Dan Vadis

This page is dedicated to actor Dan Vadis. With his good looks, great muscular physique, and enthusiastic acting style, Vadis was one of most successful actors of the "Sword and Sandal" genre of the early 1960's and he starred in some of my favorite films from that period.

Vadis, a former bodybuilder, had one of the most muscular and well proportioned physiques of any of his contemporaries and he certainly had the most well-defined set of abs. Vadis' brawny muscular body was always prominently displayed on screen in his roles as a gladiator or as Hercules. His wardrobe for these films invariably consisted of nothing more than a gladiator style waist-high tunic and a pair of sandals; his impressive muscular torso was gratuitously exposed in nearly every scene he was in and Vadis flexed his abs often whenever they were in camera range.

Vadis’ character often performed some feat of strength that had him flexing his muscles for several minutes. Viewers were treated to voyeuristic close-ups and panning shots of Vadis' naked muscular torso as he struggled against a team of elephants (Son of Hercules in the Land of Darkness),

collapsed the walls of a cave (Triumph of Hercules),

or hung precariously by one arm from a tree (Spartacus and the Ten Gladiators).

At 6'4" and 230lbs Vadis was quite an imposing figure and he was well suited to play fearless gladiators, the mighty Hercules, or brutish villains.

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Vadis' body was impressive but he also played his parts with genuine enthusiasm and great athleticism that none of his contemporaries could match. In two of his films, Colossus of the Arena and The Ten Gladiators, Vadis does a complete back flip from a standing position; quite an impressive feat for someone with his 6'4" muscular frame.

Vadis was at his absolute best during the fight scenes in his films. Whether fighting with swords or bare fists, fighting one gladiator in the arena, or battling an army of Roman soldiers, Vadis played the fight scenes with great intensity and conviction and he seemed to thoroughly enjoy the physicality of these scenes in his films.

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One aspect of Dan Vadis' film career that distinguished him from other major actors of the "Sword and Sandal" genre was Vadis portrayed characters that were sometimes killed in a battle or fight scene during the course of the movie, and his death scenes were often very dramatic and quite graphic.

Vadis seemed to relish the death scenes in his films and played them very convincingly and without any inhibition. No other major actor of this genre played characters that were killed on screen. The only exception that comes to mind is Steve Reeves stabbing Gordon Scott to death with a sword in Romulus and Remus aka Duel of the Titans. Yet Vadis' characters are killed in very dramatic fashion in three of his films from this period, The Ten Gladiators, Colossus of the Arena, and Zorikan the Barbarian. Vadis also played characters that were killed in several "Spaghetti Western" films from later in his career, as well as his final film The Seven Magnificent Gladiators. Most notable though, was Vadis' unexpected and brutally violent death scene in The Ten Gladiators, one of the best death scenes of any films of the "Sword and Sandal" genre.

The Ten Gladiators 

In the final battle scene of the film The Ten Gladiators, champion gladiator Roccia (Dan Vadis) leads a band of gladiators against a Roman garrison to rescue Lidia, the daughter of one of the gladiators, who is about to be burned on a cross along with several other slaves. Roccia and the other gladiators are severely outnumbered by heavily armored and well-armed Roman soldiers, but they confidently charge into battle half-naked, wearing only waist-high tunics, and armed only with short swords. The gladiators are wearing no armor or helmets and have no shields to protect them from the Romans' swords and spears. Roccia's muscular torso is, of course, fully exposed during the battle scene, as are those of the other gladiators. (This is a common theme across all three "Ten Gladiator" films. Roccia and the gladiators fight in the arena or on the battlefield against well-armed and fully armored adversaries while bare-chested and wearing no armor whatsoever. Their torsos, arms, and legs are completely exposed and unprotected. Though totally improbable and unrealistic, staging fight scenes with these muscle men half-naked was one of the main appeals of these kinds of films.)

Roccia and the gladiators fight furiously and defeat many Roman soldiers. Roccia reaches Lidia just in time to save her from the flames and uses his sword to cut her bindings and then carry her down from the cross. Roccia rejoins the fight but loses his sword during the course of the battle and continues fighting with just his bare hands.

