This week on CineTV blog, we’re asked to write about our favorite Arnold Schwarzenegger film. Arnold has made a lot of great films, and previously I had written about one of his early films, The Villain (1979) in which Arnold plays opposite of Kirk Douglas. This time I am looking at Conan the Barbarian (1982). which my Bonnie Bride and I watched last night. This film still holds up well today as the best cinematic adaptations of Robert E. Howard’s creation. Although a lot of the credit goes to the production team, in watching the end credits I spotted L. Sprague de Camp served as technical advisor. De Camp wrote numerous Conan adventures, along with Lin Carter in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, fleshing out Conan’s saga for Ace Books, including the story “The Thing in the Crypt”, co-authored by de Camp and Carter (see Conan book 1 from Ace), elements of which were incorporated into the film.
Opening title for Conan - IMDB
Why Arnold was cast in the role as Conan is plainly obvious – his imposingly muscular physical fit Howard’s description of Conan quite well. Also, his acting chops were good, and his Austrian accent played in Arnold’s favor. Conan should not sound like a bloody American from California!
Arnold Schwarzenegger as Conan - IMDB
Even better in Conan the Barbarian is the marvelous James Earl Jones playing the Big Bad in the film, Thulsa Doom, who’s charismatic magnetism can sway people to him with fanatical fervor. Doom is obviously quite evil, and there is one defining scene that I find a bit disturbing these days, even though it didn’t phase me in the least in my youth. Yeah, the cannibalism bit is a bit unsettling for me. Jones made a wonderful villain, which is not surprising thanks to his booming bass voice and having served as the voice of Darth Vader in Star Wars (1977).
James Earl Jones as Thulsa Doom - IMDB
As Conan travels along his path pursuing vengeance, he befriends Valeria (Sandahl Bergman), a character who is modeled off of several Howard characters; Subotai (Gerry Lopez), and the wizard (Mako) who also serves as the narrator of the saga. Mako is a familiar face in film, including the film The Sand Pebbles (1966), and I have seen Lopez in one other film, North Shore (1987).
These core actors in the film all worked well together, from the very experienced Mako and Jones to the relative new comers like Bergman and Lopez. All of the core cast turned in solid performances throughout the film, as did the supporting actors, including Doom’s two top henchmen, who also had imposing physics matching that of Arnold.
I can give you a lot of reasons why I like this film, including being a life-long fan of the stories. The film stands well on it’s own, having excellent special effects, especially for the early ‘80s, solid action, and some beautiful costumes, armor, and weapons. The film does feel like a Conan adventure that Howard would have wrote, with great battle scenes, some supernatural mystique, and various parts of the Hyborean age featured, including several of the different regions that made up Howard’s world setting for Conan.
Some of the shots seem to channel fantasy artist Frank Frazetta, especially some of the shots of Conan wielding swords, and the shot with Thulsa Doom sitting on his throne with the princess at his feet. A lot of good imagery throughout the film such as that. And, of course, having de Camp as tech advisor really helped maintain the right look and feel for a Conan adventure. Just a lot of good stuff all the way around.
Subotai and Conan - IMDB
One scene that stands out is when Conan, Valeria, and Subotai infiltrate Doom’s stronghold to rescue a princess. The group used different types of paint to provide a bit of camouflage to blend in with the background of the cave system they used to infiltrate the stronghold. It is a beautiful bit of makeup work that helped set the mood for this part of the film.
One also has to mention the score, composed by Basil Poledouris, with blaring brass and percussion setting a lot of the mood for the action sequences of the film. Darn good stuff there.
If you have never seen Conan the Barbarian, then you should definitely give it a run. It’s well worth watching. Oh, and Gerry Lopez has probably the best line in the film – “Dinner for wolf”, adding a bit of humor to the film. Also, if you have never read any of Robert e. Howard’s Conan stories, a couple of good ones to read are “Red Nails” and “Queen of the Black Coast”.
My Robert E. Howard bookshelf, inlcuding most of the Conan books
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