The Warrior and the Sorceress (1984) User Reviews (35)

Per Un Pugno Di Acqua: Stuck between a fat Overlord and Matthew Lillard's father.

[Vomitron_G · 4/10 · 22 June 2009]

A epic masterpiece of barbarous drivel that (un)respectfully tries to tip its hat to both Akira Kurosawa and Sergio Leone. Yes, THE WARRIOR AND THE SORCERESS is as much a western (just listen to the score if you don't see it right away) or a samurai film as it is Swords & Sorcery flick... Come to think of it, there's not too much sorcery in this one... The only magic this film has, is the magic of movie-making. Wonderfully realistic cardboard sets. Several fine jump-cuts during editing as the result of things they couldn't accomplish in one take while shooting the scene. Delicious special make-up effects, like that one thing that first appears to be a talking lizard (the equivalent of a rubber sock-puppet) but then later revealed to be a midget in a rubber lizard costume. I could go on, but let's just skip to the best part of the film...

...A gorgeous looking naked babe with four boobs. Yes, not two, but four tits. And it gets even better. She dances, all naked, climbs up a table at which David Carradine is enjoying his meal. And while she distracts him by rubbing her four breasts in his face, suddenly there comes a tentacle shooting out of her vagina - no, don't laugh, I'm serious - injecting some sort of venom in David Carradine that drugs him, so it'll be easier for the bad guys to beat him up. If I would not have seen this film myself, I'd be convinced any movie containing a scene like that, couldn't possibly go wrong even if it tried.

The basic premise... We've got a well, the only source of water for miles around. We've got a settlement on the right, lead by a cunningly fat Overlord and his midget lizard mutant adviser. And a settlement on the left, helmed by what appears to be Matthew Lillard's father (honestly, Luke Askew looks like he could be Matthew's daddy). Stuck between all this, is David Carradine as a loner sword fighter who goes by the name of Kain, but the villagers seem to dub him Dark One. Now, why's that? Simply because he wears a black hooded robe. You'd think that someone going by that name, would at least hail from the upper regions of the Dark Side of the Force, but no, in this film's universe all one needs to be dubbed The Dark One is a black, dusty piece of cloth.

The most clever aspects of the plot, are all about David Carradine's various ways to gain profit out of the situation he has gotten himself into. He pretends to be a sword for hire, but basically ends up repeatedly fooling the two overlords, tricking them into giving him all their money and eventually playing them out against one another. David Carradine is the man. He has always been, God rest his soul.

Other than David Carradine, who really shines in this movie and walks through it like it's a piece of cake (has he ever done otherwise, I wonder?), the main attraction is Maria Socas. She has a lot of scenes in this film, and not one of them required her to put her cloths on. I guess that's just what hot-looking sorceresses do in this hot-climate universe: They walk around topless, wearing nothing but a tight g-string to cover their private parts. Probably to keep possible venom-spewing tentacles in check down there. That's just speculation on my behalf, though. Also, she's supposed to be the titular sorceress, but explains pretty early on in the movie she has lost all her powers. How's that for an angle? A sorceress that isn't a sorceress anymore in a Swords & Sorcery flick. No magic. No special effects. Cheap movie. David Carradine gets all the money. I can see how that works.

A fantastically exciting scene has David Carradine rescuing half-naked Maria Socas out of a dungeon. While being held captive behind bars in that dungeon, Maria is guarded by a being called The Protector. I cannot fully grasp the name given to it, but the creature really is a vile and vicious abomination. It's some sort of giant, sharp-teethed mutant-frog with countless tentacles reaching out throughout the whole dungeon. Who am I kidding here...? This movie is great!

