To me, this movie is perfection.

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

All that any cult-Fantasy fan should need to know about this film is that the setting cribs heavily from John Norman's "Gor" novels. Rip Torn's evil god is Ar, and there is a reliance in the plot upon breathy slave girls and macho barbarian chauvinism. In this regard, The Beastmaster is one of a number of "unofficial tributes" to Gor that are actually truer to the novels than either of the two licensed Gor movies made in the same era.Whether or not this is a good thing is entirely a matter of taste. The plot of the film is more or less irrelevant, as is the quality of the acting. It's Swords & Sandals, one of the better examples of knock-offs that tried to cash-in on the success of Conan The Barbarian. Good enough, at least, to warrant an "expurgated" edit for general release, unlike the majority of similar examples of the form.

Don Coscarelli("Phantasm") directs this superb action fantasy that stars Marc Singer("V") as Dar, who is forced from his rightful inheritance as a baby by an evil priest(Rip Torn) who covets the king's throne. Dar is taken to safety to live with another family, but when his adopted father is killed, he learns he has a unique ability to communicate and control animals(Birds, Tigers, and Ferrets, among others)who help him in his quest for revenge against the marauders who attacked his village, and the high priest responsible for his exile.The beautiful Tanya Roberts also stars as Kiri, a friend who helps him. Despite the familiar premise, this is a fun, engaging and satisfying yarn with a great twist on the familiar plot,(a sort of warrior version of Grizzly Adams!) and appealing heroic characters, and makes magnificent use of its animals; Dar couldn't have done it without them.A real winner, that did have two sequels(which I haven't seen) and inspired a TV series.

I remember watching "The Beastmaster" when I was a kid, and I thoroughly enjoyed it back then. And as I purchased the DVD in 2013 and re-visited the movie for another watching, I can honestly say that I enjoy it as much today as I did back then.This is a classic tale of sword and sorcery. An infant is rescued from a ritual offering and grow up on the plains with herders and huntsmen, fully unaware of his royal heritage. Growing up, Dar discovers that he has abilities that allow him mastery over animals and being capable of communicating with them. Drawn into a game of treachery and heroism, Dar have to take up the fight against the vile sorcerer Maax.Sure, this was shot back in 1982, but it was a blast then, and it is actually quite fun to watch even in 2013. The effects were adequately back then and serves their point straight on. However, don't prepare to be dazzled by today's standards. But if you are a fan of the sword and sorcery genre, then "The Beastmaster" is a sure must-watch-movie.The people cast for the various roles did good jobs with their given roles, and I don't really remember Marc Singer as being that buffed and muscular when I saw him in the original "V" series. But he was really well-cast for the role of Dar/The Beastmaster. Even the animals trained for the movie were doing good jobs."The Beastmaster" is a an excellent sword and sorcery movie, and a very formidable choice of movie to the "Conan" movies. I thoroughly enjoy this 1982 movie and I know that I will put it back in the DVD player again after some years.

I missed out on seeing John Milius' s Conan the Barbarian at the cinema in 1982, but I did manage to catch Don Coscarelli's The Beastmaster, the other sword and sorcery flick that did the rounds at the local flea-pits later that year. With its star Marc Singer no match for the mighty Arnold Schwarzenegger in terms of sheer physical presence, and director Coscarelli working on a much tighter budget than Milius, The Beastmaster might sound like a pretty poor substitute, but I reckon it still rivals Conan in terms of pure entertainment value.Plot-wise, the films are pretty similar, the central character of both being a sword-wielding warrior seeking revenge for the destruction of his people by an evil sorcerer, leader of a fanatical cult; but where Milius's epic aims for the more austere epic approach, The Beastmaster constantly delights with an infectious sense of energy and humour, central character Dar's ability to communicate telepathically with a variety of animals leading to many of the films more fun moments (a pair of mischievous ferrets named Podo and Kodo regularly steal the show, although Rip Torn's Spock-style eyebrows, hook nose and natty skull-shaped hair bobbles gave me the biggest laugh!).Don't make the mistake of thinking that The Beastmaster is all harmless family-orientated fun though: Conan the Barbarian wins hands-down in terms of graphic violence, but Coscarelli's film still features a surprising level of nastiness and even a smattering of nudity: acid secreting bird creatures digest people alive, corpses are impaled on wooden poles, children are sacrificed, countless people die horrific deaths, and the very lovely Tanya Roberts, star of TV's Charlie's Angels, goes topless for her opening scene and leaves very little to the imagination for the rest of the film in some incredibly revealing outfits.