Conan: The Complete Quest

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

Arnold Schwarzenegger takes on all comers in a mythic style in this special DVD twin-pack, which presents Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Destroyer in one package. Both films have been transferred to disc in letterboxed format at the widescreen aspect ratio of 2.35:1, with the images enhanced for anamorphic playback on widescreen monitors. The audio for both films has been mastered in Dolby Digital Mono; both are in English, while Conan the Destroyer also features an optional dubbed soundtrack in French. Conan the Barbarian includes optional subtitles in French, while the follow-up does not feature subtitles. Bonus material featured on Conan the Barbarian includes an extended cut of the film, deleted scenes, a short documentary on the making of the picture, the original theatrical trailer, and a commentary track with director John Milius and star Arnold Schwarzenegger discussing the movie. The Conan the Destroyer disc is fortified with production notes, biographies of the cast and crew, and the original trailer. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 1
• Subtitle: Eng/Fre/Spa
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 (Cinemascope)
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Audio: PCM Stereo
• Features:
  • Conan the Barbarian:
  • "Conan Unchained: The Making of Conan"
  • Feature commentary with director John Milius and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger
  • Deleted scenes
  • Special effects
  • The Conan archives
  • Theatrical trailer
  • Conan the Destroyer:
  • Theatrical trailer
  • Production notes
  • Cast and crew biographies

AWARDS

• Hollywood Foreign Press Association

•     Won New Star of the Year - Female - 1982 (Sandahl Bergman)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Arnold Schwarzenegger - Conan
       Grace Jones - Zula
       Max von Sydow - King Osric
       Mako - Akiro "The Wizard"
       Ben Davidson - Rexor
       Cassandra Gaviola - The Witch
       Gerry Lopez - Subotai
       Mako - The Wizard
       Jeff Corey - Grand Vizier
       Sven Ole Thorsen - Togra
       Bruce Fleischer - Village Heckler
       Ferdinand "Ferdy" Mayne - The Leader
       Akio Mitamura - Mongol General

• Director:

  John Milius, Richard Fleischer

• Producer:

  Dino de Laurentiis, Raffaella de Laurentiis, Buzz Feitshans, Edward R. Pressman

• Screenwriter:

  John Milius, Oliver Stone, Stanley Mann

• Screen Story:

  Roy Thomas

• Screenwriter:

  Roy Thomas

• Screen Story:

  Gerry Conway

• Cinematographer:

  John Cabrera, Duke Callaghan, Jack Cardiff

• Composer (Music Score):

  Basil Poledouris

• Editor:

  Fred Stafford, C. Timothy O'Meara, Frank J. Urioste

• Production Designer:

  Ron Cobb, Pier Luigi Basile

• Art Director:

  Pier Luigi Basile, Benjamin Fernandez, Jose Maria Alarcon, Kevin Phipps

• Executive Producer:

  D. Constantine Conte, Edward R. Pressman, Stephen F. Kesten

• Set Designer:

  Giorgio Postiglione, Giorgio Desideri

• Costume Designer:

  John Bloomfield

• Sound/Sound Designer:

  Bub Asman, Manuel Topete

• Makeup:

  Colin Arthur, Carlo de Marchis, Giannetto De Rossi

• Special Effects:

  Nick Allder

• Stunts:

  Vic Armstrong

• Stunts Coordinator:

  Vic Armstrong

REVIEWS:

• If John Milius has a specialty as a director, it's making enjoyable films out of highly questionable material. In his directorial debut, Dillinger, he made the cold-blooded gangster an almost lovable figure without toning down the story's violence a bit. Here he uses Robert E. Howard's pulp hero to justify a militaristic worldview just a little to the left of a backwoods militia. Social Darwinism transported to a mythic past, Conan presents a kill-or-be-killed world in which the musclebound Schwarzenegger logically sits at the top of the food chain. Working in top form, Milius has the smarts to pull it off. The world he presents seems strangely plausible and complete, filled out with merchants, cults, and other fixtures. The action sequences are staged excitingly and, like fellow film school pals Lucas and Spielberg, he fills the film with classic film references, with one segment borrowing especially effectively from Kwaidan. On some levels it might be reprehensible, but it's entertainingly reprehensible, particularly in the fleshed out director's cut form found on the DVD version. ~ Keith Phipps, Rovi
• While Conan the Destroyer is not quite the sequel fans expected to John Milius's ultimate sword-and-sorcery adventure, Conan the Barbarian, it still manages to win over an audience with its bizarre B-movie charm. Where Milius gave his adaptation of Robert E. Howard's Conan saga a dark, gritty, and deadly serious tone, this sequel, directed by Richard Fleischer, has a bright comic-book feel. Obviously intended for a younger audience weaned on He-Man cartoons, the film moves along at a rapid pace that would not be out of place in the world of Saturday-morning television. The fact that this film's audience is the young, and that this one doesn't have quite the budget of the first one, becomes apparent during a scene in which Conan fights a man in one of the worst monster masks ever seen onscreen. Also missing in this sequel is Milius's powerful dialogue, co-written by Oliver Stone, that gave Conan the Barbarian such an epic sense of scale. Despite these painfully obvious faults, the film, with co-stars like exotic '80s singer Grace Jones and basketball star Wilt Chamberlain as members of Conan's gang, is so gleefully goofy it's hard not to love. Made at a time when Arnold Schwarzenegger's acting skills had still not caught up with his level of worldwide stardom, Conan the Destroyer makes for a fascinating reminder of when his still-new film career was as powerful as Conan himself. ~ Jason Gibner, Rovi