Several soldiers surround Roccia, who is unarmed, and move in to attack him. Another gladiator, Glaucus (Roger Browne), pushes his way through the soldiers to help Roccia, but Roccia pushes Glaucus out of the away to protect him from an attacking soldier. Roccia hits the attacking soldier in the head and knocks him to the ground. Another soldier attacks and Roccia lifts him in the air and throws him to the side. But, with his head turned and his arms high out to his sides, Roccia's abdomen is fully exposed and unguarded and he is caught off guard by a Roman soldier wielding a spear. The soldier lunges forward and brutally spears Roccia in the belly. Roccia yells out and hunches forward at the waist while grabbing the shaft of the spear with both hands. Roccia is impaled on the Roman soldier's spear for a few moments but manages to pull the spear out of his gut and push the soldier away.

The scene then cuts away to some of the other gladiators who are fighting furiously and Roccia's fate is unknown for a few moments. But the scene then cuts back to Roccia, who is severely wounded but still standing.

Still reeling from the wound in his belly, Roccia is dazed and defenseless, but still standing upright with his arms out to his sides. His torso is again wide open and unguarded when another Roman soldier runs up to Roccia and viciously stabs him in the gut with a sword. Roccia yells out again and lurches forward at the waist. The Roman pulls his sword out of Roccia's gut and Roccia falls back. Another gladiator attacks the soldier who stabbed Roccia while two others run over to Roccia and try to hold him up. He pushes the gladiators away. Roccia knows he is mortally wounded and struggles to stay on his feet but soon dramatically falls to the ground. The other gladiators surround Roccia as he is lying on the ground while Lidia tries to comfort him. Roccia dies moments later.

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Dan Vadis' dramatic death scene in The Ten Gladiators is unique in many ways, especially when considered in the context of other films of the "Sword and Sandal" genre of the 50's and 60's. As mentioned earlier, major actors of this genre, especially when playing heroic characters, were never killed in their films. In The Ten Gladiators, Vadis is playing the heroic gladiator Roccia (literally stone or rock in Italian), a leading role in the film and an extremely appealing character. But in the final battle scene Roccia is unexpectedly and quite tragically killed, and his killing is surprisingly graphic for this genre.

The death of Roccia is even more startlingly considering the underlying tone of the film. Although not a comedy film, The Ten Gladiators has many comedic elements to it and is a very lighthearted adventure film for most of the way through. Most of the violence that is shown is spliced in with stock footage from other films. Although there are several battle scenes between the gladiators and the Romans and both sides are armed with swords, the depiction of any real graphic violence is avoided. Even when armed with swords, Roccia and the gladiators laugh and joke as they either punch or kick to the ground the soldiers they are fighting, knocking them out rather than rather than killing them with their swords. The tone of the film changes dramatically with the unexpected killing of an older gladiator late in the film, but the playful approach to the battle scenes is evident even in the final battle scene in which Roccia is killed, and is in stark contrast to the unexpected and brutally explicit stabbing of Roccia with a spear and a sword at the conclusion of the same battle.

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What makes this scene even more striking is that the death of Roccia, who was a skilled gladiator with a magnificent muscular body and extraordinary strength, came not at the hands of a worthy opponent after a well fought battle. Instead, Roccia is killed relatively easily by two totally nondescript Roman soldiers. The killing of the mighty gladiator Roccia required no particular fighting skills of the soldiers that killed him, and was purely a matter of good fortune for the two random soldiers who just happened to be at the right place at the right time with their weapons ready to strike.

The first soldier to attack does so when Roccia's attention is diverted by another Roman whom Roccia lifts in the air and tosses to the side. Roccia's head is turned, his arms are out to his sides, and his abdomen is wide open to attack when a Roman soldier lunges forward and thrusts his spear into Roccia's belly.

The lack of any fighting skill or swordsmanship required of the second soldier to attack Roccia is even more blatant than in the first attack. A bare-chested Roccia is standing upright in the middle of the battlefield dazed and completely defenseless with his arms out to his sides. His fully exposed torso is wide open to attack; an easy and quite inviting target for any soldier wielding a sword that happened to be nearby.

A Roman soldier runs up to Roccia, who is unable to defend himself, and viciously stabs him in the gut with his sword. Thrusting a sword into Roccia's gut when he was unable to defend himself didn't require any skill or courage of the soldier and, in fact, was quite cowardly, and a shockingly easy kill of such a magnificent gladiator like Roccia.

