Released back in 1982 and directed by John Milius, 'Conan the Barbarian' stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as the empoymous Conan, whose family we see murdered when Conan is still a child by local Warlord Thulsa Doom and his lietenants at the beginning of the film. Conan is plunged into a life of slavery, but he earns himself a new life by virtue of being the only person in his settlement to survive years of backbreaking labour on a man-powered mill known as the Wheel of Pain, and becomes a gladiator, mastering swordsmanship and also educating himself in numerous intellectual disciplines as well.

Conan meets up with two theives, Asian warrior Subotai (Gerry Lopez) and female archer Valeria (Sandahl Bergman), who set about robbing the temple of a growing apocalyptic cult linked to warlord Thulsa Doom, before Conan goes on to seek out the man responsible for the death of his family in order to extract brual vengeance upon him.

Schwarzenegger is perfectly cast as Conan, with his impressive physical appearance and mixture of muted persona and understated intelligence, and the film is beautifully shot, with a dramatic and artistic flair that is totally in keeping with the epic nature of the tale being told, as is the grandiose and fantastical musical score. The fight scenes are well choreographed , whilst the ambitious sets and the detailed matte-painted backdrops and painstakingly hand-painted special effects all look great too. The plot is an engaging and absorbing sword-and sworcery yarn, but there are some great comedic moments too, such as when Arnie gets blind drunk and punches out a camel for no particular reason.

James Earl Jones is excellent as the shapeshifting sorceror Thulsa Doom, and the film draws to a powerful and dramatic close in the form of a showdown between the two central characters at Doom's imposing pagan temple.

A beautiful and well-executed film, with an epic plot and plenty of hugely entertaining fantasy action throughout.