''Ator, the Fighting Eagle'' ( it, Ator l'invincibile; translated: "Ator the Invincible") is a 1982 Italian

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme ...

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

film directed by

Joe D'Amato Aristide Massaccesi (15 December 1936 – 23 January 1999), known professionally as Joe D'Amato, was an Italian film director, producer, cinematographer, and screenwriter who worked in many genres ( westerns, decamerotici, peplum, war films, ...

, and the first film to feature the character

Ator ''Ator'' is a film series of four Italian movies made in the 1980s by director Joe D'Amato, under the pseudonym David Hills. D'Amato wrote and directed the first, second, and fourth films in the series, himself disregarding the existence of the t ...

(played by

Miles O'Keeffe Miles O'Keeffe (born June 20, 1954) is an American film and television actor. O'Keeffe got his first big break playing the title role in the 1981 version of '' Tarzan, the Ape Man''. Youth O'Keeffe was born in Ripley, Tennessee. A star footb ...

Plot

As the film opens, a baby named Ator is born with a birthmark that signals he will someday destroy the Spider Cult, which currently holds power over the land. Fearing this prophecy, the leader of the cult — High Priest of The Ancient One, Dakkar (Dakar) — attempts to kill the baby. Baby Ator's birthmark is covered up, however, and he is whisked off to a village far away where he is given to a couple to raise as their own. Years later, Ator (O'Keefe), now in love with his sister Sunya (Brown), asks his father for permission to marry her. Ator's father reveals to Ator that he is adopted, and can therefore marry Sunya if he likes. On the day of their wedding, the village is raided by the Spider Cult's soldiers and several women are taken, including Ator's new bride. After pursuing the soldiers, Ator soon finds himself training with Griba, a warrior who is an enemy of The Ancient One and also the person who whisked him away at his birth. Griba disappears, though, after which Amazons kidnap Ator, nearly seduced by a witch, and undergoes a quest to retrieve a magical mirrored shield. While kidnapped by the Amazons, Ator is "won" by Roon (Siani), a fierce blonde thief he helped earlier in the film. Roon is enamored with Ator, so she decides to flee with him and assist him during his quest. Ator successfully obtains the mirror, then uses it to fight and defeat Dakkar. His victory is muddied by the revelation that Griba is actually Dakkar's predecessor and had trained Ator so that he could retake his position as High Priest. Ator defeats Griba, however, leaving him to be devoured by the offspring of The Ancient One, a giant spider that dwells within the temple. To ensure that the cult does not return, Ator then provokes and kills The Ancient One itself. Afterward, with Roon having perished while infiltrating the temple, Ator and Sunya head back to their village, presumably to live in peace together.

Cast

as Ator *

Sabrina Siani Sabrina Siani (born Sabrina Seggiani in Rome, 1963) is an Italian film actress. She also used pseudonyms such as Sabrina Sellers and Sabrina Syan. She starred in numerous films, mostly violent cannibal films and sexy barbarian "sword-and-sandal" m ...

as Roon * Ritza Brown as Sunya *

Edmund Purdom Edmund Anthony Cutlar Purdom (19 December 19241 January 2009) was an English actor, voice artist, and director. He worked first on stage in Britain, performing various works by Shakespeare, then in America on Broadway and in Hollywood, and event ...

as Griba *

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from :wo:daqaar, daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar ...

as High Priest of the Spider (as Dakkar) *

Laura Gemser Laurette Marcia Gemser (born 5 October 1950) is an Indonesian-Dutch retired actress, model and costume designer. She is primarily known for her work in Italian erotic cinema, most notably the ''Emanuelle'' series. Many of her films were collab ...

as Indun * Alessandra Vazzoler as Woman in the tavern (as Chandra Vazzoler) *

Nello Pazzafini Nello Pazzafini (15 May 1933 – 9 January 1996) was an Italian actor who appeared in a very large number of Peplum movies, Spaghetti Westerns and Poliziotteschi. He was an ex-bodyguard and often played a "tough guy" character. Partial filmo ...

as Bardak (as Nat Williams) * Jean Lopez as Nordya * Olivia Goods as Queen

Production

Michele Soavi Michele Soavi, sometimes known as Michael Soavi (born 3 July 1957)Baldassarre, Angela (1999) "The Great Dictators: Interviews with Filmmakers of Italian Descent", Guernica Editions, is an Italian filmmaker, actor, and screenwriter best known fo ...

was hired to write the script for ''Ator, the Fighting Eagle''. He did it in collaboration with Marco Modugno. Both had previously worked together on the film ''Bambulè'' (1979)—Modugno as director, Soavi as assistant director. The film was developed under the

working title A working title, which may be abbreviated and styled in trade publications after a putative title as (wt), also called a production title or a tentative title, is the temporary title of a product or project used during its development, usually ...

of ''Fantasy''. Later, the script was revised by José Maria Sanchez and the film's director Joe D'Amato. D'Amato said in an interview that the script was "written by Jose Maria Sanchez", without mentioning Soavi or Modugno.Palmerini, Luca M.; Mistretta, Gaetano (1996). "Spaghetti Nightmares". Fantasma Books. p. 79.. In the credits, the pseudonym "Sherry Russel" was used. In a statement printed in the Italian magazine ''Nocturno'', director Joe D'Amato complained that although Miles O'Keeffe, the actor who played Ator, had a nice athletic physique and was a really nice guy (lang-it:''un ragazzo d'oro''), he recited his lines badly and was behaving listlessly during fight scenes. D'Amato praised the weapons master Franco Ukmar for doing "an incredible job" on him.

Release

''Ator, the Fighting Eagle'' passed the Italian censorship board on 14 September 1982 and was released in Italy on 7 October. It was released in the United States on 11 March 1983. The film was featured in Season 12 of '' Mystery Science Theater 3000'' on November 22, 2018 as well as Rifftrax. A Blu-ray release was set for September 2019 by Dark Force Entertainment. However, a few days after the release was announced, a controversial Facebook post surfaced promoting the movie, which contained a reference to Seth Ator, who killed 7 people and injured 25 others, including a 17-month-old girl, during a mass shooting in Odessa, Texas. The post resulted in backlash from Dark Force's customers and the families of the victims. On September 3, Dark Force announced the release was cancelled due to the controversial post. The film was finally released on Blu-ray in May 2020.

Reception

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' described the film as a "dull, incredibly silly fantasy adventure" and that the director "creates no atmosphere, with picture's exteriors never achieving any period feel". The Canadian magazine FFWD stated that "there are four Ator movies in total, and each one is staggeringly awful".Terrible sequels to terrible movies
by John Tebbutt. FFWD magazine, February 25, 2010. Retrieved October 6, 2013.

References

Footnotes

Sources

* * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ator The Fighting Eagle 1982 films 1980s fantasy adventure films 1980s Italian-language films English-language Italian films 1980s English-language films Ator Films directed by Joe D'Amato Films scored by Carlo Maria Cordio Italian fantasy adventure films Sword and sorcery films Peplum films Sword and sandal films 1982 multilingual films Italian multilingual films 1980s Italian films