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  • This was directed by prolific Italian filmmaker Umberto Lenzi who boasts numerous directorial credits in a wide array of film genres including a number of (in)famous horror outings and some very gritty crime dramas.

    Fans of Italian B-movies will instantly delight in seeing big George Eastman in the role of the main villain (as he is very often type cast) who, inadvertently brings about the inception of the Iron Age(!)

    Scouring the internet, I have found nothing but disdain and vituperation for this film with some reviewers even going so far as to apply the ignominious label of 'The worst movie ever made' upon it. Whilst the film is admittedly certainly no masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, it is in fact not nearly as bad as it's sullied reputation would have us believe.

    What we have here in effect is a sort of semi-documentary detailing the sudden great psychological and sociological evolution of early human kind as precipitated by the discovery of more puissant weaponry.

    OK, so it is somewhat base in it's linear execution, logic is not a trait it is particularly rich in, the acting is not exactly Oscar material and the special effects are shall we say, severely wanting, but despite this, the film is actually rather intriguing.

    The ending especially, is surprisingly rather poignant for this genre and is quite refreshing.

    Special mention must also be made of the title score for the film, which is one of those tunes you'll find yourself humming for days!!!

    Overall then, whilst woefully inaccurate in its historical context, this film is nonetheless rather fascinating in its inimitable depiction of a bygone people and their turbulent way of life.
  • 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
  • Despite it's Frank Frazetta-style, Conan-esque cover art, Umberto Lenzi's Ironmaster is actually like one of those Hammer cavemen films featuring grunting cro-magnons, or the more serious French film Quest for Fire (1981), only this being an Italian rip-off, the prehistoric humans speak perfect English (at least in the version I saw) and there's not a stop-motion creature to be seen (but there are some plastic mammoths and a tribe of monkey-like neanderthals). And like Hammer's films - One Million Years B.C., When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth and Creatures the World Forgot - the cave-women are all ravishing beauties in small animal-skin bikinis. Coming from the director that gave us Cannibal Ferox and Eaten Alive!, one can also expect a smattering of brutal violence as well.

    And yet, behind all of the blatant silliness and skull-crushing action, Lenzi's film is actually a thought-provoking allegory about the cold war. No, seriously.

    The story concerns a tribe of cavemen whose leader is thinking of stepping down and handing the reins to kindly muscleman Ela (Sam Pasco), instead of his hotheaded son Vood (George Eastman). Miffed, Vood brains his father with a stone axe and tries to take leadership, but having witnessed the murder, Ela speaks up, and Vood is run out of Bedrock (but not before killing the tribe's shaman as well). While stomping around at the foot of an erupting volcano (as you do), Vood discovers a long, sword-shaped piece of iron, and returns to his tribe brandishing his indestructible weapon, this time successfully seizing control and exiling Ela.

    As Ela roams the land, encountering hilarious naked monkey-men and befriending gorgeous (but, sadly, not naked) blonde Isa (Elvire Audray), Vood and his followers mine the black rock from the slopes of the volcano, smelting its iron to make more swords, before setting about enslaving neighbouring tribes. Isa's people - peace-loving fishermen who see no need for weapons - are easily overpowered by Vood and his cronies, but Ela helps them to fight back, training them in the art of combat and inventing the bow and arrow in his spare time. When Vood hears that Ela is in the village, he and his men launch an attack but are surprised to be met by resistance.

    No prizes for guessing that the good guys win, after which they ditch their weapons in a lake. Peace and love and all that.

    Let's be honest though, we don't watch this kind of film for thinly veiled messages about the arms race and the need for nuclear disarmament; we watch it for the exploitative elements and unintentional lols, and there are plenty of those: Vood might have discovered Iron, but Ela is quite obviously keeping schtum about his stash of steroids and baby oil, while Isa appears to have access to lipstick and eye-shadow; Vood's scheming female side-kick Lith (Pamela Prati) struggles unsuccessfully to remain inside her bikini top; the costumes for the ape-like neanderthals come complete with genitalia; the speed at which the cavemen develop advanced weapon-making skills is quite remarkable; likewise, Ela and company's marksmanship with their crude bows and arrows is nothing short of amazing. Lenzi's fans will also be delighted by the gore: we get Vood's father's smushed head, a couple of severed arms, and numerous arrows in various body parts.

