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Information Exchange => Reader Comments => Topic started by: Andrew on February 10, 1999, 08:55:57 PM



Title: Zardoz
Post by: Andrew on February 10, 1999, 08:55:57 PM
Where can you find Sean Connery dressed in a loincloth, a giant flying stone head that spouts NRA rhetoric from one side of its mouth, and denounces unprotected sex from the other, and a commune filled with people who are so bored with life that they have given up on enjoying anything at all?  The Seventies baby, the Seventies.

Click here to go to the Review (http://www.badmovies.org/movies/zardoz/)



Title: Zardoz
Post by: Dr. Oblivion on March 25, 1999, 06:28:37 AM
This movie could not keep a standard level of quality, for a while it would be terrible, one minute a weird guy with a facial hair made with a magic marker would be talking and the next minute the movie would be really interesting and cool, then suddenly some one would say something stupid and it would be funny again for a while.  Over all I liked the movie though, it was just too strange to hate.


Title: Zardoz
Post by: on July 24, 1999, 06:48:29 AM
This movie is exellent. Some people seem to be having trouble understanding it. Sean is a rocker! Admittedly it is a crazy show indeed but that does not detract from this ingenius mindbender of script. People have to learn to read between the lines and not take everthing at face value. There is a lot more to life than meets the eye. Make the choice. EVOLVE!


Title: Zardoz
Post by: nation@club-internet.fr on August 08, 1999, 11:23:00 AM
Zardoz is a film about nature like the other movies by John Boorman such as Excalibur, Delivrance (with Burt Reynolds and Henry Fonda) or the Esmeralda forest (I am not sure of the title but it takes place in Amazonia).

I did not dislike Zardoz. There are good ideas, but it is sometimes ridiculous for example Sean Connery in a wedding dress. The vortex people looks like a hippie community in the middle of the british countryside.


Title: Zardoz
Post by: arp@slab.org on September 28, 1999, 04:24:31 PM
Fascinating, baffling film that has moments of brilliance but seems to go out of its way to be ridiculous. One of a select band of intelligent, quite famous 'proper' science fiction movies, in that it's actually about ideas, and not just a horror or action movie with a science fictionial backdrop. It's a terrible shame that it makes itself so hard to take seriously at times.

As a totally silly trivia point Sean Connery wanders around with a rare Webley automatic revolver. Tell that to your friends.

The main classic piece running through the film is the second 'bit' of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony.


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Dante on November 02, 1999, 10:25:33 AM
This movie had potential!! I would rank it up there as a failed Clockwork Orange. I think the director must have put his entire budget into Sean's wages. All in all the plot was great and the twisted ending scene in my mind made the entire thing worth while.


Title: Zardoz
Post by: sana on November 25, 2006, 04:10:12 PM
Look at you all guys!!! all speak about the same movie in a same place... let's have a second level forum!
more seriously, this movie is great! i just buy it yesterday, image! I'm french living in Shanghai and find this in a illegal DVD shop... ZARDOZ! with Sean Connery and Charlotte Ramplin (famous in europe indeed). My first think was "Z movie from 70's" and i was right! i get what i was looking for, the pure imagination from our LSD/gangbanger that were our dear parents contemporary... yes they took drugs, yes they shag everywhere. But do not ommit something important, 70's peoples also know what is Comedy, maybe better than some of you guys. You should listen more carefully to what ZARDOZ says as introduction, and you will see that he speak the thruth.


Title: Zardoz
Post by: sloasucan@yahoo.com on January 14, 2000, 12:02:30 AM
The first time we saw it, we were confused, amused and somewhat titillated.  The second time we saw the film, last night, we became instant worshippers of Zardoz ourselves.  All those who criticize Zardoz are destined to be punished by a red-leather clad, hot-pant wearing, pistol touting apathetic chickshot-putting Sean!  And remember:
THE GUN IS GOOD
THE PENIS IS EVIL!


Title: Zardoz
Post by: BarkingSpider on November 25, 2006, 04:09:49 PM
Had seen this a few times back in the seventies.  Yes, the belief suspension was difficult to maintain, but the topics were far ahead of their time (genetic engineering, technology used as a form of repression, life extension, etc).  Dated? Yes, but that's not a problem with me (hey, I like Soylent Green).

I am curious, though, to see what the future was like after the invasion and how the society changed.  The one good thing about them is they didn't live an unsustainable lifestyle.


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Stefan Robak on February 26, 2000, 04:28:49 PM
I saw this one Space Bar (a show on the Space channel host by 3 guys) and after veiwing one of them says "I'm not stupid.  I'm a smart guy. Reasonably smart.  BUT WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED IN THE LAST 80 MINUTES OF THIS FILM!  After the pointless Wizard of Oz reference it became indecipherable"!  Sounds about right.


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Sammy Day on November 25, 2006, 04:09:49 PM
Hi, it's me again!

Now I have seen it... and I got to admit, all you people who said that this film is 100 per cent crap - you were right!!! I couldn't watch it without surfing to other channels for time to time, it was too painfull. I mean, WHAT THE HELL WAS CONNERY THINKING?!? Was he at that time of his life using drugs and he won't even remember doing that movie or what...? Jeesus. I'm afraid that now I won't be able to watch my old Bond-films without laughing my ass off. Oh, Sean, Sean... why?


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Harve on November 25, 2006, 04:09:49 PM
I remember seeing this film forever ago. a few times in fact. so much I disremember about it cuz I was young and I Know I was stoned, cuz I was All the time back then. But i remember I loved it. I remember thinking it was profound. And I big time remember how kewl it was that the main chick (meg?) was awful flat-chested (as I was, and still am). That was so kewl to me, cuz movie stars and anybody kewl always hadda have huge boobs, which of course makes flat girls feel like crap. So this woman was not only a 'movie star', but her character was like, totally sexy, And was the 'Queen' of everybody! so anyways, reading all the stuff here, I wana go out and get the video. better yet, the DVD so i can hear the commentary!


