Editing Goliath (section)

===Italian Goliath film series (1960–1964)===
The Italians used Goliath as an action superhero in a series of biblical adventure films ([[Peplum (film genre)|peplum]]s) in the early 1960s. He possessed amazing strength, and the films were similar in theme to their [[Hercules]] and [[Maciste]] movies. After the classic ''[[Hercules (1958 film)|Hercules]]'' (1958) became a blockbuster sensation in the film industry, the 1959 [[Steve Reeves]] film ''Terrore dei Barbari'' (''Terror of the Barbarians'') was retitled ''[[Goliath and the Barbarians]]'' in the United States, (after [[Joseph E. Levine]] claimed the sole right to the name of ''Hercules''); the film was so successful at the box office, it inspired Italian filmmakers to do a series of four more films featuring a beefcake hero named Goliath, although the films were not really related to each other. Note that the Italian film ''David and Goliath'' (1960), starring [[Orson Welles]], was not one of these, since that film was a straightforward adaptation of the biblical story.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}

The four titles in the Italian ''Goliath'' series were as follows:{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}

* ''Goliath contro i giganti''/''[[Goliath Against the Giants]]'' (1960) starring [[Brad Harris]]
* ''Goliath e la schiava ribelle''/''[[Goliath and the Rebel Slave]]'' (a.k.a. ''The Tyrant of Lydia vs. The Son of Hercules'') (1963) starring [[Gordon Scott]]
* ''Golia e il cavaliere mascherato''/''Goliath and the Masked Rider'' (a.k.a. ''[[Hercules and the Masked Rider]]'')  (1964) starring [[Alan Steel]]
* ''Golia alla conquista di Bagdad''/''Goliath at the Conquest of Baghdad'' (a.k.a. ''[[Goliath at the Conquest of Damascus]]'', 1964) starring [[Peter Lupus]]

The name Goliath was later inserted into the film titles of three other Italian muscle man movies that were retitled for distribution in the United States in an attempt to cash in on the Goliath craze, but these films were not originally made as Goliath films in Italy.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}

Both ''[[Goliath and the Vampires]]'' (1961) and ''[[Goliath and the Sins of Babylon]]'' (1963) actually featured the famed superhero Maciste in the original Italian versions, but American distributors did not feel the name Maciste had any meaning to American audiences. ''[[Goliath and the Dragon]]'' (1960) was originally an Italian Hercules film called ''The Revenge of Hercules''.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}