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Conan baby! Let’s start with the first Conan movie. Conan the Barbarian.
Tagged with: 1982 arnold channel awesome conan conan the barbarian doug walker movies nostalgia critic
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-This is a cool movie
-You don’t get how great the sword is
-MILF
This is apparently an ongoing problem that has been an issue for months, but this link is broken.
Most of these from this time period are, actually.
Conan the Barbarian isn’t a guilty pleasure. It’s just a pleasure, period. Nor is it stupid–it’s smarter than most movies that are released today.
I think this movie has layers of philosophical depth that are often overlooked. It’s not just a revenge story, but an examination of the will to power, the strength we will gain from triumphing over dire adversity, and whether or not it is worth the price of a terrible injustice. In this sense, it’s the most introspective revenge movie ever made. In other words, it’s actually about something.
What’s more, this movie has the courage of its convictions, which is rare in modern cinema. The unyielding warrior ethos behind this picture really does give one the sense that it takes place in some forgotten age of the past. John Millius was exactly the right director to make a movie about Conan, even if his Conan is a separate entity from Howard’s. You just can’t make movies like this today.
And, of course, Basil Poledoris’ phenomenal orchestral score elevates the entire enterprise. It draws upon the likes of Prokofiev and Carmina Burana to evoke a powerful and gloomy atmosphere. It is widely considered one of the best film scores of the 80’s. Why it wasn’t at least nominated for Best Original Score is beyond me.
Here is a link to David C. Smith’s critical appreciation of this film:
http://www.barbariankeep.com/ctbds.html
This film didn’t just give the meteoric rise to fame for Schwarzenegger. It also launched the Hollywood career of Platoon, The Doors, and JFK screenwriter/director Oliver Stone, who has a co-screenwriting credit with John Milius.
Too bad you didn’t have Mr. Lovecraft on the site when this review was done. I wonder what he would have had to say about your review of this movie based on his friend’s material.