The formula is simple: a mesomorphic hero clad in little more than an ornate loincloth, armed with heavy metal, seeks revenge against the despot who did him wrong and ultimately saves the woman dressed like Barbara Eden in I Dream of Jeannie who's being held in chains by the evil ruler. "Sword-and-sandal" movies have been part of the film world since the early 1900s, but it wasn't until the 1950s, when Italian directors like Pietro Francisci and Sergio Corbucci saw a low-budget way to capitalize on the successes of American epics like 1949's Samson and Delilah and 1953's The Robe, that the genre came into its own. Often dismissed as spaghetti westerns with deltoids and shields, sword-and-sandal films evolved from movies produced on the cheap with unknown actors and threadbare plots to multi-million dollar epics worthy of Oscar recognition. These are the genre's movies that not only established the genre, but that elevated it to new heights.

9 Hercules (1958)

Hercules-1958-Steve Reeves

In 1954, producers Dino De Laurentiis and Carlo Ponti released Ulysses, a cinematic extravaganza based on the 17th century poem by Homer that chronicled the hero's efforts to get back to his home following the war. The movie starred Kirk Douglas in the title role and raked in over $120 million at the box office. Seeing an opportunity to exploit a new genre of films based on mythological and biblical adventures, in 1958, director Francisci brought Hercules to the big screen. With a limited budget, Francisci wasn't able to secure big name stars, but he was able to snag an American bodybuilder, Steve Reeves, to play the titular hero. It worked. The film became the 21st highest U.S. grossing film of that year, and it made a star out its muscle-bound leading man.

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The story was simple — the hero with superhuman strength falls for Iole (Sylva Koscina), the beautiful daughter of Pelias, but must first complete a series of Ninja warrior-style challenges and battle a plethora of evil forces before he can win her hand. The film is a cheese-fest from beginning to end, with bad green screen backgrounds, even worse dialogue looping (Reeves' voice was dubbed by actor Richard McNamara), Greek warriors from 1000 B.C. sporting Frankie Avalon haircuts, damsels in distress in bullet bras, and special effects that were anything but. None of this mattered to audiences, who couldn't get enough of the bare-chested Reeves vanquishing everything from water buffaloes to T-Rexes. The movie spawned a sequel the next year, established Reeves as the King of Sword-and-Sandal Cinema, and created a whole new sub-genre of movies featuring glistening Greek and Roman gods in battles to the death. There have been dozens of films and TV shows about the mythological muscle stud in the years following the release of this film, but none can match the original.

8 Son of Samson (1960)

Son of Samson

Closely following the Hercules formula, this entry in the sword-and-sandal genre is notable for its blatant homoeroticism. Director Carlo Campogalliani seemed to know that he could make a movie that would appeal to adventure lovers, but that would also be a subliminal love story about two hunks who meet cute, get separated by fate, then ultimately reunite. Once again, an American bodybuilder, Mark Forest, plays the hero. Maciste is the son of the legendary warrior Samson, who drew his strength from his long hair. Maciste's hilariously sexually charged first scene with Egyptian pharaoh Kenamun (Angelo Zanolli) involves wrestling to the death an obviously stuffed lion, followed by awkward dubbed giggling and the boys playfully pushing each other around. Maciste then heads off to free a band of female slaves (all wearing Bettie Page wigs) before the evil Persian Queen Smedes (Beyoncé look-alike Chelo Alonso) can work them to death. Along the way, the queen attempts a hysterically awkward dance of seduction to win Maciste's affections, but he's not the least bit interested. The film ends with Maciste saving Kenamun from death and holding him in his arms before the two head off and find some girlfriends. Although most audiences may have been oblivious to the subliminal messages the film was sending (not to mention Forest's extremely skimpy garments that left little to the imagination), there's no doubt Son of Samson was a heavy "wink, wink, nudge, nudge" to gay audiences in the still heavily closeted early 1960s.

7 Spartacus (1960)

'Spartacus' comes close to being wholly historically correct
Image via Universal Pictures

With the success of the Hercules franchise and other Italian-produced movies like 1960's David and Goliath, Hollywood took note. If a lower budget film featuring unknown actors could bring in the big bucks, just think what a multi-million dollar production featuring A-list stars could do for the coffers at Universal Studios. Hence, a Spartacus is born. At a cost of $12 million (equivalent to over $100 million today), with a cavalcade of prestigious stars that included Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons, and Peter Ustinov, and clocking in at nearly 3 1/2 hours, Spartacus elevated the genre to new respectable heights. This Stanley Kubrick-directed extravaganza about a slave who becomes a gladiator and leads a revolt against the evil Roman Empire is all swords, all sandals, and all spectacle. Winning four Oscars, Spartacus set the standard for future epics like 2000's Gladiator and 2006's 300. Just try to ignore Tony Curtis as a Roman slave with a Brooklyn accent, though.

6 Valley of the Lions (1961)

Valley of the Lions- Ed Fury

There are two reasons to highlight this Italian import: the plot, which is Tarzan meets The Jungle Book meets Hercules, and the star, Ed Fury. Yes, Fury was another in a long line of American bodybuilders-turned-actors who filled the loincloths in so many of these low-budget foreign features, but he had enough charisma to be a worthy successor to the Steve Reeves of the world. Although he never rose above the "B" list, Fury had an appeal that allowed him to reprise his role in the film's two sequels. In this one, Fury plays Ursus, the son of a king who, after his family is murdered by an evil dictator, is raised by a pride of lions. Somehow along the way, Ursus has managed to find a gym to get him that "Physique Pictorial" look, an esthetician to wax his body, and a barber to style his hair like James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause. Once Ursus grows up and decides to leave his lion family, he discovers his royal blood and battles it out with the evil King Simud (Giacomo Furia) to avenge his parents' deaths. Although not nearly on the same level as Spartacus or even Hercules, Valley of the Lions is a must for sword-and-sandal purists.