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Keydo on November 25, 2006, 04:09:49 PM

Breasts!

Who would thought they could shoot so many breasts shots in the 70s!

I kept watching and waiting for something to turn this movie around. In the end, all I could do was laugh at the Eternal's advance technology derived from the 70s.

I did not realize the superior genetic structure looked a lot like an oblivious swimming jelly fish.

Glad to see mud-wretling is alive and well in the future.

For all their technology, they had no clue how a flaccid penis turned into an erect penis?!?

However, the one thing I did take away from this movie is that if you're ever with an unresponsive woman

SHOT-PUT HER ASS!  (Go Zed! Go!)



Title: Zardoz
Post by: Partyman on July 06, 2000, 04:09:37 AM
I watched ZARDOZ with 2 friends of mine. After watching this movie for over 50 minutes, I asked my friend Patrick: "Pat, what the hell is this movie about?" and he thought for a minute and then asked his friend Fulco: "Fulco, do you have any idea what this movie is about?" And Fulco said; "Let's watch the video-box and see if there is an explaination on the back. And so we read it, and we still didn't have a clue what is was all about. So we entitled this movie: The most vague movie of all time. And still I want to buy it, because the movie sucks so bad, I just gotta have it. I love to torture myself. :)


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Crow on July 06, 2000, 02:35:01 PM
I saw it once on cable, entirely by accident. It is the Picasso of sci-fi. Twisted, incomprehensible, yet strangely intriguing. It made my neural receptors bleed.


Title: Zardoz
Post by: mejicano_loco on July 10, 2000, 01:50:15 PM
Zardoz is one of those movies that when you watch it you say, "What the hell?"  But I'm a fan of pure crap movies, movies that would get a skull on this page, and I found this movie great.  Great in a terrible way of course.  First you must open your mind to the fact that this movie will make NO sense.  Then just sit back and become confused and laugh at all the stupid stuff that happens.  My favorite scenes (because of their sheer insanity) are the "I will not go to second level" scene, the "we will give you our knowledge through osmosis" scene, and the part where Friend talks gibberish for NO REASON!  I've seen this movie 4 times and each time I laugh and think, "how mush acid does it take to make a movie like this?"  And always remember that the gun is good and the penis is evil!


Title: Zardoz
Post by: moorblues on July 20, 2000, 12:40:13 AM
You have to realize the genre of movies at the time Zardoz was released. There were other "futuristic" movies released in the early part of the seventies that were highly stylized in their format. Some examples would be Logans Run, Soilent Green, Planet of the Apes, The Omega Man, Clockwork Orange, just to name a few. The big idea of this movie is that man will never be capable of controlling his own destiny. He will always be his own worst enemy.


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Greg on November 25, 2006, 04:10:12 PM
I helped my then girlfriend, now wife do a paper on the movie when it was newly out, I think 1970.  I had to see it about 3 times to get all the varied plot lines running through it and I have to say, each time I saw it something else occurred to me.  Some interesting notes: 30 years or more ago this movie touched on a variety of hotly debated issues and technological improvements most had not even come close to thinking about at the time.  How about genetic engineering for starters or the fact that we are now using CD-RW drives that create optical storage and I think we are getting close to the type of "crystalline" storage technology that was used in the movie (remember the ring or at the end the crystal that he was supposedly inside of...that part was a bit strange). The concept of nearly infinite storage of data inside crystals was a huge leap in science fiction.


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Mr BaliHai on August 25, 2000, 08:03:39 PM
Pound for pound, Zardoz has more great ideas than a lot of other contemporary films of the 70s. Boorman did a lot of research on the movie's higher concepts and even went so far as to spend some time living in a commune to get ideas about how to flesh out his concepts of the Vortex and the Immortals.

The problems with this film lie mostly with Boorman's uneven execution. At times it seems like performance art or sketch comedy gone horribly awry. Part of this is just the way things were in the 70s, part of it was just Boorman's style, and the rest of it was probably drugs.


Title: Zardoz
Post by: UNITA on September 01, 2000, 03:25:03 AM
I really enjoyed this movie, but it is an elegant warning to those who choose to direct, produce and write movies


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Chris on October 23, 2000, 11:39:06 AM
This movie could have been a great bad movie.  It had all the elements that would have made it an interesting scifi flick. Unfortunately, the final product was a disjointed and uninteresting film totally devoid of humor and that illusive element that draws you into the film and makes you want to care about the characters.  It had its brief moments, but overall it rates a thumbs down.


Title: Zardoz
Post by: William S. on November 25, 2006, 04:09:49 PM
I remember seeing this movie when it came out under the influence of a small amount of herbal THC and having absolutely no idea what I was seeing, only that it was really, really DEEP.  It made a big splash at the time as having Sean Connery and a bunch of weird s**t, but it disappeared from the theatres after like a month because it was totally...um, indescribable.  Like, the Man From Uncle was really futuristic at this time.  So, seeing it again, I find pretty much the same thing: What the hell was this about?  My e-mail address was Xardox for 10 years because of my memories about this movie.  Well, now I've gone to some other obscure allusion.


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Carl Horn on November 25, 2006, 04:09:49 PM
Hmmmm. I finally saw this the other evening. I think it's both true that it was from the great era of stoner science-fiction films and that it at least attempted to be a film of ideas (unlike so many of today's SF films which are basically about space monsters and rayguns). In its surrealistic (Rene Magritte is referenced at one point, on a print in the Vortex room that Zed first explores) and even absurdist approach it was probably meant to reflect some of the New Wave of SF styles that were developed in the 1960s, such as Ballard and Dick. It is also true that cracks about the result resembling a Monty Python sketch or Rennaisance Fair are dead-on. In its own strange way, though, ZARDOZ remains more interesting a SF film than many of today's sterile big-budget spectaculars.


