Film

Hercules in New York

Name: Hercules in New York
Genre: Comedy, Adventure, Fantasy
Released: 1970
Cast: Arnold Stang, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Deborah Loomis, James Karen, Ernest Graves

Comedy
Light-hearted

A 1970 comedy with a young Schwarzenegger as Hercules arriving in Manhattan and wrestling for cash. It's cheaply made, charmingly weird, and deeply earnest about its ridiculous premise. For completists, cult-film enthusiasts, and anyone curious about Arnold before he became a megastar.

TMDb rating

2.0

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy earnest, low-budget camp where a bewildered strongman does more work than the script, and you're happy to see a famous physique in one of its earliest, goofiest outings.

Skip it if you need a tight plot or a reverent take on myth; the gags are broad, the pacing wanders, and the sincerity can curdle into tedium.

What it asks of you: Ninety-two minutes of brisk, unpretentious silliness; you mostly need to meet it halfway on the goofiness and let the cheapness wash over you.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Trading Places1983

Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd navigate 1980s New York with charm and impeccable comic timing. A fish-out-of-water story about class, money, and survival that feels both smart and genuinely funny.

But The Wall Street satire has aged less subtly than intended, and some of the humour lands differently now than it did forty years ago.

Coming to America1988

Murphy again, this time as an African prince loose in Queens. The same culture-clash energy as Hercules but executed with Hollywood money and a script that actually sings.

But It's almost three hours, and the romance subplot feels obligatory even if it's wrapped in charm and good humour.

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen1988

Terry Gilliam's visual extravaganza about an impossible man telling impossible stories. Pure fantasy adventure with the same cheerful disregard for physics that Hercules has, but with genius-level execution.

But The plot is deliberately loose and the tonal shifts bewildering; if you need narrative clarity, you'll spend two hours frustrated.

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Hercules in New York

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Mighty Peking Man1977

Both are low-budget fantasies where the hero is spectacularly out of place in the modern world, and both films are too sincere to be ironic about their own ridiculousness.

A Hong Kong King Kong knockoff where the monster falls in love with a woman in the modern world. It has Hercules' earnest wackiness and zero awareness that it's absurd—incompetently charming in exactly the same way.

But The dubbing is atrocious, the special effects are rubber-suit disaster, and the gender politics are actively uncomfortable. It's a fascinating wreck, not a fun romp.

It Happened One Night1934

Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert in the template for fish-out-of-water romance. Snappy, warm, and genuinely clever—the screwball comedy that influenced everything after it.

But The pacing is deliberate by modern standards, and the gender politics require viewing through a historical lens.

Conan the Barbarian1982

Schwarzenegger's first major role, tackling a pulp hero with surprising seriousness. John Milius directs with operatic violence and a score that doesn't apologize for how much it costs.

But It's slow, mythic, and more interested in mood than plot—patience required. The dialogue is minimal by design.

Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes1984

Christopher Lambert as Tarzan struggling to master civilization after growing up wild. A fish-out-of-water film with real emotional weight and serious filmmaking ambition wrapped around pulp material.

But It's decidedly unglamorous and melancholic rather than fun; some ape scenes hold up less well than others.

Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes poster

Big1988

Tom Hanks as a kid in a man's body navigating adult Manhattan. The fish-out-of-water premise drives both comedy and genuine sweetness; Hanks' bewilderment is contagious.

But The romantic subplot feels tacked on, and some of the '80s sentiment curdles a little on repeat viewings.

Highlander1986

Sean Connery and Christopher Lambert in an absurd, unhinged action fantasy that somehow works. Immortal swordsmen, terrible accents, and a Queen soundtrack that has no business being this good.

But The plot makes no sense if you think about it for more than five seconds, and the special effects are visibly low-budget.

Flash Gordon1980

A dizzy, campy space opera that knows exactly how silly it is. Sam J. Jones as the dumbest hero imaginable, Ming the Merciless as pure pantomime villainy, and a synth score that's unhinged in the best way.

But It's a genuine cult film, not a polished movie; your patience for camp matters a lot here.

The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.1953

Both are earnest, bizarre children's fantasies made on modest budgets that seem to come from a different universe than ordinary studio filmmaking. Both are too weird to quite work, which is exactly why they matter.

Seuss wrote it, the production design is fever-dream surrealism, and it's a musical adventure in a hostile fantasy world. Completely unhinged and utterly unlike anything else from that era.

But It's genuinely disturbing in places, the musical numbers are strange, and it requires a specific kind of patience for Seussian nightmare logic. Most people find it one of the oddest films ever made.

Zazie dans le Métro1960

Both films treat a city as a stage where an outsider causes gleeful disruption. Both are low-budget adventures where style and strangeness matter more than plot coherence, and both suggest the world as basically playable rather than serious.

A French kid tears through Paris and its subway system with anarchic energy and visual invention. Godard-adjacent but far more playful, with jump cuts, sped-up footage, and a sense that the city is a playground for chaos.

But It's in French, the narrative barely exists, and the style is deliberately disorienting. It's a mood rather than a story, and Nouvelle Vague aesthetics aren't for everyone.