    I'm not about to pretend that Ironmaster is a good film - it's unlikely to appear in anyone's all-time Top 10 - but for those appreciate cheesy Italian films, there should be plenty to enjoy. 5.5/10, rounded up to 6 for a couple of fun special effects (including a model volcano and a nice matte painting) and for Vood's manky lion head-dress.
  • I originally bought this movie, having never seen it, strictly for laughs. But I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it's really and engaging movie. Now, it does have its dumb parts, but for the most part I was riveted. The story is simplistic, but this isn't trying to be anything incredible. Once again a film is made which most people just can't appreciate.

    Also, I love the weird naked monkey guys.
  • 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) .
  • Warning: Spoilers
    That sounded so good, I'm going to repeat it : A saucy spaghetti romp through 1,000,000 BC, Planet of the Apes and Ator. I have recently seen a few Italian "imports". Jewels such as Super Fuzz, Raiders from Atlantis and 2020 : Texas Gladiators. This movie is part of that same prime lineage.

    We start this masterpiece with some rhythmic chanting. Feel free to join in. It's quite easy to do (hum hum hhaa hum hhaa hum hum). This chanting happens a few times during the movie. You should probably create a game out of it; like doing shots or chugging beers at the beginning, chant along, and then do some more drinking (or whatever your drug of choice is) at the end. This will keep everyone from hurting themselves or anyone else. It is also a good way to keep from getting into a coma or deriving some enjoyment from a really bad movie. This movie is not that bad, I merely state this as public service announcement. So if a bad movie happens to you, you'll know what to do.

    After the chanting is done, we get a narrator telling us whats going on. We are somewhere in prehistory, and there's this tribe. They seem friendly enough. They're no cannibals or anything. Actually they're in a bit of a crisis for food. During the ensuing hunt, the leader is murdered by his son (and soon to be announced heir), Vood (the infamous George Eastman - think of a white Wilt Chamberlin). You may remember George from such classics as the Barbarian Brothers or 2019 : After the Fall of New York. At the leader's funeral Vood is exposed as a murderer by Ela (the very sweaty and buff Sam Pasco). Vood is banished. This leads into the longest and most painful scene of the entire movie : the erupting volcano scene.

    In this scene Vood is walking around in exile, around volcanic mountains (that coincidentally looks like my baking soda and vinegar mountain from my 8th grade science project). We get some stock footage of volcanic eruptions and lava flow from what looks like a 1969 collegiate project. Lava is on the ground and lightning strikes it. This somehow creates iron. The thing that is formed looks like a giant stick, or a really, really amateurish looking sword. Vood goes ape and starts breaking stuff with his new rock staff. On the way out he encounters and kills a lion. Lith (the very attractive Pamela Prati, a.k.a Pamela Field) then shows up and gives him the idea to conquer. Vood shows up back at his tribe wearing the most ridiculous lion suit he made out of the beast he killed. There's this giant lion head he wears. For reference, remember Montgomery Burns from the Simpsons except this is much sillier (the episode with the greyhounds, where he sings the "wear my vest" song). Vood and Ela fight. Vood wounds Ela and banishes him to what looks like the Planet of the Apes. He then takes over and begins the war effort. This is Lith's ultimate scene. She goes into this tirade that had me laughing for 2 full minutes. The only way I can describe it is if you think of Valaria's way of speaking from Robot Holocaust.

    I call the next scene the forging scene. Somehow they figure out how to melt the rocks, create molds for the molten iron, and a hammer to further shape the rock. Apparently they "guessed" all this in the missing scene the director cut out. Ela then meets Isa (the other hottie in the movie, Elvire Audray). The first time she said her name, all I could say is "Her name is Pizza ?". Strangely enough in this Italian exploitation movie, both attractive female leads never bare it all.

    This all leads to an eventual conflict between Vood & Ela. I won't spoil it. This must be seen to believe. It is nice that they used the same choreographer from 2020:Texas Gladiators. Unfortunately, that man flunked out of the William Shatner School for Acting and Stunts.

    The movie has some nice footnotes :

    1) Nice use of roaming buffalo throughout the Dakotas. This included making the actors run through the pack.

    2) Almost a total rip of the bone smashing scene from 2001, except with George Eastman in fur leggings and a club.

    3) Anatomically correct shot of a lion - twigs and berry shot.

    4) Prehistoric leper clowns.

