THE BEASTMASTER

     One of my favorite films of the early 80's was the sword-and-sorcery epic "The Beastmaster", released in 1982.  As far as the whole sword-and-sorcery genre goes, "The Beastmaster" is its shining star, in my humble opinion. "Conan" may have had a bigger budget, but I think "The Beastmaster" tops it in imagination by far.  

     Even though the film has silly plot lines, a whole slew of B-actors, and a truly unbelievable plot, it's still tremendously entertaining to watch. It actually wasn't a huge hit in theaters- like "Midnight Madness" and many others of the decade, "The Beastmaster" found its audience on HBO.  It actually played so much on the cable channel that many comedians used the running gag that HBO actually stood for, "Hey, Beastmaster's On!"...

     Dreamy hunk Marc Singer (one of my first true film crushes...) plays Dar, the mythical warrior who can communicate with animals.  There is a plot- but hey, who cares what the plot is?  It's a sword-and-sorcery flick!  We dug all the half-naked people running around and cool monsters.  This movie was awesome to a ten year old.  "The Beastmaster" made a huge impact on us kids of the 80's.

      It truly doesn't get much better than "The Beastmaster".  It's a bona fide cult classic today, with a very loyal audience.  And "The Beastmaster" obviously made an impression on pop culture, as it warranted some truly crappy sequels and a TV series.  Never mind those, though.  Just stick with the original.  Good times!