On 2 December 2020, I watched The Barbarians, an Italian/USA movie collaboration directed by Ruggero Deodato, released in 1987, and aptly starring American bodybuilding actor twins The Barbarian Brothers, aka Peter and David Paul, as this fantasy movie's title characters.
Named Kutchek and Gore, they are a pair of twins abducted as young children from a band of travelling entertainers by soldiers of this fantasy realm's tyrant ruler, Kadar (played by Richard Lynch), along with the entertainers' own leader, Canary (Virginia Bryant), whose magical ruby Kadar seeks in order to control its immense power. During their subsequent years in captivity, the twins are separated and raised as slaves, but also trained as gladiators, then finally reunited in Kadar's arena to fight to the death for his sadistic gratification.
Although boasting far more brawn than brain, happily Kutchek and Gore recognize one another in the nick of time, escape together, and spend the rest of the movie striving to rescue from Kadar's evil clutches the imprisoned Canary and her much-coveted ruby. Along the way, they rescue the fair maiden Ismena (Eva La Rue) whose thievery skills prove very useful, do battle with a colossal dragon as well as some swamp-dwelling humanoid monsters, and naturally flex their mighty muscles at every available opportunity.
The Barbarians is a delightfully tongue-in-cheek 'swords & sorcery' movie that I'd long known about but had discovered to my great disappointment that it was very difficult to find. Repeated attempts by me to track down an English-language version (either dubbed or subtitled) in DVD format or in sell-thru video format invariably ended in failure. Happily, however, I was eventually able to buy a superb-condition ex-rental big box video of it from a fellow ex-rental devotee, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
All in all, The Barbarians is lots of fun; it is certainly not meant to be taken too seriously, that's for sure! Consequently, I readily recommend this movie to other fans of action/fantasy films liberally laced with humour…if you can track down a copy of it on video or online somewhere, that is.
Meanwhile, for a taste of what to expect, please click here to watch an official trailer for The Barbarians on YouTube.
And to view a complete listing of all of my
Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly
accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE!
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