With 1982’s Conan the Barbarian, Arnold Schwarzenegger pushed toward his future career as movie star. Though he appeared in a few films prior to 1982 – most notably 1976’s Stay Hungry - he remained primarily known as a bodybuilder until Conan.

That said, I’d argue Schwarzenegger didn’t make real cinematic inroads until 1984’s Terminator, as Conan didn’t turn into much of a hit. It made close to $40 million in the US – not a bad sum circa 1982, especially for an “R”-rated movie, but it meant the movie didn’t find a big audience.

Terminator actually earned less money in the US, but it created a terrific buzz and was a massive hit on home video, so I regard it as a bigger success than Conan and Schwarzenegger’s real launching pad. Still, Conan plays an important part of the actor’s early career.

The tyrant Thulsa Doom (James Earl Jones) leads a violent cult of warriors who murder the parents of young Conan (Jorge Sanz). The boy himself winds up in slavery and eventually trains as a warrior.

The adult Conan (Schwarzenegger) embarks on a quest to avenge his parents. This leads him down many violent paths as he works toward his eventual goal.

As I mentioned when I reviewed the 2011 reboot, I didn’t see the 1982 film theatrically, and I don’t know why not. I loved comic books back then, and even though Conan wasn’t a fave, I would’ve thought I’d have watched the movie solely due to the Marvel connection.

Crud, I even went to Swamp Thing the same year! I never cared much for that character either, so I can’t figure out why Conan stayed off my viewing schedule.

I know I took in Conan on VHS, but it made little impression on me. I think I didn’t like it, but 40-year-old movie memories can be iffy, so I was curious to give the movie a look as a middle-aged adult.

Whether or not I liked/disliked Conan as a kid, we’ll never know. This I can say for certain: as an adult, I recognize Conan for the awful film it is.

Perhaps if one enjoys the campy side of Conan, one might gain some pleasure from it. Indeed, the only enjoyable moment comes from the legendary “what is best in life, Conan?” scene, as our hero’s response remains unintentionally amusing.

However, even if we regard Conan as a camp classic, it musters little charm or entertainment. It takes itself far too seriously and proves dull too much of the time.

Though Conan’s pursuit of Thulsa offers the movie’s main plot point, it takes a long time to get there, and Conan doesn’t use that real estate well. The film moves at a snail’s pace and does little to fill all that space with thrills or drama.

Indeed, Conan turns into a snore most of the time. The action scenes feel as goofy as everything else, and the characters/narrative provide so little intrigue that they drag down the film.

The Conan role plays to Schwarzenegger’s strengths, as it requires little dialogue, but even on the physical side of it, he seems clumsy and unconvincing. Although Schwarzenegger never developed into a great actor, he’d eventually display better skills than what he showed here.

That doesn’t say much because Schwarzenegger offers such a bad performance as Conan. While he looks the part, he can’t give us a convincing action hero.

Nor does anything else about Conan satisfy. I guess the movie enjoys a cult audience, but I can’t figure out what anyone would see in this slow, silly movie.

Conan the Barbarian appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.35:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This became a pretty strong presentation.

Sharpness worked fine. Occasional wide elements or process shots came across as a bit soft, but most of the movie enjoyed appealing delineation.

I saw no signs of jagged edges or moiré effects, and edge haloes failed to manifest. Fairly ample grain meant I didn’t suspect problematic digital noise reduction, and print flaws stayed absent.

Colors went with a natural palette that felt full. The hues came across with solid vivacity and range.

Blacks seemed deep and dense, while shadows offered appropriate clarity. All in all, the movie looked very good.

While it showed the restrictions of its 42-year-old source, the film’s Dolby Atmos soundtrack worked fine. Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, the soundscape favored the front channels and offered good stereo presence there. Effects seemed accurately placed and they moved efficiently, even if they leaned monaural much of the time.

The surrounds played a smaller role but they added pretty positive involvement, especially when I considered the movie’s vintage. Music became the dominant element in that regard, though some effects emanated from these channels as well.

Audio quality appeared dated but more than adequate. Though speech could seem reedy, the lines remained without much edginess and showed good intelligibility.

Effects came with their own ups and downs, as those elements occasionally featured distortion. They also displayed decent range, though, a factor that semi-compensated for the sporadic roughness, and they felt concise enough most of the time.

Music worked best, as the score showed nice clarity and range, with bright highs and deep lows. This turned into a largely well-rendered remix.

The disc also came with the movie’s original DTS-HD MA monaural soundtrack. It showed audio quality similar to that of the Atmos track, albeit with a bit less low-end. Still, it worked fine, and as someone who prefers theatrical mixes, I’d choose it over the Atmos.

