The Sword and the Sorcerer Collection

Lee Horsley

Kathleen Beller

Simon MacCorkindale

George Maharis

Richard Lynch

Richard Moll

Anthony De Longis

Robert Tessier

Nina van Pallandt

Anna Bjorn

Jeff Corey

Joseph Ruskin

Joe Regalbuto

Russ Marin

Earl Maynard

George Murdock

John Davis Chandler

Emily Yancy

Christopher Cary

Peter Breck

Alan Caillou

Michael Evans

Jay Robinson

Simmy Bow

Reb Brown

Erik Cord

JoJo D'Amore

Steve Davis

Anthony Farrar

Greg Finley

George Fisher

Tammi Furness

Hubie Kerns Jr.

Leonard P. Geer

Michael Hoit

James Jarnigan

Edgy Lee

Charlie Messenger

Shelley Taylor Morgan

Christina Nigra

Buckley Norris

Patrick O'Moore

Gina Smika Hunter

Alvah Stanley

Mark Steffan

William Watson

Barry Chase

Corinne Calvet

Corey Burton

Suzy Mandel

Thomas Rosales Jr.

Albert Pyun

John V.  Stuckmeyer

David Whitaker

Joseph Mangine

Ve Neill

Jerold Franks

Al Onorato

Kenny Endoso

Simone Boisseree

Allan A. Apone

Douglas J. White

Francisco X. Pérez

Greg Cannom

Mark Shostrom

Chris Howell

Steven Lambert

Anthony Esposito

Tom Karnowski

Lisa C. Cook

John Ross Bush

Marshall Harvey

Brenda Haverstock

Richard Washington

Bob Minkler

Michael Minkler

Sandy Berman

Don Sanders

Joseph Holsen

Sherri Bayer

Graham Harris

David S. Cass Sr.

Denise Cheshire

Hank Calia

John Cade

David Cadiente

Alex Brown

Fred Brookfield

Richard E. Butler

Norman Blankenship

Bruce Paul Barbour

John Ashby

Michael Adams

Michael Cassidy

Phil Chong

Bob Bralver

Vince Deadrick Jr.

Christopher Doyle

Bennie E. Dobbins

Ted Duncan

Greg Wayne Elam

Ted Grossman

Diamond Farnsworth

Ralph Garrett

Bob Harris

Dean Raphael Ferrandini

Mike Johnson

Harold Jones

Chuck Hicks

Melvin Jones

Bill McIntosh

Kym Washington Longino

Bob Minor

Tom Morga

Bennie Moore

Ron Oliney

Larry Randall

Regis Parton

Ernest Robinson

Walter Robles

Mario Roberts

Bill M. Ryusaki

George Robotham

Rick Sawaya

Alex Sharp

Fred Scheiwiller

Eddie Smith

Joe Stone

Mike Tillman

Jack Tyree

Clifford Strong

Greg Walker

Michael M. Vendrell

Marvin Walters

Rock A. Walker

Jesse Wayne

Chuck Waters

George P. Wilbur

Bob Yerkes

Brandon Pender

Mark Yerkes

Kevin Brennan

John Sherrod

Robert K. Feldmann

Patrick Prince

Mark Tarnawsky

Brenda Weisman

Terri Martin

Action

Adventure

Fantasy

Horror

The Sword and the Sorcerer

Sorcerer Productions

United States of America

Weak “Conan the Barbarian” knockoff

In a distant fantastical past, the rightful heir of a conquered kingdom (Lee Horsley) returns to his homeland as the formidable leader of a mercenary band. He assists “Prince” Mikah (Simon MacCorkindale) and his cute sister (Kathleen Beller) to overthrow the evil king (Richard Lynch) and his former evil sorcerer (Richard Moll).

“The Sword and the Sorcerer” debuted two weeks before “Conan the Barbarian” in the spring of 1982 and it’s just a second-rate S&S adventure by comparison. It’s heroic fantasy with the tone of Star Wars, but without the blockbuster budget and in-depth characters. In light of the somewhat kiddie vibe I was surprised by the female top-nudity. “Conan” was heroic fantasy as well, but it lacked the Star Wars air, had more interesting characters, a compelling story and a mind-blowing score by Basil Poledouris. I’m surprised that BOTH movies raked in roughly the same amount domestically at the box office, almost $40 million.

Speaking of the story, the set-up in the first act is too convoluted to create any drive, although the opening on Tomb Island where the hideous Xusia is resurrected in the bowels of the earth is well done. Horsley is gallant and Beller is adorable, but the characters are paper thin. At just over an hour and a half, the tortuous story has no time to breathe and therefore fails to flesh-out the heroes or villains, like “Conan” did. That said, some of the characters are kinda memorable, like the spirited black warrior (whom I can’t discern from the cast list). While there are worthwhile bits throughout this movie they don’t amount to a quality S&S picture. “The Sword and the Sorcerer” is decidedly bush league.

The end credits claim that the sequel is “coming soon.” Actually, it didn’t surface until 28 years later under the title “Abelar: Tales of an Ancient Empire” (2010).

The film runs 1 hour, 39 minutes and was shot in Southern Cal (Griffith Park, Los Angeles; Culver City; and Riverside).

GRADE: C/C-

Somewhat charming fantasy-adventure film that features some respectable special effects and the set designs were pretty good. Acting was so-so however the lead didn't have a whole lot of charisma and the fight scenes were fine but a few scenes were too dimly lit. Should be said, these kinds of movies (including Conan the Barbarian) aren't really my thing but at least this kept my attention. **3.0/5**

CinemaSerf

This actually benefits from having the germ of a decent story of dynastic skulduggery. The evil king "Cromwell" (Richard Lynch) has designs on the throne of the peaceable king "Richard" (Christopher Cary). To that end he awakens the lethal and demonic "Xusia" (Richard Moll) to destabilise "Eh-Dan" and make it ripe for the picking. Fortunately, young prince "Talon" (Lee Horsley) escapes this terror and flees leaving his elder sister "Alana" (Kathleen Beller) behind - a slave. He doesn't forget though, and trains hard, learning how to handle a triple-bladed sword that he plans to use as he returns to reclaim his inheritance and free his sibling. Needless to say, though, neither "Xusia" nor the usurper are going to be welcoming him with open arms! The visual effects are OK here and the drama keeps going fine at the beginning, but the quality of both acting and writing soon starts to drag the whole thing down into cheap and cheerful television movie-dom. The tousled Horsley is pretty amateur from the get-go and although Beller tries to inject a little feistiness into her character, the whole thing just lacks any sense of menace. Indeed, Moll is about as intimidating as yesterday's lettuce. It is little raunchier than many of the genre but in the end it's rather disappointing and eminently forgettable.

They made a sequel to this that was bucking for arthouse... and it was horrible.

This movie was self aware enough to know that they weren't making Chinatown. The dialogue was pretty fun and understood that it wasn't anywhere near a good film, so it could still be light hearted enough to throw in gags here and there in the script, to over-act when it suited the scene, to be fun for the sake of being fun.

It's a B sword and sorcery flick that knows how bad it is, and makes the best of it that sort of turned the film into a cult classic. It's a serious movie that has fun with itself, has fun with it's content, and because of that the viewer can sit back and be entertained.

Not everything has to take itself seriously.

English

The Sword And The Sorcerer (1982) - Official Trailer

The Sword and the Sorcerer | Trailer | 4K

Marshall Harvey on Sword and the Sorcerer