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Anton Zoref on February 03, 2001, 09:20:25 AM
I love the music and wish a proper soundtrack would be released on CD.The ending with Sean Charlotte and the boy aging is one of the greatest movie-scenes ever.


Title: Zardoz
Post by: CDub on November 25, 2006, 04:09:49 PM
The Classical score has a good feel just like Boarman's _Excalibur_.  Basically, this movie went a lot farther into the territory of an inevitably failed utopia than I can ever remember seeing on screen.  For that reason alone I give it credit.  The way I see it is if you feel the urge to watch _Logan's Run_ try this instead.

I like the freedom available to the director because of the time it was made in, I suppose.  This film is a failure of sorts I certainly don't mind pilfering through and exposing others to.
 


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Glenn on November 25, 2006, 04:10:12 PM
The first time I saw Zardoz was on broadcast TV 15 years ago around 2am. It was great. So I rented it with a friend and saw what had been cut out. And it made far less sense. Now that's odd - how often does that happen? Was the TV "censor and whittle it down" person an unsung genius? What I got out of the uncensored version seemed to take away from the seriousness of the film - and of course it is too long ago to remember details. But I beleive I do still like this film, because when it's good its very good and when it's bad it's hilarious.


Title: Zardoz
Post by: h brookshire on November 25, 2006, 04:09:49 PM
The Webley-Fosberry Automatic Revolver is real....
I believe this is the only movie I've ever seen that has one in it.  If you notice, Sean has to grab the top of the revolver and pull it backwards to cock and fire it.  This is because he is shooting blanks (naturally) and there is not enough recoil to cycle the action.  In real life firing the Webley-Fosberry caused the barrel and cylinder to recoil backwards, re-cocking the pistol and bringing a fresh chamber up to be fired.
I loved Zardoz, having seen it in the early 70s.  I think it's best stoned or drunk, as it was done when everyone was that way.....
I am looking for a DVD version to go with the VHS video.......  h brookshire


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Daniel on November 25, 2006, 04:10:12 PM
This is one of my favorite movies ever!My wife hates it but she says that I am just wierd anyway.This is definitely for the cerebrally movie minded.Intelligent movie art.I am now waiting on my copy of "The Fantastic Planet".Can't wait!


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Gwen on November 25, 2006, 04:09:49 PM
OMG, that was the funniest thing I've ever seen, its on again at 2am, I may have to sit up and watch it again.  Toward the end, in the hall of mirrors/Crystal Floor when Zed confronts the Grim Horror of (shudder, gasp) INTERPRETIVE DANCE!  Hehheheheeee, who can blame him?  Many the time I've wished I had a gun in similar circumstances.

Did anyone else notice that he and Consuela seemed to be costumed as the doorman in the Wizard of Oz for that end sequence?  


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Zardoz on August 26, 2001, 02:57:40 PM
Like performance art by University of California at Santa Cruz students that someone happened to film.


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Dave Moran on November 25, 2006, 04:09:49 PM
Strange  how  this  has  become  a  film  that  many  people  defend  energetically  these  days.  I'm  not  saying  they  shouldn't,  for  there  is  much  to  admire  about  the  film -  nevertheless  there  was  a  time  in  the  70s  and  80s  when  this  was  seen  as  a  total  mess  of  a  movie.
The  idea  of  an  idyllic  community  surrounded  by  marauding  savages  in  a  post-apocalyptic  world  is  a  standard  obssession  with  British  SF.  They  usually  inhabit  a  pleasant,  pastoral  land  of  milk  and  honey  and  limited  sex,  if  any  at  all.  They  are  also  boring  self  righteous  b*st*rds  who  deserve  all  that's  coming  to  them ( viz  John  Wyndham  and  John  Christophers  novels,  Terry  Nation's  ' Survivors '  on  TV ). As  such,  it  should  make  for  a  reasonably  intelligent  and  interesting  movie - perhaps  even  a  great  one.
'Zardoz'  is  undermined  from  the  start  by  the  unimpressive  image  of  Sean  Connery  running  around  in  a  big  red  nappy.  He's  a  bit  too  old  and  a  bit  too  flabby  to  be  doing  what  he's  doing -  galloping  through  the  spume  on  his  horse.  Charlotte  Rampling  suffers  from  Uma  Thurman's  problem -  she's  stunning  to look  at,  but  falls  to  pieces  when  she  opens  her  mouth.
Still,  I  bet  she's  seen  a  lot  of  spume  in  her  time,  eh?
I  watched  the  film  with  my  collegues  from  the  Edinburgh  SF  Society  many  years  ago.  Our  verdict ? Hilarious.  
It  still  is.


Title: Zardoz
Post by: lostmissy on November 25, 2006, 04:09:49 PM
I watched this movie late one night about a year ago when I couldn't sleep. It was an almost out-of-body experience in that I kept thinking that I was really tired because the movie would seem to skip ahead two or three minutes at a time (editing for tv?) so nothing made any sense..just this big head floating around then sean in a thong (whatever). the next day I had this fuzzy recollection that the movie was odd but little else. Even now, after reading the recap and viewing the stills, I still can't decide if I actually watched the movie or just imagined that I did. the oddest thing that I remember is that sean slapped everybody He met at least once?


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Jim Rumbaugh on November 25, 2006, 04:10:12 PM
I'm glad to find a place to talk about ZARDOZ.