How did this 2024 Arrow Blu-ray compare with the prior BD from 2011? The Atmos remix felt a bit clearer than the old disc’s 5.1, and I appreciated the inclusion of the 1982 mono, which didn’t show up on the 2011 release.

Visuals demonstrated immense improvements, as the 2024 BD looked better defined, more natural and richer than its flawed predecessor. The 2011 disc came with iffy at best picture, so the Arrow version easily beat it.

The Arrow Blu-ray mixes new and old extras, and we get three separate versions of the movie. In addition to the US Theatrical Cut (2:06:27), we find an International Cut (2:08:59) and an Extended Cut (2:10:22).

How do the three differ? International tones down some of the violence but adds a short conversation between Conan and Subotai before battle.

Extended restores the violence from US Theatrical, adds/extended the aforementioned chat scene, and adds to the climax in ways such as more for the princess to do. It also pads existing scenes in small ways.

Truthfully, all three play out in similar ways. The Extended Cut probably feels a bit more “complete”, but it doesn’t create a version that seems notably better than the others.

Alongside the Extended Cut, we get two separate audio commentaries, the first of which involves director John Milius and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Both sit together for this running, screen-specific look at cast and performances, story and characters, effects, sets and locations, and connected domains.

After a slow start, the commentary improves in the film’s second act – for a while, that is. Unfortunately, the track returns to its mediocre ways for the movie’s final third.

This means we get a sluggish, dull discussion most of the time. As mentioned, the commentary works reasonably well during the movie’s middle portions, but usually Milius and Schwarzenegger do little more than say “look at that” and narrate the action. It’s not the worst track I’ve heard but it’s pretty bland.

New to the 2024 Arrow release, we get a track from film historian Paul M. Sammon. In his running, screen-specific discussion, Sammon looks at cast/crew, changes for the various versions of the movie, and a slew of production details.

Sammon spent ample time on the movie’s sets as a journalist, and that first-person perspective serves him well. Granted, it also puts him so close to the action that some of his personal feelings about those involved with the flick’s creation might influence him.

Those “concerns” remain minor, though, and Sammon’s vast knowledge of the production makes him a valuable resource. Sammon gives us an informative and entertaining view of the movie’s creation.

The movie also comes with an Isolated Score that also solely accompanies the Extended Cut. This allows fans to hear Basil Poledouris’s work in all its DTS-HD MA stereo glory.

With that we head to the set’s “bonus disc” and a slew of additional components. Called Conan Unchained, we get a 53-minute, 11-second documentary that includes remarks from Milius, Schwarzenegger, executive producer Edward R. Pressman, producers Raffaella De Laurentiis, Buzz Feitshans and Dino De Laurentiis, co-writer Oliver Stone, production designer Ron Cobb, stunt coordinator Terry J. Leonard, composer Basil Poledouris, and actors Sandahl Bergman, Gerry Lopez, James Earl Jones, and Max von Sydow.

“Unchained” looks at the project’s path to the screen, story/script/character areas, various design choices, cast and performances, stunts and action, sets and locations, various effects, music, and the movie’s release.

“Unchained” brings a very good documentary. It’s great that it includes so many of the main participants in the film, and it goes over a nice array of topics. Expect a thorough, enjoyable program.

Next comes a featurette entitled Art of Steel. It runs 14 minutes, 40 seconds and offers notes from various folks from Albion Armorers.

They create replica swords from Conan, and “Art” lets us see their processes. This often feels like an ad for Albion, but it gives us some decent details.

We also get a few minutes about swordplay from trainer Kiyoshi Yamazaki and swordsman “Aaron”. Though not long, this section offers a few useful tidbits.

Under Conan: From the Vault, we get a 10-minute, 22-second vintage featurette. It involves Schwarzenegger, Milius, Jones, and Bergman. They discuss some aspects of the project but don’t expect much substance.

Special Effects Comparison goes for one minute, 37 seconds and shows a splitscreen segment. The top of the screen displays raw footage and the bottom brings the finished sequence with effects added. It’s a decent comparison.

Three Deleted Scenes occupy a total of five minutes, 34 seconds. These really veer more toward outtakes than true deleted scenes.

We get “John Milius Cameo” (0:53), “The Death of King Osric” (4:17) and “Wolves Outtake” (0:24). “Death” actually brings three takes of the same sequence.

“Cameo” and “Death” seem forgettable, but “Wolves” offers a stunt gone hilariously wrong. Note that these clips already appear in the documentary.

In addition to four trailers, we end with The Conan Archives. This provides an 11-minute, 47-second reel that displays a running compilation of concept art, production photos and publicity material. It’s a good collection but the format seems clumsy.