    5) George Eastman discovers a new way to get high : eating volcanic rock.

    6) Numerous homo-erotic imagery.

    7) Ela runs and sits quite daintily for a caveman.

    8) These cavemen sure look good. They must work out in the cave's gym. They also wear these adorable rabbit slippers throughout the movie.

    9) Mad lib dialog. Vood (verb of motion).

    10) RUNNING !!! and MORE RUNNING !! There's a lot of running in this movie. I haven't seen so much running since Run Lola Run, however, in that movie there was a purpose to all that running. All this running is reminiscent to all the driving in Manos, the Hands of Fate.

    This movie is terrible on all fronts. It is so bad, that it has actually become one of my favorite Italian exploitation movies. Try not to watch this movie alone or if you are in a bad mood. I could not control my laughter or disbelief. This is definitely great for the disaster watcher.
  • Phroggy11 April 1999
    Lenzi has done excellent action thrillers and great gialli, but here, there's nothing worth losing 90 minutes over. Even George eastman isn't very good. And the plot ? An outcast from his tribe discovers the sword ; a beefy hero (steroids were already invented ?) discovers the bow and arrow (though he looks like he wouldn't invent his way out of a paper crate) and defeats him. The end. That's it. No more time too waste on this one. See Lenzi's seventies thrillers with Thomas Milian (one of the most under-rated actors of all time)
  • I'm a big fan of B movies, particularly these caveman/barbarian things, but about 10 minutes in a boar is killed on screen, and maybe 10 minutes later there is a scene where the main protagonist/villain, Vood, takes his volcanic forged iron weapon and kills a lion, and I couldn't continue watching. The lion is not stabbed on screen, but it is shown first violently convulsing and then dead, so I assume it is all real. I understand filmmakers were very inhumane to animals, particularly horses, in Hollywood's Golden Age, but this was Italy in 1983 A.D., not the Roman Colosseum 81 A.D. For such suffering to occur for sheer entertainment is unacceptable. If someone could point me to some evidence of how this was all a clever fake nothing would make me happier than to be able to withdraw my review.
  • Warning: Spoilers
    This is the most awful movie of all time. No movie surpasses this movie in horrible horrible badness. Nothing can even come close to the story of Vudd discovering I-ron. I will call this "I-RON". From a superheated volcanic eruption... minutes later giant metal shard... hiding underneath rocks. He touches it and its hot so he hits it with a rock and its cool. Cmon, really. Then he kills the national geographic lion and when he stabs it is paper mache. I'm not even going to get into the monkey men and the katanas he forges near the end of the movie. Where did he get the knowledge on how to forge master crafted samurai swords? And the cover has NOTHING to do with movie at all.

    THE END
  • Warning: Spoilers
    he problem with movies like the Umberto Lenzi film "Iron Master" is that Lenzi and company have to observe certain rituals about making film palatable to audiences. In other words, although this outdoor adventure film is set during the early days of man, nobody is bald and the women far too gorgeous. Obviously, everybody had to don a wig and they look slightly ridiculous running around in them. The women have to wear lipstick and rouge and they look more like models on holiday than the hard-working dames of the past. Indeed, most women in early tribal villages did not conceal their breasts, but for the purpose of modesty the dames here but cover up their racks. Despite this problem and an awful looking fake lion head that the villainous George Eastman wears, "Iron Master" isn't as egregious as you might imagine for a low-budget Italian exploitation epic.

    First, director Umberto Lenzi, who has made some genuine skull crushers as "Make Them Die Slowly" and "Cannibal Ferox," keeps the action simple, straightforward and serious. No, "Iron Master" is no tits and ass camp. The dialogue is far too sophisticated, but otherwise it would be laughable. The performances are acceptable and nobody looks that goofy. The theme that weaponry can set mankind free as well as imprison them is good stuff. The chief villain Vood (George Eastman of "Ben and Charlie") wants to be the leader of the tribe, but the leader rebuffs him. During a raid on a village, Vood attacks and kills the chieftain. The villagers believe that Vood is too treacherous to remain among them so they expel him from of the village. Everybody freaks out when a nearby volcano erupts and Vuud is around when a chunk of steel is vomited out of the mountain in the shape of a sword. Okay, it is terribly convenient, but it does not slow down the plot. Vood uses this iron stick as a weapon and takes control of the village and attacks Ela (Sam Pasco, a stud muffin with more quivering six-pack muscles than you can count) with his new weapon. Ela manages to get away but he has an ugly looking wound in his side. He runs into a beautiful babe and she nurses him back to health and takes him to her village where there are no weapons.

