Conan the Destroyer (1984)

Director:

Richard Fleischer

Writers:

Robert E. Howard (stories)
Roy Thomas (story) ...

Release Date:

29 June 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Fantasy | Adventure

Tagline:

The most powerful legend of all is back in a new adventure.

Plot:

Conan leads a ragtag group of adventurers on a quest for a princess.

Plot Keywords:

Princess | Queen | Thief | Wizard | Horn

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Arnold Schwarzenegger	...	Conan
Grace Jones	...	Zula
Wilt Chamberlain	...	Bombaata
Mako	...	Akiro 'The Wizard'
Tracey Walter	...	Malak
Sarah Douglas	...	Queen Taramis
Olivia d'Abo	...	Princess Jehnna (as Olivia D'Abo)
Pat Roach	...	Man Ape / Toth-Amon
Jeff Corey	...	Grand Vizier
Sven-Ole Thorsen	...	Togra (as Sven Ole Thorsen)
Bruce Fleischer	...	Village Heckler
Ferdy Mayne	...	The Leader (as Ferdinand Mayne)

Also Known As:

Conan: King of Thieves (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | Iceland:14 | Denmark:15 | Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Italy:T | New Zealand:PG | Germany:16 (DVD rating) | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 (1984) | Norway:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 (cut) | USA:PG (Certificate #27413) | West Germany:16 (f)

Filming Locations:

Juarez, Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico

Company:

De Laurentiis

Trivia:

Some scenes were filmed in the same location and at the same time as scenes from Dune (1984).

Goofs:

Continuity: When Zula is fighting Bombaata, she leaps from the saddle and throws herself on him, knocking his head-circlet off from the impact of collision. In the very next shot, Bombaata's circlet is back on his head as he struggles with Zula.

Quotes:

Malak: I think we made the merchant angry.
Conan: Are you surprised?
Malak: But we didn't steal everything he had!
Conan: We didn't have time.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Conan Unchained: The Making of 'Conan' (2000) (V)

Grace Jones is just horrible and hisses a lot.

Sadly, sequels are rarely as good as the original, and with Conan the Barbarian being such a good movie, this one had to produce something special to live up to its predecessor.

Well, we still got Arnie as Conan, so that's a good start. And we have one of the other cast members from the first flick, in the shape of Mako. But that's about where any good stuff ends.

The first death knell for this movie is the casting. We have Tracey Walter as Malak, a thief side-kick of Conan's (whatever happened to Gerry Lopez's Subotai character?) Tracey does a very good impression of Peter Lorre...throughout the whole film. Then there's Grace Jones (perhaps the original singer-turned-actor) as some kind of demented she-warrior. All she is really good at is glaring at people and hissing like a snake and she does this......throughout the whole film. Sarah Douglas as the obligatory evil queen...the only thing she seems to be queen of is sequels (Superman 2, Puppetmaster 3, Beastmaster 2 etc.) and Olivia D'Abo, who is just irritatingly helpless and annoying here.

The plot is trivial and the dialogue poor and some of the effects are lamentably bad (look for the island in the lake and the "man-ape"). Also, did I mention that Grace Jones is just horrible and hisses a lot? I did? Oh well, it bears repeating..

All in all, this is a cash-in movie, designed to rake in some easy money on the back of the original and not really caring much about a plot or good actors. Even Arnie, the world's best actor at not saying many lines, is hampered by having too much dialogue.

Avoid it unless you want a laugh.