A cult classic stumping the critics. Arnold Schwarzenegger, as Conan, was at his best form. The #1 movie of its warrior/sorcery fantasy niche. Conan is the hero of the Robert E. Howard novels, considered the father of the science-fiction and fantasy genre, until his death in 1936. Way ahead of its time, Conan literature didn't get widespread fame until the 60s. The Conan crew and cast succeeded in transporting us into Conan's Dark Ages.
Director John Milius fulfilled his work of a lifetime. A USC colleague of George Lucas, Milius even designed some of his own props like the giant milling wheel where Conan grew up as a slave. He shot the arrows that brought down the monster snake coiled around Conan. He didn't wipe Arnold's real blood when Arnold accidentally fell during the wild wolves chase scene, because it looked gorier that way.
Conan the Barbarian was basically a silent movie. It was too good to survive beyond the sequel, because Milius was axed after Part 1. The excellent musical score by Basil Poledouris, also studied with Lucas, narrated the movie transcendentally. The script was first written by Oliver Stone. Its conciseness gave credence to the raw emotion that spoke for itself of a beguiling bygone age.
The characters seemed hand-picked straight out of a Howard reading and are portrayed by a motley mix of foreign and distinguished talents. The witch (Gava) that turned into a demon when Conan made love to her, the ally wizard (Mako) living next to a cemetery home of the gods, Doom's bodyguards (Ben Davidson, an NFL player, & champion Swedish bodybuilder Thorsen), Subotai the thief/archer (a novice actor but pro surfer, Valeria (Bergman), Conan's sword maiden (who won the sole notable award for the movie: a Golden Globe), and King Osric (the legendary Max Von Sydow, who even did his role for free) to name some. This was not made just for adolescents--among whom I counted when I first saw it!
After many adventures, Conan battles the sorcerer Thulsa Doom (the great voice James Earl Jones) in a one of the greatest final battle of battles!! A TOUCHDOWN for sure!!!
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