Anthony De Longis plays Matthew Lillard's dad's right hand swordsman (I think Daddy Lillard, who's actually Luke Askew in disguise, is called Zeg in this movie), and serves absolutely no purpose except for sword-battling David Carradine to the death at the end of the movie. His death, of course, not Carradine's. Usually, the naked ladies are presented as sex-slaves or for the mere purpose of providing full frontal nude shots and being drowned in a basin of water, for Zeg's entertainment (while the rest of the village is in desperate need for water, mind you). There's Burgo The Slayer, and his motley crew of mutant turd warriors (seriously, their faces look like dried up bat excrement), who also serve no purpose except for getting all poisoned and dead, which gets Burgo very angry. I kind of forgot what happened next. I think this all leads to a climactic end battle at the well. Couldn't really tell who was who. People just showed up swinging swords and stuff. There's also an old dude with grey hair. Don't know what he was doing in this film, but he seemed to know Maria Socas. Heck, I'd act like if I knew her too, if she'd come to me topless. Can't blame a man for trying.

And... to wrap things up: The ending packs a surprise. Dig this: David Carradine gets the water but refuses the (topless) girl by saying "I travel alone!". Every now and then, Mr. Carradine, Swinger of Swords, does work in mysterious ways. It's either that, or they payed him a whole lot of extra money to make him say that line.

Kain the Bore-barian.

[BA_Harrison · 4/10 · 19 July 2018]

Gotta love the artistic license taken with the poster for The Warrior and the Sorceress, which shows an oiled up, muscle-bound David Carradine striking a heroic pose. It's a misleading image: Carradine, 48 years old at the time, is far from the buff barbarian depicted, keeping his presumably less-than-ripped physique covered throughout. Still, who can blame the producers for trying to generate a Conan vibe with their promotional material, given just how lame this fantasy remake of Kurosawa's Yojimbo actually is?

Carradine plays swordsman for hire Kain, who outwits two neighbouring tyrants, Bal Caz (Guillermo Marín) and Zeg (Luke Askew), playing them off against each other. Along the way, he rescues a Sorceress (played by Maria Socas, who spends the whole movie topless), is treated to an exotic dance by a four-breasted woman, battles a toothy monster with rubber tentacles, kidnaps a lizard puppet, defeats an evil slaver with a face like a turtle, and frees the downtrodden people of Yamatar, who only want to be able to visit the village's well in peace. While this sounds like a whole load of silly fantasy fun, the leaden direction, weak script, charmless central performance from Carradine, and a general air of cheapness make the film a real B-movie bore.

Yojimbo with nudity

[BandSAboutMovies · 3/10 · 27 January 2019]

According to David Carradine's book Spirit of Shaolin, he called out Roger Corman before shooting began on this film, telling him that this was just a ripoff of Akira Kurosawa's 1961 samurai epic Yojimbo. Corman replied, "Yes, it is rather like Yojimbo." Carradine then said, "It's not like Yojimbo. It is Yojimbo."

That's when the Corman BS began. He told Carradine, "Let me tell you a story. When Fistful of Dollars opened in Tokyo, Kurosawa's friends called him up and said, "You must see this picture." Kurosawa said, "Yes, I understand it is rather like Yojimbo." They told him, "No, it's not like Yojimbo; it is Yojimbo. You have to sue these people.""

That's when Kurosawa dropped a bombshell: "I can't sue them. Yojimbo is Dashiel Hammet's book Red Harvest."

The only problem? This story is absolutely untrue. Kurosawa successfully sued Sergio Leone (And to paraphrase Patton Oswalt, I'm not going to bore you and tell you how Last Man Standing is a ripoff, too).

The big difference is, none of these movies had David Carradine with a sword or a witch who is naked for the entire running time of the movie.

Originally known as Kain of the Desert Planet, this was directed by John C. Broderick, who was a supervising editor on The Exorcist. It was co-written with William Stout, an artist who storyboarded Raiders of the Lost Ark and both Conan films. He was also the production designer for the Masters of the Universe movie. Beyond that, he's worked in comics, on theme parks and was the designer of Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch.

So anyhow, let's get to the movie. It's all about the planet Ura, which exists under twin suns and has two rival leaders, Zeg (Luke Askew from Easy Rider, who would also play the villain against Carradine in Dune Warriors. Even better, Carradine would wear the exact same outfit from this film in that one, too) and Bal Caz, who are eternally at war with one another over the only water on the planet.

Kain (Carradine) arrives to make money by playing them off one another until he meets Naja (María Socas, who is also in Deathstalker II), an always naked sorceress who convinces him to save her people.

