Talk:Conan the Barbarian (1982 film)

What does this even mean?

"nor does he have the characteristic ... "volcanic blue eyes" of Howard's original. (In fact, Schwarzenegger's eyes are blue, but volcanoes are red)."--83.94.180.173 20:23, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

Explanation to "volcanic blue eyes": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulcan_%28mythology%29

Deleted this part

I deleted the "relatively realistic" part in "Conan the Barbarian is set in a relatively realistic bronze and iron age setting with only a few supernatural elements.", because this movie is obviously in no way realistic.

-intranetusa

It came back again. I agree, Howard set his works in an entirely mythical "Hyborian Age". Any references to Bronze or Iron ages is spurious. If anyone disputes this, please reference the article on the Hyborian Age, which is directly from Howard's works. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Pmarshal (talk • contribs) 13:31, 26 August 2008 (UTC)

Quotes

The main Conan pages included these quotes:

• Mongol General: "What is best in life?"
  Conan: "To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women."
  (Note that this is actually a paraphrased quote from Ghengis Khan)

>>> Isn't it more accurate to say "hear ze lamentations of zer vimmen" (who was Arnold's dialog coach???) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.67.104.4 (talk) 14:10, 1 February 2010 (UTC)

• Conan: "Crom, I have never prayed to you before. I have no tongue for it. No one, not even you, will remember if we were good men, or bad. Why we fought, or how we died. No, all that matters is, that two stood against many. That's what's important. Valour pleases you Crom, so grant me one request, grant me revenge! And if you do not listen, then to hell with you!"
• Conan, to Subotai: "Crom laughs at your four winds. Laughs from his mountain."
  
• King Osric: "There comes a time, thief, when the jewels cease to sparkle, when the gold loses its luster, when the throne room becomes a prison, and all that is left is a father's love for his child."
• Valeria: "To the hellfires with Thulsa Doom. He's evil; a sorcerer who can summon demons. His followers' only purpose is to die in his service... Thousands of them."
• Valeria: "All my life I've been alone. Many times I've faced death with no one to know. I would look into the huts and the tents of others in the coldest dark and I would see figures holding each other in the night. But I always passed by."
• The Wizard(voiceover): "Between the time when the oceans drank Atlantis, and the rise of the sons of Aryas, there was an age undreamed of. And onto this, Conan, destined to wear the jeweled crown of Aquilonia upon a troubled brow. It is I, his chronicler, who alone can tell thee of his saga. Let me tell you of the days of high adventure!"
• Thulsa Doom: "Infidel defilers. They shall all drown in lakes of blood."
• Thulsa Doom: "My child, you have come to me, my son. For who now is your father if it is not me? I am the wellspring, from which you flow. When I am gone, you will have never been. What would your world be, without me? My son."
• Conan's Father: "For no one - no one in this world can you trust. Not men, not women, not beasts. This you can trust." [Points to his sword]
• Thulsa Doom: "Yes! You know what it is, don't you boy. Shall I tell you? It's the least I can do. Steel isn't strong boy, flesh is stronger! Look around you. There, on the rocks; that beautiful girl. Come to me, my child... [girl leaps to her death] That is strength, boy! That is power! What is steel compared to the hand that wields it? Look at the strength in your body, the desire in your heart, I gave you this! Such a waste. Contemplate this on the tree of woe. Crucify him!"
• Valeria: "Do you want to live forever?"
  (Note that this is actually a quote from Frederick the Great)
• Thulsa Doom: "Now they will know why they are afraid of the dark. Now they learn why they fear the night."
• Thulsa Doom: "Where is the Eye of the Serpent? Rexor said that you gave it to a girl; probably for a mere night's pleasure. Such a loss. People have no grasp of what they do."
• Subotai: "He is Conan, Cimmerian, he won't cry, so I cry for him."
• Black Lotus Street Peddler: "Two or three years ago it was just another snake cult."
• The Wizard: "I'm a wizard, mind you. This place is kept by powerful gods and spirits of kings. Harm my flesh and you will have to deal with the dead!"
• Valeria: "All the gods, they cannot sever us. If I were dead and you were still fighting for life, I'd come back from the darkness. Back from the pit of hell to fight at your side."
• Conan: "For us, there is no spring. Just the wind that smells fresh before the storm."