I first saw it at a drive-in theater as the late show. After it was over I was amazed, stunned and puzzled.  I have owned the VHS tape for a few years and re-watched it a time or two. I can understand the criticisms I have read. I feel that the movie was over edited which made the flow of the story too confusing.
But here is the important part that I have learned from the movie that has shaped my view of life. The lesson of the story was that even with unlimited time, there is a limit to the abilities of man. The notion that we are worthy of eternal/immortal life is false impression we hold onto via our survival instinct.  Man as an animal will and must continue to evolve and grow.  As we are today is just a step in the overall plan of God.  The quote,"this vortex is an abomination to nature" is the sum of the film's message.
Our desire to cling to life forever is wrong. Our purpose is to be a stepping stone in the continual gradual change of mankind.  I will not begrudge the end of life when my fair time of life has passed, for I now realize I was a part of the evolving change of the human race.


Title: Zardoz
Post by: on November 25, 2006, 04:09:49 PM
OK, first of all, let's look at the Frank Herbert ripoffs. Selective breeding for a supreme human? Hm sounds a bit like DUNE to me, don't you think? And how about creating a hostile world to speed up evolution? Could it be... the FREMEN? Or even the Sardaukar on Salusa Secundus, which was more intentional than the Fremen on Arrakis. But I'm beside the point.
This movie was actually fairly decent, though it had some cheesy aspects. The most annoying thing to me is that the memory sequences ARE IN THIRD PERSON! I HATE THAT! But I don't suppose anything can be perfect, especially in the 70's. It had a lot of interesting concepts, though. My favorite is the scene where the working classes are crowded against the vortex shield, begging/shouting for entry or help, and the pampered ruling class folk just meander by, not noticing, admiring their decadent garden and ignoring the reality of human suffering.

Oh, yeah, and the costumes were too revealing. I didn't like that. And why did only half of Friend's face age? I was confused about that, too. And whatever happened to that depressed guy who was on trial? And the apathetics? Did the Executioners kill them during their giant orgy? We shall never know... I demand a sequel!!!


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Jorj on November 25, 2006, 04:10:12 PM
I was too young to go to the movies when Zardoz was released, but I remembered seeing a highly edited version on television as a kid. My brother rented it and made some comments about it, so when I happend to see it at the local store, I rented it too. Its a good thing I watched it after the kids were sleeping, its seems like it could of had an X rating for the time it was made.

The comments that were made here by others are quite insiteful. Yes it was a "bad" movie, but they were way ahead of their time and on a low budget. The idea of a jaded utopia that had stagnated to such a degree is a great story, but it could be improved upon and made more believeable.

Now-a-days, with everyone doing remakes from the past, Zardoz could be a great remake or the basis for a sequel (there were at least 4 vortexes which didn't seem to have contact with each other, what happend to the other 3?)

As long as the "lesson" of the movie is intact, a remake would get me into the theatre.

Thanks for the forum to discuss this film - Jorj


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Lord Valentin on November 25, 2006, 04:10:12 PM
Zardoz is a Masterpiece, one of my favorite movies.
Zardoz is about Life, Death and imortality,
wich is the most important question for
the spiritually evolved ones.

It still the same interrogation,
"to die or not to die",
as well as "to be or not to be"...

It is absolutely normal that unevolved
basic neanderthal humans dont understand
the movies, as well as dont enjoy the great artistics
qualities...




Title: Zardoz
Post by: JimmyD on November 25, 2006, 04:09:03 PM
Friends breaking my arm to watch this movie when it came out, smoked a big reefer before going in the theater, and POW, the HEAD:  when movies start with large (autonomous)flying stone heads, just watch out... or leave!
I stayed - what a great memory of yonder years.


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Ms Pepperpot on November 25, 2006, 04:09:49 PM
I watched this film on TV when I was about 10 when being babysat one evening - I'm still not sure why she chose to watch it.  However, it's had a lasting impact on both me and my sister.  Very weird, and at that point I didn't get any of it, except it probably broadened my mind about what films could be, just by how bizarre it was.  


Title: Zardoz
Post by: zardozhimself on November 25, 2006, 04:10:12 PM
Yes, it's a real 70's post acid flick. Sean Connery must have needed the money bad. But I have a copy because it is funny and strange. A modern version with the right director and screen writer could be interesting. When you see the flying head at the beginning think the the old Norelco shaver jingle "floating heads" (sang to the tune of jingle bells")


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Miho Kimura on November 25, 2006, 04:10:12 PM
This film is one of my husbands favourite films. I have seen it with him. He usually laughs every five minutes and mumbles (to himself?..to me???) "This film is soooo stupid!!laughs occasionally... says "my God" very often. I have seen it and it seems interesting. As good as Japanese films.


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Swamprat on November 25, 2006, 04:09:49 PM
I real thinker! A real masterpiece? Hell no...but not as bad in my opinion as most seem to think. You have to really pay attention to the idealisms floating around in this movie. Can perfection really be perfect? Can man play God and really get away with it? Does man lie in the realm of the divine? Or is he just one of the common animals? Is he somewhere in between? If there was only one guy in the flying head, how the hell was he chucking out all those Britsh Army Surplus weapons by the truckloads?...Such is the pondering nature of man. I love the idea of this film, and John Boorman is one of my favorite directors, and Sean Connery is one of the coolest personas to ever grace the screen...BUT! What happened? I think they swiped the flying head from a Monty Python Cartoon. And the guy in the head had to be a serious Michael Palin fan. The people in the bubble were just plain creepy...I know they were supposed to be a superior class which failed...but there is nothing about them that gives the appearence that they may have stood a chance of success at one time. Can we spell I-N-B-R-E-D? The beginning of the film with the exception of the flying head is good. The hunters chasing down the lesser populace, the violent religious furiour in which they unknowingly act out the vicious circle of mankinds existance since the beginning of time, over and over again. It shows us very bluntly how pointless our perceptions of what civilisation is really are. The people in the bubble show us that every time we come up with the notion that we can overcome those perceptions and move up to the next level, we fail, and become the very thing we are trying to rise above, and more often than not an even worse example of those we replaced. Even with the ridiculous flying head, the first part of the film is great, without the flying head the second part of the film's a boring anticlimax. I thought the reference to the Wizard of OZ was very clever, the ironey in this one little idea thread was awesome. Too bad there wasn't enough movie built up around it. If you like the idea of Sean Connery in a G-string blasting out brains with a very large caliber Britsh Army revolver at full gallop on horseback...this baby's for you. If you like Terry Gilliams's old animation techniques from his Python days you'll love the head. If you're turned on by emanciated inbred, skin bleeched, near zombified, past their prime, arrogant, superiour-beings-who-live-in-bubbles-and-dress-like-geeks-at-a-renaissance-fair...you'll love this oddball little number...you might even want to own a copy. Hard to belive this was made by the same guy who made Excaliber and Deliverence...look around the bubble people closely, you might see the Banjo Boy.


