Big budget, starry-cast, historical, make that almost pre-historical, action movie where a one-eyed Kirk Douglas plays a rumbustious (that's putting it mildly) Viking prince and his unwitting half-brother Tony Curtis (the offspring of Douglas's dad, King Ragnar's, rape of the British queen on a previous raid, years before) a soon-to-be one-handed British slave who are both vying for the love of Welsh princess Janet Leigh, whilst Ernest Borgnine as Ragnar eggs his boy on from the sidelines. There's also a minor sub-plot about the Vikings crossing the water to remove from power the new, cruel, usurping English king who's tricked Curtis's Eric out of his birthright to be king himself and who to seal the deal just happens to get himself betrothed to the young Leigh.The movie is beautifully shot in natural light in and around actual Norwegian fjords which look superb in big-screen colour and the recreation of the Viking long-boats by the film's carpenters is also remarkable, but if I'm starting a review by praising the backgrounds, it probably means there's a want in the foreground, and so it proves.Douglas's boorish Einar looks old enough to be Eric's half-father and his usually drunken behaviour hardly endears him to the viewer. At one point he is determined to rape Leigh's Princess Morgana and is only stopped by Curtis's timely intervention. Curtis's character, unusually, is a man of few words but even with a beard, the young Tony doesn't completely convince playing it strong and silent. The object of their affections, Janet Leigh, appears able to bewitch these two the minute they clap eyes on her, which I suppose is fair enough as she does look lovely in her robes, but she's not really required to do much between simpering and occasionally seething.There are some odd scenes of I presume authentic old Viking customs, if you exclude feasting, drinking and womanising on a Henry VIII scale that is, like "walking the oars" and strangest of all the method of proving a wife's infidelity which involves putting her in a set of stocks, then nailing up her outstretched hair plaits and inviting her allegedly cuckolded husband to free her by throwing axes to sever her plaits. Talk about being saved by a hair's breadth. Elswhere there's no stinting on the crowd scenes and the battle scenes are reasonably exciting if not wholly convincing. This film was reasonably entertaining as a spectacle but for me was let down by the hackneyed plotting, use of extreme coincidence and shallow characterisation. Douglas and Curtis of course would get back into tunics and sandals a few years later, but this time with a better tale to tell and under a master director in Stanley Kubrick. To paraphrase a famous line from that movie however, this film here isn't "Spartacus".

1st watched 8/2/2014 -- 3 out of 10(Dir-Richard Fleischer): Hollywood glorification of a vikings tale with lots of star billing, but little else. The story starts by showing us an English king losing his thrown to an heir that is not worthy with the queen knowing that there is a young viking lad out there somewhere that is her child and deserves the position instead. We are then presented with the boisterous party-like drinking vikings initially led by a character played by Ernest Borgnine with his son played by Kirk Douglas. He admires his son way too much primarily because of his boldness(which maybe he lacks) and thus the admiration. The daughter to the throne, Morganna played by Janet Leigh -- is sought after for ransom -- but of course --- Kirk's character wants her for himself for other purposes. Tony Curtis plays the bastard viking son who is an heir but doesn't know it --- and of course, all he wants as well is Morganna. This movie tries to be a romantic triangle within a Viking war-driven oden worshipping culture, but it fails because we never really care for any of the characters. Curtis is fine as a slaved-Viking, but the rest are womanizers who just want glory and victories. We really don't know why they want to conquer England they just do. The preparation to the battles are boring -- the battles are boring -- the ending has no connection to the beginning of the movie -- so overall this is just a mess. This was a very expensive movie that was popular at the box office for some reason, and I'm sure a lot of people got paid well -- but as a movie it flops big time. Boo to Hollywood for producing this quickie money-maker.

THE VIKINGSYeah... another Sunday morning movie. I only recorded this off of the TV because it had the legendary Ernest Borgnine in it. I met Ernest a few years ago, and he was one of the nicest actors I have met so far. A really big character. He has made so many great movies and I watched him in various things whilst growing up. I felt very privileged to have met him.This film is not bad... but not great.Lots of Vikings, lots of violence and lots of sword fights. There were some really good scenes.The cast list was very impressive. It stared Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis. Ernest Borgnine and Janet Leigh. It is unbelievable how much Kirk Douglas looks like Michael Douglas in this film. Michael definitely got his looks from his Dad.Kirk played a great character. He was a Viking who had an awesome scar across his face. He looked really good. Tony Curtis played a slave that was actually the rightful King but didn't know it. Kirk had a score to settle with the slave as it was him that gave Kirk that scar.This film, like a lot of other old movies, was a bit harsh on the animals. I don't think any animals got seriously hurt in it. There is one scene where Tony Curtis was holding a Hawk. The Hawk was clearly tied to Tony's hand... but when Kurt kicked Tony in the chest and knocked him down... that poor bird definitely took a tumble. I just remember thinking to myself "There is no way Hollywood could get away with that now.". And not that they would need to... special effects are so good these days that they can make it look like an animal has died, where really there was no animal at all.Anyway, this film was OK. A pretty good story, not the greatest acting from everyone, but not too bad. Clearly Kirk, Tony, Ernest and Janet did brilliantly... just some of the supporting cast were not that good. Some of the death scenes were comical.I will give this film 6 out of 10.Not a bad daytime movie. For more reviews, please check out my Facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ordinary-Person-Movie- Reviews/456572047728204?ref=hl

This movie is guaranteed to set the pulses of any red blooded viewer racing.It pulsates with vibrant action and splendid period atmosphere; Kirk Douglas was born to play the role of Einar and he extracts every bit of menace and finally pathos as a warrior whose love for the wrong woman finally destroyed him.Tony Curtis shows restraint in his role and is free of the too eager to please grinning and mugging which marred his later performances.The action is the thing here,however,and what action it is;the final attack by the vikings on the English castle is a stupendous spectacle with swords,axes,grappling hooks used aplenty as a horde of expert stuntmen have the time of their lives whilst the truly magnificent score by Mario Nascimbene provides suitable accompaniment to their lusty adventures.With wonderful scenery,convincing performances and enough testosterone to launch a 100 longships,"THE VIKINGS" is a gloriously sadistic and savage experience that belies its 1958 vintage,disengage your brain and revel in this serio-comic romp which should be in the video collection of any true action fan.