Jack Palance plays an Iberian prince whose nation and family are so abused by the Carthaginians that he turns to the Romans for help in achieving his revenge.
This film was adapted for the screen by John Lee Mahin and Martin Rackin from The Barbarians, a novel written by F. Van Wyck Mason (although making significant changes to the plot like renaming the hero from Cealwyn to Revak and turning him from a Cassiterides Celtic prince[1] to an Iberian prince from fictional Penda island, named after Cealwyn's father in the novel[1]).
The film was a pilot for a projected ninety-minute TV series to be called The Barbarians (as it would cover the whole length of the book) which was never picked and got theatrical release out of the US.
He is courted by local noblewomen and a virtuous Roman captive named Valeria, but puts love aside in his obsession with revenge against Carthage.
As the best means of obtaining this revenge Revak pledges himself to Rome, which wants hegemony in the Mediterranean Sea and shares his desire to see Carthage destroyed.