History Film / Maciste

The ''Maciste'' films have two points of popularity. The first ranged from 1914 to 1927, predominantly during UsefulNotes/TheSilentAgeOfHollywood. The series was subsequently resurrected in the 1960s during the ''[[SwordAndSandal peplum]]'' boom in Italy. Many of the 60s Maciste's films were dubbed in English and released in America with Maciste's name replaced with Hercules or Goliath, who were considered more recognizable and mainstream to American audiences. The films have an extremely broad continuity, if any at all, as Maciste has appeared from periods ranging from the Ice Age to the witch trials.

* SpecialEffectsFailure: These movies are full of big rubber monsters that look silly even by the standards of the 1960s.

* MsFanservice: Just as Maciste himself was a WalkingShirtlessScene, the various female characters - from [[TheVamp sexy villainesses]] to good-hearted heroines - would usually be put in {{stripperiffic}} outfits of their own, with [[ShesGotLegs lots of leg]] and cleavage on full display. There was something for everyone!

* ''Maciste Against the Monsters'' (''Fire Monsters Against the Son of Hercules'', 1962)

Maciste first originated as a supporting character in 1914's silent film ''Film/{{Cabiria}}'', a two-hour long leviathan of a film and one of the first true [[EpicMovie epics]]. Maciste's characterization from ''Cabiria'' onward, even across a slew of films over a period of decades, has remained mostly consistent; Maciste is the WorldsStrongestMan (usually played accordingly by an American beefcake bodybuilder) and a champion of the innocent and the disenfranchised. Common rogues of Maciste include [[ReligionOfEvil sinister evil priests]] with a tendency for HumanSacrifice (most of which derive from the BigBad of ''Cabiria''), [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen evil queens]] with a VillainousCrush on Maciste, evil bandits, or any combination of the above. Maciste's foes weren't always necessarily human; he's fought everything from Martians to demons to mole men.

The ''Maciste'' films have two points of popularity. The first ranged from 1914 to 1927, predominantly during UsefulNotes/TheSilentAgeOfHollywood. The series was subsequently resurrected in the 1960s during the ''[[SwordAndSandal peplum]]'' boom in Italy. Many of Maciste's films were dubbed in English and released in America with Maciste's name replaced with Hercules or Goliath, who were considered more recognizable and mainstream to American audiences. The films have an extremely broad continuity, if any at all, as Maciste has appeared from periods ranging from the Ice Age to the witch trials.

* RaceLift: In the silent era, Maciste was supposed to be a black man (which is to say, he was played by a white actor in {{Blackface}}). In the peplum era, Maciste was simply a white guy.