"The Arena" is typically trashy and smutty 70s exploitation production, courtesy of ... the almighty Roger - King of the B's - Corman; or what else did you expect? I can just imagine what the conversation in Corman's office must have looked and sounded like! "Mr. Corman, we have a great idea for a movie! You know how films with hot women in cages make tremendous amounts of money at the box office? Well, what if we do something similar, but set in the Ancient Rome and with the female slaves forced to battle for their lives as gladiators in the arena?" "Hmm, interesting. Will there be any nudity?". "Yes, of course. The women have to take baths and change outfits. They could also rip each other's clothes off during fights! We could even cast 1 super-hot black girl and 1 super-hot white girl, so we please all male audiences' tastes!". "Sold! Cast the exact same girls as in 'Black Mama White Mama'. I heard that one was very profitable". Well, okay, naturally this is my imagination running wild, but why not?
As much as I enjoyed "The Arena", and gazing at the stunning naked bodies of Pam Grier and Margaret Markov in particular, it honestly isn't a very great film. The acting performances are weak (except for goddess Grier), the story is barely existent, the battle sequences suffer from poor choreography and the costumes & set-pieces look like depreciated materials from "Spartacus". Still, it's vintage Corman-guff revolving around solely one brilliantly exploited idea. Female slaves serving as distraction for gladiators on the night before battle get into a massive cat-fight in the kitchen. Obviously, there's one clever Roman who sees this as a guaranteed crowd-pleasing idea to transfer to the arena. But these women are tough. Much tougher as their male counterparts, in fact, and use their newly gained fighting skills to try and escape. As far as "Sword & Sandal" films go, "The Arena" isn't much of a classic, but there are five words that always justify the purchase: Pam Grier full frontal nudity. It's incredibly shallow, I know, but also true.
As much as I enjoyed "The Arena", and gazing at the stunning naked bodies of Pam Grier and Margaret Markov in particular, it honestly isn't a very great film. The acting performances are weak (except for goddess Grier), the story is barely existent, the battle sequences suffer from poor choreography and the costumes & set-pieces look like depreciated materials from "Spartacus". Still, it's vintage Corman-guff revolving around solely one brilliantly exploited idea. Female slaves serving as distraction for gladiators on the night before battle get into a massive cat-fight in the kitchen. Obviously, there's one clever Roman who sees this as a guaranteed crowd-pleasing idea to transfer to the arena. But these women are tough. Much tougher as their male counterparts, in fact, and use their newly gained fighting skills to try and escape. As far as "Sword & Sandal" films go, "The Arena" isn't much of a classic, but there are five words that always justify the purchase: Pam Grier full frontal nudity. It's incredibly shallow, I know, but also true.