Keep an eye out for one of the baddies named Kief. He's played by stuntman extraordinaire Anthony De Longis, who tried to save my childhood as Blade from the aforementioned Masters of the Universe. He's really the only awesome part of that movie, other than Stout and Moebius' character designs.

Carradine's outfit is rather ridiculous. That's helped by the fact that before shooting, he got in a fight with his girlfriend and punched a wall, messing up his hand. That's why he wears a black glove throughout this movie.

The star's own summation of the film is that Broderick was obsessed with María Socas (just watch the movie and see why) and kept her topless for the entire movie. He liked the swordplay and the fighting style he designed for the action, but claimed that it was uneven and warned readers of his book to not expect a great movie.

Kurosawa on bad acid...

[Burylman · 22 July 2004]

Warrior and the Sorceress is a fantasy version of the classic Japanese film Yojimbo, which was later remade as A Fistful Of Dollars. Basically, a stranger with no name (David Carradine) comes into town amongst rival factions fighting over a well, the only source of water. He plays both sides of the fence, yada yada yada....you've all seen it a zillion times.

What makes this different, besides the setting, is the fantasy/medieval weirdness factor, including the sorceress (Maria Socas, looking fetching as she does the entire film sans a top), a telepathic (and incredibly phony) monitor lizard, and, to top it all off, a dance by a lady with four (count 'em, four!) honkers. And, I have to admit, her prosthetics seemed to me incredibly well done. Maybe that's just me.

The swordplay was quite good, and the acting (though not spectacular), was entirely adequate. It seems like everyone involved had a great time, and so did I.

For your rental (or purchase) dollar, you could do a whole lot worse...

Mediocre, slightly boring and not really worth buying.

[Sinister_Zombie · 4/10 · 3 April 2006]

I was in two minds about buying this. I mean, an 80's fantasy flick in the vein of Conan sounds interesting doesn't it? At least thats what I thought. So I decided to buy this, and now I sort of regret it.

Let me summarise the story:

A "holy" warrior, Kain (David Carradine) comes across this little village that is dominated by two tyrants. Each of these have their little following of people, and both of them are arch-enemies. Basically, they're both locked in a struggle for control of the village well which is (conveniently) situated right in between their encampments. Cue our Hold Warrior, who plays the sides off against each other, to collect the rewards for doing so, but he also has his eye on a captive sorceress (Maria Socas). I suppose you can guess where the story is going from here - he tries to free the sorceress while staying alive and then there's a whole army of traders to contend with, most of which are quite angry as they were massacred before.

Its a very simple plot, but there's just something that doesn't hit it off. The action is slow, and in between the few and far between fights, there are some quite tedious and boring places. I don't have a problem with the acting as such - I've seen much worse (but also much better) but Carradine seems a bit wooden throughout. Violence is nearly non-existent. The only blood you see is on a sword blade, and I mean, the ONLY place. The swords must be made of plastic or wood or something, because when they fight, it looks like they're fighting with stick, whacking each other over the head with not a drop of blood in sight. Maria Socas (the sorceress) goes about topless the whole movie, as you've probably heard by now. And along with the 4 breasted erotic dancer (no, its not that good) its a veritable display of female nudity. If you're after the nudity, there's far better in just about every other movie, so there's no way you should buy this just on that.

Its a way to spend a mindless hour or so, at 77 minutes (I think) its not that long, but you'd probably be better off randomly switching on the TV. There are worse films, but this is pretty bad.

Like taking a shower in sawdust: dry, boring, uncomfortable and pointless

[fishermensmell · 2/10 · 25 February 2021]

One of the dirt-worst films I've seen in a long time. I thought this would be cheesy, tacky fun, but it was just bland, nonsensical and totally boring.

It avoids a 1 star rating, which I reserve for a special type of ineptitude, since it at least seems to know what it wants to be: a cliched fantasy adventure. And thus it shoe-horns in all the requisite elements, but with no care for storytelling, character development or drama.

