Any interest in Conan the Destroyer? 1980's Reactions: ru-vid.com/group/PLQHhQlj8i5drsQx2uSifPV3sKWZEJrnyx Arnie Reactions: ru-vid.com/group/PLQHhQlj8i5dqJH8hL10X49JYt1SbNQ3Uj
Well, not so much. It's entertaining, but I think I read somewhere that it took so much negative criticism that it made Arnold avoid doing sequels entirely until James Cameron talked him into T2.
It goes over a lot of casual viewers heads that in the final battle Rexor is wielding Conan's fathers sword. Ultimately it breaks because it will not harm the son of its maker, and because the steel is not as strong as Conan's will. THAT is the answer to the Riddle of Steel. Neither steel, nor flesh is stronger than the will. Conan is triumphant because, much like a piece of iron, He has been forged through the fires of hardship until his WILL is like steel. It's basically the concept of Nietzche' s 'will to power' made real.
...not taking into consideration of the POSSIBLE After-Death possibility called "Hell"...please consider it...and know that nobody can disprove it's possible Existence one way or the other and please take note it would be an Eternal Existence of the worst suffering UNIMAGINABLE.
@@jacobwalsh1888 Do you even know what "revitalize" means? Go buy a dictionary since you don't know how google works. Maybe buy an encyclopedia as well and go find out when Lord of The Rings was published.
Ok sorry, I didn't realize the first story came out in 31, but guess what asshole, doesn't change my point. Lord of the rings was what brought the surge of interest in fantasy. Conan did not.
I was alive then and saw it a few times in the theater. I love Conan, however the genre was already huge at that time because of Star Wars and D ‘n D, that year alone not only saw Conan but Sword and The Sorcerer (released a month prior), The Secret of NIHM, The Beastmaster, and The Dark Crystal. The year before was Excalibur Hawk, The Slayer just off the top of my head. Conan was a hit but not the hit Universal was expecting they were sure it was going to be a Star Wars level hit, it was a moderate success it made a profit but not much it still fell behind Star Trek II, Poltergeist, and even Best Little Whorehouse In Texas. The next year saw more and those films and were already in production when Conan was released.
@@deathtoraiden2080We're talking about the 80s fantasy boom here, which has nothing to do with the LOTR movies. You obviously weren't sentient during that time.
Conan the Barbarian is not originally a comic but a novel figure by Robert E. Howard from 1932 on. The comics came later. Btw for anyone wanting to read the worst Sword & Sorcery story (even got a price for being worst, I believe), search for the "Eye of Argon"
Just Googled it and already I'm seeing typos in the sample text. Definitely somebody who read Sprague's Howard Pastiches and decided to poorly try their hand at writing something similar.
I love how this movie is basically a D&D campaign where a barbarian fighter, a thief archer, an amazon rogue, and a nomad wizard form a party and go on an epic quest to rescue a princess and kill a warlord sorcerer. The best kind of stuff.
"The score is very important to this movie." I'm happy that you understand that. The score is probably the main star of the film. You are one of the only RU-vidrs that gets it.
The score is 2nd to Arnold, John Milius had a quote to Dino when he was trying to sell him on Arnold as the lead, "If we didn't have Arnold, we would have to build him for this movie". Maybe Lou Ferrigno or some other bodybuilder would have worked, but I doubt it..
You probably thought she was just being romantic when she said if he was in danger and she was dead she would come back to help him. She meant it literally and she carried through
I have been watching this movie for 35 years and thanks to you I finally realized Valeria coming as a Valkyrie was Crom answering his prayer! Mindblown!!!
