The Barbarians (1987)

Director: Ruggero Deodato
Writer: James R. Silke

The young orphans Kutchek and Gore have been adopted by a tribe of clowns, jugglers, and entertainers. The tribe is led by the queen Canary and its wealth stems from her magical belly stone. The evil ruler Kadar desires Canary and her stone, and attacks her clan's caravan to gain possession of them. Before the clan's defeat one of the clansmen sneak away to hide the stone. Canary is locked up in Kadar's harem, Kutchek and Gore in his quarry to be trained as gladiators, and the rest of the clan is to live as outlaws in the woods. When Kutchek and Gore have grown up to VERY big gladiators, they run away and break into Kadar's harem with the aid of the young woman Lemone. Canary quests them to find "The Old King's Weapons" and with these kill the dragon that guards the hidden belly stone. Afterwards they should find a new queen and give her the stone, to restore the tribe to its former glory.

So, here's another "classic" from the 80's trying to feed off the success of Conan The Barbarian.  As you know, there are a number of these, and most of them I quite enjoy.  The Barbarians is one that I know I saw as a young kid, but didn't quite remember alot of it.  I do remember enjoying it as well, but the details were quite sketchy.

Does this one hold up at all?  Well, first of all, this doesn't seem to be available on DVD, at least not one I can find.  So, my copy of this movie is pretty damn crappy.  I would love to see this cleaned up with a proper release.

The production value is along the lines of other movies from this time period, not too terrible, but not great either.  This one comes out of Italy and has quite a few Italian actors in it. 

The acting of course is pretty terrible.  The barbarian brothers are not good actors at all, however, I found myself enjoying them.  I chuckled quite a few times.  This movie is very tongue in cheek and doesn't seem to take itself too seriously, which in my opinion makes the movie more enjoyable.  I do think that the gorgeous and adorable Eva La Rue is excellent.  She would go on to a prosperous career.  You probably know her from CSI: Miami.

The action is awful, and there's not much nudity to be had here.  However, there is plenty of eye candy to go around.

The fact that The Barbarians doesn't take itself seriously makes this a better movie that what it is.  I didn't think I'd enjoy this on my recent watch, but found myself smiling through the movie.

Verdict: Recommended

The Cast

Peter Paul ... Kutchek

David Paul ... Gore

Eva La Rue ... Kara

Richard Lynch ... Kadar

Virginia Bryant ... Canary

Sheeba Alahani ... China

Michael Berryman ... Dirtmaster

Franco Pistoni ... Ibar

George Eastman ... Jacko