The plot is that there are two warring clans fighting over a well. Into this situation walks (at a glacial pace that is supposed to convey quiet strength but just looks hammy) mercenary warrior the Dark One, played by Carradine. Battles ensue. At some point he discovers a bare-breasted woman in a dungeon who seems to have some importance but it isn't explained. Carradine's allegiance flip-flops as we cycle through the interminable action with no narrative thread in sight. An old man is introduced. Who is he? Who is anybody in this film? What are their motivations? Nobody in this film matters.

The only thing I enjoyed was William Marin as the grotesque, fat ruler Bal Caz. He played the role like Christopher Biggins would, coming off camp and pantomime-ish, but at least it was kind of fun. The character has a strange lizard-like companion and the pair are obviously a rip-off of Jabba the Hutt and Salacious Crumb. This film tries to steal liberally from the Star Wars trilogy, but falls flat on its face with its poor costuming and lack of vibrancy. It came out in 1984, but its washed-out palette and cheap sets make it look at least 10 years older.

Overall, this is a miserable waste of time. A dull and dingy effort. Avoid!

Pathetic Conan rip-off

[Leofwine_draca · 3/10 · 10 July 2018]

THE WARRIOR AND THE SORCERESS is a rubbishy little sword and sorcery movie released in the wake of CONAN THE BARBARIAN. From the first scene you can see it looks cheap and amateurish and quite depressing to watch. It was shot in some rocky Argentinian locations and of a no-name cast the only familiar face is David Carradine, miscast as the sword-fielding hero. He gets involved in a plot "borrowed" from YOJIMBO but everything is drawn out in the extreme and there's very little action either; CONAN this ain't. The director's emphasis is on including as much topless female nudity as possible but that's no way to sustain a film, although there's one memorable gag involving a four-breasted woman which brought to mind TOTAL RECALL.

D&D meets Yojimbo!

[David-Grant · 4/10 · 17 October 2018]

Its the 80's and Sword and Sorcery without CGI is the game. David Carradine wanders into town with a massive sword and runs through the script of Yojimbo, then he runs through a series of henchman in some poorly executed fight scenes.

There is a town and a well that provides all the water. Two hopeless chieftains battle for control until Carradine plays both sides.

Budget must have been very tight, most of the savings made in the Women's clothing budgets - nudity a standard.

The film is just lacking in almost all areas, but at least it gets on with it in a breezy 80 minutes and therefore carries enough dumb fun to completely outweigh its welcome.

David the Warrior

[kosmasp · 4/10 · 3 December 2019]

David Carradine really had it for the type of movie you can see here. Being a warrior and having a mentality for it. This is losely connected to Death Stalker (at least that's what the box set this is included suggests), but other than a similar themed fantasy and a lot of nudity, I couldn't really tell.

To be fair I liked David here more than in his dream project (also Bruce Lees pet project he unfortunately never got to realize). Then again, that doesn't say much and this still is not really reaching any heights ... it does what it does and it gives you what you should expect - nothing more though

Quite silly, yet enjoyable

[Wlitig · 7/10 · 21 July 2005]

This movie was not great by any means. The plot was acceptable, and sometimes comical. The characters were fairly one-dimensional and relatively easy to predict. The movie was more for laughs than anything else, as there are quite a number of random things. If you ever watch the movie, be on the lookout for: a talking lizard, pointless nudity, and David Carradine pulling down his eye socket (which was completely bizarre). This movie was not the best 'worst' movie ever, but it was fairly decent for mindless entertainment. The swordplay was tolerable too, but the sets were awful. I enjoyed it though, as David Carradine is just so cool in his own right.

1 is too high a score for the worst movie ever

[penelopes_loom · 1/10 · 26 April 2002]

Whenever I get into a discussion with someone about the worst movie ever, this turkey comes to mind. Every woman in this movie is nude but it's beyond gratuitous...there's no point. This isn't a feminist diatribe...I live with an artist who does figure work. It is the outcry of an affronted sensibility. This movie simply fails in everything that makes a movie worth seeing. The acting is atrocious, the story is nonexistent, the sets are cheesy and the plot convoluted and uninteresting.

David Carradine should be ashamed of himself for giving this offal an excuse for being made. It's been 15 years since I saw this movie yet it lingers in my mind like the taste of spoiled milk glibly drunk in the middle of the night right out of the carton. If there were a negative score, I would have marked it lower.