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Another unique feature of this scene that makes it so effective is the graphically explicit way in which the killing of Roccia is filmed. While countless actors and extras in these types of films were killed with swords, spears, and arrows, the graphic violence was often downplayed and the special effects were amateurish at best. It was quite common for directors to use all sorts of gimmicks and camera tricks to simulate a character getting stabbed, or the stabbing would be implied with the actual impact of the sword on the victim's body occurring just outside the camera frame. Most often these kinds of effects were very unconvincing and sometimes downright laughable. But that is why Roccia's death scene in this film stands out. The killing of Roccia is filmed so that the full impact of the spear and the sword hitting Vadis' naked torso is graphically captured by the camera at the most effective angles and in fairly close-up shots. In both attacks Vadis holds his arms out to his sides, allowing the camera to capture an unobstructed view of the spear and the sword as they are thrust into his body.

Dan Vadis playing the scene bare-chested also greatly enhanced the graphic violence of the spear and sword strikes and prevented the use of many of the gimmicky special effects that were common in these kinds of films. It certainly was not unusual for actors/bodybuilders like Vadis, Steve Reeves, Mark Forest, Kirk Morris, and many others to appear bare-chested in these kinds of films to show off their well-developed muscular physiques; that was a big part of the not so subtle homoerotic appeal of these films for many, in my opinion. But filming a bare-chested Vadis being brutally stabbed with a spear and a sword in such a graphic manner was certainly unprecedented for this genre. The visual impact of the spear and sword being thrust full force into Vadis' naked torso and him flexing his muscles in reaction to getting stabbed makes the scene so much more convincing and effective and it is what makes this film stand out from the others of this time period. It should be mentioned that this entire scene has been cut from some video releases of this film, presumably because it was too violent and explicit.

With Vadis' torso exposed the viewer can clearly see the wounds on his body which, again, adds to the realism of the scene. The clearly visible stab wound on his belly after he is speared...

and the stab wound on his side...

with a trace of blood on the inside of his upper arm that appears after Roccia is stabbed with the sword are also nice details that add to the realism of the scene. The blood stained sword blade of the soldier who stabs Roccia is the only blood stained weapon we see in the entire film.

My only criticism here is that the wounds on Vadis' body are not in the exact same spots where he was stabbed. A frame grab of the moment Roccia is speared shows the spear hitting him in the center of his abdomen just above his navel but the wound later appears on the right side of his abdomen. The sword thrust appears to be to the right side of Roccia's chest but that wound later appears much lower on his right side.

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Adding to the "shock" value of the scene is the way in which it was staged. In both attacks Roccia is in the camera frame by himself and the soldiers who attack him run into the camera frame to strike with their weapons.

This is a very effective staging technique and greatly enhances the shock value of the scene. The unsuspecting viewer, who has come to know Roccia as a nearly invincible gladiator throughout the course of the film, doesn't see the attacks coming and, like Roccia, is caught off guard. This is especially true of the first attack when the viewer does not expect Roccia to be killed. Roccia is fighting off Roman soldiers as he had been for the entire battle, but suddenly, a soldier seemingly appears out of nowhere and spears Roccia in the belly.

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Another important element in Vadis' death scene in this film that makes it so brutally realistic and thoroughly convincing are the performances of the actors who portray the Roman soldiers that kill Roccia. Both actors attack Vadis with genuine ferocity and thrust their weapons into Vadis' body without any hesitation or inhibition. Although obviously using fake weapons for the filming of the scene, it is apparent that the actors are actually stabbing Vadis with the spear and sword, and at full force, not holding back at all. Perhaps they were urged on by Vadis himself who flexes his abs in anticipation of the spear and the sword hitting him. The visual impact of seeing the actors thrust their weapons into Vadis' naked muscular torso with full force makes the scene so much more realistic and convincing.

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While all of the previously mentioned elements contributed to making Vadis' death scene in The Ten Gladiators very unique and realistic, none was as important as Dan Vadis' exceptional performance in making this scene work so well. As discussed earlier, Vadis was at his absolute best in the physically demanding fight scenes in his films and his performance in this death scene is just perfect. Vadis portrays Roccia as an overly confident but very likable gladiator who would never hesitate to run into any battle, severely outnumbered, with or without a sword. Earlier in the film Roccia boastfully proclaims, "Ten Romans aren't worth one of us. At the most we can consider one to a hundred." Roccia was confident that he was invincible; he was, after all, fighting half-naked against heavily armed Roman soldiers in full armor. Roccia had no armor or shield and was rather cavalier about losing his sword during the battle. It is Roccia's overconfident but good natured manner and his false sense of invincibility that make his death so unexpected and tragic.

