Conan the Barbarian - APPRECIATED movie! (1 Viewer)

[Scott Oliver]

After seeing the Predator appreciation thread I had to throw out my love for Conan the Barbarian.
Is there a DVD version with decent sound yet?
Anyone else like this movie as much as I do?
This movie is so "classik."
The soundtrack is very well done classical, in fact I once saw a high-end audio review where the reviewer used the soundtrack to test the equipment. I think just about every part of the film has some of this beautiful classical music playing in the background.
Also the movie doesn't make the mistake of having everyone talk everything out. Take notes George Lucas. I think for about the first hour of the film outside of the narrator's voice there are only few instances of actual dialogue the other stuff is just some gruff interjections here and there.
Swordfighting and action is first class stuff.
Lastly the film does a great job of portraying a world where intelligence is not commonplace, and life is hard and dirty. Everyone is covered in filth, and talk about as intelligently as cavemen. And with the time period portrayed and the remote locations it all works.
People talk about how many times they have seen a movie well I think I am over at least 100 viewings of this movie, much more than Star wars for sure.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

Oh great, another appreciation thread. :rolleyes
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Seriously, I love this movie. I still don't know why I haven't bought the DVD special edition yet. BTW, this is one of my friends favorite movies ever. Oh well, this will always go down as the first movie I ever saw with boobies.

 

[Quentin]

The DVD commentary is spectacular. Milius has a LOT to say about what he is going for visually and what Stone gave him on paper. All the while, Arnold (who apparently hadn't seen the film in some time) just oohs and aahhs about how he looks and what is funny or cool. He's hilarious!

I think for a film with VERY little dialogue, this is a well told story and a fun action/fantasy movie.

 

[Jim_K]

Damn fun movie & one of the best films in the Sword & Sorcery genre.
This film has no pretensions at all. Its just flat out bloody mayhem & buxom babes.
The tone & style is very faithful to the Robert E Howard original stories.

 

[Seth Paxton]

This film is highly underrated in the action genre, much like Road Warrior is.

I think a lot of craft and art can go into an action film. The key is to keep the action interesting (easier said than done...Woo MI2 comes to mind) and present a tone to the film so that it takes on a unique identity.

Conan B has that (I even like Destroyer though not nearly as much).

Arnold's accent actually works for him in the film as well, and JEJones makes a terrific villian. The film also has a splendid SCORE. Rather surprisingly well scored at times.

Not to mention some pretty great action dialog

What is best in life?

To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women.

Dude is cool. Just what you want out of an action hero. But again, easier said than done.

 

[Brad_V]

This is out on DVD? Aw, crap. I just bought it used at a video store for $1.99 (and Conan the Destroyer, too), because I didn't think they were out on DVD. Oh well, still not a bad price for the VHS version.

I just watched it tonight. Definitely liked the lack of narration. Very refreshing not having to be spoon-fed everything. The music sounds like it's mono, but oh well.

 

[Werner_R]

the special edition dvd is very nice, hearing that excellent score in 5.1...lovely !

 

[Dave Kalloch]

Uhhh.....5.1? Not in R1.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

From the notes from the soundtrack

At first producer Dino De Laurentiis and Milius disagreed on the idrection of the score. De Laurentiis wanted to decorate the film with pop music,but Milius prevailed, feeling that the film would work only with an emotional score of symphonic scope.

 

[Garrett Lundy]

