Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ben Davidson, Cassandra Gaviola

Young Conan's parents are murdered by a horde of vicious warriors who then enslave the young child for years. He is eventually released from slavery and taught the ancient arts of fighting. Transformi...( read more  read more... )ng himself into a killing machine, Conan travels into the wilderness seeking vengeance on the man responsible for his family's murder.

Flixster Users

66% liked it

56,297 ratings

Critics

75% liked it

24 critics

R, 2 hrs. 1 min.

Directed by: John Milius

Release Date: May 14, 1982

Invite friends to see

DVD Release Date: February 24, 1998

Get It:

Stats: 4,514 reviews

Get movie widget Recommend it Add to Favorites

Your Rating



clear rating

Flixster Reviews (4,514)


  • June 16, 2008
    Proof that a few broadswords and leather jerkins go a long way... ;]...what can I say, I own the comic books, so when I sat down to the movies I was nothing less than blown away...
    Conan's parents are brutally murdered by the evil Thulsa Doom. The child is taken and chained to t...( read more)he Wheel of Pain, where he goes around in circles for years, building extraordinary muscles . One day he is set free. He teams up with Subotai the Mongol, and his freind Valeria, Queen of Thieves...
    Valeria herself is everything you could ever hope for in a woman. She is lanky and muscular and a great sport, and she can ride, throw, stab, fence, and climb ropes as good as any man. Offtimes she engages in talk about love, but she quickly recovers herself with cover-up talk about loyalty and betrayal and emotions more central to Conan's experience and maturity...
    With the Mongol and the Queen at his side, Conan ventures forth to seek the evil Thulsa Doom and gain revenge for the death of his parents. This requires him to journey to the mysterious East, where he learns a little quick kung-fu, and then to the mountainside where Doom rules his slave-priests from the top of his Mountain of Power. There are a lot of battles and a few interesting nights at crude wayside inns...
    CONAN THE BARBARIAN is, in fact, a very nearly perfect visualization of the Conan legend, of Robert E. Howard's tale of a superman who lived beyond the mists of time...
    The movie's casting is ideal. Arnold Schwarzenegger as Conan, and Sandahl Bergman as Valeria. Physically, they look like the artist's conceptions of themselves.
    Schwarzenegger's slight Teutonic accent is actually even an advantage, since Conan lived, of course, in the eons before American accents...
    The movie is a triumph of production design, set decoration, special effects and makeup...
  • March 5, 2008
    "Conan, what is best in life?"
    "To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women!"
  • November 13, 2007
    The first Arnold movie I saw growing up. And still love it to this day. I just like the atmoshere, and how evrything is all gloom and doom. And Arnold gets revenge for what happens to his family. Just a good movie.
  • August 12, 2007
    Love this film. Strong, romantic and action packed. Fantastical and like one of those awesome role playing games, not the bed room kind(well maybe). Arnie is exceptional, even the music score is compelling.
  • August 6, 2007
    wow...I'm speechless
  • November 3, 2009
    Woooooo! Clasico!!!
  • October 30, 2009
    genius, what a soundtrack! Arnie at his absolute best and James Easl Jones as a demonic cult leader. ... crush your enemies, see them flee before you and enjoy the lamentations of the women... nuff said
  • October 29, 2009
    !Comercial or Stupid! :|
  • October 28, 2009
    Best Sword and Sorcery Movie.
    This is the movie that moved Arnold Schwarzenegger from champion body builder to a movie star. Arnold was a perfect fit to play Conan. It's one of the best sword and sorcery movies ever made. It's based on the Conan stories written by Robert E. Howa...( read more)rd. Howard died young and others continued writing their own Conan stories. This movie is not based on any of Howard's stories but was written independently based on his character. The story in the movie seems to be inspired by the religious cults that were plaguing the country starting in the 1960's and were reaching their peak in the late 1970's. In the movie a cult leader leads an attack against the village were Conan is born in order to steal the steel swords and to kidnap the children. As a slave Conan is forced to push the spokes of a grist mill until he is strong enough to push it by himself. He is then used as a pit fighter like a Roman gladiator. He is trained to fight with swords and then is released. As a free man he becomes a thief and starts a search for the killers of his family. When he finds the snake cult he goes to free the daughter of a king and kills the cult leader but looses his lover. The sword fighting in the movie is well done. Sword fights in movies are difficult. Some movies use rubber swords or collapsable swords. This move used real swords. The movie was criticized for using trip lines on the horses; therefore, you'll see stunts that aren't performed anymore due to animal cruelty laws. I first saw this movie in Midwest City at the theater in Heritage Park Mall. I bought the Laserdisc of this movie at a mall in Fort Lauderdale while I was on a training trip. I brought it home in my suitcase. The Laserdisc is in full screen format. This movie needs to be seen in wide screen format. I also saw this movie on ABC. It was a censored version that had all the nudity, cannibalism, and excessive violence edited out. They even changed the ending. Instead of throwing the cult leaders head down the stairs Conan throws his headless body. They had to have filmed different versions of each R rated scene. One for TV and one for the theaters. The best line in the movie is, "Do you want to live forever?"
  • October 28, 2009
    To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women-Conan

    ...( read more)/11464467_gal.jpg" border="0"/>
    Flixster - Share Movies


    Director:John Milius
    Cast:Arnold Schwarzenegger,James Earl Jones,Cassandra Gaviloa,Mako
    Genre:Adventure,Epic,
    Year of release:1982
    Running Time:125 minutes

    Plot:
    Young Conan's parents are murdered by a horde of vicious warriors who then enslave the young child for years. He is eventually released from slavery and taught the ancient arts of fighting. Transforming himself into a killing machine, Conan travels into the wilderness seeking vengeance on the man responsible for his family's murder.

    Review:soon..

Critic Reviews


October 23, 2004
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Not since Bambi's mother was killed has there been a cannier movie for kids than Conan the Barbarian. full review

View more Conan the Barbarian reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


  • robvicary
    November 9, 2007
    This is one of the only barbarian/fantasy movies that really takes itself seriously. It doesn't have any of the self-deprecating, tongue-in-cheek attitude that so many copycats of this movie had (including 'Conan the Destroyer'!). Perhaps 'Beowulf and Grendel' is the closest thing I've seen to this in recent years. If you haven't seen this - what is wrong with you?

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Official Trailer

More Like This


Click a thumb to vote on that suggestion, or add your own suggestions.

  • Stardust
    Stardust (53%)
  • The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King
    The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the Kin... (64%)
  • Pathfinder
    Pathfinder (64%)
  • Beowulf
    Beowulf (50%)

Theater Showtimes & TV Listings


Conan the Barbarian Trivia


  • What was the name of the movie sequel that Arnold Schwarzenegger did for Conan The Barbarian?  Answer »
  • who plays thulsa doom in conan the barbarian  Answer »
  • Who plays Thulsa Doom in Conan the Barbarian?  Answer »
  • In which film would you hear the line "contemplate this on the tree of woe - crucify him!"  Answer »

Most Popular Skin


No skins yet. Interested in creating one?