I have deleted them from there, and copy them here - but surely they should go to Wikiwuotes if anywhere. -- Beardo 19:17, 6 September 2006 (UTC)

Why do we need so many qotes from the film, or even any? This is hardly Citizen Kane or something.JackorKnave (talk) 15:13, 26 May 2008 (UTC)

Glycon?

Apart from being a snake god, what's the connection with Glycon? Rojomoke 11:08, 6 March 2007 (UTC)

Well, nobody's commented in the last 3 months, so I'm removing the link. Rojomoke 11:45, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

Riddle of Steel

Four paragraphs about the Riddle of Steel were deleted from the plot summary because the plot summary was too long. Still, it was an interesting section. Should it get its own page? GremlinKender 00:35, 21 June 2007 (UTC)

Yes, Definitely By the way, in the plot synopsis, we are told Conan travels east to be trained by the "War Masters". Shouldn't that read "Sword Masters"? Edward Carson (talk) 22:28, 3 August 2008 (UTC)

Well the narrator calls them "War Masters" in the film. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.30.7.98 (talk) 13:26, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

Why was the part on the riddle of steel removed? It was the finest bit on the whole article!!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 189.8.199.130 (talk) 12:03, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

Bolero

Shouldn't the link to bolero be http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bol%C3%A9ro ? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.105.228.32 (talk) 23:54, 5 September 2007 (UTC)

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BetacommandBot 23:16, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

Trivia

Here is the stuff I removed from the talk page for anyone who's interested in integrating it! TINYMARK 16:36, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

• In the 1914 silent film Cabiria, a slave named Maciste — who is also a muscular barbarian — pushes a mill wheel for ten years just as Conan does.

• The film was mostly shot in Spain.

• Conan is the anglicized version of the Celtic name Conán, derived from "Hound". There are several characters who bear the name Conán in Irish mythology, most notably Conán Maol Mac Mórna. While uncommon, the name is still used in Ireland; it is also the name of a 4th century Breton king and of 4 counts/dukes of Brittanny in the 11th and 12th centuries.

• Sandahl Bergman nearly lost her finger when a fight scene went wrong and the extra hit her finger instead ofthe blade, cutting her all the way down to the bone. Instead of asking if she was all right, director John Milius told her "Valeria would never let that happen again."

• Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sandahl Bergman did all their own stunts, as there were no stunt doubles available who matched them in size.

• Arnold Schwarzenegger said in his audio commentary that Sandahl Bergman actually injured more stunt men during the fight sequences than he did.

• The cast suffered various injuries during filming. Arnold Schwarzenegger was pulled down by the dogs that were chasing him and took various injuries to his back in addition to bashing his head open on a rock and later having his neck sliced by an axe. According to Schwarzenegger, director John Milius called himself "The Dog Trainer".

• Sandahl Bergman was very uncomfortable shooting her love scene with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

• The helmets worn by Thulsa Doom's warriors in the opening scenes closely resemble those worn by the Teutonic Knights in the 1938 film Alexander Nevsky.

• Terry Pratchett parodies Conan the Barbarian in his Discworld series, with his character Cohen the Barbarian, a 90-year old Barbarian.

• Thulsa Doom's line 'Crucify him' after his strength of steel speech was sampled in a remix of the Mindless Self Indulgence track "J".