    Meanwhile, Vood and his men make and equip themselves with iron swords from the volcano and decimate the local infestation of man-sized chimps. Think 2001 because the primates resemble those from the Kubrick film. Eventually, Vood and his men decide to rule the world and they attack one village after another until Vood learns that Ela is in one village. Ela has a treat in store for his sworn enemy. It is a weapon that makes his army the equal of Vood's sword wielding horde. The ending looks like something out of an Italian film of the era. Okay, it is corny at points, but you have to compel yourself to over look some stuff so that you can get something out of it. The most extraordinary thing about this French and Italian co-production is that they lensed some of the story on location at the Custer Park and those buffalo are the genuine thing.
  • Lenzi had clearly put much of it together as he helped when possible. With footage including wonderful matte paintings and volcanic eruption with animals, buffalos, lions and elephants whether or not they should be together and apes who are not really supposed to be men in suits. There are great bits in the caves and iron creation but much campy stuff not so good and the dialogue is just terrible or even a story which is not there.
  • 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.
  • Warning: Spoilers
    We have too many movies. At current count, we have around 2,642 DVDs. Every time I walk into a used video store, I try and tell myself, "You don't need anything." But then I have a rough day of work. Or a great day of work. And then I'm in a store and see a movie that has George Eastman wearing a giant lion head and killing everyone he sees in a ripoff of Quest for Fire and I just throw my wallet at the closest person in the store and run around the store screaming like a loon.

    George Eastman's best roles - like Nikos Karamanlis in Antropophagus, One in Warriors of the Wasteland and Big Ape in 2019: After the Fall of New York - are beloved because of the moments where he goes fully unhinged and becomes a maniac. In this movie, as Vood, he's berserk minutes into the movie, killing Zod, the leader of his tribe in a bid for taking over, then murdering the wise elder who tries to make peace. He's sent away from the tribe, where he ends up learning how to forge metal in a volcano and make weapons!

    That's when he meets Lith, who shows up out of nowhere to tell him that the fire god Enferon has picked him to take over the world. With his new sword, he easily takes over his former tribe and makes all the members his loyal servants. Let me set up this arms race for you: he's the first dude and the only dude to have a sword. Vood (or Vuud, who am I to quibble) is basically bringing nukes to a knife fight. Well, actually he's bringing a big knife. You know what I mean.

    He kicks his main rival, Ela, out of the tribe and ties him to a giant X, where he faces off against cavemen. He's saved by Isa and her tribe, who are good at medicine but also whose peaceful ways are little match for George Eastman killing everything in his path and demanding that all others do the same.

    Of course, a final battle has to happen between cavemen maniacs and cavemen hippies. There is some romantic intrigue and plenty of blood along the way. What else would you expect from director Umberto Lenzi (Ghosthouse, Cannibal Ferox, Nightmare City, Eaten Alive!)? This is total entertainment.

    I may have too many DVDs, but this one was so worth getting. This movie is pure garbage in the best of ways. It even recycles the music from Mountain of the Cannibal God and Adam and Eve vs. the Cannibals, two other prime pieces of Italian cinematic goofiness.
  • ElWormo10 October 2017
    Umberto Lenzi is a director I have loads of respect for, but his hit-rate is erratic to say the least. He's responsible for one of the most enjoyably bonkers giallos I've ever seen in SPASMO, one of the most enjoyably bonkers cannibal flicks I've ever seen in EATEN ALIVE, and one of the most (wait for it) enjoyably bonkers 80s slashers I've ever seen in WELCOME TO SPRING BREAK. But he also directed some right loads of boring old tosh - case in point IRONMASTER.

