The Sword and the Sorcerer

"A kingdom ruled by evil. A princess enslaved by passion. A warrior driven by justice."

1982 1h 40m EN

😐

5.5

MID

🍅

67%

FRESH

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

5.5

IMDB

★5.5TMDB · 150🍅67%Rotten Tomatoes●39Metacritic★5.5IMDB · 8,824

ActionAdventureFantasyHorror

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A mercenary with a three-bladed sword rediscovers his royal heritage when he is recruited to help a princess foil a brutal tyrant and a powerful sorcerer's plans to conquer the land.

“A kingdom ruled by evil. A princess enslaved by passion. A warrior driven by justice.”

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Cast

Lee Horsley
Talon
Kathleen Beller
Alana
Simon MacCorkindale
Mikah
George Maharis
Machelli
Richard Lynch
Cromwell
Richard Moll
Xusia
Anthony De Longis
Rodrigo
Robert Tessier
Verdugo

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Albert Pyun
Writers: Albert Pyun, John V. Stuckmeyer, Tom Karnowski
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $4.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 9.8× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

44 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "The Sword and the Sorcerer Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Albert Pyun, shot by Joseph Mangine. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by David Whitaker. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Marshall Harvey shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Lee Horsley and Kathleen Beller and Simon MacCorkindale carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Albert Pyun directs. Joseph Mangine behind the camera. David Whitaker scores. Marshall Harvey cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $4.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Made its money back 9.8× over at the box office.
344 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
4Part of the "The Sword and the Sorcerer Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
5Directed by Albert Pyun, shot by Joseph Mangine. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by David Whitaker. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Marshall Harvey shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Lee Horsley and Kathleen Beller and Simon MacCorkindale carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "A kingdom ruled by evil. A princess enslaved by passion. A warrior driven by justice.".
10IMDB entry: tt0084749 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 15 themes, including "princess", "crucifixion", "prince", "mythology".
12Released under 21 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Joseph Mangine
Original score: David Whitaker
Editing: Marshall Harvey
Makeup / hair: Ve Neill
Sound: Bob Minkler
Stunt coordinator: Richard Washington
Runtime: 100 min · 1h 40m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $4,000,000
Box office: $39,103,425
Return: 978% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982)
Rotten Tomatoes: 67% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 39/100
IMDB rating: 5.5/10 · 8,824 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

1 win & 5 nominations total

Part of

The Sword and the Sorcerer Collection

'The Sword and the Sorcerer' and it's "sequel in spirit", 'Tales of an Ancient Empire'

Also by

Albert Pyun

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Wuchak2018-08-23
★ 4/10
Weak “Conan the Barbarian” knockoff In a distant fantastical past, the rightful heir of a conquered kingdom (Lee Horsley) returns to his homeland as the formidable leader of a mercenary band. He assists “Prince” Mikah (Simon MacCorkindale) and his cute sister (Kathleen Beller) to overthrow the evil king (Richard Lynch) and his former evil sorcerer (Richard Moll). “The Sword and the Sorcerer” debuted two weeks before “Conan the Barbarian” in the spring of 1982 and it’s just a second-rate S&S adventure by comparison. It’s heroic fantasy with the tone of Star Wars, but without the blockbuster budget and in-depth characters. In light of the somewhat kiddie vibe I was surprised by the female top-nudity. “Conan” was heroic fantasy as well, but it lacked the Star Wars air, had more interesting characters, a compelling story and a mind-blowing score by Basil Poledouris. I’m surprised that BOTH movies raked in roughly the same amount domestically at the box office, almost $40 million. Speaking of the story, the set-up in the first act is too convoluted to create any drive, although the opening on Tomb Island where the hideous Xusia is resurrected in the bowels of the earth is well done. Horsley is gallant and Beller is adorable, but the characters are paper thin. At just over an hour and a half, the tortuous story has no time to breathe and therefore fails to flesh-out the heroes or villains, like “Conan” did. That said, some of the characters are kinda memorable, like the spirited black warrior (whom I can’t discern from the cast list). While there are worthwhile bits throughout this movie they don’t amount to a quality S&S picture. “The Sword and the Sorcerer” is decidedly bush league. The end credits claim that the sequel is “coming soon.” Actually, it didn’t surface until 28 years later under the title “Abelar: Tales of an Ancient Empire” (2010). The film runs 1 hour, 39 minutes and was shot in Southern Cal (Griffith Park, Los Angeles; Culver City; and Riverside). GRADE: C/C-
JPV8522022-03-19
★ 6/10
Somewhat charming fantasy-adventure film that features some respectable special effects and the set designs were pretty good. Acting was so-so however the lead didn't have a whole lot of charisma and the fight scenes were fine but a few scenes were too dimly lit. Should be said, these kinds of movies (including Conan the Barbarian) aren't really my thing but at least this kept my attention. 3.0/5
CinemaSerf2022-11-09
★ 5/10
This actually benefits from having the germ of a decent story of dynastic skulduggery. The evil king "Cromwell" (Richard Lynch) has designs on the throne of the peaceable king "Richard" (Christopher Cary). To that end he awakens the lethal and demonic "Xusia" (Richard Moll) to destabilise "Eh-Dan" and make it ripe for the picking. Fortunately, young prince "Talon" (Lee Horsley) escapes this terror and flees leaving his elder sister "Alana" (Kathleen Beller) behind - a slave. He doesn't forget though, and trains hard, learning how to handle a triple-bladed sword that he plans to use as he returns to reclaim his inheritance and free his sibling. Needless to say, though, neither "Xusia" nor the usurper are going to be welcoming him with open arms! The visual effects are OK here and the drama keeps going fine at the beginning, but the quality of both acting and writing soon starts to drag the whole thing down into cheap and cheerful television movie-dom. The tousled Horsley is pretty amateur from the get-go and although Beller tries to inject a little feistiness into her character, the whole thing just lacks any sense of menace. Indeed, Moll is about as intimidating as yesterday's lettuce. It is little raunchier than many of the genre but in the end it's rather disappointing and eminently forgettable.