Vadis' reaction to being stabbed is remarkably realistic and it is what really makes this scene work so well. When Roccia is caught off guard and speared in the belly his body recoils, then he doubles over and he grabs the shaft of the spear with both hands and pulls the spear into him, making it appear that the spear was actually thrust into his abdomen. Vadis' facial expressions and groans are very convincing as well.

Vadis is also very convincing when the Roman soldier stabs him with the sword. As the sword is thrust into his gut Vadis' body recoils and he hunches forward at the waist and flexes his abs giving the very real illusion that the blade of the sword has been driven into his gut.

 When the soldier pulls the sword out of Vadis' gut his head snaps back and he steps forward in sync with the sword, as if the sword being pulled out of his body is pulling him forward. Again, Vadis' facial expressions are very convincing, as he first shows shock, then pain, and then a dazed blank stare.

Vadis' long agonizing death scene that follows is also perfectly played. He very convincingly flexes his muscles as he struggles to stay on his feet while reciting some dialogue then dramatically falls to the ground.

 Though no extraordinary special effects are used in the filming of this scene, the combination of camera angles and staging, Vadis' convincing performance, and the enthusiastic performances of the other actors make Roccia's killing a brutally realistic and memorable scene.

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One other very unique aspect of Vadis' death scene in The Ten Gladiators that must be mentioned is the fact that Vadis' character Roccia is stabbed more than once; first by the soldier with the spear and then by another soldier with a sword. One would be hard pressed to find another scene in any "Sword and Sandal" film where a character, especially one who was bare-chested, is stabbed more than once (the only exception that comes to mind is another Dan Vadis film, Zorikan the Barbarian, that will be discussed later). In any other film of this genre the brutal spear thrust to Roccia's abdomen would have undoubtedly been fatal and more than enough to kill any other character. But in this scene, after Roccia is speared and presumably mortally wounded, he stays on his feet long enough so that another soldier can stab him again with a sword. And even after being stabbed twice Roccia still manages to stay on his feet for a few more moments to recite some dialogue before falling to the ground where he then has more dialogue with Lidia before finally dying. Vadis' heroic character Roccia getting speared by a Roman soldier in this scene was quite unexpected. But to then have a bare-chested and defenseless Roccia viciously stabbed with a sword in such a visually graphic way was quite startling and virtually unprecedented for a film of this genre.

One could reasonably argue that the second attack on Roccia was completely unnecessary, excessively violent, and blatantly gratuitous. The plot would have been well served had Vadis played out the death scene as he did right after he was wounded by the spear and without the second attack. It is perfectly reasonable to assume that the spear thrust to Roccia's abdomen would have been fatal; and even though he didn't fall to the ground right away, Roccia would have died from his wound rather quickly. At first glance there was no compelling reason to include the second attack on Roccia. It does appear to be gratuitous and included for no other reason than to indulge the director (or perhaps Vadis himself) and film a bare-chested Vadis getting stabbed with a sword (and rather convincingly so) in a very brutal and graphic manner.

Gratuitously violent perhaps, but when viewed in the context of the whole film, the second attack does make sense for a couple of reasons, and greatly adds to the emotional impact of the scene. As discussed early, Roccia is portrayed as an invincible gladiator with super-human strength and superior fighting skills. It is perfectly reasonable to assume that one spear thrust to the belly was not enough to bring down a magnificently muscled gladiator like Roccia, and that he needed to be finished off with a solid sword thrust to the gut, thus reinforcing his mythical stature.

Additionally, observant viewers will notice that the Roman soldier that stabs Roccia with the sword was the same soldier that Roccia had hit in the head and knocked to the ground just moments earlier in the battle.

It is perfectly reasonable to assume that the soldier, seeing Roccia again on the battlefield but now wounded and defenseless, would seek his revenge with a cowardly but satisfying thrust of his sword into Roccia’s gut. Aside from the viciousness of the attack and the determined look on the soldier's face when he stabs Roccia, there are a couple of other elements in this scene that support this theory. The Roman soldier vengefully yells out, "TAKE THAT!" as he brutally stabs Roccia, suggesting that the forceful sword thrust to Roccia's gut was revenge for something that happened earlier in the scene. Then, after he stabs Roccia the soldier looks up at him as if to savor the pained expression on Roccia's face and to insure that his sword thrust was fatal.

