Posts by Lisa Chase3

nimblemarlin6 said:Well, don't leave me hanging—be more specific! I love reading different people's takes on Conan. If you're feeling inspired, please, by all means, write a manifesto. 🙂

When it comes to newer films that actually manage to portray warrior morality and values that are fundamentally different from what we see today, you've got Apocalypto and 300.
Personally, I find "300" a bit stylistically shallow—it leaned so hard into that comic book aesthetic, with the over-the-top violence and that pixelated blood that seems to vanish from the screen the second it hits the floor.
If "300" had been shot with a bit more realism, it would have absolutely crushed it.

When I said "be more specific," I meant something else entirely.😉

I dig reading analyses too, but I leave that stuff to the actual experts—not just about Conan, either. That's why I've been hanging out here for years.

nimblemarlin6 said:Don't you "you" me... 😍
But honestly, it's true—it was just me and my brother.

I’ve seen Conan the Barbarian more times than I can count—in the movie theater, on bootleg tapes, then that US version that’s been chopped up and butchered in the edit, and finally the full cut which actually includes that extra scene where Conan and Subotica chat about picking wild blueberries when he was a kid right before the final battle.

It’s strange, though—I still vividly remember certain tiny little details from that old VHS version I watched so many times they're basically burned into my brain—tiny things, maybe only a few seconds long, that you just don't see in today's digital versions.

I actually hesitated for a second over whether to say "you" or "you guys"😁

What's cool here is finding people who don't just remember Conan, but have basically studied him. The different versions and all those details you're mentioning🙂, it makes me want to dig into this stuff in a way I haven't before.

Anyway, I remember this girl in my high school class, probably after seeing the movie the night before, just tearing into the film and Arnie—especially Arnie—saying he was "totally out of it," which applied to a bunch of details too, though I didn't really get what she meant until years later... it's crazy how some ideas are just totally foreign to "modern people" nowadays, if you know what I mean.😉

nimblemarlin6 said:Well, Ante Gotovina is exactly that kind of guy!!!

I didn't mean, like, literally that "brave warriors" would only exist in books...

The whole warrior-man thing? Yeah, most boys growing up today just aren't raised with that principle. And honestly, they probably won't be able to handle whatever life throws at them later (not even gonna get into the details).😉 : offtopic:

nimblemarlin6 said:I caught Conan the Barbarian back on September 5, 1990, at the local movie theater. I remember the exact date because that was the very same night David Bowie was performing at Dodger Stadium.

Toward the end of the film, you get that final showdown with the band of warriors serving Thulsa Doom—the leader of that wicked cult. The whole thing goes down in an ancient graveyard that looks just like Stonehenge. You see these warriors on horseback charging down from the hills toward the monoliths.
Then, Conan steps out from behind a monolith and starts unhorsing them with this massive axe—it’s actually quite beautifully shot, all in slow motion.

But here's the thing... it's funny how our perception of time plays tricks on us...

I’m convinced those scenes where Conan uses his giant axe to knock riders off their horses felt at least three times slower in the theater than they do today!

That slow-motion swing of the axe, that specific moment when it connects with a rider and the blood sprays... in the theater, it was so drawn out it felt like some kind of avant-garde art film! In later transfers of the movie, those sequences seem to have been sped up just enough to satisfy a modern sensibility.
The problem is, if that's actually the case, we might never know for sure—I highly doubt we'll ever get the chance to watch Conan on actual film print again.

man, movie theaters... you were at the screening, Tommy, while I was probably jumping around losing my mind at the concert...😍

anyway, good catch on that slow motion bit.

Richard Wilson4 said:It is what it is. 👍
I can't believe I just watched that again. Honestly, some things never get old. It’s one of those clips that just hits different every single time you hit play. Pure gold.

😉

The whole idea of an noble, spiritually strong, badass man—like a real warrior—is probably just stuff you find in books now.

Unless there's some rare exception, I guess. And honestly, same goes for women.

William Lee34 said:Every man should have experienced this film in his youth; it is an epic saga detailing the tragedies one can endure while ultimately emerging victorious. Beyond the spectacle, it is a profound piece of cinema disguised by magic and mysticism, infused with a Nietzschean philosophy that permeates every frame, every line of dialogue, and every note of the now-iconic Howard soundtrack.

It is the kind of film one could watch once a year for a lifetime and find something new every single time. A true masterpiece, and perhaps the greatest Fantasy film ever made.

Pretty well put.

Conan hits different for me too, I guess. It reminds me of this guy who used to quote it all the time—someone with "real insight" who fought to protect those old-school principles of being an undefeated man, which feels pretty rare nowadays...