The character "Valeria" in the movie is actually inspired by a couple of different characters from Howard's Conan short stories. The name and the look come from the character named "Valeria of the Red Brotherhood", a woman that Conan meets and adventures with in the "Red Nails" novella (which is imho one of the most atmospheric and outright best among the Conan stories). She is described as an athletic and very skilled swordswoman that is fleeing from a group of Stygian soldiers that intended to avenge the death of one of their officers, that Valeria killed in self-defense when he tried to molest her. In the novella both Valeria and Conan survive the adventure and in the end they ride into the sunset heading for the coast where they intend to put together a pirate crew. The scene in the movie that shows Valeria coming back from the world of the dead in order to save his life while he was fighting is from a different Conan short story titled "Queen of the Black Coast" (another great Howard's short story), where Conan falls in love with the Pirate Queen Belit. When Conan is almost overpowered by a monstrous winged ape-demon while trying to avenge the death of his lover, Belit's ghost comes back for an instant in order to help him win the fight.
It actually is very unfairly used as a cheesy film. The film is true to itself meaning the premise never oversteps its bounds, the characters stay in their lanes, the story is engaging and the pasing is good too. Add in a greats soundtrack and the film works.
@@bbb462cid I might have to give it another chance. I never got all the way through it as a kid, as it seemed too cheesy. It probably didn't help that I fell in love with The Beastmaster first, so nothing else in the genre stood a chance for me at the time.
The reason he got spotted as an infidel at the first temple was that he presented that green carving as proof he belonged. We saw him show it to a few people before the one guy kept it. Where did he get it? From the room where he killed the snake and stole the ruby. It's like breaking into someone's house, stealing the "We're the Jensen's" needlepoint off the wall, then using it to get into the neighborhood watch meeting.
I loved this movie so much when I was a kid! I know I enjoyed the second one, but I really don't even remember it now. But this one I've re-watched many times over the years. I hope Jen watches the next one just to remind me what happens in it! Lol
"if I were dead, and you were fighting for life, I'd come back from the darkness, back from the pit of hell, to stand by your side". Valeria became something like a shield maiden
30:41, Valeria promised Conan that she would always fight at his side even if she must come back from death. She is now a Valkyrie and Crom let her return to make good on her promise.
Valeria is one of the characters in the extras pack of Conan Monolith edition. She does not come in the base box. Be'lit is. Can you tell me about her?
@@josepablolunasanchez1283 Read “Queen of the Black Coast” by R.E. Howard. That is the story which features Belit. It’s short, full of passion and savagery, and a great introduction to Conan as a character.
I actually think this film is criminally underrated. And I will even say... Arnold is underrated in it. It still holds up today thanks to magnificent production and direction and Arnold just has IT. Racy, violent, pulpy in the extreme and gloriously so with surprising depth and that score? Top tier Arnold. Top tier 80's film. Top tier entertainment.
I totally agree. I think this might be Arnold's only role that goes beyond simply great entertainment and into the realm of cinematic art. Certainly, NOT a "kid's adventure movie" at all. It easily ranks among Lord of the Rings as one of the greatest fantasy films ever.
@@GnotMaiNeim It's in many ways HBO's GAME OF THRONES only DECADES prior. Look... I am the total opposite of Mileus but him, Oliver Stone, Arnold... It's a chemistry that studios think they can produce via fiat once creatives lay a groundwork but the difference is noticable. CONAN THE DESTROYER while attempting to recreate the comics is vastly different in all the areas the original succeeds in. Hell, even Arnold is on auto-pilot in the sequel. He couldn't be bothered to grow out the hair, or else the wig people were bottom of the barrel. Mileus and Stone are madmen but they are the right kind of mad for Conan. I might despise them politically (And both are very opposite ends of the spectrum.) but they understood how to crack the nut and the product speaks for itself. They "got" how to make this work for the masses. In CTB every element keeps you in the world. There's humor but it's not "genre Hollywood" humor. And it never takes up so much space it undercuts the characters or actions they take. The production design, costuming and the script and performances is far less "low budget adventure movie" and closer to a mid budget "Epic" punching above it's weight class. The result is a world you totally buy into so much as you can with anything "fantastical". I saw an interview with Stone and his take was that the studios should have continued with Arnold and Mileus and approached it like Arnold's James Bond. Lock in a star and creatives and then every three or four years pump out a new Conan entry. I really wish we were in that alternate universe.
