dandersen-28039 Conan Is Brought From The Books And Comics To The Big Screen, And It Delivers The Goods. One Word .... CROM !!!

meganweaver-72582 John Milius's Conan the Barbarian is a gritty visceral epic which kickstarted the "swords and sandals" sub-genre in the early 80s. Arnold Schwarzenegger is in top form in a film that catapulted him into the stratosphere and a year later he would go onto star in the Terminator, cementing his arrival as leading man. Milius is such a good director and it seems war and moral codes are running through his veins. The cinematography is good as is the score and one scene in particular- the kitchen orgy sequence is awe inspiring in its outlandish transpiring. If you like historical epics, then Conan the Barbarian is a great film to wind down with.

dils94 This is quite frankly, one of the most underrated films of all time. John Milius' (writer of apocalypse Now, Dirty harry's famous Magnum speech, and Quints famous Indianapolis monologue from Jaws) film evokes an earlier age with the passion, poetry and fury of Kurosawa, John Ford and Eisenstein. The score on the other hand, is hands down one of Hollywoods' greatest, certainly on par with Rosza and Steiner of old. Oft dismissed as a "dumb 80s Arnie flick", the film both romantically and brutally recreates an earlier age of mankind, whereby life was cheap and only the fittest could survive. As a student of ancient history, I was struck the more I studied at just how accurate this film had been in recreating the life of the people whom lived in history. They believed in ancient religions of snakes and mountain gods, they fought brutal wars of raiding, pillaging and genocide, and suffered from the same, they feared sorcerers and magicians and travelled in a world of immense cultural diversity prior to the rise of empires. This is the world as ancient man saw it. Combine this with the narrative philosophy and themes: Neitzsche, the heros journey, Pulp and you have a masterpiece. Its a pity Milius wasn't brought back for the sequel and were robbed of another gem. This is the very definition of a film that grows on you.

mwestphal2 Conan the Barbarian might just be a recipe for the greatest movie ever. Not only does this movie have Arnold in his prime, but it also has James Earl Jones, who might just be one of the greatest actors of all time. The film also has Max Von Sydow, which ends this film's connection to the Exorcist movies (except the scene where Conan has sex a witch and a demon comes out of her), and a whole lot of sex and violence.The musical score is absolutely amazing. Every scene has grand, epic music to go with the lavish production design, which eats up the screen like any good epic film would. This film and Excalibur, which came out a few years before this film, would be in the running for greatest musical score and production design pairing ever.What else can I say, but this movie has everything I could ever want. The movie does feel a little long at parts, but overall I would recommend this film to anyone who takes one look at the cover of the film and has an idea of what to expect, because you're going to get it.