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Paul on November 25, 2006, 04:09:49 PM
If this movie is so bad as the critics say then why does it have a worldwide cult following nearly 30 years after its release.
Beethoven's Symphony no.7 in A will never sound the same again.
Type in Zardoz on ebay and see how many listings come up.
The movie has style and vision as well as being over the top sometimes.
Its foreign and different, so get over it.




Title: Zardoz
Post by: WyldKyss on November 25, 2006, 04:10:12 PM
Yes, I selected this movie for a Bad Movie Night.

Yes, I won.

Yes, my roommate then bought it on DVD.

Remember kiddies. When you watch this, every scene Sean is thinking "Can I shoot it? Can I f**k it? Can I eat it? Then what good is it?"


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Jeeps on November 25, 2006, 04:10:12 PM
I saw this movie when it came out in the mid 70's so I have a different perspective that most I have been reading in here.  Being a healthy young guy at that time, I was not the least bit annoyed about the display of breasts, the barring of chest hair, the floating head, or seeing my favorite male actor ...the real James Bond himself.. Sean Connery, running around with a ponytail and a gun.

I was quite astounded with the film, as were my brother and now wife who were with me at the theater that night.  It combined elements of theater ( where it is not a big problem to have a penciled beard ), classical musical references, doses of science, philosphy, religion, social commentary on equality...just emerging at that time of  emerging feminism.  It had clever references to our popular literature...ie: Wizard of Oz, and it was essentially a moral 'play' done in a lush film location in Ireland.  The end of the movie turns on the he 'vortex' society and the notion of the desirablity of immortal life on it's head.  There are many layers to this film, and one should not give it short shrift.  Looking at it today in the year 2003, with the effects and production capital we have today it may seem to lack the wham bang effects that current films display, but what it lacks there is well balanced with ingenuity, imagination, and some creative and cleaver writing.  One must think of where the series 'Star Trek' was at that time, and that is now nearly 30 years ago, to appreciate how far ahead the movie "Zardoz" was and how like  "Clockwork Orange", it even forshadowed the future in ways we could not imagine at that time.

I was amazed to get this movie in DVD form as a xmas gift this year, having considered that it was probably lost to the past forever.  
Take a look at the marque in your town this week and see if this film isn't a better use of your viewing time that most of what is playing this week in the beginning of 2003.

Jeeps


Title: Zardoz
Post by: V on November 25, 2006, 04:09:49 PM
After catching this movie a few times on late-night cable, I was left feeling both very confused and very amused. The crazy Eternals were the best part, in my opinion. Besides, there's SEAN CONNERY IN A LOINCLOTH! What other reason do you need?


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Chris Schneider on November 25, 2006, 04:10:12 PM
Hey gang, if you don't get the intention of a movie in which a flying head appears out of the sky and bellows "The peenus iz eevil...it shoots seed..." in the first five minutes to a group of subhuman murderer/rapists, stop it, rewind, return and rent Pippy Longstockings.


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Thomas on November 25, 2006, 04:10:12 PM
I remember first hearing about Zardoz about sixteen years ago.  We were at a mexican restaurant downtown and my father was in a particularly, er. . . esoteric mood.  He asked me what I thought the word 'Zardoz' meant.  So there I sat, stumped for about half an hour before he told me.  "It means: (Wi)Zardo(f)oz," he said.  "It was the name of a movie back in the seventies with Sean Connery; a really trippy one."  Wizard of Oz, eh?  Well, it sure as heck did grab my imagination, and after a somewhat accurate description of the movie's plot, I longed to see it.  

Coincidence of coincidences, within about a year (I think, but my memory is a bit foggy) it was to be shown on TBS.  I freaked out and made sure I taped that sucker!  I don't think I was home when it was on but I was sure to watch it immediately upon my return.  Was I in for a ride.  Maybe it was because I was only 13, or so, but I hadn't the foggiest idea of what the heck was going on!  I remember some stuff about "learning by osmosis" and that guy who reminded me of a jester bragging at the end, "It was I who told you about the Wizard of Oz!"  I do remember, also, how happy the immortals were when all those horse-riding barbarians came to kill them.  I don't remember, however, any nudity.  Guess ol' Ted Turner felt it wasn't appropriate for TBS viewers (though, at that time, they had to put up with watching a feeble Braves organization who hadn't won diddly since the Hank Aaron era).

At any rate, it's about 4:30 a.m. here in sunny California, and I was just browsing through a site called Half.com, looking for some DVD's, when I happened upon an advertisement for a Zardoz DVD.  Out of curiosity, I did a quick search on Google to see if anyone had posted anything interesting about the movie.  And, voila!  As groggy as I was (am), I decided to put in my two cents on this, uh. . . 'eccentric' film.  I still remember it fondly and now yearn to see it again; this time with much more knowledge of the world and a better understanding of thematic devices and how to interpret and pick apart a work.

