"Terence Young's Amazons" aka "War Goddess" Original Japanese Movie Program. "Women Warriors as Sensuous as they are Savage. Women Rulers as Passionate as they are Powerful." The 1975 film about a tribe of wild Amazons. Every 4 years, a new Queen is chosen for the Amazons through intense competition and battle, including wrestling, javelin throwing, climbing challenges and horse racing (while whipping other contestants.) In order to compete, each woman must bring the head of a man. The Amazon women enjoy a fine existence, except for once a year when they must breed with men to further their race.
Director Terence Young and colleagues reviewed 14,000 photographs and conducted "Miss Amazon" contests in Trieste, Paris, Hamburg, Munich, Rome and Nice to come up with the 100 women who are the "Amazons." They then endured a six-week training regimen that included riding, calisthenics and running from early in the morning until lights out. They did mostly their own stunts too; several girls had broken legs and one lost a finger under a chariot wheel! They explain the need for oil when wrestling as necessary protection of "holy oil." Silly.
It was filmed in Spain. The original is 105 minutes, but the U.S. release (War Goddess) is a cut up 89 minutes. There is a Japanese DVD that has English language that clocks in at 103 minutes. Here's the trailer. Contains nudity. From 1973.