It's bad.

[pieman · 10/10 · 8 April 1999]

This movie is very very dumb. But lots of people are killed and there is lots and lots and lots of astonishingly pointless nudity and sex. None of the nude women are in the least bit famous, but there are naked. That's the only reason to rent this movie, but is that such a bad reason?

Boobie fest!!!

[HaemovoreRex · 6/10 · 13 April 2008]

Would you believe it, a sword and sorcery adaption of Akira Kurosawa's classic, Yojimbo?! Yes indeed and it's actually rather entertaining stuff to boot in fact.

David Carradine stars as a mysterious, monosyllabic, sword wielding wanderer (try repeating that when you're drunk!) who arrives in a town run by two warring factions and who subsequently proceeds to counter sell his fighting prowess to each side in turn, whilst simultaneously playing them both off against one another.

Containing some nicely implemented sword play (choreographed by fellow star in this and always fun to watch, Anthony De Longis), a fair quota of breasts including one woman who bears four, yes FOUR of them(!) and even a rubbery tentacled monster, this proves to be a highly satisfying watch if your in the mood for the like.

Kung Phooey.

[mark.waltz · 2/10 · 8 July 2023]

The hero is no more than a stick figure, and the witch is a bug-eyed bow wow who as a succubus must have gotten sucked under the bus. David Carradine, outside his cult TV series, was not leading man type, and certainly not an 80's variation of the 60's big muscled heroes in all those badly dubbed peplum films. Argentine born María Socass may get to wear a prosthetic top which makes her appear to have four breasts, but she completely lacks in any kind of allure. The laughs go to portly William Marin and his ugly pet lizard, both so hilariously over the top that they deserve applause.

Even with ancient architecture and costumes, this sword and sandal non-epic is nobody's fantasy. It's dark and intentionally humorless, and its 80 minutes seem endless. It's all about the fight over well water which is funny because the surrounding land looks pretty desolate. Scenes of battles looks like a bunch of people in monks costumes running around and screaming aimlessly, with one laughing maniacally. Carradine and Socass have zero chemistry, and her big hair seems to be in competition with his for most laughably inappropriate. I found this a fantastic cure for insomnia.

What's not to love?!

[johnmorghen · 14 September 2002]

So, it's not the latest Merchant-Ivory production. Let's face it, those blokes could certainly learn a thing or two from the Roger Corman school of filmmaking.

"THE WARRIOR AND THE SORCERESS" has a lot going for it, and bears the distinction of being the only film in motion picture history to ever combine all of the following elements* into a neat 77 minute package AND still manage to pack the kids' lunches, run for Governor of Illinois and pick up last week's dry cleaning all at the same time. What a trooper!

*"The following elements"... -- David Carradine -- Tons of naked women -- Sword fights (inept and otherwise) -- Maria Socas running around topless eighty percent of the time -- Cues from James Horner's "HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP" score -- Tons of breasts... the friendly kind -- A fat man and his angry lizard (that astounds like no other animatronic, yet immobile angry lizard ever could!) -- A chick with four... count 'em... four tits (beat that Verhoeven!) -- And, of course... David Carradine.

What more could you ask for? A blender? This film deserves it's own category. Peplum Film Noir.

If you want to send love this Christmas, give 'em "THE WARRIOR AND THE SORCERESS". They'll devour it in 77 minutes flat... and, love you for it, if time permits.

If there is any reason to watch this, it would be for the nude scnes and nothing else

[jordondave-28085 · 3/10 · 17 October 2023]

(1984) The Warrior And The Princess SCIENCE-FICTION/ ACTION

Again, another movie with a familiar plot device derived from what people saw from Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece "Yojimbo". Including along with this remake is "Last Man Standing", "War" and the best of the bunch "A Fistful of Dollars" except this one has an apocalypse desert setting two warring groups clashing over a water well with Kain (David Carradine). Watching this film is like something what low budget king Roger Cormon (who ironically is "uncredited" as co-executive producer) would do because of the nudity and the fake sword fighting! One of the contradictions the movie has made was the fact that, although Carradine possessed a sword that could slice down an anvil, that upon the star using it later on through the movie, this very same powerful sword suddenly acted like any other sword without any explanation, which went from slicing the other swords in half to not doing anything at all. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. At least some of the nude scenes looked real.

