The Beastmaster is a 1982 fantasy film directed by Don Coscarelli that starred Marc Singer, Tanya Roberts, John Amos and Rip Torn. It was loosely based on ideas from Andre Norton in her seminal science fiction novel The Beast Master, although it did not use plot, setting, or characters from the novel. The film was marketed with the tagline "The courage of an eagle, the strength of a black tiger, and the power of a god."
Summary
The Beastmaster tells the story of Dar (Marc Singer), the royal son of a king named Zed (Rod Loomis) who was stolen from the womb of Zed's queen (Vanna Bonta) by a witch under the command of vicious high-priest sorcerer Maax (Rip Torn). A poor villager saves Dar from being sacrificed and raises him as his own son, teaching Dar how to fight and witnessing the boy's ability to telepathically communicate with animals.
Their happiness is destroyed when their village is attacked by the evil Jun horde, a race of fanatic beast-like warriors controlled by Maax. Dar, the only survivor of the attack, vows revenge and journeys to his father's former kingdom to destroy Maax.
Synopsis
Dar, the son of a desert-dwelling king and queen, is robbed of his birthright by the power-hungry priest named Maax and his demonic, Norn-like witches. While still in his mother's womb, Dar is magically transferred to a cow by one of the witches, rendering the King powerless to save his son or his queen, who is killed by the heinous witch. The witch takes the cow to which baby Dar was transferred to a remote place, where she removes him from the animal, brands his hand, and is moments away from killing him when he is saved by a passing peasant.
The peasant adopts Dar as his own son and raises him in his village. While still an adolescent, Dar learns that he has a telepathic relationship with animals (presumably from his transference experience to the cow's womb). After Dar reaches adulthood, his adopted father and his entire village are murdered by the barbarian "Juns". After lighting a funeral pyre for them, Dar begins a quest for revenge. He is saved from a patch of quicksand and then aided on his quest by the ferret Kodo and his mate Podo, and befriends other beasts, notably Ruh, the black tiger and Sharak, the falcon, telepathically communicating with them.
Dar meets his love interest Kiri (Tanya Roberts) when he finds her bathing in a forest. His ferrets steal her clothes, and then Ruh frightens her and Dar's rescue ingratiates himself to her. She claims to be a slave girl.
On his way to seek vengeance, Dar encounters a tribe of bizarre, voiceless, winged beings who feed on humans by encasing them within large 'wing'-like arm covers and using a tube-like mouth to suck the victims dry, leaving nothing by a pile of bones and clothing. Through Sharak, he gains their respect, since the creatures apparently see the falcon as a representation of their 'god.' The leader of the beings gives Dar an amulet of some kind with an image of the falcon on it.
Dar travels to the city and witnesses Maax sacrificing children by dropping them into a fire pit at the top of the temple that dominates the city. Dar sends Sharak to rescue a second child, thus earning the gratitude of the child's family. He learns from the father, Sacco, that Kiri has been taken back to the main temple in order to prepare to be sacrificed.
On his way to rescue her, Dar meets Seth, a skilled warrior, and Tal, a teen who, unbeknownst to any of them, is Dar's younger brother. Since Tal is born to succeed King Zed, Seth is sworn to protect him and free the now-imprisoned king. While looking through the shiny trinkets that Kodo and Podo have stolen along their travels, Tal is first given a ring by Dar (unbeknownst to all, it is a ring with an 'eye' that Maax uses to track the travellers) and then notices Kiri's jewelry among the items. Seth is angry upon seeing it, demanding to know where the necklace came from and, when Dar claims that it was stolen by the ferrets from a slave girl, reveals that she was not a slave girl, at all. Seth insists that they travel together to find her and Tal comments that Kiri is his cousin. Dar, Seth, and Tal are able to intercept the priests who have taken Kiri (along with a few other female slaves) and save her.
With Kiri's help, they sneak into the temple to rescue King Zed. While there, Kiri secretly enters a hidden room and, when she emerges, she is dressed differently and is now armed with various weapons. When Dar questions Tal about it, privately, Tal informs Dar that Kiri is actually a member of an ancient sect of warriors who used to live in the temple before it was taken by Maax and his cult.