    This movie is just 90 minutes of random loincloths and bludgeoning, with a boneheaded excuse for a plot attached. The whole thing could quite easily be condensed into 60 seconds, perhaps even 30. The dialogue and acting is as bad as I expected, but didn't give me any laughs. The whole prehistoric caveman thing is not my bag anyway but the complete lack of variation in setting and tone from start to finish made it a snoozefest. Any old director and bunch of actors could've made this thing... it's not offensively bad, but Lenzi has done so much more entertaining work.
  • 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
  • Big joke! Not even bad enough to be interesting.
  • Right you are commenter's that Ironmaster is low-brow and or low-budget but I really like this kind of sword and sandal, cave dwellers, Hercules, and or Tarzan movies that are no longer made except very rarely. Morality and a keeping of the body in this case Sam Pasco as Ela and others though less so are entertaining, inspiring, and for me hope giving in life. With the comments of some others I read I think Sam Pasco nor any of the cast were bad at all. In fact they're quite good including Vood, the women, and their followers on both sides. Much thanks to whomever inspired the making of this film. It is not a waste in the slightest.

    Good afternoon or late night escapism that does not need thinking.
  • A mercurial movie metallurgist of no small repute, the maniacal minister of blood-thirsty B-Movie mayhem, Umberto Lenzi, lends his singularly sinister skill set to temper the steel-thewed, furry-arsed, Sabre-toothed majesty of this hysterically unhistorical primordial romp, 'Iron Master'. Set during our planet's most unflinchingly savage and blood-thirsty chapter, where we bear uncomfortable witness in gruesome, Technicolor detail primitive man's brutal ascent to dominance, a ceaselessly cruel and violent rite of passage, wherein monstrous, mammoth-sized beasts laid constant siege upon an unforgiving land, where the terrible rigors of day-to-day survival fashioned fierce men and women of an uncommonly robust mettle, but in order to rise victorious and finally become king, it would take one no less vaunted than an Iron Master! - 'Iron-willed Warrior Kings are not weaned on milk and honey in gilded, cloistered halls of privilege; they are forged in the ferociously distempered furnace of total war!'
  • Ironmaster (1983)

    ** 1/2 (out of 4)

    This Italian-French co-production is set during prehistoric days when Vood (George Eastman) discovers iron, which he uses as a sword to break free from his tribe. Ela (Sam Pasco) takes over and soon he too discovers the iron and before long both sides are trying to create new weapons for power.

    Umberto Lenzi's IRONMASTER is one of those films that is better made than it probably should have been and it's certainly a lot more entertaining than it has the right to be. The movie is basically a look at two group of people just a notch above cavemen who learn to do battle with much better weapons than what they are used to. Lenzi certainly creates a unique look to the film and for the most part it's entertaining enough for what it is.

    I think what I enjoyed most was some of the more laughable moments in the picture. Look, I'm sure Lenzi wasn't intending on this to be taken overly serious but the highlight for me was a group of ape creatures who are constantly attacking people. These costumes are certainly a far cry from PLANT OF THE APES but at the same time they are realistic in their own way. Obviously these ape creatures are running around without clothes so they male parts are seen at times and I just found it funny that the film gave them penises and that we see them throughout the film.

    The battle scenes are fun as well. There are a couple good sword fights but the best moments are when the rivals are battling with large rocks and sticks. Performance wise there's certainly nothing great here from Pasco but it's always great fun seeing George Eastman. His battle with a lion is another nice sequence as is the lion's head he wears throughout the film. But be warned, there are some animal deaths seen in the film.
  • 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.
  • This movie is a stirring epic set amongst the backdrop of the transitional period between the advent of the cro-magnons and the extinction of the neanderthals. The polar opposition between the two races is clearly shown, especially when the neanderthals attack by simply throwing rocks and the cro-magnons finish them off with their newly invented lightsabres.

    Cro magnons were the intelligent ones remember

    You see this movie is so rivetting simply because it sucked so much

    That Ela guy is beefed up on some anabolic substance and when Eastman finds a large chunk of iron (what was he doing at the volcano anyway?) and with that piece, they invent a way to melt it, cast it, then fashion it into broadswords, which they then use to hack and slash their way through every tribe for no reason

    A vey bad movie
  • ...but much further away from being the best. Funny, I didn't know buffalo "moo"ed. They do in this film. A touching, moving story of two tribes of primitive humans (who have apparently already invented steroids) who touchingly, movingly kill each other over newly-developed weaponry...perhaps an allegory of the dangers of the arms race...and perhaps just a mediocre barbarian film. I tend to think of it as the latter. Too bad neither side thought of asking for help from Ator ("The Blade Master," a.k.a. "Cave Dwellers")...he probably would've made a hang glider and dropped bombs on the "bad guys" again. Whoever they were.