Sandokan Fights Back (1964)

Wow! Such a good movie.

Such a frustrating disappointment

Beautiful, moving film.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Despite better production values than usual for genre standards, SANDOKAN FIGHTS BACK is a disappointingly routine Italian yarn with a very familiar plot and a poor performance from leading man Ray Danton which drags it down. Long periods of inaction highlighted by only a few good scenes of action make this a film difficult to watch and care about at all. The plot is simplistic in the extreme and seems to have been dragged pretty thin; we see Sandokan and his friends fighting an evil usurper of the throne, and win, and that's it. They even resort to inserting stock footage of stampeding cattle and jungle creatures in some instances to pad out the story.Saying that, the film isn't totally worthless for the genre fan. The supporting cast is full of familiar faces and director Luigi Capuano gives his film an expensive look, utilising imaginative sets (I particularly liked the spooky statue of Kali in the darkened temple) and exotic locales which add to the visual splendour of the movie. The action, when it arrives, is well-choreographed and includes sword and gun play, the highlight probably being the boarding of a ship by an endless stream of turbaned natives. There's a fun if fake battle between Sandokan and an attacking tiger and a surprisingly gruesome moment involving a prisoner having his head crushed under an elephant's foot. The scene involving the escape on the back of an elephant from a burning temple is quite imaginatively done as well.Ray Danton is pretty charmless in the leading Sandokan role, lacking the muscles as well as the natural charisma that somebody like Steve Reeves would have bought to the part. Hidden behind a turban and beard, Danton doesn't seem to change his expression for the entire movie which makes him something of a glum hero. Franca Bettoia is on hand as the love interest, a princess who falls in love with Sandokan despite being on opposite sides to him. Sadly Bettoia is one of the less attractive leading ladies in the movies and hasn't much to do in an underwritten role. Guy Madison is on hand as a dashing ally of Sandokan's, while thankfully the inimitable Mario Petri is on hand and stealing his scenes with his hulking presence as William Druk, the all-round bad guy. He even gets to wield an axe for the film's finale like he was in THE EXECUTIONER OF VENICE all over again. SANDOKAN FIGHTS BACK is a B-movie with A-movie aspirations, a mainly colourless adventure yarn in desperate need of life on the part of the plot and in regard to Danton's performance; a romp which may look good but is no different from many others, with only a few distinguishing characteristics.

This Sandokan entry was decently directed by Luigi Capuano with an European cast and it contains rousing action , romantic adventure , mayhem and a fine cast doing a fine job . In the further story of ¨Sandokan the Great¨ , our hero saves the damsel in distress called Samoa (Franca Bettoia) and fights an evil ruler , Sir Charles Brooks (Mario Petri) . Filmed in Singapore ; it tells the tale of Sandokan who is a Malaysian prince who , with a group of renegades , goes up against an ominous governor called Lord Brook . ¨This Sandokan against Leopard of Sarawak" or ¨The vengeance of Sandokan¨ boasts a nice cast as Ray Danton , Franca Bettoia , Mario Petri , Guy Madison , Alberto Farnese . As Sandokan teams up with a bunch of colleagues to even the score with a nasty governor during the 1800 . When Sandokan learns he is the rightful heir to the throne of Malaysia, he immediately sets of to claim his land back . Exciting story of love and adventure , the complete romance and the exotic events about the famous hero Sandokan based on novels by Emilio Salgari . As Sandokan , lord of Malaysia , sets out in pursuit enemies and rescue his lover accompanied by his European friend Yañez (Guy Madison) and Tremal-Naïk (Alberto Farnese or Albert Farley) . Sandokan infiltrates into governor palace but he is betrayed and discovered . Along the way Sandokan takes on several dangers and finally a spectacular battle against Lord Brook and his hoodlums who are trying to carry out the princess execution .This is an entertaining oriental movie , full of action, thrills , double-crosses and of course , a lot of duels and fights . Being a so-so European co-production among several countries such as Italy, France , and West Germany . It is a grade-B flick with noisy adventure , emotion , slavery , breathtaking ship attacks , guns provoking a lot of deaths , and many other things . Decent production by Ottavio Poggi with adequate Ray Danton as Sandokan , and Franca Bettoia as Princess . The flick packs enjoyable as well as exotic atmosphere , luxurious gowns , evocative sets , alright cinematography and powerful score . Lots of intrigue , treason , luxurious scenarios , twists and turns . Sympathetic performances by main star cast such as Ray Danton , Guy Madison who had a fruitful career as American as Italian , gorgeous Franca Bettoia and agreeable secondary cast ; as the marvelous main actors are completed by a stellar cast full of veteran Italian players as Alberto Farnese as Tremal-Naïk , Raf Baldassarre as Teotrokis , Nando Poggi , Mino Doro and special mention Mario Petri as Lord Brook . Splendid color from 16 mm , including appropriate cinematography by Bitto Albertini . Being shot on location in Singapore and other exotic places . Evocative score by Carlo Rustichelli , including classical music and some sounds in oriental style . This one was a popular film by that time , getting big success at European Box office . The motion picture was professionally directed by Luigi Capuano . He was a good craftsman who made all kind of genres , and especially adventure movie . Capuano directed Spaghetti Western such as "Il Magnifico Texano" , Peplum as ¨Revenge of Ursus¨ ,"Revenge of the Gladiators" , "Hercules and the Black Pirates" and of course Adventures such as "Zorro in the Court of Spain" , "Zorro, Rider of Vengeance" , ¨Zorro and three musketeers¨ ,"Tiger of the Seven Seas" , ¨leopard of Sarawak¨ , ¨Vengeance of Sandokan¨ , "Terror of the Red Mask" starred by Lex Barker and "The Lion of St. Mark" set in Venice and starred by Gordon Scott . Other pictures about this fictitious personage are the followings : its sequel ¨Sandokan Fights Back¨ (1964) with same players ; ¨pirati della Malesia (original title) by Umberto Lenzi with Steve Reeves ; "Sandokan, La Tigre di Mompracen¨ or "Sandokan the Great" (1963) with Steve Reeves as Sandokan , Geneviève Grad as Mary Ann and Andrea Bosic as Yanez ; "Le Tigri Di Mompracem" (1970) by Mario Sequi with Ivan Rassimov as Sandokan , Claudia Gravy , Andrea Bosic , Luis Dávila , José Torres . And TV ¨Sandokan¨ (vey popular series of the 70s) with Kabir Bedi , Philippe Leroy and Adolfo Celi . And finally "The return of Sandokán" (1996) , ¨Il Figlio Di Sandokan" (1998) , TV series played by Kabir Bedi and directed by Enzo G Castellari .