I believe the director intended for the viewer to make this connection because this soldier is the only Roman in the battle scene not wearing a helmet so that his face is clearly visible. With his head exposed, it is obvious the soldier that was knocked to the ground by Roccia is the same soldier that moments later would have his revenge and deliver the fatal sword thrust that kills Roccia. So the second attack on Roccia, while seemingly gratuitous, does make sense in the context of the film.

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Although this scene is what makes this film memorable, one could reasonably argue that Vadis' entire death scene in The Ten Gladiators was unnecessary and gratuitous. Roccia's unexpected death near the end of the movie doesn't serve to advance the plot of the film in any way. The film ends a few minutes after Roccia's death and his character could have easily been included in the concluding scenes along with the other gladiators without altering the plot. As mentioned earlier, the film has a great many comedic elements to it, making Roccia's tragic and very graphic death at the end of the film quite surprising. One has to wonder whether Roccia's death scene was included in the original script or was improvised during filming. And one other odd note; although Vadis' character Roccia is killed in this film, he reappears, again with Vadis portraying him, in the two sequels to The Ten Gladiators; Spartacus and the Ten Gladiators and Triumph of the Ten Gladiators.

Colossus of the Arena

Another memorable Dan Vadis "Death Scene" occurs in the final battle in the arena between Vadis and Mark Forest, from Vadis' very first film Colossus of the Arena. Like the scene in The Ten Gladiators, Sidone's (Vadis) death in Colossus of the Arena is very dramatic and quite graphic, with Vadis playing the scene perfectly.

Maciste (Mark Forest) has just killed a gladiator in the arena when Vadis, playing mercenary gladiator Sidone, rides into the arena on a chariot. Sidone is wearing amour on his left shoulder that is supported by a leather harness strapped around his chest, but most of his very muscular torso is full exposed. Sidone wears a gladiator helmet for part of the battle with Maciste.

Sidone tries to run down Maciste with his chariot, but then jumps off the chariot and he and Maciste start fighting with swords. After a lengthy sword fight a frustrated Sidone pulls off his helmet and continues fighting even more furiously. Maciste hits Sidone in the face with his shield and then punches him several times until Sidone drops his sword and falls to the ground. Sidone is sprawled face down in the sand and appears to be dead or severely wounded. The crowd roars with approval with the defeat of Sidone.

But Sidone suddenly grabs his sword, gets off the ground and up on one knee, and turns to attack Maciste.

Sidone wildly slashes his sword at Maciste but Maciste hits Sidone's sword with his own and Sidone's sword flies out of his hand and falls to the ground. Maciste steps forward and stabs Sidone in the gut with a forceful thrust of his sword. Sidone doubles over and grabs the blade of the sword with both hands. Maciste quickly pulls his sword out of Sidone's gut and Sidone's body recoils then he slowly falls straight back to the ground. Sidone grabs his belly with one hand and tries to hold himself off the ground with his other arm while he looks up at Maciste. The scene cuts to Maciste looking down at Sidone then back to Sidone on the ground writhing in pain quite dramatically for a few moments before he slumps to his side and dies. The scene continues with Maciste killing two more gladiators.

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Sidone's killing in this scene certainly does not have the emotional impact of Roccia's death in The Ten Gladiators, but it is still noteworthy for the explicitly graphic way in which it was filmed and Vadis' great performance. Vadis' character Roccia in The Ten Gladiators was a heroic figure whose death was unexpected and quite tragic. In this film, Vadis plays Sidone, a mercenary gladiator who is part of a plot to overthrow the Queen. Vadis portrays Sidone as a brutish thug in the film and so his death at the hands of the hero Maciste is not unexpected or tragic in any way and is, in fact, quite satisfying. And here, Sidone is killed by a worthy opponent after a long sword fight unlike Roccia, who was killed rather haphazardly by two random Roman soldiers.

This scene was filmed in much the same way as Roccia's death in The Ten Gladiators in that it is unusually graphic for this genre. Again, Vadis is bare-chested for the scene except for a leather harness, and the full impact of the sword striking Vadis' bare torso is in full view of the camera.

Sidone is in the camera frame by himself in profile with a close in shot of his head and torso.

As Mark Forest steps forward Vadis raises his arms, allowing the camera to capture an unobstructed view as Forest thrusts the sword into him.

Maciste stabs Sidone with his sword and, in a close-up camera shot, the blade is clearly visible hitting Vadis' bare belly.

