You know, for all of the cheapness of his films, Roger Corman can occasionally turn out a pretty entertaining film. This was one of them.
Back in the day, my friends and I clamored for anything remotely like Star Wars. Unfortunately, other than some quickly made knock-offs from Japan and Italy, there weren't many. Then, around 1980, I came across an article in Starlog about this movie. It looked interesting, although it was obviously inspired by The Seven Samurai/Magnificent Seven; but, hey, Star Wars stole from Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress. I didn't get a chance to see the film in the theaters, but caught it later on cable. It was a pretty entertaining film, despite the cheesy scenes and hammy acting. Everybody seemed to be having fun and it didn't take itself too seriously.
Richard Thomas, fresh from The Waltons, takes to the stars to recruit mercenaries to save his agrarian world from invaders, led by John Saxon (sitting in for Eli Walach). He recruits a motley band of space cowboys (George Peppard), lizards, heat manipulating aliens, clonal telepaths, gunfighters (Robert Vaughn) and T & A valkyries (Sybil Danning). Together, this rag-tag band leads the peace-loving Akirans in battle against Sador.
The film is great fun, with good ship designs and exciting space battles (effects supervised by James Cameron). The script (by John Sayles) is good, with many in-jokes and light character moments. The effects, although not as good as ILM, are still eyecatching and work in service to the story. The actors play it straight, but with enough of a twinkle (with the leads making up for some of the really horrible secondary actors). The designs are interesting, especially Shad's ship-with-breasts and Saint-Exmin's costume, which has a decoration that looks like hands clutching her breasts! You can definitely tell that this was made predominantly by young males.
Corman is best known as a mentor to great filmmakers and this film features work by future big names John Sayles, James Cameron, Gail Ann Hurd, and music by James Horner.
Do yourself a favor, watch this and then compare with more recent films of the genre (i.e. Star Wars prequels) and see which has a greater sense of fun. It's no 2001: A Space Odyssey; but, then again, neither was Star Wars.
Back in the day, my friends and I clamored for anything remotely like Star Wars. Unfortunately, other than some quickly made knock-offs from Japan and Italy, there weren't many. Then, around 1980, I came across an article in Starlog about this movie. It looked interesting, although it was obviously inspired by The Seven Samurai/Magnificent Seven; but, hey, Star Wars stole from Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress. I didn't get a chance to see the film in the theaters, but caught it later on cable. It was a pretty entertaining film, despite the cheesy scenes and hammy acting. Everybody seemed to be having fun and it didn't take itself too seriously.
Richard Thomas, fresh from The Waltons, takes to the stars to recruit mercenaries to save his agrarian world from invaders, led by John Saxon (sitting in for Eli Walach). He recruits a motley band of space cowboys (George Peppard), lizards, heat manipulating aliens, clonal telepaths, gunfighters (Robert Vaughn) and T & A valkyries (Sybil Danning). Together, this rag-tag band leads the peace-loving Akirans in battle against Sador.
The film is great fun, with good ship designs and exciting space battles (effects supervised by James Cameron). The script (by John Sayles) is good, with many in-jokes and light character moments. The effects, although not as good as ILM, are still eyecatching and work in service to the story. The actors play it straight, but with enough of a twinkle (with the leads making up for some of the really horrible secondary actors). The designs are interesting, especially Shad's ship-with-breasts and Saint-Exmin's costume, which has a decoration that looks like hands clutching her breasts! You can definitely tell that this was made predominantly by young males.
Corman is best known as a mentor to great filmmakers and this film features work by future big names John Sayles, James Cameron, Gail Ann Hurd, and music by James Horner.
Do yourself a favor, watch this and then compare with more recent films of the genre (i.e. Star Wars prequels) and see which has a greater sense of fun. It's no 2001: A Space Odyssey; but, then again, neither was Star Wars.