Leofwine_draca TREASURE OF THE FOUR CROWNS may not be the best, but it's certainly the bizarrest of the various European Indiana Jones rip-offs that followed in the wake of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. This totally madcap film is bookended by two incredible scenes of action that will have you shaking your head in disbelief, whereas the slow middle section is for courageous viewers only who don't succumb to boredom too easily. And what the heck was Ennio Morricone thinking when writing a score for this trash?! It's rip-off time from the start with this movie, which opens with some yellow scrolling introductory footage which will no doubt make any STAR WARS fan feel a sense of déjà vu. Immediately afterwards we're introduced to J.T. Striker, our red-quilted jacket wearing hero who has to brave the dangers of a booby-trapped castle in the search for a hidden key. As well as rabid dogs - who know what they survive on in a deserted castle in the middle of nowhere - Striker must face jumping snakes, opening pits, a fair quantity of dry ice, moving skeletons and suits of armour, loud wailing, and, most hilarious of all, a vulture - made of CARDBOARD - which comes flying at him on a plainly visible string! If this wasn't enough, as soon as he retrieves the key, flying bolts, spears and rockets (!) are launched at him, the building burns down and Striker must escape from burning wooden spheres which roll after him and threaten to engulf him (let's see if anyone can spot the influence of this last bit). He manages to jump (in slow motion of course) through a window and escape as the castle explodes behind him. I guess somebody happened to leave their dynamite behind by mistake when vacating the premises! The most incredible thing about all this action is that this all takes place in the first TWENTY minutes.Well, it's a good thing that the film settles down at this point for some plot exposition or I might have had a heart attack from watching all that excitement! Basically, Striker must travel to a remote mountain-top castle which is inhabited by a religious cult led by the insane Brother Junas; there, he must retrieve three crowns which contain the power to stop evil in the world (one of the crowns is already owned by his local museum). For some unexplained reason, Striker must assemble a team of five to infiltrate the castle, get past the guard and booby-traps and steal the treasure.The director is Ferdinando Baldi, who was responsible for some enjoyable peplum epics back in the early '60s. Baldi's direction is adequate and he keeps the film lively at all times; on occasion he inserts lots of slow-motion in an attempt to emulate fellow Italian action director Enzo G. Castellari, no doubt! This is one of those movies made to cash in on the short-lived 3D craze of the early '80s, so they really go overboard with things flying at the camera; we've got ropes, hands, traps, flames, crossbow bolts, harpoons, knives, candles, feet, snakes, and you name it at various points; the most hilarious bit is when two people constantly pass things to each other, towards the camera every time! Pointless of course but still unintentionally funny. Speaking of the camera, couldn't they afford a duster to wipe it? On numerous occasions there are bits of grit, grime, and dirt stuck on the lens which is really off-putting. Just a sign of the low budget I suppose. If you're a fan of cheesy, low-budget rip-offs then TREASURE OF THE FOUR CROWNS (that should read THREE, because there's no sign of the fourth!) is the film for you.

Scott LeBrun J.T. Striker (Tony Anthony) is an adventurer / fortune hunter hired by his associates Edmond (Gene Quintano) and Professor Montgomery (Francisco Villena) to get his hands on the legendary Four Crowns, which when obtained can make a person all powerful. This he has to do because diabolical religious cult leader Brother Jonas (Emiliano Redondo) is using them to control his mindless flock. To accomplish his task, J.T. gathers together a bunch of his old friends: the weary old Socrates (Francisco Rabal), the drunken Rick (Jerry Lazarus), and the super sexy Liz (Ana Obregon).You know you're in trouble when the opening "Star Wars" style crawl is sorely lacking in any sort of punctuation. This basically amiable movie, rushed into production in order to cash in on the success of the previous Cannon Group 3-D feature, "Comin' at Ya!", is entertaining in spurts. Its extreme crudeness and cheesiness (one can clearly see the strings that are manipulating objects) could have been forgiven if only the movie had more energy. It moves along much too slowly, and there's overkill in terms of exposition. The acting from most of the cast is pretty bland. The filmmakers thrust as many objects into the camera as they can.Helping to uplift "Treasure of the Four Crowns" (starting with that title, it's all too obvious which hit movie was a big influence on this one) to a degree are its WTF moments, its admittedly amusing opening set piece that goes on for over 20 minutes without dialogue, its absolutely priceless climax, and a wonderful, stirring Ennio Morricone music score that truly deserved a better movie.This just isn't as much fun as this viewer would have liked.Five out of 10.

Aaron1375 I remember this movie coming on numerous times on HBO and Cinemax when I was a kid and I watched it every chance I could. I know now that it was a cheesy movie and if I watched it again it would probably be not as good as I remembered, but I did like it when I was a kid. Sure most 3-d movies do the hokey sticking stuff in your face routine, and this movie is no different, but I still enjoyed it. Even though during one scene of the movie you can see the string on the "flying" key. The parts I enjoyed most are the first and last parts of the movie. The lead guy in the first part has to get through various traps to retrieve this key thing. I always love boobey traps. The middle just consists of him recruiting people to help retrieve the two crowns. Then it is like a spy movie as they break into some cults palace that has numerous traps. And yes there were only three crowns, one only had paper, the other two had gems, the forth one supposedly was broken by someone who tried to open it without the key. I don't think this was in the original foriegn version. I think it was mentioned only because Treasure of the Three Crowns just doesn't have the same type of ring to it. In the end many of the characters die, and perhaps they get the stones or not...I would say but I don't want to spoil the really dumb ending.

lomedae No matter how you put it, this movie was created to contain as many gimmicks as possible to exploit the 3D theme. And as such it succeeded beautifully.I have seen this movie when I was 13, close to when it came out.Little other movies of the 80s have made quite the same impact. No, it's not a good movie by normal standards. But Yes, this is probably the best 3D movie ever made, and as such is worth a couple of lines in someone's book.