Dar is shocked to learn that the king has been blinded. After narrowly escaping the monstrous "death guards" (a kind of berserker driven to a killing insanity; it is revealed that, after torture, the victims are drained of their blood and their brains impaired by some kind of green liquid and leeches placed in their ears), they all meet at a camp where King Zed stirs the townsmen into a rebellion, to avenge his family (unknowning that Dar is actually the son he believes Maax sacrificed) and intending to destroy Maax. He rejects Dar's help, calling him a "freak". Dar leaves the gathering and waits with his animals.
The following day, Sacco rides to Dar to tell him that the attack failed and that all of the rebels were to be sacrificed. Dar rushes into the city and fights his way up the temple steps before confronting Maax.
Out of twisted cruelty, Maax tells King Zed that Dar is his son just before killing him. Dar battles Maax on the temple steps and defeats him. Just as the rebels are celebrating their victory, Maax tries to strike Dar down from behind, but is attacked by Kodo, who proceeds to rip out his eye and bite off his fingers. Maax falls into the fiery sacrificial pit, but Kodo is lost as well. Dar attempts to save him, but is pulled back by Kiri, knowing Kodo is sadly beyond help.
In a finale, Seth organizes the villagers to battle the Jun hordes, who intend to finish the work Maax began. They cover the tar-filled moat that surrounds the city with dirt and sand as a means of halting the Juns advance. While the villagers are preparing, Dar gives Sharak the amulet that the man-eating beings had given him, earlier, and Sharak flies off with it.
The disguised moat succeeds in stopping the first few waves of attackers, particularly when a flaming torch is thrown into the moat, setting the tar aflame. Despite this short victory, Tal is shot and wounded with an arrow during the fight. Dar fights the leader of the Juns in personal combat and defeats him. Rather than retreat at their leader's death, the survivors immediately surround their enemies. Although many Juns have been killed, they still vastly outnumber Dar and his friends. When all seems lost for the latter, Sharak swoops out of the sky and lands on his arm.
The man-eating beings from earlier suddenly appear from the sky, having apparently understood that Dar needed them from Sharak bringing them the amulet that they'd given Dar, and annihilate the remaining Juns, allowing Dar and his companions to escape behind the safety of the city walls. The strange creatures do not speak, but nod respectfully to Dar before departing, once more.
The following morning, as Dar prepares to leave, Seth sees the brand on his hand and realizes that he was the first born son and should be king. Dar refuses, insisting that it is Tal who has been brought up to be a king, and resumes wandering. Kiri catches up with him and the two embrace. It is revealed then that the female ferret, Podo, who is still alive, has given birth to kits, who presumably were sired not long before Kodo's death (echoing the theme "out of death, life").
Cast
Reception
This sword-and-sorcery film was only a modest box-office performer during its initial 1982 release, grossing roughly $14 million against an estimated $8-million budget, but it has steadily built a strong cult following over the years.[1] It subsequently received significant local TV and cable airplay, notably HBO and TBS where it became a TV mainstay and viewer favorite. Its replay was so common that some waggishly dubbed TBS "The Beastmaster Station"[2], and HBO as "Hey, Beastmaster is On". The film currently holds a 50% rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
As such, the movie eventually spawned two sequels Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time[3] (1991), and Beastmaster III: The Eye of Braxus[4] (1996, TV only), and a television series.[5] These spin-offs are commonly considered inferior to the original. A special feature, The Making of Beastmaster 2,[6] was also produced in 1991, and another one The Saga of The Beastmaster[7] (2005) was released on video.
In popular culture
The film was lampooned on Robot Chicken[citation needed], a stop-motion animated comedy on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. The parody was presented as an advertisement for a Broadway musical version of the film, featuring David Hasselhoff as Dar, and Alfonso Ribeiro as his pet black panther. Among the comedic elements was a suggestion that Dar had a sexual relationship with the panther, and attempted to get the "slave girl" character (fictionally played by Faith Hill) to join the bestial relationship.
In a Halloween-themed episode of Community, Chevy Chase's character dresses as the Beastmaster despite never having actually seen the film.
References
External links
