Conan The Barbarian

[paulhaines]

As an adolescent I loved the Conan The Barbarian (1982) film. It helped that I was big fan of the original stories, not just by Howard but also by Carter and De Camp, and the artwork that often went with novel covers by Frank Frazetta, who also did covers for the Marvel comic adaptations that housed the artist John Buscema's excellent artwork

Comments

[karenmiller]

The BP score is a thing of magnificence and majesty. Love it to bits. And did you notice the original Conan script was written by Oliver Stone? Haven't seen the new one. Not really interested. Modern film making/storytelling is so often so bad. All the serious talent is in cable TV these days.

[paulhaines]

Yes, I LOVE that score. I knew Oliver Stone had written the script too. Milius directing, James Earl Jones and Max Von Sydow. And with the intention of doing something a little bit different.

I also enjoyed Conan The Destroyer too, but wished it had kept its Restricted rating instead of smoothing it down to something more palatable. That was also fun in dissecting which works had some influence or basis on the final script. And another great BP score too.

[chrisbarnes]

I happened to watch the new Conan last night too! And I totally concur with your assessment. The movie is not dreadful, but it's pretty mediocre. Such a shame; Momoa was a pretty decent Conan, but could have been much better with a good script.

I tried to not let my fond memories of the Arnie version cloud my judgement, but in the end I do think it's a better version, not least for that magnificent Poledouris score.

[clairemckenna]

I still quote Conan's "What Is Best In Life" speech (ie: to conquer your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women.) So many great lines!

[paulhaines]

Totally! And this is also something the new film is devoid - no classic lines to be found at all.

(PS How are those Joe Haldeman books going? I'm hoping you've read them rather than letting them collect dust in your reading queue!)

[clairemckenna]

I have! I liked his Hemmingway Hoax one - which was very PKD (i thought it was rather similar to the Adjustment Bureau crossed with that Jake Gylenhall one where he was on the train with 8 minutes to stop a bomb?) though I have a feeling that if I knew more Hemmingway I might get this massive in-joke lurking inside it.

And yes, I got halfway through the short stories before we had to pack all our books and move. We're unpacking books now, but all I've found are Eric's Drangonlance trash and Asimov's Foundation, which I'm reading and being amazed at the general lack of women anywhere in the Galaxy. How do they breed in Asimov-verse?

[pwincessjane]

You are now viewing with a totally different mind set,the film is possibly as good to youth of today as it was when you watched the original. Don't you think the older we get , that everything seemed better 'before' (almost everything) :)

[paulhaines]

Not necessarily. I think film was definitely better in the past, but TV is now top notch or at least enough quality ie HBO, Showtime, ABC etc is getting made we can be choosey about what we watch. As long as we don't have to rely on the whims of tv scheduling people.

[ext_892923]

My old man had Frank Frazetta books in various bookshelves. Interspersed with the frightening medieval works of Hieronimous Bosch & Brugel. Truly twisted stuff. As an adolescent the mildly pornographic shots of muscularised amputee woman warriors standing atop mounds of massacred bodies never left me, oh & the dark serpants...

Keep fighting, keeping smiling back y'ol kooza

Johnny