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This week I’m going to discuss some of the movies that I find fun to watch and watch again that fall under the loose grouping of Sword and Sorcery. You may not agree with my inclusion of some of these movies but since it’s my list, I get to make the rules. As always, this is not an inclusive list by any stretch. Some of the movies are quite well made while some of them may be on your personal list of bad movies but all are movies I can and have watched multiple times over the years.
I have to start any discussion of Sword and Sorcery movies with Ray Harryhausen and his special effects. Jason and the Argonauts is the first movie I listed for this category and The Clash of the Titans (first version) is second. Other Harryhausen produced movies on my list here are The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (with the future Mrs Bing Crosby), The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, and Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger.
The Harryhausen Sinbad movies lead me to Sinbad the Sailor with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr and Maureen O’Hara. Only in Hollywood would an Irish woman with bright red hair be cast as an Arab princess and Maureen O’Hara was so cast twice more, in Bagdad and Flame of Araby. These aren’t the only movies from the ’40s and ’50s and even into the ’60s that I have to accept as products of their times and enjoy the story without worrying about how incredibly insulting to Arabs they were. . . .
When the topic is sorcery, it has to include The Lord of the Rings, starting with The Fellowship of the Ring, then The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. If I were semi-normal, about here is where I would be listing all the Harry Potter movies but The Sorcerer’s Stone is the only one I’ve seen (though I have watched it multiple times). However, there is the movie Willow (directed by Ron Howard) with an “apprentice” sorcerer. And The Princess Bride where Miracle Max rules!
Dragonheart is another that I find a fun watch though it is not so much sorcery. LadyHawke though has the sorcery to go with the sword play. The first Highlander movie definitely has the sword play and there has to be some sorcery somewhere in the dealings of the Immortals! While there have been a few sequels to the original, the only other of the Highlander movies I re-watch is Endgame.
I’m not much of a fan of the horror movies so will add in a couple that probably fit the horror genre here with The Raven (with a young Jack Nicholson along with Boris Karloff and Vincent Price) and Interview With The Vampire.
I probably should have listed The Odyssey up top with it’s Greek Mythology (Isabella Rossellini as Athena!) but will let it stand by itself as a pretty good TV mini-series.
Previous in this series: Essential Movies, Essential Movies (Westerns), Essential Movies (Historical Settings pre-1500), Essential Movies (Historical Settings post-1500)
And because I can:
14 Comments
watched “Color of Magic” on netflix watch instantly this week. VERY GOOD. please watch.
Huh. I forgot Eragon. and it was not that good.
However “Dungeons & Dragons” was pretty entertaining.
I actually like watching star trek ds9 and the latest star wars movie repetitively…. ok thx dakine!
I went back and forth on including Eragon. Not all that good a movie but it does make tolerable background noise.
Star Trek and such will be covered under upcoming Sci-Fi week (whenever I get to that point)
what about “time bandits”
or baron munchausen?
Neither of those appealed to me more than seeing one time.
How about Excalibur. I still remember the charm of making by heart but had to look up the spelling.
Anál nathrach,
orth’ bháis’s bethad,
do chél dénmha
Serpent’s breath,
charm of death and life,
thy omen of making.
Yep. As I say, my lists are not totally inclusive. One of the problems is some of the movies (such as Excalibur) wind up not being shown often enough for my memory – though I probably would have included Excalibur under the Historical Settings pre-1500 from a couple of weeks ago had I remembered it.
There are a lot of movies that fall under multiples of my genre distributions.
I like the lists you put up on FDL. They may not be totally inclusive but they are a great way to chat about movies and take a break from the politics of life. Keep up the good work.
Thank You
In the same vein as the Princess Bride, Monty Python and the Holy Grain also fits this list.
You want swords?
You want sorcery?
And then there’s the singing . . .
And of course, the peril.
What’s not to like?
Nice list, dakine!
Just re-watched LadyHawke last week. Good fun.
One I would put on my personal list is Legend (1985). Loved Tim Curry as Darkness.
Another flick for sword fights (sorry, no sorcery) — Dangerous Liaisons (1988). Wonderful acting, marvelous; should have thought to mention it for post-1500 movie list.
Conan the Barbarian and Beast Master were alright. But my favorites have already been mentioned: The Princess Bride and LOTR.
I suppose Pirates of the Caribean would qualify even though I don’t think of it as a sword and sorcery movie.
Yeah I went back and forth in my mind on where to place Pirates of the Caribbean series and wound up putting them in last week’s Historical Settings Post 1500.
Same with Conan in another grouping yet to come
” Sinbad the Sailor,” had the second most romantic scene in movie history. When his true identity became know, Maureen O`Hara said,” Why would any woman want to be the wife of the richest man in the world, when she could spend one night in the arms of Sinbad the Sailor?” The most romantic? Pharoah`s daughter on her pleasure barge when Heston was brought to her fresh from the mud pits reeking of sweat and filth. ” Moses, Moses, Moses, I don`t care which gods you worship as long as you will let me worship you.”
” A Tale of two Cities,” ” Before you hurt my lambs you will have to get through me, and I am an English woman,” of course the greatest line in movie history was Major Reisman to Maggot in , ” The Dirty Dozen”, ” You know Maggot I think the army has big plans for you and besides us southern boys have to stick together,”The only thing close were the immortal words from Marcellus Washington to Bruce Willis in ,” Pulp Fiction.” ” I`d appreciate it if you wouldn`t tell anybody about this.”
Zenostoa