Review #202: 'The Sword and the Sorcerer' (1982)

The early 1980's saw an upsurge - and/or resurgence - of the sword and sandals genre. Post-Star Wars (1977) genre cinema was dominant (as it is today), with very similarly themed stories set in far off worlds, fantastically realised historically-set narratives of kings, queens etc. We saw the likes of Conan the Barbarian (1982), The Beastmaster (1982), Hawk the Slayer (1981), Dragonslayer (1981), et al. The films are numerous, and most definitely varying in quality. At this time, The Sword and the Sorcerer was released into the already flooded market of fantasy cinema. It seemed that there were too many similar films being produced, and the style of these films rarely differed from each other. So here we are with one of those many films. I picked this one for the Childhood Memories Project as it was the one I least remembered. All I can recall of it was that I had seen it. And, as I watched this, it dawned on me the very reason that I had forgotten it.

The Sword and the Sorcerer tells the story of Talon (Lee Horsley), who has been given a lame three bladed sword, and he has to go on some kind of quest to save a princess or some such thing. Well, what a big steaming pile of generic shite it really is! The narrative pilfers much of it's ideas from the real-life story of Oliver Cromwell, who's political clout overthrew the English Monarchy for a period during the 17th Century. The lead villain of the piece is appropriately called Cromwell (Richard Lynch). Maybe it was the utter boredom that overcame me during the film, but the plot seem to be a series of sequences of the protagonists running from place to place, being captured and imprisoned, and escaping.

The influence of Star Wars was very evident in the cinema of the time, as the polarity of good and evil were so clearly defined. This film is no different. Determining the factors of these parallels was easy. You would simply have a clean-cut hero (naive, partially stupid, but in the possession of something magical), and a Darth Vader-esque villain, easily recognisable by monstrous looks, and a deep/weird/breathy vocal range. Whilst on the subject of vocals; why is it that in this period of genre nonsense, how is it that in medieval England do the dialects of England and America coincide? There's even a brother and sister; the brother with his English accent, and the sisters American one! Bottom line, do not bother with this film. If you are interested in this type of fantasy cinema from the period, watch any of the others mentioned at the start of this review - even Hawk the Slayer is superior, and that film is rubbish!!!


Directed by: Albert Pyun
Starring: Lee Horsley, Kathleen Beller, Simon MacCorkindale
Country: USA

Rating: *

Marc Ivamy