Hercules in New York
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| Hercules in New York | |
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 Promotional Poster for Hercules in New York |
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| Directed by | Arthur Allan Seidelman |
| Produced by | Aubrey Wisberg |
| Written by | Aubrey Wisberg |
| Starring | Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Stang James Karen Deborah Loomis Ernest Graves Tony Carroll |
| Music by | John Balamos |
| Cinematography | Leo Lebowitz |
| Editing by | Donald P. Finamore |
| Release date(s) |  February 25, 1970 |
| Running time | 91 min. |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
Hercules in New York (originally known as Hercules Goes Bananas) is a 1970 fantasy adventure film. It is known for being the first feature film to star Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was approximately 23 years old when he came into the motion picture.
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[edit] Overview
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 'Mr. Universe'".
Due to his thick Austrian accent, Schwarzenegger had all his lines dubbed, although 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. [1]
[edit] Plot
The film begins with Hercules at Olympus, berating his father Zeus for not allowing him to leave the Gods' abode to adventure on earth. 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 Mercury 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 instead convinces Nemesis to poison Hercules with a poison that would strip him of his divinity and then talk to Pluto. Nemesis informs Pluto of what is happening and he bets a large sum of money against Hercules in an upcoming strongman competition with Hercules's gangster manager.
When Hercules loses the strongman competition his friends try to lead off Hercules's angry manager's henchmen, but Hercules follows them to try and save them.
Meanwhile, Zeus uncovers the truth from Nemesis as to what is happening but only intervenes at the last minute to restore Hercules divinity not wanting any son of his to die at the hands of a mortal.
Hercules defeats the gangsters and realizes that he has been disobedient and returns to the heavens shortly after, only saying good-bye to Pretzie over a radio after he left.
In the heavens, Zeus tells Juno and Hercules that he is not going to decide what to do about what happened as they ask him about it and asks to be left alone. They leave him alone, and upon their departure, Zeus sneaks out of the heavens and descends to earth, scaring a passenger jet on his way down.