Conan: The Barbarian is quite simply the greatest movie I have ever seen. It was the most watched movie I knew of, even back before I knew what OAR-was (Theres a funeral-pyre in that scene???!??) and just watched the VHS (Whats a laserdisc?).
Yeah, even the "special edition" is mono, but who cares. The score done by Basil Podearatyrannasaurus (whatever) Is astonishing. So astonishing that he basically reused the exact same score for every movie he did. Except Starship troopers wich borrowed heavily from his work in Robocop. Yes the ending shot (and musical cue)is stolen from Citizen Kane, but who cares (Compare the smoke coming from Xanadu's chimneys with the burning of Thulsa Doom's "mountain of Power" and you'll see it too).
I memorized every line to this movie when I was 12, and can still recite it line for line (even every grunt, scream, and facial expression.). This is still the only movie I could reenact every part by heart (useful should I ever be kidnapped by ewoks ).
Even the spiritualist side is amazing: "When I die, I will go before him (Crom), and he will ask me 'What is the riddle of steel?' and if I do not know it, he will cast me out of Valhalla and laugh at me." This movie basically caused me to convert to Cromish from episcopal, but when i grew older I converted to Cthulhuian, so it was short lived.
Special Effects: Yeah the big snake sucked, even by 1981 standards, but never did you suspect they bought their costumes at a renaissance festival, the swords always looked like really sharp steel, and the fake blood was plentiful (Battle on the mounds) and looked like blood (most movie-blood was still pinkish at this point in movie history).
And for the Love of N'rylanthotep, The movie Stars Ah-nold, and co stars Sahndal, and even has Mako! what a cast!
James Earl Jones: An less would have ruined the movie. More positivley eveil as Thulsa Doom than three darth Vaders.
Conan: "You Killed My Mother!, You Killed My Father!, You Killed my People! You stole my father's sword! *hurk*"
Doom: "Ah, It must have been when I was younger."
What other movie villian tries to wipe-out his entire cult following with a ritual mass-suicide at the end??
Ok, I'm done ranting. This movie is the best I have ever seen, And I doubt they'll ever get better.

 

[JonZ]

I dont think the big snake sucked. I thought it looked great personally.

I love love love this movie. Ive always had a weak spot for it.
After all these years, its still my favorite Arnold movie.

 

[Jeff Pryor]

Conan the Barbarian is up there on my personal favorites list, too. This movie is just great.

 

[Justin Doring]

"At first producer Dino De Laurentiis and Milius disagreed on the idrection of the score. De Laurentiis wanted to decorate the film with pop music,but Milius prevailed, feeling that the film would work only with an emotional score of symphonic scope."

Yep, Dino almost blew it here. Thankfully Milius prevailed, and Poledouris' superb score lifted the already great film up a notch or two.

And I would agree that Conan the Barbarian, along with Boorman's Excalibur, is an underrated masterpiece. It's too bad Milius never got around to doing his planed Conan Trilogy, although I've heard rumors that a third film might be in the works.

 

[Greg_R]

Uhhh.....5.1? Not in R1.

Yes, both R1 soundtracks are DD encoded in their original format (2ch stereo).

 

[Steve Christou]