I loved this as a kid and my friends loved it too. This is the movie that made Arnold a star. The critics would not give a movie like this the time of day. They considered these movies beneath them.
Yeah, it took me a couple viewings to notice that. Right after he gets out of the tomb and looks menacingly while the wolfs growl off screen...next scene he's wearing loads of wolf pelt. Brilliant way of showing a fight without having to shoot a fight.
Apparently they’re never going to make that due to rights disputes. I’d love king Conan to be like the end of Beowulf so bad. Imagine him dying and he gets a vision of his love as an aged wife with him and they bring back the original.
The story for that would be Conan of the Isles. The last story in the series. L. Sprague De Camp finished it from the story remnants that Howard had assembled. I'd see it in a heartbeat if it were made. Just don't shoehorn a rock score in it. It just doesn't work as well when they do that. It just jangles against the nerves when you see these epic stories and the soaring score is absent.
I'm sure someone else has said it but Conan of Cimmeria is based on a character in stories by Robert E Howard who lived in Texas back in the early 30s and 40s. Conan's time is approximately 10,000 years before recorded history In what Howard termed the Hyborian age. Unfortunately he committed suicide at a young age when his mother died. He was prolific penpals with HP Lovecraft who is another pulp writer who was also the father of cosmic horror.The original stories by Howard are insanely good and I suggest checking them out when you have the time. He became a comic later on. And on a technical note, both of the swords, the one his father made and the one he finds in the crypt, which is been called the Atlantean sword, were both designed by the production designer the late Ron Cobb and forged by the late Jody Samson. They are considered two of the most recognizable weapons in cinema.
I had a postcard Lovecraft wrote to Howard when HPL was visiting Quebec. Very tiny handwriting, pure Lovecraftian prose. I donated it to the Howard museum in Cross Plains, Texas, where I presume it is on display.
"penpals with HP Lovecraft" In fairness, Lovecraft was prolific penpals with damn near the entire weird fiction community at the time...and many other people as well. He's estimated to have written over 100,000 letters over the course of his lifetime.
@@KthulhuXxx very true, but as this video is Conan, I felt it necessary only to refer to REH and HPL. But yes, I have a hardcover collection of some of his letters they are fascinating reading. 👍🏻
Max von Sydow has the weirdest career trajectory in cinema history. From the cheese of Conan the Barbarian and Flash Gordon to the greatest depths plumbed by Ingmar Bergman. Acolades from experts in high art and applause from the everyman in projects like Strange Brew, where you would never expect him.
Your assessment of the OST is correct, Jen. My dad always called this movie the MANLIEST Opera Ever, because it’s about twenty minutes of dialogue and 2 hours of some of the most epic music ever written. Definitely one of the most iconic soundtracks of all time!
Basil Poledouris also composed the scores to Starship Troopers troopers and RoboCop. His soundtrack for all of those are epic, but especially Conan the Barbarian.
@@jrivademarjr those were some pretty epic soundtracks. But, they don't feel as complete, as in I saw an entire story in my mind from the entire score, as Conan the Barbarian. All before I ever saw the film.
I remember Total Recall’s opening credits and the “anvil” beat hitting. So heavy, and then Fear Factory’s Demanufacture’s album came out a cpl years later, that industrial metal sound. Awesome.
1. Conan's mom was a serious hottie! 2. The first woman he encounters was a harpy. 3. Filmed primarily in Spain. 4. James Earl Jones is the MAN 5. One of the best endings ever. 6. "Conan the Destroyer" doesn't suck.
@@ronweber1402That show quickly annoyed me with how much of a Brie´ish w-a-n-k it turned out to be. Treats the Portuguese missionaries like they are mustache twirling villains and the Japanese like they were born yesterday. But here comes England man from the future, riding his high horse over water to enlighten everyone on the things they should already know.
@@deathtoraiden2080 The irony to that, is that book version of Blackthorne was deeply ashamed of how backwards Europe was compared with Japan after his first few months assimiliating with their society.
Hi Jen. Although Arnold Schwarzenegger had done a few movies before Conan The Barbarian I'd say this the movie that really put him on the map as a star. His follow up movie after this was The Terminator which made him a megastar.
