The Sword and the Sorcerer

• Co-Written and Directed by Albert Pyun
• April 23, 1982

A mercenary with a three-bladed sword rediscovers his royal heritage when he is recruited to help a princess stop a brutal tyrant and a powerful sorcerer from conquering the land.

Albert Pyun was a quality director in that he could make enjoyable trash which The Sword and the Sorcerer most certainly is. It is fun, exciting, and generally entertaining with some really good stuff as well as some really questionable stuff even by the standards of the early 80s. Let’s talk about our hero though.

The upstanding Prince Talon (Lee Horsley) is rather creepy. Posing as/living the life of a mercenary he is contacted by the beautiful Princess Alana (Kathleen Beller) who is fighting the evil forces of Titus Cromwell (Richard Lynch) and his war chancellor Machelli (George Maharis). Alana wishes Talon’s help in rescuing her brother Prince Mikah (Simon MacCorkindale) from Cromwell. Talon agrees but only if she sleeps with him. No money or property. It’s not even done in a joking manner. He aims to get some!

The story involves warring kingdoms and a demonic sorcerer and a magic sword with three blades because three blades make sense. There’s a lot going on here. As an American originating fantasy this is very well done. Heck Simon MacCorkindale was in the Cult Classic series Manimal! That was a terrible idea made good by him selling his part as the Manimal.

Despite being a very American production, this does a much better job than many other American originating fantasy films. The United States does not have the great depth of history that other nations do so doing outright fantasy of just about any type is difficult yet the people behind this get it right.

When it comes to the totality of the movie, The Sword and the Sorcerer is a weird juxtaposition of a family friendly adventure and boobies to get teenagers to watch in the hopes for more. Oh and tons of gore for horror fans. There’s enough that this film could’ve easily been pushed in three different directions yet it straddles those three different ways fairly well. And this is certainly a B-movie, but a very quality B-movie with a clear implication of a sequel that never came. It’s exciting and fun and even silly. If you view it in the mentality of the time some of that silliness is completely innocent.

I need to discuss the introduction of the TRUE villain of the story. Cromwell decides to raise a wizard from the dead. The wizard Xusia (Richard Moll) is generic demonic but scary looking. What really sold it for me was the tub (?) the found him in. One of the creepiest practical effects/props I have ever seen. It is composed of faces AND THEY MOVE! A ghoulish item that shows just how evil and dangerous the character is plus looks amazing.

There’s not too much to say about this other than it’s simply fun. It’s fun in a way that you would find only in the 80s. It takes nothing very seriously other than the action sequences. The characters are just a hairs breath above two dimensional. They’re engaging enough that you care what happens but not so engaging that you could tell one from the other based on an individual line of dialogue.

It’s good versus evil. And for what it is the twist that eventually comes is a bit of a surprise. Not entirely unexpected, but how they hinted at it before the big reveal is excellent. They lay the groundwork for what’s to be. And then the actor effectively communicates it without actually showing anything before it happens. And then they confirm your suspicions. Excellent filmmaking there from a director not associated with it but probably should be to a minimal extent. 

For the general moviegoer I say skip it but if you like cheesy 80 movies or just fantasy films then The Sword and the Sorcerer is worth checking out. It may not be great, but it is so very good.