Thursday, March 19, 2026

The Warrior And The Sorceress (1984)


David Carradine is Kain, a wandering holy warrior (now, where did they get that idea from?), on the dying planet of Ura, which appears to have turned to mostly desert under the harsh twin suns.

Kain finds himself in Yamatar where two rival gangs are fighting over control of the village's only well and the local peasants are suffering in the process.

In a rip-off/homage/remake of the samurai classic Yojimbo (which also inspired A Fistful Of Dollars and Last Man Standing), Kain hires himself out first to one side and then to the other, playing the two gangs off against each other in an escalating cycle of violence.

Caught up in this is the captive "sorceress" Naja (Maria Socas), who shows no evidence of magical ability throughout the movie. In fact the only thing magical about her performance is that for 99 per cent of her time on screen she's topless.

She is, though, ultimately responsible for overseeing the forging of the Sword Of Ura, a magical MacGuffin thrown in for good measure in the film's final act, that appears to have no real paranormal power beyond being quite light weight.

There are also a flat, tentacly monster, a pair of cackling freaks, a pet lizard-creature and some orky-lizardmen slavers who get mixed up in all the shenanigans, to spice up the gang war, but the highlight of The Warrior And The Sorceress for many people is the classic scene when Kain is being feted by one of the crime bosses - Zeg (Luke Askew) - and is entertained by a nude, four-breasted dancer!

Except for the nudity there isn't much to justify the movie's 18-certificate - there's no gore and very little bloodshed, despite the surfeit of sword fights and opportunities for Kain to show off his moves.

The Warrior And The Sorceress
is quality entertainment given its 78 minute duration, even if it is truly lacking in the "sorcery" element you really expect from a swords and sorcery movie.

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My pop culture Odyssey: a slice of super-powered geek life with heavy emphasis on pulp adventure, horror, comic books, westerns, superheroes, sci-fi, giant monsters, zombies etc