La guerra del ferro: Ironmaster

My review was written in August 1985 after watching the movie on Prism video cassette.

Made in 1982, "Ironmaster" is an Italian adventure fantasy right off the assembly line that has copied recent trends in Yank and Aussie action pics. In this case, it's mainly "Quest for Fire" time, though the primitive men here are far more advanced.

George Eastman is in the tile role, portraying a power-hungry Iron Age man who discovers the art of iron smelting and uses it to make swords. He has been passed over by his tribe elders who want a woman to succeed them, but Eastman as Vude plans to conquer his and other neighboring tribes.

In opposition is young muscleman Aela (Sam Pasco), who not only steals Vude's swords but invents a bow & arrow to easily subdue the baddies. Corny finish has him destroying all these weapons of war after they've done the job.

Picture is strictly routine, with no nudity, discreet (mainly) violence and little period atmosphere. Lensing is competent, including unusual (for this genre) locations, shot in South Dakota, with a small buffalo herd grazing nearby.

Umberto Lenzi has almost always been one of Italy's better "B-movie" directors, delivering consistently entertaining films throughout his career right up to the mid 80's. Ironmaster was a bit of a turning point, with Lenzi working with smaller and smaller budgets and with lesser and lesser known actors.

With this dead-serious caveman adventure, we have most of the old regulars from Lenzi's crime films like Nello Pazzafini, Giovanni Cianfriglia, Ottaviano Dell'Acqua, and Riccardo Petrazzi (most of whom were primarily stunt men)... a couple other familiar faces like William Berger (KEOMA), George Eastman (KING DAVID), Danilo Mattei and Walter Lucchini (both from CANNIBAL FEROX) and that kid with the wounded leg in NIGHTMARE CITY. But who did Lenzi's producer Luciano Martino cast as the lead? The answer is the pretty mysterious case of bodybuilder Sam Pasco, who seem to have appeared out of nowhere and then disappeared (having never acted in a film since) even though he really isn't bad at all in this movie.

Anyway, the whole thing is a pretty obvious parable of WW2 with Eastman's character Vood as basically Hitler's caveman equivalent, though he goes around smashing things while his lady friend does all the talking for him. It's actually not a bad plotline either, aided by some sumptuous photography, decent special effects, some really energetic editing, and one of Guido and Maurizio De Angelis's best forgotten scores (omitting the really lame title theme). The movie's main weakness is the heavy-handedness of everything, with morals being pitched left and right when the movie is really too low budget and silly to be taken seriously.

Almost universally, this film is trashed as one of the all-time worst but it really isn't that bad at all. Much like Bruno Mattei's much-maligned ROBOWAR and Sergio Martino's SLAVE OF THE CANNIBAL GOD (which this film recycles some music from) IRONMASTER really would have been given a lot more credit had the producers put a little more money into it. It's still quite a lot of fun, and pretty far from boring to say the least.

OK, OK... So Iron Master isn't a great Masterpiece and blah, blah, blah..., but it was released in the same year I was born, so that makes it cool, OK?! Seriously though, I know it isn't a great movie and I know that the cover has nothing to do with the movie, but let's be honest, if it wasn't for that cover, we would never have watched the movie in the first place and never experienced the only movie that's so bad, it's actually good. I consider it an education watching someone's attempt at making a good movie with a low budget. It shows a love for the art of film-making and you have to admire the effort that went into the plot, even though there are a few holes here and there. If I were to choose between watching Clockwork Orange and Iron Master again, I'd choose Iron Master without a second though. FACT! I like this movie. I watched it for the first time when I was 11 and still remember the story, theme, feel and inspiration it brought to my young imagination. At the least, I'd give it a 6/10

The leader of a prehistoric hunting tribe is murdered by one of his own people, an evil young tyrant. When the tribe banishes the killer, he wanders into an area of volcanic activity and witnesses the natural formation of an iron bar. Using this weapon and the knowledge of the means to create it, he becomes mad with power and sets forth on a bloody mission to conquer all mankind...one tribe at a time. It is up to his lifelong rival to thwart these sinister plans.

IRONMASTER is a better film than it has any right to be, a highly entertaining chunk of old-school Euroschlock replete with equal parts cheesecake and beefcake(and even a light smattering of gore).

You've likely seen all this before, but this is one of the better examples of those European loincloth adventures which were being made by the dozen during the 80s.