Rather mundane...

[paul_haakonsen · 3/10 · 3 November 2022]

Right, well as much as I enjoy sword and fantasy, and having played roleplaying games for more than 35 years, then I actually never stumbled upon the 1984 fantasy movie titled "The Warrior and the Sorceress" before now late in 2022.

Of course I opted to sit down and watch it, but I have to admit that I wasn't harboring much of any expectations, given the fact that the movie was starring David Carradine, whom isn't exactly one of my favorite actors, nor did he really have that whole fantasy-vibe to him.

The storyline in "The Warrior and the Sorceress" is pretty straight forward, although somewhat too simplistic and mundane to really support 81 minutes of runtime. So writers John C. Broderick and William Stout weren't really churning out anything grand here, especially when taking into consideration that they were basing it on "Yojimbo" by writers Ryûzô Kikushima and Hideo Oguni. You could essentially leave the room with the movie still running, come back at a later point, and still be up to date with what was going on in the movie. Yeah, the narrative was that slow and with nothing overly thrilling happening, you were in no risk of missing out on anything if blinking a bit too long.

The cast ensemble in "The Warrior and the Sorceress" was pretty bland. I only recognized David Carradine in the movie, and he wasn't really cut out to be the leading actor in a fantasy movie. So I wasn't convinced here.

As for the movie's props, sets, wardrobe, etc., then it is pretty low key and low budget. Even the stones in the sets were painstakingly obvious made from styrofoam or something. The lack of proper effects, costumes, props, etc. Definitely took away from the whole fantasy-feel that a movie such as "The Warrior and the Sorceress" should be having to be convicing.

The movie's cover is ridiculous to look at; especially since David Carrdine is made out to look way more muscular than he actually was. And the was just something comical and goofy about the cover, but hey it was definitely in the spirit of the 1980s fantasy movies.

My rating of director John C. Broderick's 1984 movie "The Warrior and the Sorceress" lands on a three out of ten stars.

Fun "B" movie with David Carradine

[mluinstra · 5/10 · 4 November 2022]

This old gem is great fun to watch. It's not going to win any awards or anything, but it's very entertaining for a low budget fantasy movie. David Carradine basically plays his character Cain from Kung Fu, meaning he barely talks and does his little facial expressions.

It's like a combination of Kung Fu and Conan the Barbarian. Some of things in this movie just crack me up, like the almost slow motion fighting, to an animatronic lizard pet. There are also breasts all over the place, which is nice.

First thing I noticed at the beginning of the movie was that it's a rip off of the Clint Eastwood movie "A fist full of Dollars". They used the same basic plot and dropped it into a Sword & Sorcerer movie.

Despite it's admitted disadvantages, it's still a fun movie to watch. You will laugh at parts that aren't suppose to be funny because they are corny, or whatever, but that's part of the fun. Carradine does his Cain-type fighting, meaning that it's almost slow motion, which cracks me up. Sometimes the bad guy will react before Carradine hits him, haha.

Honestly though, it's worth a watch. Check it out.

It's good enough for something light.

[I_Ailurophile · 5/10 · 13 November 2023]

Who doesn't love sword and sorcery flicks? Who doesn't love 'Yojimbo?' Why not combine the two? We get beautiful filming locations, luscious and detailed sets and costume design (mostly), swell hair and makeup work, fine use of lighting, and excellent stunts, practical effects, and fight choreography. We get dark and fanciful imagery, flavorful original music (if sometimes borrowing a bit from other fantasy fare) - and the classic story of a mercenary who plays two rival villains against one another. We also get a LOT of female nudity, and while I've no objection to the inclusion in and of itself, the sheer abundance here is rather dubious, especially since the costume design for women tends to simply be "none of the above." The pacing is soft at times, and some instances of delivery or acting are quizzical; some inclusions are overly cartoonish, and please watch for the moment when hero Kain, beaten to a pulp one moment, has no marks left on him later in the same evening. Sometimes the writing and/or direction of scenes or story beats just kind of amounts to "okay, good enough," and the saga at large feels a smidgen simplified.

