War Goddess

War Goddess
War Goddess
Directed by	Terence Young
Written by	Richard Aubrey (original screenplay); Arduino Maiuri (as Dino Maiuri); Robert Graves; Massimo De Rita; Serge de la Roche (screenplay); Antonio Recoder; Charles Spaak; Luciano Vincenzoni (story); Terence Young
Produced by	Nino Crisman; Gregorio Sacristán; André Génovès (recut version)
Starring	Alena Johnston; Sabine Sun; Rosanna Yanni; Helga Liné; Luciana Paluzzi
Cinematography	Aldo Tonti; Alejandro Ulloa
Edited by	Roger Dwyre
Music by	Riz Ortolani
Release date	1973
Running time	105 minutes
Countries	Italy; France; Spain
Languages	Italian; English dub

War Goddess (also known as The Amazons and The Bare-Breasted Warriors) is a 1973 adventure film directed by Terence Young and starring Alena Johnston, Sabine Sun, Rosanna Yanni, Helga Liné, and Luciana Paluzzi.^[1] It was a co-production between Italy (where it was released as Le guerriere dal seno nudo), France (where it is known with the title Les amazones), and Spain (where is it is known as Las amazonas).^[2]

Plot

Taking place nearly three thousand years ago, the Amazons are a tribe of warrior women, who have seceded from the rest of the world, and set up a state purely composed of their own sex. The film opens with the tribe holding a tournament of various physical contests to select a new queen. In the final competition, man-hating Antiope defeats her longtime rival Oreitheia in a wrestle match and is crowned queen. The new ruler believes the tribe have gone soft and imposes a rigid discipline that allows sexual relations with men only once a year to procreate. Antiope also wants a return to a more egalitarian society, which doesn’t sit well with Oreitheia and many of the other high Amazons, and she hatches various schemes to eliminate Antiope and take her place on the throne.

Since there are no men in the tribe, the Amazons hire men from another nation once a year for reproductive purposes; an "unpleasant but necessary" ordeal which Antiope forces herself to dutifully participate in. For the first time, the Amazons go to meet a group of Greek soldiers led by King Theseus for their annual mating ceremony. Meanwhile, Oreitheia and her loyal followers attempt to undermine the queen's rule by slipping an aphrodisiac in her water, only for her handmaiden to drink it instead and suffer the effects. Curious about of the Amazons, Theseus pretends to be a low-ranking captain and has sex with Antiope, impregnating her in the process. Much to the queen's dismay, she quite enjoys her first time having sex with a man. The next day, during a series of contests held between the two groups, Antiope attempts to one-up Theseus in a show jumping competition after he attempts to impress her. This results in the queen injuring her leg and and is left unable to preform in bed the following night. Theseus meets with Antiope to apologize for showing off and attempts to change her man-hating ways, but her resolve remains quite firm. Secretly worried that she has feelings for Theseus and being perceived as weak, Antiope orders the Amazons to depart for home a day early.

The king recommends to the queen a certain way back to their home through the Blue Mountains, inadvertently sending the tribe into a Scythian ambush. Realizing his mistake Theseus assembles a garrison of soldiers to aid the Amazons as they are attacked, and they drive off the Scythians. Believing that the Greeks deliberately set them up, the Amazons mount an expedition lead by Oreitheia to pillage the villages of the Scythians in retaliation. During the following months, Theseus has become smitten with the queen and sets up a make-shift camp near the Amazon's city. At one time covertly saving her from an assassination attempt and later sneaks into her bedchambers to make love to her again, the later which she reluctantly accepts. Theseus also sends his wife Queen Phaedra to the city under the guise of a feminist representative from Crete, in order to learn more about the Amazon's matriarchal society. Suspicious of Phaedra's true motivations, Antiope followers her back to Theseus's campsite and discovers his deception. With their cover blown, Theseus and Phaedra return to Athens.

The time finally comes for the queen to give birth, but to her sadness the child is a boy and is left out to die as male children are not wanted by the Amazons. The apparent loss of her son causes Antiope to become conflicted and later more outspoken when Oreitheia's war party returns successful from their campaign against the Scythians. This in turn causes Antiope to lose some support among her fellow Amazons. Taking advantage of the political turmoil, Oreitheia attempts to murder Antiope in her sleep, but the queen catches her by spear point. Deciding they need to settle their dispute once and for all, the two Amazons engage in a nude wrestling match as a thunderstorm rages outside. Exhausted from their lengthy struggle, they end up falling for one each other and become lovers.

Antiope arranges for another meeting with the Greeks to mate again and then kill them all in revenge for their perceived roll in setting up the ambush.

But the queen is again overcome with lust. The king tells her that he had their son rescued, and she slips out of the tent with him to go see the child. The other Amazons think she's been kidnapped, and they chase after her and have a battle with the Greeks.

Cast

References

^ Mario Gerosa. Il cinema di Terence Young. Il foglio, 2009.
^ Stefano Piselli, Riccardo Morocchi. Sexy heroine ; erotic heroines in movies. Glittering images, 2003.

External links

War Goddess at IMDb
War Goddess at Rotten Tomatoes

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[1] Mario Gerosa. Il cinema di Terence Young. Il foglio, 2009.

[2] Stefano Piselli, Riccardo Morocchi. Sexy heroine ; erotic heroines in movies. Glittering images, 2003.

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