Hi guys, Conan the Barbarian is great fun, love it to bits, Arnie should have been up for Best Actor that year I telling you, or at least Best Barbarian, and the incredible music by Basil Poledouris is one of my favorite film scores ever.
Anyway here is an excerpt from the commentary, courtesy of Vince Carrozza DVD.net.au, enjoy.
21min 18sec
“...ulloh Brooz, zorry I’m zo late, I hadt to gedt milk for Maria before I levt home…”
“Hey Arnie, no problems, Demi had me wash the dishes anyway... whattaya watchin'?”
“Oh, I’m juzt doingk a commentary vor my Cohnan DVD... so you shudup andt ledt me finish or I vill bregk your negk like a jickgen..."
24min 26sec
“...now, Cohnan has learndt how to fighdt and he iz a jampion and den one day hiz masdter letz him go free... whidch waz nize of him…I hadt fun learningk to uze swordts…dey were heavy but I have hooge arms…loog at dem!...”
53min 38sec
“...and den a King azk’s me to resgue his dawter who was takgen by Thulsa Doom, zo now widt my bandt or worriorz - juzt like Robin Hoodt - I go andt finally geht revenge on dat snakey bahstardt who killdt my mudder and fudder while resguing da kings dawter. Budt Robin Hoodt was not a real man like me, he was a little pansy-girl like Brooz, andt I had lots of zex with bootiful women, andt Robin Hoodt only hadt zex with trees...”
1hr 13min 40sec
“...ah dis bit where I am tied to a tree trunk is eggzellendt…I really wantedt to gedt inzide da headt of Cohnan zo I wendt ouwt into da dezert for three months and tiedt myself to a tree to experience waht Cohnan wouldt experience. In da mooofie zome birdtz try to eat me zo I bite dem on da neck andt killdt them, - andt this really happendt to me – andt the birdts tastedt like jicken... so we pudt it in da moofie, and den in da nexdt scene where my friendts try to bringk me bahck to life by writing dese funny zymbols all over my hooge body and tieing me down to stop the zpirits takingk me away – dat really happened to me too so we put dat in da moofie as well...”
1hr 31min 52sec
“...here is a anuder goodt fight, I look funtazzic covered in warpaint... and da part where James Earl Jones turns into da snake is funtazzic too, because it’s real I tink, not a zpecial effecgt, he does it all da time adt parties and the only trick I can do is pretendt dat my thumb gomes off but Maria tells me nodt to do it because it scarez our jildren. I hafta tell dem "Shuddup! Shudup you babies ztop cryingk ligke little girlz if you want to grow up to be hooge ligke me!!" Before dis fight I remember saying to John Milius “Whadt is my modtivation in diz scene?” andt he zayz to me “You are Cohnan you idiodt! Juzt do da zcene ligke it’z written in da script” har har har and John is a brilliandt director you know zo I knew he waz tryingk to tell me to gedt inside Cohnan’s headt and feel his angker, feel his rage, feel his torment aboudt losing his mudder and fudder zo I didt andt when we finishedt shooting da scene dey toldt me dat I killedt twelve stuntmen ...so John’s advice workedt ovcourse... he is amazingk...”
2hr 01min 02sec
“...so dat is the Cohnan moofie, I hope you enjoyed it... I thought it was funtazzic, and it waz eggzellendt fun to make, andt sometimes I still dress like Cohnan and pretendt that I have to rescue Maria from the evil servants and once we made dis into a moofie too on my little camera, but dat is nodt out on DVD yet…maybe you can find it on da Internet... but Cohnan was fun to make and den we made Conan da Dastroyar, and maybe one day we’ll make da final Cohnan moofie because everybody loves to zee me on da big screen beating da shit out of people and cutting dem in half and havingk sex wit bootiful women and fighting snakes andt sayingk funny tingks like “Stick aroundt” and “It’s nodt a tumor!”, but anyway thangk yoo for liztening to me and don’t forget to vizit Planet Hollywood, because we haf wundeful Cohnan burgers andt Derminador milgkshakes andt lots of wunderful moofie thingks on da wall andt I really needt the money to buy anudder airplane okay, har har har..."

 

[Joe D]

Also a huge fan of the film. By far the best film music out there. Great acting by Arnold, great cinematography as well.
My favorite and the best movie that is of the swordy adventure genre.

 

[Nick_Scott]

Yes, both R1 soundtracks are DD encoded in their original format (2ch stereo).

Both R1 editions are 2ch-MONO. I believe the original Stereo mix had been destroyed, so they went with a MONO backup instead of a psuedo-stereo for the DVD.
The european SE has a psuedo 5.1 mix made from the MONO, and I've heard its pretty good.
Maybe we'll get a R1 ultimate-platinium-super-special-edition with that 5.1 mix, with some more extras.... like the episode of Leonard Nemoys movie review show on NICK that featured Conan the Barbarian... Its got to be on a tape somewhere..
-Nick

 

[Justin Doring]

LOL Steve!

 

[Werner_R]

I have the R2 European SE and it is 5.1, I love the score of this movie, thank god we didn't get pop music !

 

[DanR]

Great movie, great DVD, and one of the best commentaries ever done. I listen to the commentary all the time for a laugh, and even play it for people when they come over. My favorite line of the commentary is by Arnold:
"Wow, I was getting laid a lot in dis movie."

Regards,
Dan