The box office success of Conan the Barbarian sparked a mini-revival of peplum film productions between 1982 and 1990 in Italy.[3]The Seven Magnificent Gladiators was part of the revival.[4] Among the production crew was cinematographer Silvano Ippoliti who had shot many of the original peplum films and Brad Harris and Dan Vadis who had starred in peplum films of the previous era.[4]
A filmed version of Hercules was originally to be directed by Bruno Mattei from a screenplay by Ricardo Ghione.[5] Principal photography was scheduled to begin in May 1982 in Rome, Italy while The Hollywood Reporter named Claudio Fragasso as screenwriter, and Ennio Morricone as music composer and conductor.[5] Neither Mattei, Fragasso, or Morricone appear in onscreen credits.[5]The Hollywood Reporter later stated that principal photography began in August in Italy under the direction of Luigi Cozzi.[5]Hercules was filmed back-to-back with The Seven Magnificent Gladiators in Italy in 1982.[6]The Seven Magnificent Gladiators was filmed first.[6] During production, Brad Harris suggested to actor Lou Ferrigno that he should star in a new Hercules film.[4] After production commenced, it was followed by the shooting of Hercules, which began on 12 July 1982.[6]
The film was produced by Cannon Italia SrL and filmed a De Paolis Studios in Rome, some of the outdoor scenes were filmed in Ostia Antica.[2] The film's plot is a re-working of Seven Samurai.[2]
Kim Newman (Monthly Film Bulletin) described the film as a "such an exact remake/rip-off of The Seven Samurai/The Magnificent Seven that the only possible surprise comes from the casting of Sybil Danning in the Brad Dexter role". Newman stated that Bruno Mattei "seems totally at a loss when confronted with an action scene, and tends unfortunately to emphasize the stately pace and clumsy horsemanship of the participants in a noticeably unexciting chariot race, and the gauche weediness of the village girls and dotards required to fight Nicerote's hordes in the scrappy final battle".[7]