Conan was originally a *pulp fiction* character created by Robert E Howard and first published in 1932 in "Weird Tales" magazine, and later released in paperback collections. Editions published by Lancer/Ace begining in the 60's featured cover illustrations by legendary fantasy artist Frank Frazetta which cemented the character's most iconic looks in the eyes of the fans. Marvel comics picked up the license in 1970. The comics arguably had as much influence on the longevity and popularity of the character as the original books. Although most of his comics stories takes place in the ancient fantasy-world past, there were a number of time-travel stories that enabled Conan to meet some of the familiar costumed Marvel heroes. There is an alternate universe where he's one of The Avengers.
A few years ago, he was even transported to the modern day and had a number of misadventures as a distant ally of sorts to the Avengers, but even moreso with Doctor Strange.
Valeria swore to Conan that if she were dead she would come back from the pit of Hell to fight at his side once more. Instead she fulfilled her vow as a Valkyrie, the angel warrior women of the Norse peoples who escort the souls of the honored dead from battle to Valhalla.
With every reactor I watch who does _Conan the Barbarian,_ one thought grows stronger and stronger: We need another great swords-and-sorcery movie like this. Does anyone in Hollywood have the guts to spill guts like Conan?
Conan was the perfect movie for Arnold. The character has a built in reason to be huge and not talk much at all. The genius of the movie is ho well they portray Conan as simple but focused without having to use words. Conan looking back at the snake amulet after Valeria pleads with him to run off tells you in one simple movement that he can't let go hunting Thulsa Doom. It's starkly beautiful how well they tell a story with so few words, which make Conan's father's, Thulsa doom's and Mako's speeches really pop and feel weightier. The music is fantastic but the movie has much more thn just the music going for it.
In the novels, Krom gave you your breath and your will to live. After that, he was hands-off and everything else was up to you. That's why no one prayed to him; he didn't answer. Conan's prayer was a big exception.
Vaieria told Conan when they brought him back to life, All the gods they cannot severe us. If I were dead and you were still fighting for life, I'd come back from the darkness, back from the pit of Hell to fight at you side. She came kept her word and saved him when he needed her the most.
The Conan character was created by Robert E. Howard. He wrote many short stories about Conan from all eras of Conan's life. Conan sort of became a shared character as other authors also wrote stories about him and added to the character. This carried over into comics too.
Conan was a Marvel comics for a while (70's-80's IIRC) but he and his world was created by a guy named Robert E Howard. A writer in Texas during the early 20th Century (1900-1930's), he had short stories published in magazines that published short story genre fiction (mystery, sci fi, or in Howard's case fantasy). His works were never published in book format til after his death in 1934.
Conan was originally serialized in magazines in the 1930s, and later collected into novels. The comics came many decades later. The movie had a *COLOSSAL* impact when it was released. It spawned a whole sub-genre of fantasy movies known as "sword and sandal"/"sword and sorcery". There were literally hundreds of knock-offs attempting to capitalize on it's success; many of which were low-budget Italian productions. The first movie pulled in $68M at the box office globally, which would be $221M today, adjusted for inflation. For a 'genre' movie, that is pretty impressive. For a genre movie starring someone who wasn't very well known at the time, even moreso. Conan was to fantasy movies what Star Wars was to sci-fi movies. Prior to that, fantasy movies were only given tiny budgets, and not taken seriously by the studios. The next big step up for the genre wouldn't really come until the Lord of the Rings movies. The score by Basil Poledouris definitely drives the movie! I still get goosebumps when I hear a lot of the tracks.
And to think they wanted to go with a contemporary rock score from 70/80's (I think I read it was too expensive to license the music they wanted), it woudnt have been the same without the musical score.
@@warlockEd73Honestly, I feel like the popularity of LotR actually ended up HURTING the fantasy genre....at least most of the popular works became just slight variations on the world that Tolkein had created, and the overall creativity of the genre just kind of shrunk
Star Wars is fantasy, not sci-fi. It doesn't meet the definition of a sci-fi story. Even George Lucas has said that "Star Wars isn't a science-fiction film, it's a fantasy film and a space opera".