• The Friedrich Nietzsche quotation that opens the film is from The Twilight of the Idols, "Maxims and Arrows," 8. The full statement is "From the battleschool of life: What does not destroy me, makes me stronger." This is actually a summary of what Paul of Tarsus wrote in Romans 5:3 "More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance"

• The earlier (1979) film Apocalypse Now, not coincidentally co-written by John Milius, has an identical scene where the hero kills the antagonist with a sword and then refuses to inherit his power by symbolically dropping the bloody sword before the assembled followers.

Here's something even more trivial for you: Gary Gygax reviewed the movie in Dragon Magazine, Issue 63, on p. 72.

by Gary Gygax

“Conan Meets The Flower Children of Set” might have been a better name for the film — and if there is any resemblance between the cinema version of CONAN THE BARBARIAN and that of Robert E. Howard, it is purely coincidental. The disappointment which began to grow inside me about one-quarter of the way into the film was not mitigated by anything which happened later on. In fact, bad became worse. I refuse to become involved in even a brief synopsis of the movie’s story line.

The armor was good; the weapons less so, but passable. The muscular Arnold Schwarzennegger made a fine Conan, except — as all Conan fans know — the Cimmerian has black hair, not brown. More important, Conan can take out any opponent, even a muscular dude with a huge wooden maul. He doesn’t need to resort to cheap mechanical traps versus anything less than the incarnation of a god, demon, or worse.

If you like special effects, the film is passable. If you have any respect for Conan as presented by Howard, then I suggest that you stay away from the theater or else be prepared for great disappointment. Pointless, excessive violence and gratuitous helpings of sex certainly don’t help allay this impression. Director Dino De Laurentiis has a way of screwing up basically good material, as he did with his remake of King Kong. He really did a number on CONAN THE BARBARIAN, and L. Sprague de Camp should have been ashamed to allow his name to appear in the list of credits as “Technical Advisor.”

I, personally, liked the movie; but I never read the RE Howard novels. AllGloryToTheHypnotoad (talk) 22:15, 14 May 2008 (UTC)

Mongols?

There is written about "Mongols" in quotations, but in Hyboria were no such a nation - the Hyrcanians should be more propriet. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.103.177.168 (talk) 14:56, 4 May 2008 (UTC)

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Quotes

Why does this article have so many quotes? Are they really neccassary?JackorKnave (talk) 00:14, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

Delete Riddle of Steel?

Are there any quotes that back "the Riddle of Steel" analysis up or is it random speculation, because I don't think, this should be here, if the latter is the case. The article should be factual and not represent someones opinion. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.168.111.68 (talk) 02:28, 13 July 2008 (UTC)

100% agree. Am deleting short section in summary that claims that Conan has "solved" the Riddle, until someone can show some kind of support for this thesis.69.74.24.2 (talk) 18:29, 22 October 2010 (UTC)

Soundtrack

It may be worth mentioning that the openning 40 seconds or so of the Total Recall theme is virtually identical to that of the Conan the Barbarian theme.--RedKnight (talk) 00:35, 1 October 2008 (UTC)

Yes, I noticed the same thing myself when I first saw Total Recall. Goldsmith takes the soundtrack in a different direction afterward, but the menacing, impending brass at the beginning is very similar. Gunstar hero (talk) 19:01, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

Once, long ago (1993-ish) I heard a remixed dance/thrash version of Riddle of Steel/Riders of Doom. Or it might've been Kitchen/The Orgy. It was remixed chant & wildly fun to dance to. If anyone has any idea whose work this is, perhaps it could be entered here (or in the talk section, just so I can find out. lol) MarkoOhNo (talk) 06:49, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

Interwiki mess cleaned up

I've cleaned up the interwiki-mess both here and in the other languages. Some of them linked to the character and not the movie.--Ezzex (talk) 00:08, 11 October 2009 (UTC)

No mention of Grace Jones?

What gives? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.63.11.193 (talk) 19:54, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

She wasn't in this film, she was in Conan the Destroyer. - AdamBMorgan (talk) 21:02, 24 June 2010 (UTC)