As in The Ten Gladiators, the explicit stabbing of Sidone, where the sword blade is clearly shown hitting his naked torso, was extremely rare for this genre of films, and it is what makes these two scenes so realistic and memorable.

The gaping stab wound on Sidone's belly is another element that makes this scene convincing and effective. Vadis holds his left hand away from the wound so that it is visible for this part of this scene.

The stab wound is very realistic and actually looks like a deep cut on Vadis' belly.

The great performances of both Vadis and Forest are what makes Sidone's death scene work so well. Forest holds nothing back when he thrusts his sword into Vadis' gut with full force and with no hesitation. And Vadis' body movements help to give the illusion that he has actually been stabbed. As Forest thrusts the sword into him, Vadis bends forward at the waist in sync with the thrust of the sword, and grabs at the blade with both hands, giving the illusion that the sword has been driven into his gut.

When Forest pulls the blade out of Vadis' belly, Vadis' torso snaps back up and his body shudders. He then quite dramatically falls back to the ground with a grimaced look on his face.

Sidone's slow, agonizing death scene is played perfectly with Vadis first thrusting his hips in the air...

...then trying to hold himself up off the ground...

...grimacing while trying to endure the pain...

...and finally dying. (Once again Vadis holds his left arm up so the stab wound is visible, even after he dies.)

The explicit stabbing in this scene is unique even when compared to the other killings in this very film. Moments after killing Sidone, Maciste brutally stabs another gladiator in the gut with his sword but the stabbing occurs well out of the camera frame and the sword is never shown in the shot at all.

Maciste and the other gladiator are in profile in the camera frame but only from the chest up.

The camera captures the stabbed gladiator's terrific reaction and scream but not the actual stabbing.

After the gladiator is stabbed the camera pulls away and the gladiator is shown grabbing his belly with both hands and falling to the ground. Maciste is holding a sword with a blood stained blade.

Earlier in the film there is a long arena sequence where several gladiators are killed but the impact of the swords, and trident in one case, are never shown on screen.

In one example, two gladiators are fighting when one of them has his sword knocked out of his hand and is pushed back against the wall of the arena. The other gladiator holds his sword up to the defeated gladiators bare torso with the tip of the blade pressing against his skin. The triumphant gladiator then looks to the crowd, who will decide the fate of the defeated gladiator.

The sword being held to the defeated gladiator's very muscular body is within full view of the camera.

When the crowd calls for the gladiator's death the camera slowly zooms in, dramatically anticipating the sword thrust into the gladiator's bare belly. But just before the gladiator is stabbed the camera pans up so that the actual stabbing happens just below the camera frame. The gladiator lets out a satisfying scream and the camera does capture the gladiator's hands as he grabs his belly after being stabbed but the sword thrust and stab wound are never seen on camera.

It is curious why Sidone's stabbing death was so explicitly graphic and, in this two other scenes in the very same film the actual stabbings are out of view of the camera. Had these scenes been filmed in the same way as Sidone's death scene they too would have been much more effective and memorable.

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One last point about Vadis' death scene in Colossus of the Arena; there is some evidence to suggest that the scene was not included in the original script but was added after filming had already begun. Earlier in the film Sidone and Maciste have a very dramatic and lengthy fight in a river and then under a waterfall. There are no weapons involved, just fists, but the fight is still rather brutal. At the end of the scene Maciste is pummeling a dazed Sidone with his fists until Sidone slips under water and is presumably drowned. So it was quite surprising to see Sidone reappear again later in the film to fight in the final arena scene.

Also, after the long battle in the arena, Maciste punches Sidone several times and hits him in the head with his shield. Sidone falls to the ground face down and appears to be dead or at least unconscious. The crowd roars with approval.
 

 
With Sidone defeated the scene could have continued with Maciste killing the other two gladiators.
 But Sidone suddenly rises from the ground to attack Maciste again and is then stabbed by Maciste.

One has to wonder how much of this scene was improvised while filming.

One additional piece of evidence worth noting is when Vadis first enters the arena in his last scene he is carrying his helmet not wearing it, so that his head is exposed. He then puts on the helmet for the battle with Forest, obscuring his face. During the long sword fight with Forest that follows it is blatantly obvious that the actor fighting Forest is not Vadis and is, in fact, another gladiator whom Maciste kills later in the scene. Just before Sidone is killed he pulls off his helmet so that we again see Vadis' face when he is killed by Forest. Vadis certainly would not have needed a stunt double for a routine sword fight. In fact, Vadis was known for doing all of his own stunts and he was quite good fighting with a sword.

