Comments | gislebertus: Let me tell you of the days of high adventure.

gislebertus

Let me tell you of the days of high adventure.

Dec 03, 2012 23:32

Man, thirty years on, Conan the Barbarian is still one bad ass movie. And it has one of my favorite scores in the history of, well, ever.

Comments 7

waiwode December 6 2012, 00:25:07 UTC

Minus the sin of being neither Ennio Morricone nor Sergei Prokofiev, Basil Poledouris does great work. :)

The Age of Conan soundtrack is (not Basil) a frequent flyer for music at game sessions.

gislebertus December 6 2012, 09:41:09 UTC

Yeah, I just started playing Age of Conan, and I've found the spirit of the game to not only be on the mark, but the soundtrack is OUTSTANDING. I'd love to get my hands on it.

_omega_man December 6 2012, 02:50:40 UTC

Crom bless John Milius!

martinhesselius December 6 2012, 17:51:10 UTC

One of my local friends keeps trying to tell me how bad it was.
I fear that when I agree with "It's baaad!" she just rolls her eyes. ;)

gislebertus December 7 2012, 01:43:58 UTC

You want shitty sword and sorcery flicks, just look that crappy films that were made in the wake of its success. Comparing them is like night and day.

swashbuckler332 December 14 2012, 03:54:12 UTC

A few years ago, a friend caught up to this film for the first time and marveled at how unconventional it really is, especially when seen today. It is believably pre-historic, set somewhere around 10,000 - 12,000 years ago, which is very unusual (even the awful sequel seemed to present a much more recent, more Cecil B. DeMille-esque era, but it was also made of flashier, if much dumber,stuff). While there is a big battle at the end, the conclusion is not a physical confrontation but a test of Conan’s will and the philosophy his father instilled in him (although one must question how well that worked out for either him or Conan).

The Blu-ray is horrible. It's a good picture transfer, but the 5.1 mix of the sound drops the chorus during crucial moments of “Riders of Doom” and “The Battle of the Mounds, Part I.” It's really obnoxious.

gislebertus December 14 2012, 12:25:30 UTC

You know, I think my favorite part of the movie is the orgy fight, the moment the music changes to "Anvil of Crom". Conan flips the cauldron, Rexor and Thorgrim emerge and recognize him -- "you!" -- and Conan advances down the stairs slowly, eyes on them, like a predator. It's not flashy. The look in his eyes says everything.

I also like how Valeria and Subotai aren't just Love Interest and Best Pal, but formidable in their own right.