Conan the Barbarian
Directed by	John Milius
Produced by	Raffaella De Laurentiis Buzz Feitshans
Written by	Characters: Robert E. Howard Story: Edward Summer (uncredited) Screenplay: John Milius Oliver Stone
Starring	Arnold Schwarzenegger James Earl Jones
Music by	Basil Poledouris
Distributed by	Twentieth Century Fox
Release date(s)	May 14, 1982
Running time	129 min.
Language	English
Budget	$20 million
Followed by	Conan the Destroyer
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Conan the Barbarian is a 1982 film by director John Milius and is recognized as the acting breakthrough of bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger. It is loosely based on the Conan the Barbarian stories by Robert E. Howard and was written by the unlikely pairing of Oliver Stone and John Milius. It was followed in 1984 by a lighter, more child-friendly, but less successful sequel, Conan the Destroyer. While its sequel is a much more traditional sword and sorcery tale that includes magic, monsters, and fantastical events, Conan the Barbarian is set in a bronze and iron age setting with a few supernatural elements.

Plot

The film begins with a young Cimmerian boy, Conan, witnessing the destruction of his village and the death of his parents at the hand of warlord Thulsa Doom. The battle standard carried by the invaders, two snakes facing each other over a black sun, is burned into the memory of young Conan.

Sold into slavery, Conan eventually grows strong enough to fight as a gladiator. His owner sees such potential that he takes Conan to the far East to be trained by warriors. After many successful fights, his owner spontaneously sets him free. Conan dedicates his life to exacting revenge on Thulsa Doom.

During his travels Conan meets two companions, Subotai and Valeria, both thieves, and Valeria becomes his lover. They soon learn that a doomsday cult has arisen making extensive use of snake symbolism. While breaking into one of the cult's towers in Ianthe, Conan confirms the cult's connection to Thulsa Doom.

The three thieves are offered a fortune by King Osric of Ophir to return his daughter, seduced into joining the Snake Cult. Subotai and Valeria are uninterested in challenging Thulsa Doom, so Conan leaves his companions to pursue his family's killer. It is in doing this that he happens upon a wizard who lives in reclusion- watching over the burial mounds of the dead. Conan is respectful of the wizard's status, and the two talk and converse as if old friends. Before he leaves, Conan asks the wizard if flowers grow anywhere around there and the wizard tells him they do. Watching Conan as he leaves the next morning, the wizard shouts after him- inquiring who the flowers are for. Conan shouts back that the flowers 'are for a girl'. The wizard is pleased to hear this and watches Conan depart, saying to himself "Good, good".

Conan locates the cult, but is captured by Rexor and Thorgrim, who recognize him as an infidel. Conan is beaten and brought before Thulsa Doom. He explains to Conan that the destruction of his village was part of his pursuit of "steel", which he once thought to be the key to power. Doom tells Conan that flesh is much stronger than steel and demonstrates his theory by bidding one of his followers to jump from a high ledge and die. Doom orders that Conan be crucified in the desert on the Tree of Woe. Near death, Conan is rescued by Valeria and Subotai. They return him to the wizard Conan had met previously, and Valeria demands the wizard save Conan's life. In response to his technique, the wizard tells Valeria that the Gods would exact a terrible price on the one who asks for it. Valeria tells him that she will pay the Gods. The wizard does as she asks, and his spells ward away spirits and ensure Conan's survival. As Conan's broken body heals, Valeria tells him that she would rise against death itself to fight by his side.

The three return to rescue King Osric's daughter, entering Thulsa Doom's mountain temple. Conan, enraged by the brutality of the cult, battles Doom's guards, including Rexor and Thorgrim. The three heroes escape the temple with Osric's daughter, however, Thulsa Doom shoots Valeria with a magic arrow made from a venomous snake, killing her. Valeria is cremated by Conan, with the wizard and Subotai standing nearby. Subotai sheds a tear for Valeria, and when asked by the wizard why he is crying, the thief replies that it is for Conan- he will not cry, so Subotai cries for him.