To those who have seen this movie and liked it: Bravo!  There are indeed many things that make it entertaining and thought-provoking and you should pat yourselves on the back for having discovered them.
To those who have seen it and were puzzled or disgusted by it:  Well, this too I can understand.  It certainly was ahead of its (or any other) time and was quite hard to follow. So don't feel too bad. ;)

Well, I'm sure I'll rent it before too long, and who knows. . . maybe I'll get everything and be enlightened and share my newfound knowledge with everyone I meet.  Maybe that knowledge will help me end all wars and bring about world peace.  Or maybe I'll just sit in front of the television shaking my head, as confused and entertained as ever.

Peace. :)


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Douglas on November 25, 2006, 04:09:03 PM
What a crazy, wonderful movie. After viewing it this past weekend, 30 years after I saw it as a little boy I was suprised how much I remembered and that it seemed riveting.

Of course people today are obscessed with CGI and all the other gimicks that become more important than the plot and they rarely take the time to think about the premises of the movie. Zardoz is the movie that tells us that all we really need is already at our fingertips.

If you ever thought about living forever on this planet with the same people you arfue with on a daily basis this
movie should make you appreciate among other things death.




Title: Zardoz
Post by: crazycat on March 14, 2004, 07:45:45 AM
I saw this movie on TV, the moment I realized Connery was the man running garound in red fruit-o-the looms and black leather boots I was hooked. I bet he gets embarrased when peopl bring this one up. The death of zardoz (the floating head) was dramatic and heart wrenching. I recommend a good amount of beer to go with this movie. There are only about 2 really important scenes, the rest is sort of hazy.


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Spikslow on November 25, 2006, 04:09:49 PM
It only has a few ideas, but they're all pretty unique, the brutality of the world and the susceptibility of civilization to violence, the mistaken divorce of life and death in the human mindset. full of incidental thoughts and lots of Nietzsche -the planned assassination of God!


ahh who am I kidding Charlotte Rampling is a fox! Phwoooaarrr

seriously, I saw this film when I was 14 and now years later and I'm grown up, I still want a Consuella to cuddle, I've lusted after her for years -interesting approach to sex in this film, not recreational (apart from some atypical scenes) but strictly procreational.


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Michael (the Netherlands) on November 25, 2006, 04:10:12 PM
Zardoz was mentioned in a dutch TV-guide a few years ago. Its title appealed my attention, as well the fact that Sean Connery appears in it. So I decided to watch it. When I saw the first images of the movie - the flying head - I thought: "Oh God, this will gonna be like the usual crappy SF 70s-movies". But I continued watching and after a short while I started realising it wasn't so crappy after all. I agree with the person who wrote the review it's very artistic and creative. The story contains a mysterious dusky atmosphere which is pictured very well, and I think the atmosphere is essential for viewers to like this movie. I agree also the movie everything but accesable. You have to watch it several times before you'll get the full picture of the story, but that isn't always a bad thing, is it? The special effects are poor indeed, but I wasn't very bothered about that; you can't expect modern technology in an early 70s-movie. (By the way, the idea is more important then the special effect itselves.) Zardoz is one of the best movies I've ever seen. In my opinion it surpasses the usual big budget Hollywood movies.

Finally one last note to mention. The story contains two main female characters: May and Consuella. Consuella is far more attractive, however I prefer May. May's mysterious appearance and noticeable voice make her a very interesting character (and attractive on a different way). Consuella is nothing but a (penis-hating) b***h. So I was quite dissappointed when Zen chose Consuella to get old with during the end of the story.


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Friend on November 25, 2006, 04:10:12 PM
This movie is bad! This movie is good! This movie is hard to forget, which in my opinion is good!

It was WAY ahead of it's time and not even that far fetched when you think about it. We are getting to the point where through genetic engineering and cloning that we may be able to extend peoples lives indefinitely. But of course not everybody's lives only the elite and wealthy, the rest will have to fend for themselves. And of course the "elite" will have to protect themselves from the "rest" most likely by erecting a barrier of some sort. Already gated communities are dotting the American landscape.

The way it was presented was cheesy but the ideas behind it were quite valid.

See it.


Title: Zardoz
Post by: M3 on November 25, 2006, 04:09:49 PM
Reading the  viewer comments may be enough Zardoz-inspired entertainment in itself to keep me smiling and confused without having to actually see the movie.  I had to laugh outloud and also snicker frequently while reading some particularly funny  lines.  Thanks to all.

The automatic revolver (Webley-Fosberry), although never actually shown in another movie, was mentioned in the Maltese Falcon when Bogart said to the S.F. detective that he had seen one in the war (WWI), but that they don't make them anymore.

Will I laugh more or become morose if I actually see Zardoz the movie?  I'll let you know.


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Zee Head on July 15, 2004, 02:51:09 PM
Forget Rampling.  Sara Kestelman was the sexy one in this movie.  Hot hot hot.  The head has spoken.


Title: Zardoz
Post by: M. from germany on November 25, 2006, 04:09:49 PM
Hmm, it's well known, that films with a brain have no chance to get any success in USA. I like this film very much - just like Clockwork Orange.


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Arthur Freyn on November 25, 2006, 04:09:49 PM
An excellent film, which was years ahead of it's time. The plot regarding an elite society of eternals, who separate themselves from the masses, is clearly the way society is going.

The concept of the onmi-powerful tabernackle computer, using a crystal for infinite memory and storage, with lazer light to storeand access the data, is an incredible insight for a film from 1973.

Truely research is going on with crystals and stroage of data.

It's quite clear what this story is about, why people have trouble understanding it, i don't know. Stupid people probably!

No wonder they don't like it, they are just complete idiots.
For the intellectuals out there who enjoy it, just pity them.


