very calculated measure only a methodical mind as Ulysses could painstakingly come up himself. His shot through the axes rings was no less telling of such mind that worked like a precision clockmaker. And the rest cool hand and sober wits against so many enemies when it comes to him, is proverbial of a man who's a veteran of much worse these pencil pushers ever seen or stand around such hells as he did and overcame victorious where many failed. The most gifted of Hellenes.
Don't forget to watch the other, more modern, version of this, also on U Tube. It's long but pretty good and almost sticks to the original plot. Odysseus has always been my ideal.
A good, yes, I saw the series with Armand Assante as Ulysses, I guess, the final scene was filmed with brutal realism that took me to the edge of my seat. Homero was a genius!
A corny film sometimes, but this scene is taken right from Homer (that TV version from 1997 got this scene very wrong). I have long thought it the most dramatic moment in literature, when he strings the bow, and the suitors suddenly think "Oh crap, we're done for. . . "
+edriant1916 Really? I thought the 1997 version did it terrific. The moment where he passes the test and his disguise is removed, and all the suitors see who he is. I thought it was much more dramatic. Though I admit the suitors here put up much more of a fight.
In the 1997 version I remember Odysseus telling Telemachus "Now is the time for your anger" and a moment later Telemachus sticks a spear through Antinous. Homer, and Kirk Douglas' film, have Odysseus sending an arrow through Antinous' neck. It may seem a minor difference, but I was disappointed.
This is certainly much closer to Homer but it’s still far off in a very important aspect - in Homer, Penelope does NOT witness the slaughter of the Suitors, which sets things up for a very important scene, where Penelope « tests » Odyseseus (Ulysses) and he proves who he is, which leads Penelope to go straight to bed with him.
The first arrow was to go through the throat of Antinous as he raised a golden cup of wine to his lips . After the slaughter the floor was covered in “ filth “ blood and gore . Odysseus spred sulphur over the floor and set it ablaze and purified his great hall .
It's an amazing movie,n that the entire affair shown, belongs to the land of Socrates,Plato n Aristotle! Hopefully,it does still spellbound, the viewers of 21st Century! Memorable!Kudos to Kirk! Remarkable Post!