Thulsa Doom personally leads an expedition to recover the King's daughter, donning the same armor and helmet he wore when attacking Conan's childhood home. Conan, Subotai and the wizard successfully repel Doom's attack with his guards. Conan manages to kill Thorgrim, and Rexor- armed with the sword he had taken from Conan's father all those years before, challenges Conan to battle. Conan assaults Rexor, who fights hard and gains the upper hand against him. However, before he can strike and kill Conan, his blow is intercepted by the blade of an unknown sword and he looks up- clearly startled and surprised by what he sees. The unknown assailant takes advantage of this and deals a blow to Rexor's eyes with the hilt of their sword, and he stumbles back to regain himself. Conan hurries to retrieve his sword, but turns to look upon the face of the person who helped him. The assailant who helped him was Valeria- who has made good on her promise to come back from the dead to fight by his side again. Conan knows from looking at her that she has become one of Krom's 'chosen', as she appears surrounded by a glowing aura and dressed in golden armor with a winged helmet. Valeria smiles at Conan and asks him if he wants to live forever. Conan turns to grab his sword; when he looks up again, she is gone- and Rexor has still has not yet recovered from her blow to his face. Conan gets up and the fight between he and Thorgrim resumes again, until he finally manages to beat Thulsa's right hand man. In the process however, he breaks the sword his father forged. After the fight is over, Conan gives thanks to the Gods for his triumph and again crosses his arms holding both his sword and his father's sword- the same thing he had always done as a gladiator after winning a match. With the battle lost, Thulsa Doom fails in his attempt to kill the Princess, and retreats to the safety of his mountain chamber.

Conan follows Doom, appearing behind him as he preaches to members of his cult. Conan decapitates Doom in front of his devotees, tossing the head down the steps of the temple. His revenge complete, Conan destroys the temple by burning it to the ground.

The wizard, who has been narrating the story the entire time, states in the epilogue that Conan later went on to become a great king by his own hand, adding, "but that is another story."

Other versions

A version first released as the "Collector's Edition" featured several deleted scenes and an alternate ending. Most notable among the deleted scenes is an extended discussion between Conan and Subotai.

Cast

A sketchbook type painting from Conan the Barbarian.^[1]

For a large budget film, the cast of Conan the Barbarian includes an unusual number of then-inexperienced actors. Dancer Sandahl Bergman and surfer Gerry Lopez were cast in major supporting roles as Conan's closest companions. In addition to Schwarzenegger, the cast also included several famous bodybuilders including William Smith, Sven-Ole Thorsen and Franco Columbu, as well as former Oakland Raiders star Ben Davidson.

Relation to Robert E. Howard's stories

The movie is regarded as a departure from Robert E. Howard's Conan series and owing much more to the original script and direction of John Milius.

Some aspects of the film are drawn from different pieces of Howard's works, though many of those are conspicuously inconsistent with his Conan character. For example, while a character named Valeria appears in Red Nails, the film character's attachment to Conan and her return from the dead to save his life are more akin to Bêlit of Queen of the Black Coast. Certain elements seem to have been borrowed from non-Conan sources, including the face-changing Snake Folk and the Thulsa Doom character which originated in Howard's Kull stories. Conan's encounter with the witch in the film bears some similarity to Worms of the Earth from yet another of Howard's series, Bran Mak Morn. Thulsa Doom's monologue about fearing the dark are also drawn from that work. Other elements of the film have no relation whatsoever to Howard's stories, including the "Riddle of Steel", the Black Sun Cult of Set, Conan's adolescence in slavery, and his service as a gladiator in the East. Howard's Conan was still with his tribe in Cimmeria around the time he was 15 or 16, taking part in the destruction of the Aquilonian outpost of Venarium.

The Riddle of Steel

"He is strong! If I die, I have to go before him, and he will ask me, 'What is the riddle of steel?' If I don't know it, he will cast me out of Valhalla and laugh at me." "That's Crom, strong on his mountain." ~Conan the Barbarian

The theme of the movie Conan the Barbarian is centered around the Riddle of Steel. In the beginning, we see Conan's father explain the Celtic lore concerning the ancient Giant Kings of Earth stealing the secrets of forging from the God Crom. Conan's father added his interpretation that you cannot trust things of the flesh, but steel in your hand you can trust. Even though Conan's father had produced a superior sword, he and the people of Conan's village were either killed or enslaved by an overwhelming force led by Thulsa Doom.

