Conan the Barbarian

John Milius's jingoistic direction and pulpy screenplay fit perfectly into this film version of the Robert E. Howard fantasy story of the sword and sorcery hero, Conan the Barbarian. Complementing Mulius's heavy metal production is Arnold Schwarzenegger's leaden acting, which in any other context ...more

If John Milius has a specialty as a director, it's making enjoyable films out of highly questionable material. In his directorial debut, Dillinger, he made the cold-blooded gangster an almost lovable figure without toning down the story's violence a bit. Here he uses Robert E. Howard's pulp hero to justify a militaristic worldview just a little to the left of a backwoods militia. Social Darwinism transported to a mythic past, Conan presents a kill-or-be-killed world in which the musclebound ...more