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Zander on July 25, 2004, 12:40:44 PM
This is my favourite movie of all time.  I think it is hilarious.  I could watch that giant floating stone head for hours.


Title: Zardoz
Post by: wavy on November 25, 2006, 04:10:12 PM
Well having met with the sound eng. on the movie in Ashland Or. Mr. sound said this was a party down set.Probably what went down (literaly) during the making of ZARDOZ was the "real movie".Oh, the director John Boorman you must watch the Emerald Forest starring his son to get a better Perspective of Mr. Boorman, writer, director, producer.As far as the meaning of the movie this was Irland and they hated the eternal Enlish. No, Connery is Scotish. Kill me now Zardoz !


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Steve on November 25, 2006, 04:10:12 PM
There were some good ideas here, but the execution seemed lacking.  Sean Connery was probably thinking to himself, "I gave up James Bond for *this*????"  And Beethoven was no doubt rolling in his grave over the abuse of his 7th Symphony (used no doubt because it was public domain; i.e., no royalties or licensing had to be paid)


Title: Zardoz
Post by: M.K. Young on November 25, 2006, 04:09:49 PM
I had to watch snippets of Zardoz over three sittings because it was so hard to take.  I sort of got it and then after reading some postings here I'm feeling dumb for not understanding more of it.

I did wonder how long Zed was going to wear his red speedo and was surprised to see it throughout most of the movie.  And how many shots does a Webley hold?  I thought five but evidently 50.

I have to pick out minor points because I just didn't get the big picture.  I sure would have wanted to punch those self-righteous eternals though.  They were annoying.

Overall, I can't wait to make some friends watch this flick.  Until I can get them to commit, I'll watch Starcrash--not as trippy and just plain bad/good.

 


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Felicity on October 01, 2004, 03:16:19 PM
Almost completely terrible--a few moments of unintentional hilarity fail to save it.  Not worth viewing even once.  What the hell happened to science fiction in the 1970s?


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Felicity on November 25, 2006, 04:09:03 PM
The thing is, I get that SF movies are better when they’re about ideas, and I agree that mainstream SF movies have devolved into nothing more than action movies with a few SF elements, but if you’re going to make an SF movie that’s about ideas and has a message, you need to communicate those ideas and that message.  And you’re not going to do that if the movie doesn’t make any damn sense to 90% of the people viewing it.

The other thing is that the movie’s idea/message is depressing.  That can be fun in its own way, but in that case it’s best kept short, so you can absorb the neatness of the idea without actually having to spend a lot of time dwelling in the depression.

Then, too, I have a particular problem with movies set in a post-apocalyptic future, especially when the one oasis of civilization in that future is (a) portrayed as bad and wrong for being an attempt to stave off the post-apocalyptic wasteland, (b) all low-tech and barbaric-looking, with people in period costumes and slaves in rough-hewn uniforms, and (c) totally fascist and evil, what with its classism, callousness towards suffering, misandry (“The penis is evil”?  I’m sick of hearing that from mainstream culture), and deliberate attempts to make the outside world a worse place.

I get that all of this was intentional and led to the movie’s point--but unfortunately it was at the cost of the movie being watchable.  There’s not much point in making an intelligent movie with a message if it’s so boring, depressing, and confusing that it’s unpleasant to watch.  And yes, you *can* be boring *and* confusing at the same time.

Then again, as I say, I have a particular problem with post-apocalyptic wasteland movies.  I also hate westerns, so it resonated well for me when the late Jay Scott said that post-apocalyptic wasteland movies are basically science-fiction westerns.


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Brad on November 25, 2006, 04:09:49 PM
I have found many of the comments posted here to be both profound and silly.  And that fits with the movie. I beleive that this was the first movie that Sean did after playing Bond, James Bond.  007
One thing that no one had mentioned was that the Vortexes were some kind of space ship. They gathered up the best of their world to save. The Imortality was developed so that they could live to go to the stars.  But that sort of turned into a dead end and they came back home to a ruined planet.  Remeber the starving masses trying to get into the vortex in a flash back.

My favorite concept in the movie was the punisment sentences.  If you were sentenced to 5 years, they aged you 5 years.  A few years here and there adds up. But no matter how old and senial you get, they will not let you die....  In the extream case of the inventer of the tabernical who is bedridden.  All of the original generation has been aged for various infractions and you are dealing with thier children, born to the vortex life.  They are bored. Many of them have committed suicide several times. Remember that you can't die.
They make themselves do some manual work for something to do.  There is food trading between the different vortexes as Zed found out when he first entered.  They are even making the Exterminaters grow wheat for them now instead of just killing people.  Wich sets the stage for Zed to enter the vortex and kill his god.
I am a great fan of the Wizard of OZ.  My current cat owner is named Zardoz.  :)  


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Chick Copp on November 25, 2006, 04:10:12 PM
Brilliantly over the top pseudo-intellectual Brit movie, not since he was painted silvery green with bits of trees stuck on his head to play some kind of Green man Godhead thingie in "Sword of the Valiant" has Sean Connery been so valiantly mis-treated by the makeup department. Sean is always held in such high regard by filmophiles, but I have found him to errr...to be playing himself, Scotch Git extraordinaire in red loin cloth with braided ponytail wig, or painted green with twigs attached (he produced "Sword of the Valiant" too)  etc....

I saw this on the big screen back in '74, it certainly needs the super sizing of the silver screen, seeing him roughly squeeze a poor Brit actress's boob and her not move a muscle when she must have been a) wishing to knee him in the nuts, or b) shout loud and long for him to desist forthwith!!, is hillarious. John Boorman is definitly of the Ken Russell school of film making, ie pile on the ever more obscure images and pile drive home your psycho sexual messages as hard as you can. I mean just count the number of phallic symbols in Zardoz, I got up to 133 before I got over excited at Charlotte Rampling's nipples poking through her string vest...hubba....hubba!!!

