Conan the Barbarian: one of the best from the 80's
This movie was terrifying and beautiful at the same time to a child of the 80's. It introduced a lot of us to Schwarzenegger and James Earl Jones (outside of the voice of Darth) and had amazing costumes and action the likes of which had never been seen before.
When this film was released i was less than 10 years old so of course I wasn't allowed to go and see it in cinemas and to be honest, I didn't even know it was there. The lack of internet in '82 and carefully controlled advertisement on TV meant that kids (for the most part) wouldn't even find out about a film filled with blood and sex. Apparently my parents did go see it, and we somehow got a hold of a VHS cassette that my mom "edited" herself by simply hitting pause on the recording VCR during any of the film's scenes that involved naked playtime. haha. It is fun for me to think about my mom going through the entire film just to take out those scenes and I am also a little surprised that she would be engaging in what was likely something illegal anyway.
I didn't know this at the time but Conan is actually a character created by an author in the 30's who would have illustrations of an enormous muscle-bound warrior on the covers. This is how Arnold was chosen for the role when he was relatively unknown. Can you believe that Charles Bronson was being considered for the role? I laugh thinking of him playing that character. It was said that Schwarzenegger was the "living incarnation of the illustrations on the original paperbacks."
It has been said that Arnold, upon accepting the role and a $250,000 retainer was told he would actually need to LOSE some muscle mass because he was so big that he was unable to perform the sword battles. That's right, he was too muscular to play the role of a super muscular guy.
The film follows young Conan, living a normal life in a snowy village
his mother is decapitated right in front of his eyes and he is sold into slavery where he pushes a heavy wheel in circles for 20 years or so.
This apparently is a fantastic core exercise because it turns him from skinny boy into alpha male. Eventually he is the only one left and is sold to a fella who intends to use him for pitfights.
the montage of the pit fights is just fantastic
Through becoming the best pit-fighting champion he is one day released by his master and thus the journey to find the people responsible for destroying his childhood and killing his mother begins. The characters he meets along the way are wonderful and the battles they get into with mythical creatures such as a giant snake are actually very well done considering that this was all occurring around 1980 where a computer would still fill up an entire room and likely wasn't used at all. Also, Arnold's lack of English-speaking skills at the time actually enhanced his character rather than hinder it. Conan wasn't meant to be a scholar after all.
The cinematography, the action, the casting, the story, and the increible score all make this a must see. This is truly a piece of history because the only reason why such an expensive fantasy story got the "green light" was because Star Wars was such a success just a few years earlier (or so it is rumored.) It is actually extremely graphic considering the time period and I am surprised that a lot of it made it past the relatively puritan film censors of the early 80's.
If you haven't seen this movie, you are in for a treat. As a matter of fact I will now watch it again today myself. You won't regret it. This is one of my favorite movies ever but since I know it isn't exactly a ground-breaking storyline, i can't rate it any higher than
This is one of my top-ten favorite movies of all time. It's quite easy to dismiss this film based on its genre (barbarian slash-em-up) and the limited acting ability of the star (Schwarzenegger), but Conan is nothing short of a masterpiece.
Ok, the story is fairly standard, and the principal actors (Schwarzenegger, Sandahl Bergman & Gerry Lopez) are competent but not outstanding. There are a few brief but memorable performances from James Earl Jones and Max von Sydow that help lend weight to the film, but the real stars are Poledouris' score and the cinematography. I have never seen a more beautifully-shot film in my life. The costumes, props and art direction are all top-notch. They could take all of the dialog out of the movie, and just have the music and pictures and it would still be worth watching.
To fully appreciate Conan, though, you have to watch it and then watch another barbarian-type film from any era (Beastmaster, Krull, etc.) and the difference will be stunning.
CONAN THE BARBARIAAANNNNNNNNN... Omg. Cant believe i would hear about this movie again. Saw this movie when i was little and Arnold became an icon to me. I wanted to be a body builder because of him. I loved his character in the movie so much and his charisma as well.
It was and is still a dope movie. I just hope they dont try to remake it. Some movies should just be left alone.
8 years ago i saw conan the barbarian for the first time in my life and since then NOTHING, no any band, no composer has came even close to what this music made/still makes me feel. I have no other words to describe the feeling that I get every time I listen to conan the barbarian soundtrack. It's simply the masterpiece of everything. Every single melody and backtrack melody guides my emotions everytime I hear this.
yes, the musical score was just amazing.
really like it
Certainly the film that catapulted him to fame. I didn't know that he actually had to lose muscle for the role...lol. The 80s and 90s was certainly the year of Schwarzenegger
Man what a reminiscence uve given me this morning, great throwback, i watch this movie when i was in primary school i think, and i fell in the love with the muscular warrior who i felt was fantastic and unbeatable, i didnt even know him to be Arnold until i watched some of his other movies, i became familiar with the name after watching True/Lies, check out if you havnt watched it, i look forward to your review on it. Thanks for the review bro, am gonna get it. And watch again it will be a nice experience considering the vast difference in contemporary movies, you know with technology and all that😊
You made me remember when I was small. Anytime we are watching any movie ambit got to a romantic scene, mum will always ask us to take our eyes off the TV. Hahaha 😂
Schwarzenegger is a great actor and I've seen many of his movie. Though I did not watch this one. I think I was not yet born when the film came out
The score of this movie is amazing. I also saw this movie when I was a kid, but it was censored of course
I think I've seen portions of this classic movie, maybe I'll watch the full thing one day
That poster.
Epic.
One of the best movies in history :)