The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982)

The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982)

The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982)

Day five of #Junesploitation was the hardest choice for me so far, Magic, a really broad subject that takes so much into it, so I chose to go for an evil nemesis magic user to narrow it down a bit.

I was going to go with Conan the Barbarian from the same year as this but one of the things I decided to do with this challenge is have a bit of fun and only watch films I’ve never watched before.

Now sort of wishing I’d gone with Conan, this is  another film where the script got the better of no one and the actors came from the apathetic school of acting.

Also trades description or what as it was so Sorcerer light that he may as well as not have been in it an it wouldn’t have made much difference to the plot.

Wooden acting, stilted fight scenes that sometimes went on for far too long, cardboard sets, and shoddy physical effects all gave this a really thrown together feel.

The story line outside of banished royalty feels so similar to Conan, especially the long, long introduction to Talon as an adult regaling us with all his exploits which sounded eerily similar to Conan’s that I’m sure they were writing a Conan film and couldn’t get the rights to the name so changed some of the plot points to cover it.

And the biggest weird part of the film for me is I thought Talon was the eldest heir to the throne and that Alana was his younger sister, eeew.

Overall another just perfect for my current streak in Junesploitation.


The Sword and the Sorcerer | April 30, 1982 (United States) 5.5
Summary:

Q: The Winged Serpent (1982)

Q: The Winged Serpent

Q: The Winged Serpent

Day three of #Junesploitation and today it had to be a film that had David Carradine in it, again I could have gone with a couple of the obvious ones including Death Race 2000, but went with this one instead as it had Richard Roundtree in it as well.

The winged terror over New York turns out to be Quetzalcōātl as imagined by Victorian palaeontologists stopping by Jim Henson for some advice, it was terrible rather than terrifying.

Carradine had a small and disjointed role in this and never seemed comfortable or in a flow until he was all dressed in black with a gun in his hand.

This really wasn’t helped by an awful script that was totally unsure of where it wanted to go and was so stilted it felt like a school production.

Richard Roundtree got to play an asshole cop with a massive attitude and a story arc that was appropriate for the role.

The end section with the beast was very reminiscent of the King Kong Empire State ending though with the viewer having very little sympathy for the beast.

Got to say that I’m enjoying this ‘challenge’ as it’s letting me watch films I would never have thought to put on without it, tonight’s film is going to be ‘Bamboo Gods and Iron Men’ blacksploitation and kung fu all in one package!


Q: The Winged Serpent | October 29, 1982 (United States) 6
Director: Larry CohenWriter: Larry CohenSummary: