He may have been the Arnold Schwarzenegger of his time, but nowadays Steve Reeves is regarded as just another Wayne Newton, Frankie Avalon or Zsa Zsa Gabor. Time hasn't exactly treated him kindly.
And to add injury to insult, Reeves, the American film star best known for his performances in a series of Italian fantasy/adventure films during the late 1950s and early '60s, receives a royal sendup in "Hercules Recycled," a straight-to-video effort that drastically reworks his performance as Hercules for comic effect."Hercules Recycled" combines scenes from Reeves' first action epic, 1959's "Hercules," with its 1960 sequel, "Hercules Unchained" - both surprise box-office hits at the time. Here, they have been turned into a parodic science-fiction piece akin to TV's "Mystery Science Theater 3000."
In "Hercules Recycled," Reeves becomes former TV exercise show host Burt Galaxy, the only man who can save 21st-century Earth by recovering a secret energy formula written on the back of a golden bath mat. During his search for the formula, Galaxy does battle with a dinosaur, an insurance salesman and fast-food mutants.
Of course, Reeves didn't play the part knowingly. Three wiseacres - Don Moriarty, Greg Alt and Dave Trottier - wrote and dubbed-in new dialogue over Reeves and the other actors.
"These films were like the `Star Wars' of their time, and Steve Reeves was a major movie star," Trottier said a bit sheepishly. "But when we were watching it again, we thought it was funny that so many of the actors were overacting so dramatically. And it seemed that it would be even funnier if there had been something ridiculous - or something even more ridiculous - coming out of their mouths."
Though the video cover features an alleged quote from Reeves, saying he would like to "snap their heads off," the retired actor has actually given his stamp of approval to the project.
"At first I didn't think (the parody) should be made because (the films are) classics," said Reeves in a telephone interview. "But then they showed me some clips and it looked pretty amusing. I didn't think I'd be pleased with the results, but they did things more tastefully than I expected."
According to Trottier, who lives in Salt Lake City, earlier versions of the video were somewhat racier (in PG-13- or R-rated territory) before he and his cohorts toned it down. It certainly helped that they had a few years to think about it.
The three friends actually came up with the idea of "Hercules Recycled" in 1980 and purchased the rights to use both of the source films that year. But an unfortunate legal struggle made them abandon the project until 1994.
"Maybe the timing is actually better for this sort of thing now," said Trottier, noting the popularity of the Disney animated musical "Hercules" and the syndicated "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" television series.
As for Reeves, the video has brought up a score of memories, both good and bad, from the original film productions, including an incredible coincidence involving a contract holdout on his part.
"The sun didn't come out, which held up the shooting, so I decided to stage my own one-man sit-in to get the money they owed me," he said. "So I sat in the Lotus position in the middle of the set until my money arrived. The sun came out a minute later, and they were finally able to start the cameras rolling. They never hassled me about my money again."
These days, Reeves is as far from a movie set as possible (he raises and trains horses in Southern California). However, he did express some disappointment that he wasn't asked to do his own dubbing for the new video.
But Trottier said that most of the dubbing was finished in 1980, long before he and his partners mustered the courage to call Reeves for his consent on the project.
"There was some fear that he would snap our necks off," he said. "But we were fortunate because he loves it, evidently."
"Hercules Recycled" costs $9.95 and is available by mail (send inquiries to Hercules Recycled, P.O. Box 520248, Salt Lake City, UT 84152), through a Web site (www.clearstream.com) or by calling 1-800-367-8437.