kheas
The Beastmaster is a film that, to me, was an instant classic. This movie had everything a young boy of the 80's could want. Action, swords, high fantasy, magic, an awesome hero, a sexy love interest (played by future Bond Girl Tanya Roberts), and really bad-ass villains. This was the kind of movie that you reenacted on the playground at school, the kind you acted out with your action figures. I can't tell you how many times me and my friends would play out the adventure of The Beastmaster!for more go to: https://latetothegame.blog/2017/09/28/key-movies-of-my-life-the- beastmaster-1982/
Idiot-Deluxe
The Beastmaster: A grand and timelessly classic barbarian's tale, one that oozes dark sorcery and human sacrifice and has much in the way of slaughter by the sword. Having seen it many times, I'd say the film hit's most of it's marks and achieves all it sets out to do and does so with an infectious enthusiasm and terrific pacing; which was aided immensely by it's intriguing story and a great cast (including a slew of memorable villains). It would seem that Don Coscarelli and company had just enough of a budget to make it work, as the films relatively strong production values prevents it from having a "cheap look", which effectively elevates the film above the stench of mediocrity; thus preventing The Beastmaster from being "just another cheap fantasy flick". Which it certainly isn't.Familiar with the genre and having seen many a fantasy tale, I find The Beastmaster to have a near perfect balance between scenes of combat, trekking sequences with sprawling scenery, scenes of fiery human sacrifice, an assortment of unusual animalistic activities (and several key moments that divulge fragments of it's the story). The film effectively convey's "high adventure" and for the next 118 minutes all of it's primal "beastie" elements unfold in a most compellingly beautiful and, at times, lurid way; which plays a leading hand in helping to explain this distinctive films irrepressible sense of vigor and compelling "beast-based" brand of storytelling. But in the simplest of terms The Beastmaster is a grand tale revenge and a fantastical one at that!Beautifully done by Don Coscarelli and his crew, The Beastmaster is a film that often defies it's modest budget and comes off as a very efficient piece of storytelling. Economically filmed on what looks to me like a budget of no more then 2 to 3 million dollar's; I've seen several similar movies, with a much bigger budget, that are nowhere near as good as this. It's truly amazing at times (and if the inspiration is there), at just how complete a package a low-budget film can be (Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2 and Terminator for example). Boasting beautiful cinematography, which is often further enhanced by what looks like some pretty spectacular looking copter-footage and I'm especially fond of all it's striking sunlit location shooting. In addition to fine photography, it's editing is consistently tight n' snappy and even artful at times. Film editing is very often an unsung hero and that's particularly true in the case of fast paced action films, with all their fast-cutting, which is typically intricate and complex (for example take a look at the editing of Fury Road).The big action scenes in this film are, naturally, climatic high-point's and there are several of them, but the two that strike me the most is when Dar battles the Jun Horde! A ruthless army of armored marauders on horseback, whose leader... well lets just say he wears a helmet that you remember long afterwards. From the striking sunset sequence, when the Jun's ride in and reduce Dar's village to fiery waste or better yet the finale with the burning, flame-spewing, castle moat! Let's not forget the sacrificial temple (which is easily the movies biggest and most expensive set) and the demonic, blood-thirsty, high priest, Maax. Factual speaking, this movie packs not one, but two finales - both of which are spectacular looking sequences.One of the imprints that The Beastmaster leaves on my mind, is that it would appear at times that the art direction of this film, tends to draw up some kind of grand inspiration from the famous and widely-known paintings of the late-great fantasy artist Frank Frazetta (which is factually true for the Conan films). Many of the visuals in this film more than hint at this and the primitive, medieval world of The Beastmaster is grandly depicted as such - as a luridly evil and violent realm of barbarism and murder, with a hint of wizardry. Not at all unlike the oil paintings of Frank Frazetta, Boris Vallejo, Gerald Brom and other top-tier artists of the genre. The net result is a fantasy film which is visually grand, almost as much so as the two Conan films from 81' and 84', but they both had decidedly bigger budgets.The musical contributions of Lee Holdridge warrant some mentioning, never the best or best-known of film composers, yet however for The Beastmaster, Holdridge put together a melodically rich and rousing score, that mirrors well the films beautiful, yet lurid imagery. Ultimately when you add it all up, the numerous elements that I've touched upon (and the several that I've over-looked) all contribute to the unique vision behind what's one the all-time best fantasy films. The Beastmaster is a grand and sweeping tale and is always a pleasure to watch time and again (but NOT SO for it's terrible, terrible sequel). With all that being said, The Beastmaster still isn't as good as Arnold's "Conan The Barbarian", released the previous year, which is probably still the best film of it's kind.In times past, did anyone ever notice this??? The Beastmaster, along with "Clash of the Titans" and "Conan The Barbarian", these three fantasy films from the early eighties, all enjoyed a -very- steady rotation on movie mogul Ted Turner's TBS Superstation; and if it's any indicator I'd be willing to wager that The Beastmaster is one of billionaire Ted's favorite movies. Oh yeah, those telecasts often looked just terrible - especially so in Conan's case.And for the beer enthusiast's out there, there's actually a beer (probably a stout) called "Jun Horde". Brewed by the "Hoof Hearted Brewery" out of Marengo, Ohio. And for fans of Hawk The Slayer, try kicking back with a full-bodied "Voltan Russian Imperial Stout". It's for real and I'm absolutely not kidding.Conclusion: A tightly crafted fantasy and Marc Singer totally rocks it, as Dar: The Beastmaster!