So there is sufficient evidence to speculate that Vadis' death scene was improvised during filming. Sidone's death could have easily been established after being beaten and presumably drowned by Maciste in the waterfall scene and then again after being beaten by Maciste in the arena, when he is sprawled out in the sand face down and unconscious.

In both The Ten Gladiators and Colossus of the Arena, Dan Vadis' character is killed in very dramatic and explicitly graphic scenes that are not essential to the plots of either movie. In both films his characters' death could have easily been established before the final scenes with him being stabbed with swords. One really has to wonder if these two great scenes were improvised and at the suggestion of Vadis himself. We will never know for sure but these two scenes are the best death scenes of any film of this genre, in my opinion.

Zorikan the Barbarian

Dan Vadis' character is killed in yet another "Sword and Sandal" film, the rather obscure Zorikan the Barbarian, and again his death scene is very dramatic and explicitly violent for this genre. Vadis plays the villainous barbarian Zorikan in the film. Unfortunately, Vadis is fully clothed in this role but it is still apparent that he is extremely muscular when this movie was filmed. Zorikan the Barbarian was filmed in the same year as the two sequels to The Ten Gladiators were filmed so Vadis was in great physical condition.

Zorikan is fighting nobleman Rampurti, played by actor Walter Brandi, in the final battle scene of the film. Zorikan and Rampurti are dueling with swords and make their way onto the veranda of an elevated wooden shack. After a couple of deflected thrusts of his sword Zorikan attacks Rampurti with his sword raised over his head. Rampurti lunges forward with a low thrust and stabs Zorikan in the gut with his sword. Zorikan yells out and falls back off the veranda and onto the ground into a puddle of water. Zorikan is on his back on the ground when Rampurti leaps off the veranda and stabs Zorikan again, this time in the chest. Zorikan yells out again and grabs his chest with both hands. Rampurti pulls his sword out of Zorikan's chest and the barbarian dramatically groans and gasps for air while covering the chest wound with one hand and reaching up with the other. Zorikan's head falls back into the water and he dies.

Although this scene is very different from those in the two previously discussed films, Vadis' death scene in Zorikan the Barbarian is just as effective and convincing. Once again the staging of the scene allows the camera to fully capture an unobstructed view of Brandi's sword hitting Vadis' body when he is stabbed. Although easier to pull off with Vadis fully clothed, there are no gimmicks used and Brandi is thrusting his sword into Vadis' body quite convincingly with full force.

As in The Ten Gladiators and as previously noted, quite rare for this genre, Vadis' character Zorikan is stabbed twice in this scene. And like Roccia, Zorikan is stabbed a second time while he is vulnerable and defenseless, with the second thrust of the sword easily finding its mark.

Once again the second sword thrust to Zorikan's chest seems at first glance to be gratuitous and unnecessary. Zorikan was probably mortally wounded when stabbed in the gut by Rampurti's sword. The sword thrust was powerful enough to knock Zorikan off the veranda and to the ground so it is reasonable to assume Zorikan would have died rather quickly from the wound. But with Zorikan lying on the ground defenseless, Rampurti leaps from the veranda and viciously stabs Zorikan again.

This scene, like the others already discussed, works so well in large part because of the great performance of Dan Vadis. Vadis, as usual, is very convincing when playing this death scene. His reaction to both sword thrusts is terrific but his reaction to getting stabbed in the chest is perfect.

Vadis grabs his chest with one hand when Brandi stabs him with the sword.

Vadis covers the chest wound with both hands when the Brandi pulls the sword out of him.

Vadis covers the wound with one hand while reaching up with the other, gasping his final few breathes.

His gasping for air and his groans as his hand grabs his chest make the scene very realistic and satisfying. The only thing that would have made this scene even better is if Vadis were bare-chested. Vadis would have undoubtedly been flexing his great muscular torso for the camera as Brandi's sword was thrust into his abdomen and chest.

***

Dan Vadis was the perfect actor for the roles he played in the "Sword and Sandal" films he starred in. His great muscular body and energetic acting style were well suited for playing gladiators, Hercules, and villains. But Vadis was most convincing in the deaths scenes he played out in each of the films discussed. The realistic and graphic way in which these scenes were filmed and Vadis' uninhibited and dramatic acting style during these scenes are what make him and these films stand out from the many others of this genre.