Having already made his best buddy Yanez the ruler of Assam in a previous adventure, the time has come for Sandokan to reclaim his own thrown. We learn the origin of the Tiger of Mompracem on the deathbed of his former maid Bavaria. Turns out his father was a king, his mother was a queen and little Sando was saved from certain death by Bavaria when rebels attacked. Seeing all this in flashback makes you wonder why our hero has no recollection of these events when he was at least ten years old when it happened. Also, why did Bavaria postpone telling her story until she was at death's door? Not very keen to see her home land again apparently. But enough picking of the nit, la Tigre has the Royal seal and now he must take back his kingdom. The usurper is a vile and evil villain who likes to have his enemies crushed underneath elephants on public display anyway, so there.On his way to help his pally, Yanez is attacked by pirates (and not the good and kindly ones like Sandokan either). Naturally a big bloodless battle breaks out. Even when people die of a gunshot wound at close range, they neatly fall down and curl up in a corner so they don't get in the way. Their broadswords stay squeaky clean as well. After the usual rescue operation, Sandokan sends Yanez off on an errand of his own. It appears his Kingdom-to-be is inhabited by stock-shot natives, elephants and one rhino looking at the camera. Having had a good long look around, Sandy does what he always does: safe a princess from a tiger. She is princess Samoa, and Mr. Kahn introduces himself as 'Dragmani' and starts circulating rumours of the 3 headed elephant amulet held by the rightful ruler of Smakbasan.Once inside the palace, Sandokan still wants to take bloody revenge on all of it's inhabitants, even Samoa, until she does the "Thank You dance of Love and Hate" for him. Meanwhile his old buddy 'Nez is up to his neck in cannons that only fire smoke, yet still take down the advancing enemy. More curious spectacle is provided by stampeding oxes dragging pots and pans tied to their legs. A group of villains throw Styrofoam rocks at them (but they have the courtesy to wait until the beasts have just passed by). Even worse, one traitor causes all the grainy and scratchy stock shot animals to make a run for it. They even flip flopped this colour drained material a couple of times to make it last longer. On the other side of the island Samoa has been sentenced to death for high treason. Still, this time the evil Vizier can's use the elephant to do his dirty work, as the big old beast has chosen the mighty side of goodness and rightness for love of the princess. Sandokan arrives just in time (what kept him, anyway?) for the grand finale in a burning sacrificial temple that has only one exit. I'll leave you with that cliffhanger so as not to spoil the ending.6 out of 10