Hercules in New York

Infobox Film
name = Hercules in New York


caption = Promotional Poster for "Hercules in New York"
director = Arthur Allan Seidelman
producer = Aubrey Wisberg
writer = Aubrey Wisberg
starring = Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Stang
James Karen
Deborah Loomis
Ernest Graves
Tony Carroll
music = John Balamos
cinematography = Leo Lebowitz
editing = Donald P. Finamore
distributor =
released = flagicon|USA February 25, 1970
runtime = 91 min.
country = USA
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0065832

"Hercules in New York" (Originally known as "Hercules Goes Bananas") is a 1970 comedy-action film. It is principally known for being the first fictional film to star Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Playing the film's title character Schwarzenegger, because of his long last name and to play off the name of fellow cast member comedian Arnold Stang, is credited as "Arnold Strong", and because of his thick Austrian accent, had all his lines dubbed, although often modern showings of the film have his audio track restored. However, even these "restored" showings cannot change the final scene's lines that "Hercules" speaks to Pretzie over a small transistor radio, in a voice that is clearly not Schwarzenegger's.

On October 19, 2006, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Premiere Pictures was auctioning off the rights to the film on eBay for a minimum bid of $550,000. [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/10/19/DDG6PKEB781.DTL]

Plot

The film begins with Hercules on Olympus, berating his father Zeus for not allowing him to leave the gods' abode to adventure among mortal men. Eventually Zeus tires of Hercules and blasts him with a lightning bolt, casting him out of Olympus - giving Hercules what he wanted.

After some strange encounters in the air and at sea, Hercules arrives in New York City, where hilarity ensues in the form of interactions with various New Yorkers, who regard him as physically superior but socially awkward. He meets a skinny little guy called Pretzie (Arnold Stang). Hercules becomes a successful professional wrestler.

Zeus, watching Hercules from the heights, becomes irritated with Hercules' antics, which he feels are making a mockery of the gods, and calls on Nemesis to stop Hercules. After Mercury makes an unsuccessful attempt to bring Hercules home, Zeus orders Nemesis to see to it that Hercules is consigned to the infernal regions ruled over by Pluto. However, Juno, the hero's ever-jealous stepmother, has her own plans for Zeus's wayward offspring. In the final apocalyptic battle Hercules is saved by the miraculous arrival of Atlas, a Titan, and (a short haired) Samson, a biblical hero.

Mythology

The film possesses numerous faults in the area of Ancient Mythology. For instance, character names such as Zeus, Nemesis, and Atlas originate from Greek mythology, whilst others such as Hercules, Pluto and Mercury stem from Roman myths. Although the story is an attempt to unite ancient cultures, many of the divine characters would never possibly exist in the same civilization, nor in harmony. It would have been more correct to use characters such as Heracles, Hera, Hades and Hermes in place of Hercules, Juno, Pluto and Mercury. Samson is neither in Greek or Roman mythology

External links

* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065832/ "Hercules in New York"] at the Internet Movie Database
* [http://www.hulu.com/watch/12323/hercules-in-new-york "Hercules in New York"] (full film, with advertisements, only available in the USA) on Hulu