Woodyanders Review of Battle Beyond the Stars

Battle Beyond the Stars (1980)

A delightfully spirited and good-natured early 80's sci-fi action/adventure treat

[9/10 · 14 July 2006]

Roger Corman's highly energetic and enjoyable handy dandy combo blend of "Star Wars" and "The Magnificent Seven" has lost none of its charm or entertainment value over the years. The film still radiates a certain irresistibly sweet and dynamic good-natured quality to this very day. Evil space conqueror Sador (John Saxon having himself a wonderfully wicked field day in a juicy villain part) threatens to kill all the peace-loving people on the planet of Akir unless they willingly submit to his foul desires. It's up to naive, but eager young emissary Shad (earnestly essayed with disarmingly wide-eyed aplomb by Richard Thomas of "The Waltons" fame) to round up seven mercenaries in order to fight back against Sador. Said mercenaries include the delectably busty'n'lusty Sybil Danning as a sexy Amazonian warrior woman, George Peppard as the hilariously booze-sodden Space Cowboy, Morgan Woodward as vengeful reptilian humanoid lizard Cayman, the lovely Darlanne Fluegel as the obligatory hot babe love interest for Shad, and Robert Vaughn doing a deft reprise of his weary, twitchy gunslinger role from "The Magnificent Seven." Jimmy T. Murakami's spirited direction keeps the movie cheery and lively throughout while John Sayles' witty script, the extremely good special effects, James Horner's rousing score and the enthusiastic acting from a tip-top cast (veteran character actor and legendary acting teacher Jeff Corey is especially fine as an old blind man) add substantially to the infectiously frothy merriment. Moreover, there's a real purity and innocence to this picture, a complete dearth of smugness, irony and cynicism, which is both very refreshing and genuinely endearing. A real treat.