Review of Conan the Barbarian (1982) by Cj C — 18 Aug 2011

As a movie about the most revered creation of pulp writer Robert E. Howard, it does the job despite many flaws. I'm a big reader of Conan. I have all of Robert E. Howard's stories, the Marvel and Dark Horse comics and even have a wonderful tome that is essentially a Conan encyclopedia.

So first off, Arnold Schwarzenegger isn't a good fit for Conan to me. Height wise he works and a few scenes here and there he really does okay as the character but that's about it. I never get that sense of cunning that Howard wrote about in his description of Conan and Howard described him as being a massive man but also referred that he was "lithe like a panther".

Arnold isn't panther-like. More like a bull. That aside, director John Milius does a good job giving us the epic scope of the world of the Hyborian age and composer Basil Pouledoris's score is perfect.

A few story beats irk me (like Conan being a slave since a child and chained to a big wheel, ugh) but I still find the flick mostly entertaining. I want a great Conan movie. This one will do in a pinch.