'The warrior and the sorceress' gives us what we want out of the genre. It's not anything special, nor anything that demands viewership, and there are absolutely some facets that don't come off well or raise a skeptical eyebrow - but we get what we came for. Everyone seems to have had a good time making it, though, especially David Carradine and Anthony De Longis; I feel bad for María Socas, as her participation feels a tad exploitative, but the least that can be said is that she was committed. It's nothing one needs to go out of their way to see, but for something light and uninvolved, it's decent enough to check out on a quiet day. Sometimes that's all we need out of a movie, and this ably serves its purpose. Take that as you will. Now, about that promotional artwork...

Bar-bar-bar-Barbarian !!!

[ChristianLadewig · 7/10 · 12 March 2007]

The Eighties. VHS Hell. Somebody made the big buck with exploiting certain structures of genre cinema and within a year the b-industry was at hand providing two shelves of rip-offs for your local mom-and-pop rental limbo.

Not only the usual suspects of quickie celluloid theft - Italy and Asia - worked that way. Also the smelly smelly underbelly of Hollywood grinded full throttle when it came to feeding the Realm of Videotica.

1984. Conan The Barbarian by right wing muscle wiener John Milius had just swept the theaters twice with it's fascist only the strong and Austrian survive message. About 30 flicks - one trashier than the other - followed. Most from Italia, all great. Basta.

David Carradine (actually something like the 70s + 80s Messiah of filmic crap-a-rola) just like his dad acting where the money is, travelled to Argentina that year. Probably he made 8 films or something. The one I just watched is The Warrior And The Sorceress done under the tutelage of smut entrepreneurs Alex Sessa and Hector Olivera experienced in producing mainly barbarian movies and Women In Prison howlers line Amazons or Barbarian Queen.

Doctor Carradine, known to no idea movie-going cattle of todays day and age only as the Bill to be killed, stars as a lone sword master in a post-nuke and/or medieval world (the filmmakers somehow could not decide) out to play off two rivaling clan chiefs against each other to get money and their water reserves.

Well, what sounds like the umpteenth take on Kurosawa's Yojimbo/Leone's Fistful Of Dollars just in a different setting is actually the umpteenth take on Kurosawa's Yojimbo/Leone's Fistful Of Dollars just in a different setting.

It's fun though. Carradine looks his usual stoned and not interested in the film and has to endure many an unconvincingly choreographed sword fight. The sorceress - imprisoned by a lizard faced Luke Askew (maybe still known to some from Easy Rider) to forge a magic sword for goals not mentioned - shows her boobs most of the time. Other women get drowned and beaten while Dave-O and his hosts eat chicken and fruit. Them crazy South American lady lovers...

Among the monsters battled are a room full of plush tentacles and a fat Buddha looking heel with a talking (kinda) lizard that looks like something an intern of Jim Henson's would have been fired for even during the pre-Muppets days.

Having watched the film in my mother lingo of German as Der Krieger und die Hexe the dubbing once more had me jumping. Especially the fat guy who has a squealing voice I remember from my childhood calling Bud Spencer "Brother Snailshit" in the mighty movie and political allegory (possibly? Yes, yes !!!) Banana Joe.

When films bring back that kind of feel good memories they win in my book.

Dumb Fun

[Tweetienator · 4/10 · 9 October 2020]

I watched The Warrior and the Sorceress because of David Carradine (Kung Fu!) - and I gotta confess, I am guilty: I enjoyed the show. Of course, the movie is very stupid and cheesy, but somehow still entertaining (and sometimes really funny despite intention of the writer/director). The story got undeniable some similarities with Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo or Sergio Leone's Fistful of Dollars. Anyway, if you sometimes just can't resist the urge to dive deep into trash, you may try this one.

