Conan The Barbarian (1982)

Set in a fictional age of barbarism thousands of years ago, a young slave turned gladiator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) sets out to avenge the death of his parents at the hands of a wicked sorcerer (James Earl Jones). Accompanied by his friend (Gerry Lopez) and lover (Sandahl Bergman, ALL THAT JAZZ), he agrees to help a King (Max Von Sydow) recover his daughter (Valerie Quennessen, SUMMER LOVERS) from the clutches of a snake worshiping cult headed by the sorcerer. Co-written (along with Oliver Stone) and directed by John Milius (THE WIND AND THE LION), this is a first rate example of the sword and sorcery genre. Barbaric and primeval, Milius gives us a dark and violent fantasy world where killing is a fact of life and done without hesitation. Because of Milius' involvement, the film has been referred to as a fascist fantasy but I think that's unfair. Instead of the usual comic book adventure, Milius infuses his film with a bit of Nietzschean subtext but it's still essentially a big adventure movie, a fairy tale for guys. Schwarzenegger's Neanderthal, slightly simian screen presence has never been put to better use, not even in THE TERMINATOR. The underscore by Basil Poledouris is a thing of beauty. With William Smith, Ben Davidson and Cassandra Gava.