From here we go to materials new to the 2024 Arrow release, and these start with the appropriately titled New Interviews. With a total running time of one hour, 34 minutes, 49 seconds, this domain consists of 10 segments that give us chats with production artist William Stout (14:17), costume designer John Bloomfield (13:21), special effects technicians Colin Arthur and Ron Hone (10:50), actor Jorge Sanz (7:05), actor Jack Taylor (6:52), assistant editor Peck Prior (8:31), visual effects designers Peter Kuran and Katherine Kean (6:36), filmmaker Robert Eggers (6:22), film historian John Walsh (17:10), and academic Alfio Leotta (16:43).

Subject matter seems self-explanatory for most of the interviews, as those who worked on the film discuss their careers and what they did for Conan. Eggers tells of how Conan influenced his own movies, while Walsh gives us some history of Conan/the property’s path to the screen and some release/legacy notes. Leotta concentrates on the career of John Milius, with an emphasis on Conan.

Across the board, these discussions work well, though inevitably, some fare better than others. The best rule of thumb stems from running time, as the longer clips give us the strongest overviews. All come with merit.

From 2005, The Rise of a Fantasy Legend spans 18 minutes, 25 seconds. It includes remarks from James Earl Jones, comic book writers Kurt Busiek and Roy Thomas, artists Jim Keegan and Steve Leiber, editor Don Herron, author Michael Moorcock, “Barbarian Keep” website owner Edward Waterman and screenwriter Michael Scott Myers.

“Rise” traces the origins and development of the Conan character as well as his move into films. It tends to feel general and too full of praise, but it comes with decent notes.

Four segments appear under A Tribute to Basil Poledouris. We find “Conan the Symphony” (47:14), “Remembering Basil” (35:37), “The Tale of Conan” (15:01) and “Basil at Ubeda” (4:08).

“Symphony” lets us see a 2006 performance of Conan score elements conducted by Poledouris. Presented Dolby 5.1, it offers an interesting piece.

“Remembering” offers info from composers Eric Colvin, Todd Haberman and Chris Lennertz, daughter/composer Zoë Poledouris, historian Jon Burlingame, filmmakers Paul Verhoeven and Randal Kleiser, manager Richard Kraft, music supervisor Julia Michels, recording engineer Tim Boyle, wife Bobbie Poledouris, and daughter Alexis Poledouris.

We get thoughts about Basil Poledouris and his work. The participants offer personal observations in this engaging reel.

“Tale” features glimpses of rehearsals for the 2006 concert seen earlier along with some comments from Poledouris about the score. We get a good overview, and Poledouris seems surprisingly healthy given he’d die from cancer only a few weeks later.

Finally, “Ubeda” presents a photo gallery from the 2006 concert and shows 27 images. We get some decent shots but their quality seems subpar.

15 Original Promotional Featurettes occupy a total of 35 minutes, 11 seconds. Across these, we hear from Milius, Schwarzenegger, Dino De Laurentiis, Cobb, Jones, Raffaella De Laurentiis, filmmaker Steven Spielberg, special effects supervisor Nick Allder, attorney Arthur Lieberman, biographer L. Sprague de Camp, comic book writer Mike Fleisher, actor Sandahl Bergman, some unnamed Marvel personnel and various comic convention attendees.

The clips look at a variety of production elements. Unsurprisingly, they lean toward the fluffy side of the street, but they offer enough good content to make them worth a look.

Hilarious in retrospect: we’re told Action Comics #1 sold for $12,000 back then. Which is true, but now that same magazine has traded hands for more than $3 million.

Why didn’t I buy one in 1982? Oh yeah – I was a teen and didn’t have $12,000.

Conan the Barbarian: The Musical fills three minutes, one second. This pairs a comedic song – “sung” by a Schwarzenegger impersonator – to movie shots. It’s not especially entertaining.

Finally, an Image Gallery offers 101 stills that mix shots from the production and publicity elements. It becomes a good compilation.

As Arnold Schwarzenegger’s first notable film role, Conan the Barbarian merits a spot in cinema history. Too bad the movie itself offers a dopey, monotonous experience with no obvious positives on display. The Blu-ray provides positive picture and audio along with a large package of supplements. Conan becomes an actively awful movie, but this Arrow release treats it very well.

Note that Conan the Barbarian can be purchased either on its own or as part of a two-film “Conan Chronicles” package. The latter also includes 1984’s sequel Conan the Destroyer.

As far as I can tell, “Chronicles” doesn’t gives purchasers anything not found in the two individual releases. However, it shaves substantial money off the total cost, so if you want both movies, “Chronicles” will save you a decent chunk of change.

To rate this film visit the prior review of CONAN THE BARBARIAN