A fearsome swordsman, Kain, crosses the barren wastelands and comes upon a town where two arch enemies fight incessantly for control of the town’s only well.
Cast:
- David Carradine … Kain the Warrior
- María Socas … Naja the Sorceress
- Luke Askew … Zeg the Tyrant
- Anthony De Longis … Kief, Zeg’s Captain
- Harry Townes … Bludge the Prelate
- Guillermo Marín … Bal Caz
- Armando Capo … Burgo the Slaver
1984 memories
When I was a kid we’d visit the library frequently and one of my favorite things to check out was the Laser Disc Player and Laser Disc movies. You could check it out on Friday night and keep it all weekend. I especially liked the artwork on the Laser Disc covers.
Getting the Laser Disc player continued even after we owned a VCR. Which is how I watched The Warrior and the Sorceress. The artwork drew me in and I talked my dad into getting the movie. It looked like it would be a good sword and sorcery type movie.
I was able to watch the movie for roughly 10 minutes before I was told to leave the room. The movie started out good, a cool sword fight, a mysterious character and a setting that looked like Star Wars. Then around 10 minutes into the movie the women appeared. And in true Roger Corman style, they were all topless. And that’s why I was sent out of the room.
Of course that only made me more interested in watching the movie. I made it my quest to watch it. It didn’t take long, I watched it the next day when my parents were gone. As a youngster I thought it was an OK movie, I’m sure the topless women had something to do with my rating.
Does it still hold up? Let’s see…
40th Anniversary Re-watch
One of my favorite filmmakers is Akira Kurosawa, who made over 30 movies including Seven Samurai, Rashomon and Yojimbo. Watching The Warrior and the Sorceress again it is apparent the inspiration for the plot comes from Yojimbo. It’s almost a direct copy.
This movie took Yojimbo, A Fistful of Dollars, Star Wars, Conan and a few more, threw them in a blender and came up with this movie.
Watching this movie I thought I was watching Star Wars. There is a robbed figure walking through the desert (Obi-Wan Kenobi), he looks up at the sky and sees twin suns beating down on him (Tatooine) and arrives at a fortress run by a nasty, fat guy (Jabba) with a talking reptile sidekick (Salacious Crumb). The fat man also has an attractive slave girl (Leia) by his side. The slave girl is, of course, topless.
The symbol on the fortress and shields even have a similarity to the rebel alliance symbol. It’s all very Star Wars-y. Then it changes to a mash-up of all the other movies.
Carradine plays Kain, not to be confused with his character Caine from Kung Fu, although they are similar. I’m not sure why he is officially billed as Kain the Warrior, he is never called that in the movie. He is only referred to as ‘The Dark One.’ The same with Naja the Sorceress, played by Maria Socas, they never say her name.
Speaking of Naja the Sorceress, Maria Socas is drop dead gorgeous. For unknown reasons (or for spectacular reasons) her character Naja is topless the entire movie. Carradine wrote in his memoirs that director John Broderick was “obsessed by the body of the actress who played the [sorceress] so he costumed her in a topless outfit.” Thank you, Mr. Broderick, thank you.
I’m not sure what her powers were, besides physical beauty, she didn’t really do anything. At one point she chants some incantations while a blacksmith forges the Sword of Ura, but that’s really it. Otherwise she runs around topless, getting captured at every turn.
At one point there is a special dancer summoned for The Dark One, she has a unique look to her, four breasts! She also looks a little like Madonna. When she gets close to The Dark One, a tentacle with a mouth on the end shoots out to kill him. Where did that tentacle come from? I don’t think I want to know…
The fight sequences are rather simplistic, nothing ground breaking, swinging swords and cutting people. There isn’t a lot of blood and gore either. One question, when The Dark One receives the Sword of Ura from Naja, she tells him to swing at the anvil. He does and the sword cuts the steel anvil and rock beneath it in half. So why during the sword fights can another sword block the Sword of Ura, wouldn’t it cut through all swords?
There’s a plot in here somewhere, The Dark One arrives and two warlords are fighting over the town water well. Honestly, go watch Yojimbo if you want the plot.
Fun Fact:
Carradine broke his right hand three days into shooting, he holds his sword and fights left handed throughout the movie. He wears a black gauntlet on his right hand to cover the cast.
The Warrior and the Sorceress is a movie so bad it’s good. Some call it a cult classic. It’s easy to pick it apart but I found it entertaining, sometimes for the wrong reasons. I’d probably watch it again… There are so many better sword and sorcery movies though, even in 1984. If you’re a David Carradine completion-ist, watch this movie. Otherwise you can probably skip it.
The budget for this movie varies. The producers claim it had a $4 million budget, while the director said Roger Corman gave him $100,000 to make the movie. If this movie had a $4 million budget David Carradine must have made $3 million. $4 million in Argentina, in 1984 should have gone a long way. It doesn’t look like this move had any budget. I’d guess somewhere in the $1 million range.
While we don’t know the exact budget, it brought in over $2.8 million at the box office. Which could be a hit or bomb, depending on the numbers.
Did you watch The Warrior and the Sorceress? If so let me know your thoughts in the comments below or on X(Twitter). The main Geekster channel is @TRNSocial and I’m @MileHighSamurai You can also find me on Bluesky @MileHighSamurai
5/10 stars
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