After Conan seeks out the group that murdered and enslaved his people, Doom explains to him, "Steel isn't strong, boy. Flesh is stronger. Look around you." Thulsa motions to some of the thousands of followers surrounding his mountain who worship him as the mouthpiece of God. He points up to the top of a cliff, "There, on the rocks, that beautiful girl." He motions to the girl, "Come to me, my child." The girl steps off the cliff and falls to her death. "That is strength, boy. That is power: the strength and power of flesh. What is steel compared to the hand that wields it? Look at the strength of your body, the desire in your heart. I gave you these ...such a waste. Contemplate this on the tree of woe." To Rexor: "Crucify him."

Conan is bound to a dead tree in the desert. As he nears death, Subotai finds him and takes him to the old wizard's home. As Conan heals, he reflects upon the Riddle of Steel. No longer does the barbarian limit himself to direct brute assault. Using covert methods and battlefield tactics, Conan and his friends draw the enemy to them and inflict great damage. However, the cumulative result of all Conan's vengeance does not harm the overall power of Thulsa's cult. It isn't until his father's sword is broken that Conan realizes the true answer to the riddle: all the power of both steel and flesh come from one's beliefs. As long as Conan believes Doom to have great power, he reinforces Thulsa's strength just as much as any cult follower. Conan finally defeats Thulsa Doom by controlling his own mind: choosing and implementing the belief most useful for himself.

Music

Originally, producer Dino De Laurentiis had planned a soundtrack of pop music for the movie, but was eventually persuaded by Milius to use a full orchestral score. For this purpose, Milius hired Greek composer Basil Poledouris, a former classmate from the film department at the University of Southern California, and tasked him to make "a continuous musical drama." ^[2] The result was a choral and orchestral soundtrack that fills nearly every moment of the film, with pronounced use of leitmotifs to portray mood and character.

The violent early portions of the movie are filled with intense pieces including "Anvil of Crom", played by 24 french horns, strings and timpani, and "Riders of Doom", inspired by Prokofiev´s "The Battle on Ice" from the "Alexander Nevsky" cantata. Thulsa Doom's theme, which recurs throughout the film, is based on the Gregorian chant "Dies Irae". A number of quieter pieces fill the middle of the movie, including "Civilization", "The Leaving", "The Search" and the sensuous "The Orgy" (co-written with his daughter Zoë and in part resembling Maurice Ravel's Bolero) before the music again intensifies for a series of battle sequences at the end of the film. Other string sections clearly resemble Ralph Vaughan William's "Variations on a Theme by Thomas Tallis", namely "Atlantean Sword".

Several of the pieces, including the "Anvil of Crom" are frequently used in the movie trailers of other films by Universal Pictures, like Ridley Scott's Gladiator. Much of the film's music was also reused in Conan the Destroyer.

"Riders of Doom" is usually used for the first trailers for several games in the Legend of Zelda series.

The soundtrack has become a classic amongst movie-music collectors.

Track listing from soundtrack album

1. "Anvil of Crom"
2. "Riddle of Steel" / "Riders of Doom"
3. "Gift of Fury"
4. "Wheel of Pain"
5. "Atlantean Sword"
6. "Theology" / "Civilization"
7. "Wifeing"
8. "The Leaving" / "The Search"
9. "Mountain of Power Procession"
10. "Tree of Woe"
11. "Recovery"
12. "The Kitchen" / "The Orgy"
13. "Funeral Pyre"
14. "Battle of the Mounds"
15. "Death of Rexor"
16. "Orphans of Doom" / "The Awakening"

