Science Fiction Pint and Pizza Night featuring Hercules Double Feature
6 PM to 10 PM
All ages
FREE with minimum $5 food or beverage purchase
Beer and Pizza specials all night long
The best in B science fictions movies, drive-in classics, psychotronic weirdness and more. We’ll also do raffle prizes throughout the evening so expect some very cool, very strange science fiction prizes including figurines, posters, books, cards, VHS movies and more for that inner science fiction enthusiast in us all. Sponsored by La Dolce Video, The Arcata Eye, Daisy Drygoods, Vintage Avenger, Tin Can Mailman, The Clothing Dock and more.
SEE the War of the Chariots! SEE Lydia, the Temptress! SEE the Contest of Giants! SEE the Combat of Kings! SEE the Arena of Tigers! SEE the Court of Lovers!
Hercules Unchained (1959) is an Italian epic fantasy feature film starring Steve Reeves. The plot is drawn from the legends surrounding the royal house of Thebes, which are most familiar to audiences through the Theban plays of Sophocles. The movie opens with Hercules, his new bride Iole (Sylva Koscina), and the young Ulysses (Gabriel Antonini) travelling to Thebes following the end of the quest for the Golden Fleece (depicted in the previous movie, Hercules). Their journey is interrupted when Hercules must do battle with the giant Anteus (Primo Carnera), whose strength seems to exceed his own until he realizes that Anteus is the son of the earth goddess and can’t be defeated on land. On their arrival in Thebes, the trio discovers that the kingdom is in the midst of civil war; Oedipus (Cesare Fantoni), the old king, is dying, and his two sons, Polynices and Eteocles, are contending for the throne and threatening to destroy each other and the populace. Hercules must leave Iole in the hands of one side in order to try and settle the dispute between the two would-be kings. While en route between the two armed camps, however, he is put under the spell of Omphale (Sylvia Lopez), the Queen of Lydia, who casts out his memory and takes him as a lover, with Ulysses in tow pretending to be his deaf-mute servant. Ulysses must figure out how to keep himself alive, restore Hercules’ memory, get them both out of Omphale’s grasp before she tires of Hercules and has him killed (as she has her previous lovers), and get them both back to Thebes before the kingdom is burned to the ground. His solution arrives in the form of his father, Laertes, and Hercules’ companions from his voyage for the Golden Fleece. They all escape Omphale’s clutches and arrive at Thebes as war has broken out between the two brothers and their armies. In a spectacular denouement, Hercules brings his chariot into the middle of the pitched battle, knocking down assault towers and sweeping cavalry before him to halt the battle.
The stupendous saga of the mightiest of mortals! Half god…half pagan!
Hercules (1958) is an Italian epic fantasy feature film based upon the Hercules myths and the Quest for the Golden Fleece. The film stars Steve Reeves as the titular hero and Sylva Koscina as his love interest Princess Iole. Heralding a decade of Italian-made sword-and-sandal films, Hercules, as it’s been known in the United States since its 1959 release, draws most of its plot from the legend of Jason and the Golden Fleece. Hercules, the half-immortal son of Jupiter (or Zeus) rescues Iole, the daughter of Pelias, the king of Jolco, when the horses pulling her chariot run wild. Returning her to the court, he is engaged by Pelias to train his vain, arrogant son in the use of arms, that he may one day become a warrior king. Pelias’ hold on power is very uncertain, owing to the way he became king; his brother, the previous monarch, was murdered by persons unknown in the palace. The prince is later killed through his own foolishness, however, and the blame falls on Hercules. In order to win back the grieving heart of Iole, Hercules surrenders his immortality and manages to triumph in a savage test of his strength against the Cretan Bull. One day, a stranger arrives in Jolco claiming to be Jason, Pelias’ nephew, and son of the murdered king, and the rightful king. To prove his claim, he vows to sail to the ends of the Earth and reclaim the Golden Fleece, the symbol of rightful rule in Jolco, which was stolen on the night that his father was murdered. A crew is assembled that includes various legendary figures out of Greek mythology, with Hercules at the head of the list. They survive encounters with sea storms and a predatory race of women, the machinations of a traitor in their ranks, and Pelias’ treachery, and Jason slays the dragon guarding the Golden Fleece. On their return, however, the Fleece is stolen and Hercules is imprisoned. Jason and his men are surrounded by Pelias’ soldiers and a battle ensues.