Runtime: 128 minutes
Directed by: John Milius
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, James Earl Jones, Max von Sydow, Sandahl Bergman, Ben Davidson
From: Universal
A good old fashioned sword and sandal adventure… for adults. This was actually watched on Monday night but it fit my schedule best to talk about it now. It was after I had a few alcoholic beverages during the night, which seemed appropriate for a manly John Milius motion picture.
Based on the literary character created by Robert E. Howard-although apparently it was a rather liberal adaptation-it has a rather classical story: as a kid, Conan’s parents are killed by an evil warlord and he’s forced to be a slave. Freed as an adult, he teams up w/ some disparate characters to finally earn his revenge. Simple yet easy to follow and it’s rather easy to root for our heroes… especially Arnold as the title character.
The movie is a bloody good time, in more than one way. The aesthetic, the tough action scenes, the dastardly bad guys, the adult material (the R-rated violence and nudity), the lovely practical effects, the grit, the grime… they don’t make ‘em like this anymore. The cast and the script are big highlights, although to be frank what does the most heavy lifting is a truly epic, bold score from Basil Poledouris that at least made me wish I could be on those adventures w/ Conan. Sure, there are some moments that have aged poorly due to what modern sensibilities are now but it did not ruin what was a fun movie for me that still managed to have various subtleties.
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