The sequel Conan the Destroyer was done as more of a family adventure (against Arnold's wishes, but contracts suck LOL). This one was definitely never meant for kids.
There was no such thing as PG-13 until 1985 and Temple of Doom, so before then a movie was either G, PG or R. For it to be R, had to have blood, language and nudity (sexualized). There are so many PG movies that have full frontal nudity but not in a sexual context (such as bathing or a prank). Sheena comes to mind with this.
@@taylemgames2652 Yes, but the change for Conan's sequel was specifically to gain a larger audience with younger people in it. Hence why I saw it at 10 years old in a theater full of other kids and parents.
Don't forget Red Sonja was suppose to be the 3rd Conan film Then Arnold said no. They lost the rights and did Red Sonja. Though Arnold is technically playing a later and more successful Conan under his other name. The reason? They didn't have the rights at that point for Conan.
From a film perspective, I think Conan is the GOAT action movie. The soundtrack is maybe the best ever, the scenery is amazing, the production values are just through the roof. Great direction, they knew just how much each actor could give them, and told the story with limited dialogur. If it's not the best, then it's certainly one of the most well crafted action/adventure movies of all time.
Conan The Barbarian was a big hit when it came out. This film put Arnold on the map in Hollywood. No, it's not his first film. It's just the one that legitimately brought him recognition. -OG
The guy who is playing Thorgrim, one of the henchmen of James Earl Jones, is called Sven-Ole Thorsen and is an old friend of Arnold from Denmark. He is the one actor/stuntman who has been in the most Arnold Schwarzenegger movies. Almost all of them in a small role. I believe they met through bodybuilding as Sven was the strongest man in Denmark at one point back in the day. He's most well-known as Thorgrim in Conan and Tigris in Gladiator. but to anser your question on if it's based on a comic. I guess so, but Conan is much older than the comic. Conan was written by Robert E. Howard. Fun fact, Robert was a close friend to H.P. Lovecraft who wrote the Cthulhu Mythos, so a lot of the lovecraftian monsters show up in the Conan stories because Lovecraft encouraged his friends to build upon the mythos.
Conan the Barbarian, fictional hero of pulp novels, comic books, and films whose fantasy adventures take place in a prehistoric past. Conan is an adventurer-warrior from Cimmeria who lives in the Hyborian age, an era that supposedly follows the disappearance of the mythical continent of Atlantis. Conan was created by American writer Robert E. Howard and first appeared in short stories published in Weird Tales magazine in the early 1930s.
Jen has enhanced all of my (and all others who viewed this) future viewings of this. Picture the Temple Scene: Doom's henchman/lieutenant recognises Conan (even in his badass bodypaint) "You..." And then we all chuckle with the thought "You're going down, Moustache..."
The throne room fight is one of the *greatest* scenes in movie history and yes, the score is amazing! :) Conan the Destroyer is great fun but not as intense
The painted man on the rock was Arnold's friend and bodybuilder Franco Columbo,who with Arnold both came to America together.The dogs chasing him were real wild dogs,that's why he was running for his life.When Arnold was governor and you went to his office,you got to hold the Conan sword.And if you go to Arnold's home now you can still get to hold the sword.🗡
Robert E. Howard (the author of the Conan series of novels) made up my entrance into sword and sorcery in my teens, I loved them and when this movie came out it was amazing!
Fun fact: The two guys that Arnie fights around the 30:00 mark (one of them likes the big mallot) are fellow bodybuilders (William Smith, Sven-Ole Thorsen). Another bodybuilder, Franco Columbu, also plays a part.
