Even though Brad Harris is listed as being in the cast, he told me that he missed the start of the filming due to prior commitments. He just couldn't make it on time. Many reference books list him in the cast but he is NOT in the movie. Also, Mickey Hargitay was there at the time, with Jayne Mansfield, but wasn't used in the production. Larry Anderson, Canada.
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BandSAboutMovies11 August 2020Andrew Marton had an interesting career. Sure, he made The Thin Red Line, but he also made a Soupy Sales vehicle Birds Do It and even had his name taken off the movie Demon of the Himalayas by Joseph Goebbels because he was Jewish. As for his second unit work, he filmed the iconic chariot race in Ben-Hur and the opulence of Cleopatra. He also worked in TV, making nature shows and family fare like Flipper and Daktari.
So yeah, this movie has none of what he's known for. It does have Jayne Mansfield.
Made by Associated Producers Incorporated, but really 20th Century Fox, this was Mansfield's last big budget film. She's only in a supporting role, but her name was big enough to open a movie.
Fox used API to make the B movies that would support their A features. If they were anything like Cleopatra, they were bleeding the studio out.
Trax Colton is in this as well. Who? Well, after being discovered by Henry Willson, Trax was going to be a big matinee idol. He was even billed directly below Mansfield in this, his second - and last - film. He had a brief affair with his co-star and never made another movie.
He plays Spiridon Loues, a man running in a marathon where the winner gets to marry Mansfield's character. That seems like a publicity stunt that she'd do in real life.
The story of the people who almost ended up in this movie - Ricardo Montalbán, Fernando Lamas, Robert Wagner, Dean Stockwell - and the many titles - And Seven From America, Winged Victory In Athens - are way more interesting than the actual movie. Then again, you can just shut the volume off and stare into space at Mansfield, I guess. I know I did. -
The winner of the Arhens 1896 first modern Olympics was a Greek water carrier called Spyridon Louis,and this movie is a heavily fictionalized version of his story. They used Jayne Mansfield to sell the movie and she plays some sipposedly famous Greek actress of the time who has an affair with a Greek athlete. Theres a scene where she is undressing but her part is not very lengthy. What is interesting about this is they shot it on location in Greece and they used the actual stadium where the real games took place. There is a lot of footage of a reenactment of the 1896 games shot in the stadium filled with local crowd which is interesting. The rest is all about, what was to become the american team who actually won most of the gold medals in athletics which were the main event in the main stadium. The americans went there actually representing themselves since nobody in the US at the time thought these games would amount to anything. The IOC has since registered the athletes as representing the USA. One last thng,i wish FOX would release this either on DVD or Bluray in its Cinemascope frame,the actual DVD they are selling is cropped in 4/3 old TV format and missing most of hte original framing which makes it terrible especially in the wide angle scenes of the Olympic stadium.
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denny-167 November 1999This is a frivolous light hearted comedy about about Greek farm boy, Trax Colton, who decides to enter the first Olympics in 1896. The movie follows his struggles through to his success. It's amusing to watch the primitive conditions athletes competed under back then, and the lack of formality. Real-life Olympic hero Bob Mathias plays the American captain. A real attraction is Jayne Mansfield, who as a beauty promises to marry the winner of the marathon. She appears in a number of skimpy, revealing costumes, trying to tempt the virtuous Colton, to humorous effect.
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witchaphrodite14 February 2006Awhile ago FMC was showing this film a lot, so I had an opportunity to watch it.
I found it rather difficult to watch this film all the way through. The acting was uninspired, the story was weak, and overall it just dragged.There were moments that were intended to be humorous that just fell flat. The actors don't seem interested in giving there all here for the most part. Maria Xenia makes some effort, but given the weak script there is little she could do.
I do think that it could have been interesting had there been a little more focus on the Olympics aspect and less on Mansfield's character attempting to seduce Colton's character. The seduction falls flat on screen. And it seems the actors are just embarrassing themselves. -
hilljayne27 April 2006I love this movie! Jayne has a supporting role but gets top billing and is playing against type. Jayne plays a self absorbed stage actress and is a little villainous. I think it was meant to be a vehicle for introducing Trax Colton to the movies and they needed a big star to carry the movie, so they put Jayne in. Jayne looks mesmerizing in this film. I wish Fox would put it on an official DVD, though they do show it on the Fox Movie Channel sometimes. Trax plays a Greek shepherd boy trying to enter the first Olympics. Jayne plays a glamorous stage actress who promises to marry one of the winners of one of the games. Jayne's acting is inspired and even though she has a supporting role, she is the one you will be watching the film for. This movie has a reputation of being one of Jayne's 'loan out' film roles for Fox, but in fact this was a major motion picture big budget movie filmed in 1960 and was made in Cinemascope.
