MovieChat Forums > The Beastmaster (1982) Discussion > The Movie Conan SHOULD have been

The Movie Conan SHOULD have been

posted 17 years ago by CromeRose
2 replies | jump to latest

This is THE best Sword & Sorcery movie ever made (and I'm lucky enough to have met Don Coscarelli a few times and told him so). This story begins and unfolds in the true, Robert E. Howard sense - and Marc Singer was perfect for the role of Dar of the Emorites! His physique looked just the way one would imagine a Barbarian warrior's physique to look - i.e. not gained at World Gym in Venice Beach CA like Arnold Schwarzenegger's; I mean, Conan never went to a gym - he got his muscles from good solid Barbarian genes and swinging a sword since before he was a teenager! Anyway, this movie has it all, and it's all fantastic. The leader of the Jun is terriying and when you first see him you just know he's in for it and can't wait for the showdown between him and Dar. I will always love this movie - a sort of Tarzan set in the sword & sorcery world.

[–] darren-oconnor 10 years ago

I hate to break it to you, but real barbarian warriors didn't look any more like Marc Singer than they did Arnold Schwarzenegger. Singer was waaaaaaay too ripped. He may not have been as huge as Arnold was, but he was even more ripped for this movie. That is every bit as much the product of a gym as bodybuilder bulk is. Only an emaciated starvation victim would have a body fat index that low, and a starvation victim wouldn't have the muscle. The only way to get to look like that is to eat a very, very strict diet, and work out at least an hour or two a day.

And sorry, but this movie is cheesy. It's not as cheesy as "Hawk the Slayer," but it's still cheesy. Right about there with "The Sword and the Sorcerer." "Conan the Barbarian" was a much better movie.

Actually a far better match to what a young, naturally very muscular warrior would have looked like is Jason Momoa in the recent Conan movie. He's very muscular, but he has neither Schwarzenegger's mass, nor Singer's definition. That's a more believable look by far. Pity Momoa's Conan movie itself wasn't very good.

[–] shanep2 10 years ago

I can't agree. The first Conan film was better in every way. Better story, directing, acting, and the soundtrack is one of the best of the 80s.