Conan was an invention of Robert E Howard, who was an author in the 1930s. He practically invented this style of "sword & sorcery" fantasy fiction in his short stories. After his death, other authors would write stories in that world decades later. The Marvel comics came out in the 1970s and gave it a boost in popularity. The original short stories were quite inventive for the time and, along with other pulp writers of the early 20th century, had a big influence on modern fiction. He was also the original creator of Soloman Kane and some others. The circle of pulp writers, back then, is an interesting thing. They enjoyed exchanging worlds & ideas, and encouraged each other to write in their worlds. A very different environment than the modern IP monopolization and lawfare, often by large corporations with people who had nothing to do with the original creation or even related to the creator. How things change.
Robert E. Howard was the quintessential sword and sorcery author. Everything with sandals, swords, muscles and barely dressed damsels, started with him
Oh that musical score/ soundtrack was epic! Soundtrack makes the movie better than ever otherwise it's just a action movie. The kids in the 80's we're just tougher and enjoyed watching movies like this with no problems! The most memorable character for me is Thulsa Doom. That transformation messmorised me back in the day! I will always watch this movie no matter what! Thanks Jen for watching and sharing ❤️💛
Valeria said that she would come back even from the dead to fight by Conan's side. She is now a Valkyrie, and that's exactly what she did, to the extent that she was able to or allowed.
Conan came out right when the initial wave of popularity of Dungeons and Dragons peaked in 1982 (think also the D&D scene in ET), so it was quite popular among the geek set, as well as having mainstream crossover appeal
Conan the barbarian was Arnie's first lead role and a massive box office success. This and Terminator put him on the map. Both are now iconic films. I saw it as a kid and thought it was awesome but didn't know why. It was the score. Probably the best score in cinematic history, as everyone now realizes.
My response to the "That which does not kill us makes us stronger" quote is always that after a landmine, kidney failure, a heart attack and various other things have failed to kill me, I should be a f**king superman.
You have the right of it. That is a mistranslation of the original German which is closer to ''that which doesn't destroy me makes me stronger". The popular perception of the quote always struck me as stupid, even as a kid for a thousand similar reasons like you mentioned.
The place where Conan gets the sword from the skeleton was a "giant" from his dad's dialogue at the beginning. "Giants....and they lived in the earth...."
⚔ In the early 1980s, the whole "Sword & Sorcery" genre was a big thing. Some of the others were "Excalibur," "The Beastmaster," "Dragonslayer" and "Krull." A lot of them were either based on arcade games or spawned arcade games. After awhile, people got sick of them because they all began to look alike.
A little clarification on characters. The writers, John Milius and Oliver Stone, combined several characters and plot lines to give Conan a heroic motivation. Valeria in this film is a combination of Valeria The Thief (introduced in Red Nails, IIRC) and Conan's lover Belit the pirate queen. Conan's tribe was attacked several times but never wiped out. He wasn't a gladiator until several years later. And the gigantic skeleton in the tomb was his great-great(lots of greats)grandfather Kull, the conquerer of the long forgotten kingdom of Valusia. (Kull's story was made into a film starring Kevin Sorbo)
Fun Fact: Gerry Lopez, who plays Subotai, had zero acting training or experience when he was cast. He was a surfing buddy of John Milius, who offered him the part....rather like Robert Downey Jr.
The skin camouflage pattern that Conan and his companions used was designed to break up their outlines. It can be surprisingly effective in the general case, against many different backgrounds.
The wizard is played by Mako, who voiced uncle Iroh in "Avatar The Last Airbender." Sven-Ole Thorsen who played Thorgrim (the guy with the huge hammer) also played Tigris in "Gladiator" and was the security guard in "The Running Man" with Arnold as well
Mako was also nominated for a best supporting actor oscar for "The Sand Pebbles" (1966). Thorsen has been in more Arnold movies than anyone except Arnold himself.
This WAS a Gen X kid's movie. I was 12 when it came out, and just about all the boys in my school saw it in the theater. Nudity everywhere in movies, probably as backlash from the Hayes Code coming to an end in the late sixties. Nudity, violence, and swearing were very common in all kinds of movies in the 70's or 80's. It slowed down later in the 80's. This basically started the Sword and Sorcery genre. D&D had only gone mainstream a few years before so interest was climbing. It spawned a lot of knock-offs.