Mythic Physique Retro

Several years ago my wife Athena gifted me Retro-Stud, a hardcover book by David Chapman that celebrates muscle movie posters worldwide.

It is a wonderful book: garishly colorful, atmospheric and evocative, full of historical tidbits... a worthy tribute to the Peplum Era I love so much. Thank you once again O Wonderful Wife!

I read it, again and again, and enjoyed each re-reading. And yes, I must admit that sometimes I just skimmed through the pictures.

As I absorbed the book, one of the realizations that struck me is how interchangeable the protagonists of muscleman films truly are. These movies were marketed under different names to different countries. For instance, Hercules could also be, or may have originally been, Maciste, Goliath, Samson, Ursus, Atlas etc. This demystified the syncretic viewpoint of the ancients for me and rendered it intelligible. It is not too difficult to imagine that something very similar happened in antiquity.

I have since given copies of this tome to other Peplum enthusiasts and have even included copies as GiveAway tomes for some of our activities.

A trivia point: Though the earliest film in this genre goes back to 1914, 1959, the year my wife & I were born, is considered the dawn of the Peplum Rennaisance. Considering the pivotal role these flicks played in my life, I am greatly honored by this.

Review by Hercules Invictus