Late to the viewing of this film but all I could think while watching was this is the plot of The Magnificent Seven as a Sword and Sorcery story without the sorcery. Of course, The Mag 7 was an American version of The Seven Samurai.
shareI was wondering if ANYONE else was thinking the same thing! Especially when Autolycus tells them "You're crazy--the lot of you" for not leaving with their pay. That's straight out of the mouth of Harry Luck. And Iolaus was clearly Chico the one who was never meant to be a warrior, but wanted the warrior's glory . . .
This wasn't the first sword and sandal version of the story, though. Right before the Hercules movie starring Lou Ferrigno and Sybil Danning came out, the two of them did a little-known Italian movie called The Seven Magnificent Gladiators which was also based on it.