Fun stuff...5.5/10

This flick deals about the struggle of primitive cavemen and their battle each other , against nature and other creatures as boars , gorillas , Buffalos and lions . A tale that takes place at the dawn of history . This is a story of a long , long ago when the world was just beginning . A young world , a world early in the morning of time . A hard , unfriendly world with creatures that sit and wait , creatures as bison and lions that must kill to live . And man , superior to the creatures only in his cunning . There aren't many men , a few tribes scattered across the wilderness , they discover ¨Iron¨ and weapons and use them for their own survival. Never venturing far , unaware that other tribes exist even , too busy with their own lives to be curious . Too frightened of the unknown to wander . Their laws are simple , the strong take everything . The movie tells the story of a tribe that discovers how to fashion weapons out of iron . However, the creation of iron also causes the tribe to battle for possession of the new arms that encounter surrounded by volcanoes in an earth-splitting volcanic eruption . Caveman named Ela (Pasco , a body-builder in his only film) is banished from his savage tribe by a new leader called Vood (the tall George Eastman or Luigi Montefiori who starred numerous Spaghetti and horror movies). There is no love between them and confrontation emerges . Ela meets a cave woman named Isa (a beautiful Elvira Audray who starred "White Slave") from a pacific tribe , both of whom trying to make a life for themselves . Meantime , they confront subhuman , cannibalistic apes . Ele finds a brief home among a group of gentle primitive men whose chief is Mogo (William Berger , a notorious actor in several B films of the 70s and 80s) . A bit later on , they take on rival clan .

This is an exciting story of adventure , battles , thrills and romance . The tale provides sweeping and moving entertainment and some FX , being recreated by means of traditional effects . This is a humdrum adaptation based on primitive men existence from a screenplay and story by the same filmmaker , Umberto Lenzi along with Luciano Martino and Alberto Cavallone . This is an acceptable adventure movie though packs absurd situations and cheesy frames . Atmospheric as well as ridiculous caveman movie contains bemusing scenes when appears the bouncing He man and takes place his confrontation to nasty warriors in some lousily made scenes , including corny special effects . In the picture appears various familiar faces from Italian B series such as William Berger , Ottaviano Dell'Acqua , Nello Pazzafini , Jacques Herlin , Benito Stefanelli , Giovanni Cianfriglia or Ken Wood , a Steve Reeves's stunt , a gorgeous Pamela Prati and Pietro Torrisi who nicknamed Peter McCoy starred various Sword and Witchery films . The picture has numerous "older technique" FX such as transparency , matte paintings, rubber-suited men who wear make-up like apes , reverse-footage to create certain images ; all of them were made by Paolo Ricci and the great Emilio Ruiz Del Rio for foreground miniatures and matte scenarios . You will watch it and think it is either awful , hilarious, a masterpiece, or all three . It's a slight fun with embarrassing images , naive special effects , campy set decoration and passable art direction . Although critics do not appreciate much this picture ; however has a kind of loopy, Ed Wood quality that must be endured to be totally considered . The fable is sometimes silly and laughable , though a few naif effects and action are professionally made . Some illogical parts in the argument are more than compensated for the excitement provided by the violent fights among primitive men and appearance of several animals such as Lions , bison ; in fact , a boar and a lion were wrongfully sacrificed in this picture .

The tale was middling directed by Umbert Lenzi, he used the pseudonym Hank Milestone and Humphrey Logan . Umberto made his directorial debut with ¨Queen of the Seas¨ (1961) . Other pirate/sword flicks followed, starting with ¨Pirates of Malaysia¨ (1964) starred by Steeve Reeves, which was part of the height of the career of fictitious tales of historic legendary characters including Robin Hood , Catherine the Great, Zorro , Sandokan and Maciste . He subsequently directed a ¨Fumetti¨ titled The mask of Kriminal (1966) . After directing a war film and two "spaghetti westerns," Lenzi turned to the Giallo genre with ¨Orgasmo¨ (1969). During the 1970s, Lenz filmed a number of Giallo and thrillers , among them : ¨So Sweet, So Perverse¨, ¨Seven Blood-Stained Orchids¨ and ¨Eyeball¨ . Lenzi turned to the police thrillers called ¨Polizieschi¨, which rejuvenated his confidence and his popularity . Titles like ¨Almost Human¨ , ¨Free Hand For a Tough Cop¨ and ¨Brothers Till We Die¨ were the most popular and brutal of the thrillers . Lenzi is an expert on wartime genre such as he proved in ¨Desert commandos¨ , ¨Battle of commandos¨ , ¨From hell to victory¨ , ¨Young Lions¨ and ¨Bridge to hell¨. Prior to the Polizieschi, Lenzi directed ¨Man from Deep River¨ , which was the start of the Italian cannibal sub-genre . Later on , he directed two very gory jungle cannibal features , ¨Eaten Alive¨ and ¨Make Them Die Slowly ¨which was banned in 31 countries, made Lenzi distance himself from the cannibal genre . Then Lenzi directed ¨Nightmare City¨ (1980) , a zombie flick , and this ¨Iron Master¨(1983) .