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JohnHowardReid19 June 2017Copyright 27 December 1961 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corporation. New York opening at neighborhood theaters: 14 November 1962 (sic). U.S. release: June 1962. U.K. release: 1 December 1962. Original U.S. running time of 105 minutes cut to 92 minutes for New York release. Cut to 8,123 feet (90 minutes) for U.K.
SYNOPSIS: When in 1896 a young Greek shepherd boy, Spiridon Loues (Trax Colton), learns that Athens will shortly hold the first modern revival of the Olympic Games, he is fired with a desire to run in the Marathon, a classic 26-mile test of speed and endurance. With his faithful sheepdog, Sophocles, the eager -- if untrained -- athlete goes to the ancient city, but once there receives disheartening news: to enter the Marathon he must have qualified, and the trials were held three months before. Despondent, he is about to leave Athens when he meets a girl from his home town, Christina Gratsos (Maria Xenia), the personal maid of the country's most glamorous actress Eleni Costa (Jayne Mansfield).
COMMENT: After reaching her own peak of critical and commercial success in "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?" (1957), Jayne Mansfield's career went into a steady decline. She certainly didn't enhance the box- office prospects of this picture, though — whether by accident or design is unclear — she does give a delightfully tongue-in-cheek performance, way outclassing the rest of the players, none of whom seem to be in on the joke. Except of course for Sophocles, a far more personable and winning dog than the much- vaunted Lassies of this world.
Although the film's advertising may not lead parents to think so, "It Happened In Athens" is quite suitable for children. With an eye to eliminating as much of Maria Xenia's role as possible, some judicious re-cutting would make the film even more of an entertainment treat. I would also take out the entire initial meeting with Colton, Xenia and Mansfield. Also the scene with Colton and the bibulous Minardos.
The movie has been produced on an admirably grand scale. The fact that it's set in period adds to the excitement. We may have reservations about Marton's expertise as a director during the dialogue scenes, but once he starts on the Marathon, the suspense is almost too thrillingly acute. -
stermix50117 May 2020It might not be a great movie, however it has huge merits as documentary since its depiction of historical Athens is great. It seems that it was indeed shot within the historical monuments that you can now only see from meters away, while the surroundings of the Acropolis - without today's cement pollution and road traffic -keep their entire aesthetic value. A couple of great greek actors are also included. Main american character is convincing, I feel he deserved a long success in film industry but he has strangely made only a couple of films
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cutterccbaxter8 February 2013I was curious about It Happened In Athens because it featured a storyline concerning the first Olympic marathon held in 1896. That race was won by Louis Spiridon who is the main character in this film. At the end of the film it claims that it is not a biography about Spiridon. Like the movie Spiridon, the real Spiridon came from a humble background. According to the book 26.2 Marathon stories by Katherine Switzer and Roger Robinson Spiridon attained his running prowess because his family had a water transporting business and he would run alongside the cart each day racking up 8 to 16 miles. Unlike the movie Spiridon, the real Spiridon participated in the Greek Olympic trials where he finished 5th out of 38 starters. The actual Olympic race would feature 17 runners and 13 of them were Greek and they had more experience in long distant running than most of the other countries who for the most part featured middle distant runners. These middle distant runners tended to go out too fast and fade during the race which is how it is portrayed in the movie. There is an Irish runner who is shown to imbibe during the race in an apparent attempt at levity via the reinforcement of a tired stereotype. The real Spiridon actually stopped at mile 13 and tipped a glass of wine and announced to the crowd that he would win. In the movie there is a sign at the starting line that reads: 42 kilometers to Athens which is close to the current marathon distance of 26.2 miles. However, at the first modern Olympic marathon the distance was 40 kilometers or 25 miles. Spiridon's real-life girlfriend's cheered him on at mile 23 and her name was Eleni, which is the name of the Jane Mansfield character in It Happened In Athens. If she was half as cute as Xenia Kalogeropoulou who played his girlfriend in the movie, he was one lucky marathoner. Spiridon finished with a time of 2:58:50 (the current world record for men is 2 hours 3 minutes and 38 seconds) and as seen in the movie his victory was an immensely joyful occasion for the Greek people.