The film stars Steve Reeves as the titular hero and Sylva Koscina as his love interest Princess Iole.

The film spawned a 1959 sequel, Hercules Unchained (Italian: Ercole e la Regina di Lidia), that also starred Reeves and Koscina.

She tells of the day where she, as young niece of the king Aeson and his son Jason, saw the procession of a murderer, Eurysteus, being brought by a military escort party to a place of trial.

Hercules observes that some, however, doubt Chirone's role in the murder; Iole becomes defensive at the very mention of this alternative theory, lamenting that her own father is known as the next logical suspect.

This leaves the king trusting Hercules and Jason less than ever and thus he sends them on another quest to either retrieve the golden fleece or die trying.

On their three month voyage they are accosted first by the Amazon women (and would have stayed with them if not for Hercules drugging and kidnapping them), and then by the men of the Colchides.

Iole finds her father having taken poison, and actually catches him in the act of burning the fleece whose words would condemn him.

The testimony of the fleece is taken seriously, Jason is made king, and Hercules and Iole sail out on their honeymoon, to the joy of the crew.

Due to the show's practice of editing the film to fit time constraints, characters go from "the midst of one plot development before the commercial ... [to] somewhere else entirely" afterwards.

61) were ranked in the Top 100 list of episodes as voted upon by MST3K Season 11 Kickstarter backers, Hercules did not make the cut.

"[20] The MST3K version of Hercules was included as part of the Mystery Science Theater 3000, Volume XXXII DVD collection, released by Shout!