Memorable, crazy movie

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

This sword and sorcery flick is a mess. Judging from the confused narrative and editing plus constant namedropping of characters we haven't been introduced to, I would guess that it's a failed TV-pilot or something that somebody squeezed together to feature length and released to an unsuspecting world. If you have a high tolerance level for bad sword and sorcery flicks there's some fun to be had: there's some monsters, like the cool snake-men, magic, a lot of silly fantasy nonsense dialogue ("you must recover the runestone from Brakus the Destroyer in order to save the kingdom of Harmonia from the evil... blah blah blah...") and some weird color filters that the creators use from now and then for no apparent reason. Also, it should be noted that this film takes itself 100% serious, which makes the pretentious overacting from an aged George Kennedy in fake-beard and a silly wig all the funnier. And everybody's favorite boy's-own hero Kabir "Sandokan" Bedi plays the hero's sidekick! But all in all I think it's safe to say that this movie is only for real sword and sorcery nerds like me. Hawk the Slayer come back, all is forgiven!

When this movie appeared in 1981, I was a young boy filled with dreams of one day becoming a great warrior. Silly as these dreams may seem now, at the time they helped fill what were otherwise boring afternoons in a time when we were all waiting for the 80's to fully materialize. Looking back on this film now after twenty-five years, I still feel young and strong and full of magical powers every time I see it as it gave us the feel of otherworldly power and secrets that may have existed long ago, before movies like THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy put that idea into the minds of young and old alike. The acting was weak and character development was pushed aside in favor of time constraints but all-in-all I liked the way the film made me feel. And, after all, isn't that why we give up two hours of our precious time anyway?

Hi, Everyone, I worked as an extra in this TV movie. We worked in the hills near Magic Mountain on December, 3, 4, and 5 of 1980. It rained most of the time. We wore fur hides that kept our upper bodies warm enough. We had some campfires going most of the time.On one of the days there was an invasion of some type of small winged insect that got into our food and probably can be seen in some of the scenes. The mud was very deep. We would wade into a muddy road area and made glopping sounds as we pulled our feet out.Somehow it was some of the most fun days I have ever had in the movie business. The group of guys who worked on the show, cast, crew and extras were laughing a lot. Nick the director, was very nice and articulate. Warren, the A.D. was a pleasure to be with. I worked with him many times, including on Thorn Birds and Airwolf.I watched the movie when they showed it on TV. I have not seen it since. I did enjoy it. I think it would stand up well today if it were re-released with some special notes about the making.When we did our village (hill dweller types) scenes with George Kennedy, there were more different kinds of animals in one scene than I have ever observed working together in any other project. There were dogs, a bear, cougars, horses and some falcons and a chimp.The horse was not at all pleased being near the bear and the cougars were not friendly except with their handlers.Well worth watching.Tom Willett (Yonhope)

As with certain films of the filmed noir genre, there are unheralded fantasy films that also fall in to the category of "sleepers" i.e., very entertaining but not widely reviewed/seen. To name a few: Forbidden Planet, The Forbidden Street, I'll Never Forget You (Berkely Square), The Sword & the Sorcerer, Sinbad the Sailor, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, Sinbad & the Eye of the Tiger, Demon Seed, Five Million Years to Earth, Omar Khayyam, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (now a classic), as well as The Dam Busters, (if you are not offended by the name of the dog) and the exceptional, Curse of the Demon.These are but a few examples of some lesser credited "sleepers", yet they are thoroughly entertaining films. I would handily rate it **** out of ***** stars.