The Beastmaster (film)

Infobox Film | name = The Beastmaster


caption = "The Beastmaster" movie poster
director = Don Coscarelli
producer = Paul Pepperman
Sylvio Tabet
writer = Don Coscarelli
Paul Pepperman
starring = Marc Singer
Tanya Roberts
Rip Torn
music = Lee Holdridge
cinematography = John Alcott
editing = Roy Watts
distributor = Metro Goldwyn Mayer
released = August 16, 1982 (U.S. limited release)
runtime = 118 min.
country = USA/West Germany
language = English
budget = N/A
amg_id = 1:4471
imdb_id =
followed_by = ""

"The Beastmaster" is a 1982 fantasy film directed by Don Coscarelli that starred Marc Singer, Tanya Roberts, John Amos and Rip Torn. It was loosely based on ideas from Andre Norton in her seminal science fiction novel "The Beast Master", although it did not use plot, setting, or characters from the novel. The film was marketed with the tagline "The courage of an eagle, the strength of a panther, and the power of a god."

Plot

toryline

The Beastmaster tells the story of Dar (Marc Singer), the royal son of a king named Zed (Rod Loomis) who was stolen from the womb of Zed's queen (Vanna Bonta) by a witch under the command of vicious high-priest sorcerer Maax (Rip Torn). A poor villager saves Dar from being sacrificed and raises him as his own son, teaching Dar how to fight and witnessing the boy's ability to telepathically communicate with animals.

Their happiness is destroyed when their village is attacked by the evil Jun horde, a race of fanatic beast-like warriors controlled by Maax. Dar vows revenge and journeys to his father's former kingdom to destroy Maax.

Action

Dar, the son of a desert-dwelling king and queen, is robbed of his birthright by the power-hungry priest named Maax and his demonic, Norn-like witches. While still in his mother's womb, Dar is magically transferred to a cow by one of the witches, rendering the King powerless to save his son or his queen, who is killed by the heinous witch. The witch takes the cow to which baby Dar was transferred to a remote place, where she removes him from the animal, brands his hand, and is moments away from killing him when he is saved by a passing peasant.

The peasant adopts Dar as his own son and raises him in his village. While still an adolescent, Dar learns that he has a telepathic relationship with animals (presumably from his transference experience to the cow's womb). After Dar reaches adulthood, his adopted father, his dog, and his entire village are murdered by the barbarian "Juns". After lighting a funeral pyre for them, Dar begins a quest for revenge. He is saved by and then aided on his quest by two ferrets named Kodo & Podo, and befriends other beasts, an eagle, and a panther (actually a tiger painted black), telepathically communicating with them.

Dar meets his love interest Kiri (Tanya Roberts) when he finds her bathing in a forest. He has his ferrets steal her clothes, and then has his tiger menace her so he can pretend to rescue her to ingratiate himself. She claims to be a slave girl.

On his way to seek vengeance, Dar encounters a tribe of bizarre, voiceless, winged beings who feed on humans. Through the eagle, he gains their respect. He meets Seth, a skilled warrior, and Tal, who unbeknownst to any of them is Dar's younger brother. Since Tal is born to succeed King Zed, Seth is sworn to protect him and free the now-imprisoned king. Shortly thereafter, Tal notices Kiri's jewelry and Seth reveals that she was not a slave girl, but does not elaborate. Tal comments that Kiri is his cousin.

Dar travels to the city and witnesses Maax sacrificing children by dropping them into a fire pit at the top of the temple that dominates the city. Dar sends his eagle to rescue a second child, thus earning the gratitude of the child's family. He learns from the father, Sacco, that Kiri is a trained warrior, far from the slave girl she claimed to be. He also learns that she is to be sacrificed. Dar, Seth, and Tal rescue her.

With Kiri's help, they sneak into the temples to rescue King Zed. Dar is shocked to learn that the king has been blinded. After narrowly escaping the monstrous "death guards" (a kind of berserker driven to a killing insanity by the tortures imposed on them), they all meet at a camp where King Zed stirs the townsmen into a rebellion, to avenge his Queen and intending to destroy Maax. He rejects Dar's help, calling him a "freak". Dar leaves the gathering and waits with his animals.

The following day, Sacco rides to Dar to tell him that the attack failed and that all of the rebels were to be sacrificed. Dar rushes into the city and fights his way up the temple steps before confronting Maax.

Out of twisted cruelty, Maax tells King Zed that Dar is his son just before killing him.

In a finale of both human and animal friends, the hordes arrive to help Dar to victory. They overcome a tar-filled moat that surrounds the city. Dar fights the leader of the Juns in personal combat and defeats him. Rather than retreat at their leader's death, the survivors immediately surround their enemies. Although many Juns have been killed, they still vastly outnumber Dar and his friends. When all seems lost for the latter Dar's eagle swoops out of the sky and lands on his arm.

The man-eating entities suddenly appear, as if from the ground, and annihilate the remaining Juns, allowing Dar and his companions to escape behind the safety of the city walls. The strange creatures do not speak, but look, as before, on Dar with respect.

The following morning, as Dar prepares to leave, Seth sees the brand on his hand and realizes that he was the first born son and should be king. Dar refuses and resumes wandering. Kiri catches up with him and the two embrace. It is revealed then that the female ferret, Podo, who is still alive, has given birth to kits, who presumably were sired not long before Kodo's death (echoing the theme "out of death, life").

Cast

Reception

This sword-and-sorcery film of the early '80s wasn't successful during its initial 1982 release, grossing just under four million dollars against a nine million dollar budget, but it has steadily built a strong cult following over the years. [http://www.starpulse.com/movie/The_Beastmaster/V4471/0/0/] It subsequently received significant cable airplay, notably HBO and TBS where it became a TV mainstay and viewer favorite. Its replay was so common that some waggishly dubbed TBS "The Beastmaster Station" [ [http://www.in-sect.com/article/659/marc-singer-is-the-beastmaster The In-Sect - article - movie - retro - Marc Singer is THE Beastmaster ] ] , and HBO as "Hey, Beastmaster is On".

As such, the movie eventually spawned two sequels ' [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101412/ Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time (1991) ] ] (1991), and ' [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112469/ Beastmaster: The Eye of Braxus (1996) (TV) ] ] (1996, TV only), and a television series. [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0215392/ "BeastMaster" (1999) ] ] These spin-offs are commonly considered inferior to the original. A special feature, "The Making of Beastmaster 2", [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0399318/ The Making of 'Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time' (1991) (V) ] ] was also produced in 1991, and another one "The Saga of The Beastmaster" [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443216/ The Saga of 'The Beastmaster' (2005) (V) ] ] (2005) was released on video.

Pop culture references

The film was lampooned on "Robot Chicken"Fact|date=September 2008, a stop-motion animated comedy on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. The parody was presented as an advertisement for a Broadway musical version of the film, featuring David Hasselhoff as Dar, and Alfonso Ribeiro as his pet black panther. Among the comedic elements was a suggestion that Dar had a sexual relationship with the panther, and attempted to get the "slave girl" character (fictionally played by Faith Hill) to join the bestial relationship.

Trivia

A teen-aged Demi Moore, who had not yet had an acting role, met with the director several times to play the role of Dar's love interest, Kiri. Fact|date=September 2008

References

External links

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* [http://www.melorasworld.com/fanlistings/beastmaster The Beastmaster Fanlisting]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zn72_nNv8II A fan remake of The Beastmaster]