An enjoyably trashy 80's sword and sorcery fantasy action romp

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 25 December 2006]

Cunning Dark One warrior Kain (nicely essayed with customary low-key laconic cool by David Carradine) wanders the magical world of Ura as a blithely amoral sword-for-hire. Kain winds up at a small village where two evil rival factions -- one led by the cruel Zeg the Tyrant (a perfectly hateful Luke Askew) and the other headed by gross fat degenerate Bal Caz (a deliciously odious William Marin) -- fight over possession of the only well. Kain shrewdly pits both sides against each other while the poor browbeaten villagers watch from the sidelines. Writer/director John Broderick maintains a steady pace throughout, neatly creates a suitably oddball atmosphere, and stages the plentiful exciting bloody sword fights with considerable go-for-it brio. Better still, this film sure doesn't skimp on the delectable gratuitous distaff nudity: Stunning brunette beauty Maria Socas as bewitching sorceress Naja spends the bulk of her screen time topless, plus there's an incredible exotic dancer with four breasts and a substantial number of hot naked babe extras. Leonardo Rodriguez Solis' rough, but attractive cinematography, Louis Saunders' spacey, stirring score and the concise 77 minute running time are likewise up to speed as well. A pleasingly tight'n'trashy Grade B exploitation fantasy version of Akira Kurosawa's classic "Yojimbo."

Mostly uninspired stuff.

[Hey_Sweden · 6/10 · 6 January 2013]

However, that's not to say that this routine sword 'n' sandal fantasy adventure doesn't have a brilliant touch or two. As has been said numerous times before, it's essentially another reworking of the time-honoured premise of "Yojimbo", as a mythical lone warrior, Kain (David Carradine) does his best to manipulate two warring factions in a small isolated community who each want control of the only water well. One of them is led by Zeg (the amusingly cast Luke Askew), the other by Bal Caz (Guillermo Marin). The sorceress of the title is Naja, played by the super sexy Maria Socas, who plays her role almost completely topless, certain to guarantee enthusiastic approval by trash fans everywhere. The movie really is rather thinly written (by director John Broderick and William Stout, the latter being an artist & production designer who's worked on genre efforts like "Conan the Barbarian" and "The Return of the Living Dead"), and it may leave one caring little about characters or what happens to them. Carradine is sometimes a hoot, but he often looks here like he can't wait to cash his paycheck. So it's up to the supporting players to try to give this thing a shot in the arm. Askew, Marin, and Armando Capo as the inhuman Burgo the Slaver are all reasonably entertaining antagonists. Production design, location shooting, and costumes are effective, but the action runs hot and cold; the sword fights aren't the most exciting one will ever see. R. Christopher Biggs supplies the makeup effects on the non-human characters as well as one funky little lizard thing. The music is credited to Luis Maria Serra, but any fan of previous Roger Corman productions is sure to recognize certain cues from the James Horner score for "Humanoids from the Deep". The one thing that really makes "The Warrior and the Sorceress" worthwhile is fairly brief, but impressive: the makeup effects on a luscious exotic dancer (played by Cecilia Narova) who happens to have four breasts, outdoing the memorable three breasted hooker from "Total Recall". Overall this is pretty forgettable once it's over, but it provides adequate enough entertainment for a trim 82 minute running time. Undemanding fans of sleazy low budget fantasy films should be satisfied. Six out of 10.

Better of the Roger Corman Sword and Sorcery Pictures

[jesse-acosta · 14 November 2004]

Well, first off you can't expect much from the man who produced the Deathstalker Series.. =) But this film I think is the better of the whole sword and sorcery films he's released.

The story is set in a slave town where two clans are at swords with each other to control the well and the people in this desert wasteland. The film circles the adventures of the Dark One(according to the box and creds, Carridine's character's name is Kain, which I don't want to call him. Its just stupid to name him the same thing from Kung Fu. He's only called the Dark One in the movie), who has stumbled into this town, and begins selling his skills as a swordsman to the higher pay.

The film is pretty decent, but don't expect Conan the Barbarian, or Beastmaster. The only two questions I have are:

Why doesn't Naja(Maria Socas) EVER put on a bra or a shirt? The whole entire film she is topless. At first I thought it was because she was a slave wench to one of the clans, but even when she was free, she still didn't put anything on.

If the Sword of Ura can cut through an anvil, why doesn't it chop through everyone's swords like a hot knife through butter?

Eh, oh well. Watch the film if you have nothing better to do.