5 Jason and the Argonauts (1963)

Jason fighting the skeleton army in Jason and the Argonauts (1963)

This heroic adventure about the Greek warrior's search for the Golden Fleece is most notable for its incredible special effects by stop-motion animation master Ray Harryhausen. Anyone who was a kid in the 1960s or '70s and who saw this movie on Saturday afternoon TV will remember the nightmares they suffered after watching the giant Greek statue that comes to life, the flying, screeching gargoyles, the seven-headed hydra, and the army of sword-bearing skeletons. While the cast holds its own, including Todd Armstrong as Jason, Nigel Green as Hercules, and Honor Blackman as Queen Hera, it's Harryhausen's magical effects that are the true stars of this impressive genre entry.

4 Clash of the Titans (1981)

Clash of the Titans-Harry Hamlin

Eighteen years after Jason and the Argonauts, Harryhausen was still at it with his trademark "dynamation." Clash of the Titans really is an homage to the sword-and-sandal features of the earlier decades, and Harryhausen brings his thrilling and chilling special effects to the tale of Perseus (Harry Hamlin), son of Greek God Zeus (Laurence Olivier), who must battle a chorus of evil adversaries to rescue the beautiful Andromeda (Judi Bowker). The film contains a particularly memorable and chilling scene in which the serpent-haired Medusa slithers through the corridors of her citadel palace in search of Perseus, shooting arrows and turning unsuspecting soldiers to stone along the way. Then, of course, there's the famous "release the Kraken!" scene, as the giant multi-limbed beast (a kind of Creature from the Black Lagoon on performance enhancing supplements) is freed from the depths of the sea to capture the fair Andromeda. The film was given a refresh in 2010 with Sam Worthington as Perseus and Liam Neeson as Zeus, but it's the 1981 original that audiences remember.

3 Red Sonja (1985)

red-sonja-pic
Image via MGM/UA Entertainment Company

What? No Conan the Barbarian on this list? While Conan is a worthy sword-and-sandal adventure, special mention must go to its spinoff, Red Sonja, one of the few in the genre that features a female hero kicking butt. It still has Arnold Schwarzenegger (though as a hero named Kalidor, not Conan, since the production didn't have rights to the Conan character), but it's the women who carry this film. Brigitte Nielsen is the warrior seeking revenge on maniacal Queen Gedren (Sandahl Bergman), the fiend who murdered Sonja's family. Red Sonja is pure camp from start to finish. You haven't seen anything until you see Sonja knock over an annoying child who's in her way, or use her sword to gouge out the eyes of a giant plastic piranha-angler fish combo. Sonja's epic battle with Gedren, who has the inexplicable ability to vanish from one spot and pop up in another just like Bewitched's Samantha Stevens, is worth the price of admission alone. And while no one would ever accuse Nielsen of delivering an Oscar-worthy performance in this film, she must be given golf claps for her ability to appear to be taking all of this nonsense seriously, especially with lines like "If danger is a trade, I'll learn it by myself."

2 Gladiator (2000)

Russell Crowe in 'Gladiator'
Image via Dreamworks LLC & Universal Pictures

The sword-and-sandal genre finally got newfound respect with director Ridley Scott's Best Picture winner that tells the story of Maximus (Russell Crowe), the general seeking revenge on the sociopathic Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), the ruler responsible for the murders of Maximus' wife and son (starting to see a plot pattern with these films yet?). Violent, bloody, and with some of the most intense action sequences ever captured on film, Gladiator does what movies like Hercules and Spartacus couldn't — show the true brutality of Rome in 180 AD. Watching Maximus wage a fight to the death against warrior Tigris (Sven-Ole Thorsen) and actual tigers in the Colosseum is true "edge of your seat" viewing. Gladiator made an unlikely action star of Crowe, and Phoenix so masterfully nailed the psychosis of Commodus, it's no wonder he eventually ended up playing The Joker nearly two decades later.

1 300 (2006)

300

The movie that brought painted-on abs and chain mail loincloths into mainstream cinema, 300 is a surreal, stylized fever dream of violent machismo set against the story of a ferocious battle between armies of Spartans and Persians in 480 BC Greece. Never mind the plot, though; it's all about the experience. 300 is Frank Miller's graphic novel brought to life, and it's like an extended music video choreographed by Paula Abdul, but with togas, swords, and shields instead of scrunchies, leg warmers, and ballet slippers. It's also the movie that introduced audiences to the "shout acting" of Gerard Butler as Spartan King Leonidas. It would have been difficult to find a teenage boy in 2006 who at some point didn't scream, "This is Sparta!" as he walked down the halls of his high school. Still, for all of its over the top stylization, 300 is an inventive spin on the tried and true sword-and-sandal feature, and it brought in over $450 million at the box office. It also spawned a 2014 sequel, 300: Rise of an Empire, validating the enduring success of the genre and ensuring its continued viability.