Quotations

• Mongol General: "What is best in life?"
  Conan: "To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women."
  (*Note that this is actually a paraphrased quote accredited to Genghis Khan)
• Conan: "Crom, I have never prayed to you before, I have no tongue for it. No one, not even you, will remember if we were good men or bad, why we fought or how we died. No, all that matters, is that two stood against many. That's what's important. Valour pleases you, Crom, so grant me one request: grant me revenge! And if you do not listen, then to hell with you!"
• Conan, to Subotai: "Crom laughs at your four winds. Laughs from his mountain."
• Subotai to Conan: "Ha, MY god is stronger- HE is the everlasting sky. YOUR god- lives underneath HIM."
• King Osric: "There comes a time, thief, when the jewels cease to sparkle, when the gold loses its luster, when the throne room becomes a prison, and all that is left is a father's love for his child."
• Valeria: "To the hellfires with Thulsa Doom. He's evil; a sorcerer who can summon demons. His followers' only purpose is to die in his service... Thousands of them."
• Valeria: "All my life I've been alone. Many times I've faced death with no one to know. I would look into the huts and the tents of others in the coldest dark and I would see figures holding each other in the night. But I always passed by."
• Akiro (the wizard)'(voiceover): "Between the time when the oceans drank Atlantis, and the rise of the sons of Arias, there was an age undreamed of. And unto this, Conan, destined to wear the jeweled crown of Aquilonia upon a troubled brow. It is I, his chronicler, who alone can tell thee of his saga. Let me tell you of the days of high adventure!"
• Akiro (the wizard)(voiceover): "He did not care any more... life and death... the same. Only that the crowd would be there to greet him with howls of lust and fury. He began to realize his sense of worth... he mattered."
• Valeria: "Do you want to live forever?" (Note that this is actually a quote from Frederick the Great, to his soldiers at the Battle of Kolin^[3]
• Thulsa Doom: "Infidel defilers. They shall all drown in lakes of blood. Now they will know why they are afraid of the dark. Now they learn why they fear the night."
• Subotai: "He is Conan, Cimmerian, he won't cry, so I cry for him."
• Valeria: "All the gods, they cannot sever us. If I were dead and you were still fighting for life, I'd come back from the darkness. Back from the pit of hell to fight at your side."
• Conan: "For us, there is no spring. Just the wind that smells fresh before the storm."
• Akiro (the wizard): "The children of Doom...Doom's children. They told my lord the way to the Mountain of Power. They told him to throw down his sword and return to the earth. Hah! Time enough for the earth in the grave."

Trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• In the 1914 silent film Cabiria, a slave named Maciste — who is also a muscular barbarian — pushes a mill wheel for ten years just as Conan does.

• The film was mostly shot in Spain.

• Conan is the anglisicized version of the Celtic name Conán, derived from "Hound". There are several characters who bear the name Conán in Irish mythology, most notably Conán Maol Mac Mórna. While uncommon, the name is still used in Ireland; it is also the name of a 4th century Breton king and of 4 counts/dukes of Brittanny in the 11th and 12th centuries.

• Sandahl Bergman nearly lost her finger when a fight scene went wrong and the extra hit her finger instead of the blade, cutting her all the way down to the bone. Instead of asking if she was all right, director John Milius told her "Valeria would never let that happen again."

• Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sandahl Bergman did all their own stunts, as there were no stunt doubles available who matched them in size.

• Arnold Schwarzenegger said in his audio commentary that Sandahl Bergman actually injured more stunt men during the fight sequences than he did.

• The cast suffered various injuries during filming. Arnold Schwarzenegger was pulled down by the dogs that were chasing him and took various injuries to his back in addition to bashing his head open on a rock and later having his neck sliced by an axe. According to Schwarzenegger, director John Milius called himself "The Dog Trainer".

• Sandahl Bergman was very uncomfortable shooting her love scene with Arnold Schwarzenegger.^{[citation needed]}

• The helmets worn by Thulsa Doom's warriors in the opening scenes closely resemble those worn by the Teutonic Knights in the 1938 film Alexander Nevsky.

• Terry Pratchett parodies Conan the Barbarian in his Discworld series, with his character Cohen the Barbarian, a 90-year old Barbarian.

• Thulsa Doom's line 'Crucify him' after his strength of steel speech was sampled in a remix of the Mindless Self Indulgence track "J".

• The Friedrich Nietzsche quotation that opens the film is from The Twilight of the Idols, "Maxims and Arrows," 8. The full statement is "From the battleschool of life: What does not destroy me, makes me stronger."

• The earlier (1979) film Apocalypse Now, not coincidentally co-written by John Milius, has an identical scene where the hero kills the antagonist with a sword and then refuses to inherit his power by symbolically dropping the bloody sword before the assembled followers.

References

External links

• Wikia has a wiki about this topic: Conan
• Conan the Barbarian at the Internet Movie Database
• Conan the Barbarian at All Movie Guide
• conancompletist.com, The ultimate fan site about the movie.
• Conan the Barbarian at TopTenREVIEWS

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