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Conan the Barbarian (1982)
There’s no doubt that Conan the Barbarian is the movie that launched Arnold Schwarzenegger as a movie star. Playing an enslaved gladiator questing to avenge his family, Arnold certainly is…huge.
But it’s everything else that makes Conan a remarkable spectacle more than 40 years later.
With a script originally by Oliver Stone and then rewritten by director John Milius, the economy of storytelling—simple third-person narration over Conan’s sweeping journey—leaves the movie pleasantly light on exposition.
Then, there’s the late James Earl Jones playing a cunning snake-cult leader. The acting icon, so known for his voice, moves mountains with his eyes in Conan, beginning with an early hypnosis scene in which Jones delivers a look every bit as beguiling and forlorn as the deepest Bela Lugosi stare.
Top it off with a lush, gargantuan score by Basil Poledouris that just goes impossibly hard. Pour one out for the lost art of scoring action scenes with a 50-piece brass section. Academy, April 10–16.
Also Playing:
Academy: 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Legend (1985) and After Hours (1985), April 8–9. Psycho (1960) and Brainscan (1994), April 10–16. Cinema 21: A Hard Day’s Night (1964), April 11. Cinemagic: Drag Me to Hell (2009), Wrong Turn (2003)and Slither (2006), April 8. Ikiru (1952) April 9. Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (1991), April 10 and 13. The Seventh Curse (1986), April 13. Clinton: The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010), April 9. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), April 11. The Bloody Lady (1981), April 13. The Tragedy of Man (2011), April 14. Cult Classics: Bio-Dome (1996), April 12. Hollywood: Annie (1982), April 8. Tetsuo II: Body Hammer (1992), April 10. Titanic (1997), April 11. The Wild Robot (2024), Galaxy Quest (1999) and Devilman (2004), April 12. Snake Deadly Act (1980), April 14. Tomorrow: Eraserhead (1977), April 12.
