The Warrior and the Sorceress (1984)

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

However, that's not to say that this routine sword 'n' sandal fantasy adventure doesn't have a brilliant touch or two. As has been said numerous times before, it's essentially another reworking of the time-honoured premise of "Yojimbo", as a mythical lone warrior, Kain (David Carradine) does his best to manipulate two warring factions in a small isolated community who each want control of the only water well. One of them is led by Zeg (the amusingly cast Luke Askew), the other by Bal Caz (Guillermo Marin). The sorceress of the title is Naja, played by the super sexy Maria Socas, who plays her role almost completely topless, certain to guarantee enthusiastic approval by trash fans everywhere. The movie really is rather thinly written (by director John Broderick and William Stout, the latter being an artist & production designer who's worked on genre efforts like "Conan the Barbarian" and "The Return of the Living Dead"), and it may leave one caring little about characters or what happens to them. Carradine is sometimes a hoot, but he often looks here like he can't wait to cash his paycheck. So it's up to the supporting players to try to give this thing a shot in the arm. Askew, Marin, and Armando Capo as the inhuman Burgo the Slaver are all reasonably entertaining antagonists. Production design, location shooting, and costumes are effective, but the action runs hot and cold; the sword fights aren't the most exciting one will ever see. R. Christopher Biggs supplies the makeup effects on the non-human characters as well as one funky little lizard thing. The music is credited to Luis Maria Serra, but any fan of previous Roger Corman productions is sure to recognize certain cues from the James Horner score for "Humanoids from the Deep". The one thing that really makes "The Warrior and the Sorceress" worthwhile is fairly brief, but impressive: the makeup effects on a luscious exotic dancer (played by Cecilia Narova) who happens to have four breasts, outdoing the memorable three breasted hooker from "Total Recall". Overall this is pretty forgettable once it's over, but it provides adequate enough entertainment for a trim 82 minute running time. Undemanding fans of sleazy low budget fantasy films should be satisfied. Six out of 10.

The Eighties. VHS Hell. Somebody made the big buck with exploiting certain structures of genre cinema and within a year the b-industry was at hand providing two shelves of rip-offs for your local mom-and-pop rental limbo.Not only the usual suspects of quickie celluloid theft - Italy and Asia - worked that way. Also the smelly smelly underbelly of Hollywood grinded full throttle when it came to feeding the Realm of Videotica.1984. Conan The Barbarian by right wing muscle wiener John Milius had just swept the theaters twice with it's fascist only the strong and Austrian survive message. About 30 flicks - one trashier than the other - followed. Most from Italia, all great. Basta.David Carradine (actually something like the 70s + 80s Messiah of filmic crap-a-rola) just like his dad acting where the money is, travelled to Argentina that year. Probably he made 8 films or something. The one I just watched is The Warrior And The Sorceress done under the tutelage of smut entrepreneurs Alex Sessa and Hector Olivera experienced in producing mainly barbarian movies and Women In Prison howlers line Amazons or Barbarian Queen.Doctor Carradine, known to no idea movie-going cattle of todays day and age only as the Bill to be killed, stars as a lone sword master in a post-nuke and/or medieval world (the filmmakers somehow could not decide) out to play off two rivaling clan chiefs against each other to get money and their water reserves.Well, what sounds like the umpteenth take on Kurosawa's Yojimbo/Leone's Fistful Of Dollars just in a different setting is actually the umpteenth take on Kurosawa's Yojimbo/Leone's Fistful Of Dollars just in a different setting.It's fun though. Carradine looks his usual stoned and not interested in the film and has to endure many an unconvincingly choreographed sword fight. The sorceress - imprisoned by a lizard faced Luke Askew (maybe still known to some from Easy Rider) to forge a magic sword for goals not mentioned - shows her boobs most of the time. Other women get drowned and beaten while Dave-O and his hosts eat chicken and fruit. Them crazy South American lady lovers...Among the monsters battled are a room full of plush tentacles and a fat Buddha looking heel with a talking (kinda) lizard that looks like something an intern of Jim Henson's would have been fired for even during the pre-Muppets days.Having watched the film in my mother lingo of German as Der Krieger und die Hexe the dubbing once more had me jumping. Especially the fat guy who has a squealing voice I remember from my childhood calling Bud Spencer "Brother Snailshit" in the mighty movie and political allegory (possibly? Yes, yes !!!) Banana Joe.When films bring back that kind of feel good memories they win in my book.

The production values of this feature is at a minimun, the acting horrible, David Carradine I gotta laugh out loud at this character. The acting is in fact so bad that I appreciated Arnold's Conan enterpretation. The move sets a new standard for Bad bad bad B movies.The sets are as cheesy as I've ever seen em... The plot is fair enough though. Special effects: laughable, cool talking lizard :PIf you dont have anything better to do, you could check it out but dont expect too much though.

So, it's not the latest Merchant-Ivory production. Let's face it, those blokes could certainly learn a thing or two from the Roger Corman school of filmmaking."THE WARRIOR AND THE SORCERESS" has a lot going for it, and bears the distinction of being the only film in motion picture history to ever combine all of the following elements* into a neat 77 minute package AND still manage to pack the kids' lunches, run for Governor of Illinois and pick up last week's dry cleaning all at the same time. What a trooper!*"The following elements"... -- David Carradine -- Tons of naked women -- Sword fights (inept and otherwise) -- Maria Socas running around topless eighty percent of the time -- Cues from James Horner's "HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP" score -- Tons of breasts... the friendly kind -- A fat man and his angry lizard (that astounds like no other animatronic, yet immobile angry lizard ever could!) -- A chick with four... count 'em... four tits (beat that Verhoeven!) -- And, of course... David Carradine.What more could you ask for? A blender? This film deserves it's own category. Peplum Film Noir.If you want to send love this Christmas, give 'em "THE WARRIOR AND THE SORCERESS". They'll devour it in 77 minutes flat... and, love you for it, if time permits.