The Beastmaster

I remember watching "The Beastmaster" when I was a kid, and I thoroughly enjoyed it back then. And as I purchased the DVD in 2013 and re-visited the movie for another watching, I can honestly say that I enjoy it as much today as I did back then.

This is a classic tale of sword and sorcery. An infant is rescued from a ritual offering and grow up on the plains with herders and huntsmen, fully unaware of his royal heritage. Growing up, Dar discovers that he has abilities that allow him mastery over animals and being capable of communicating with them. Drawn into a game of treachery and heroism, Dar have to take up the fight against the vile sorcerer Maax.

Sure, this was shot back in 1982, but it was a blast then, and it is actually quite fun to watch even in 2013. The effects were adequately back then and serves their point straight on. However, don't prepare to be dazzled by today's standards. But if you are a fan of the sword and sorcery genre, then "The Beastmaster" is a sure must-watch-movie.

The people cast for the various roles did good jobs with their given roles, and I don't really remember Marc Singer as being that buffed and muscular when I saw him in the original "V" series. But he was really well-cast for the role of Dar/The Beastmaster. Even the animals trained for the movie were doing good jobs.

"The Beastmaster" is a an excellent sword and sorcery movie, and a very formidable choice of movie to the "Conan" movies. I thoroughly enjoy this 1982 movie and I know that I will put it back in the DVD player again after some years.

Too bad movies from this genre are now all but extinct.

Beastmaster was one of the best movies of the early 80's

Sword & Magic movies (along with Krull, Dragonslayer &

Conan), if not the best. I even believe it inspired He-Man

and the Masters of the Universe for those who as myself

were children of the 80's. Later in the 80's some flicks

came out, like Highlander and Willow, but couldn't help the

disappearance of the genre, which I feel very nostalgic

about. Please, please, please, I beg you: Ignore any sequel

of this movie. Remain with this, a true classic.

Like most I missed the theatrical run on this film, who didn't? I caught it on cable. I believe Dennis Miller had a running joke about HBO meaning "Hey Beastmaster' on!" This isn't agreat film, there are a lot of very obvious red herrings, but it's a lot of fun and certainly has earned it's cult status.

This sword and sorcery plot is well handled by Don Coscarelli and he directs his good looking leads, Marc Singer & Tanya Roberts, well. The photography on John Alcott is excellent and one of the highlights of the film. Lee Holdrigde's original score and Alf Clausens orchestrations are absolutely superb. Truly I thought the music was excellent. It's epic, memorable and so suited to the scenes!

For a film called the Beastmaster, its smart enough not to ignore the animals. The ferrets are cute, and yes ferrets are like that!, the Tiger (black panther) is fierce and the Hawk is mysterious, yet so graceful. I thought Marc Singer (Dar's) rapport with the animals was just great. The final fight with the Juns is fantastic in it's use of lighting and movement.

This film really should appeal to teenage boys and on that level it succeeds beautifully.

An awesomely sculpted Marc Singer headlines in this much beloved sword and sorcery outing brought to us by non other than Don Coscarelli of Phantasm fame.

Singer stars as Dar (great name eh? okay, maybe not then...) a child who comes into the world in a somewhat less than auspicious manner, namely from the belly of an ox(!) after he is magically stolen from within his own mothers womb by a corpse faced sorceress. Yes, I know this all sounds utterly bizarre and in fact it is, but you'll really need to view it to appreciate it in all its, erm....glory. As a result of this bestial birth, our hero grows up with an unusual ability to communicate with animals via some form of psychical connection. So that's how Dr Doolittle got his powers to? Um, the mind boggles! Anyway, to cut a long story short, Dar's abilities prove to come in mightily handy later on when he sets out to take revenge upon the evil warrior tribe who massacred the people of his village.

Tremendously entertaining from start to finish, this is without doubt one of the finest entries in its genre and is highly memorable. So much so in fact, that it has since spawned two sequels and a spin off television series. If you haven't already done so, then I thoroughly recommend you have a ganders at this timeless fantasy classic.

I don't care what people say, THE BEASTMASTER is a fun film. Thanks to my parents having cable in the 80s, I virtually grew up with it. I can still recall spending many days and nights watching it on television. I probably had no idea of what was going on, but I just loved watching this animal lover named Dar rescue the hot Tanya Roberts while fighting against an evil priest. Marc Singer is great in the title role. If he were to cure world hunger, create world peace, or even be elected president, he would still be known as The Beastmaster. Tanya Roberts doesn't really do much, but looks damn nice doing it, John Amos is also good as a traveler who befriends Dar, and Rip Torn is as over-the-top as he can get. Lee Holdridge's score, composed in a short amount of time, provides a bit more epicness than the film could have created on its own, with a heroic theme that is used throughout. I was also happy to learn recently that Anchor Bay Entertainment is working on a Special Edition DVD of THE BEASTMASTER. I'm, naturally, very excited about this, for no matter what people say, THE BEASTMASTER was, still is, and always will be a childhood favorite.