This is best viewed with the knowledge that it is a leftover Dr Who script or something, it is a classic of the you-just-let-it-unfold-before-you variety of Brit movie, our inate feelings of superiority over the rest of the World results in movies like this. Of course you do not understand it Johnny Foreigner! This is intellectual stuff. Just enjoy the mud wrestling and boob squeezing, oucheeeeee....



Title: Zardoz
Post by: WitchKing on November 25, 2006, 04:10:12 PM
Mind-bendingly cool.  I tend more towards the horror and fantasy genres than the sci-fi vein, but this opus definitely delivered.  Wildly surreal and clever --love the "Wizard of Oz" reference-- it certainly left me feeling like I'd seen something either insane or profound (like perhaps "El Topo" or "The Holy Mountain").  I don't think I can name another movie like this where a big-name Hollywood male star is so scantily-clad and objectified throughout the entire film's running time.  Connery looks great and the entire cast just salivates over him.  I'd read somewhere that his red loincloth had to replaced on an almost daily basis because someone from the set kept making off with it(!).


Title: Zardoz
Post by: ejpt on November 25, 2006, 04:10:12 PM
Wow, this is one of the most articulate forums I have run across on the internet and no one degenerated in their comments (kudos to the moderator).  I loved Zardoz when I saw it on the big screen in the 70's and I salivated over Sean Connery.  Forget the bare chest look of today...this is a man.  And the movie, to me, is a message of man's limited ability to truly grasp the full consequences of his or her actions no matter how well intentioned.  So when man tries to "play God" and control others, the environment, etc. things can go very wrong.  I found the movie plot fairly easy to follow (after I had seen it a few times to make sure I had actually seen what I thought I had seen and I was past the "jaw-dropped" look) and intricate. However, it is also disjointed with choppy transitions so I would believe this was a "party" movie set.  I also suspect Sean Connery was looking for a role that was vastly different from the James Bond character and this seemed to fit the bill.  Great movie, lots of fun and I will be looking for it on DVD.


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Matt on November 25, 2006, 04:10:12 PM
This is the original Matrix. Zed/Neo, a superhuman, has to destroy this computer thing that binds everyones minds together. Its the same plot, dude! For all of you people bashing this movie, the only thing that separates it from the Matrix is the special effects. Think about it. The parallels are spooky. I think this may be more an artifact of our fascination with how technology runs rampant and takes over our lives than a deliberate copying of the plot. But if the what-cha-ma-call-it brothers copied Zardoz, like would anyone know? How many people have seen Zardoz, really?

I'll also say that I believe this movie is a comment on the time it was made in. The cultural revolutions of the 60's were burning out. The Vortex people kind of symbolize those freaky, idealistic hippies, that are going to come together (vortex-like) to form these Aquarian communities of like-minded people that are going to create a new world. That was the 60's and everything was going to be good. Then comes the 70's and the disillusionment had set in, the apathy. Hence we have the apathetics, all the hippies finally giving up their love and good will after living in these freaky communes where, in reality, you can't express your feelings necessarilly and be your own self but you have to be enslaved to this group ego/id. So, they all get passive agressive and crush the individuals who act out ("You must go to the second level" and what about that poor dude they put on trial b/c he was p**sed off about having to be nice to everyone?) and gradually the communities self destruct. That's the 70's baby - self destruction. In the 60's we all come together in this communal vortex, everyone gets sucked in together (hence a vortex), and in the 70's we blow it all apart through the darkest side of drug abuse, sex, or finally becoming venture capitalists (like the apathetics finally going wonkers at the end of the movie, having sex, and then killing people). These idealistic communities are basically blown apart. Boorman's film is really a commentary on this happening of those decades: the vortexual pulling in of the 60's, this over identification with everyone else (as in the computer crystal thingy - please everyone else get out of my head!) and then the necessary reaction to that over saturation of community -which is to separate again from others and go back to being an individual. The movie I saw that helped put this all in my head was a documentary about the Weather Underground - the revolutionary student movement that bombed public facilities in the 60's and 70's. Search for it on NetFlix. We're talking dark 60's. I think this is a great movie, but entirely hilarious too! Watch with friends so you can all laugh together.


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Friend on November 25, 2006, 04:09:49 PM
A film for the imaginative. I wish there were more films that dare to throw as much cerebral content into the pot(plot!).It may just miss out on being an absolute classic due to it's meandering style but it's a sci-fi pageant and who cares if you can't understand all of it.
 


Title: Zardoz
Post by: bedpost on November 25, 2006, 04:10:12 PM
Truly one of the best op the bad movies.  It's Sean Connery's "Barbarella"!


Title: Zardoz
Post by: kurtisthall on November 25, 2006, 04:10:12 PM
The movie lacked just a little from making it really good. I'm still trying to figure out all the details. A little dated in the English hippy era. Lots of nice, soft English girl breasts. "Planet of the Apes" crossed with "The Trip"


Title: Zardoz
Post by: brutal on November 25, 2006, 04:09:49 PM
If Zardoz is such bad movie why do so many devote so much time talking about it.  If not for the vocabulary of ideaz given to you by lord Zardoz it is likely you'd be discussing jackass or some other inanity.  You've been bred and led yourself!


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Steven Jackson on November 25, 2006, 04:09:49 PM
I agree with the brutal I think we've all been used, re-used abused and amused!! There is something cool about zardoz, my fav part is of course the famous 'the gun is good' (watch for the guy who nearly falls over).


Title: Zardoz
Post by: TBickel on November 25, 2006, 04:09:49 PM
A true horror classic!  If you think this movie was bad, you should have seen it when it was originally released on the big screen and via the haze of a cannabis high.  I'm still suffering from the after affects. . . it was downright scary!  
 


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Steven Jackson on November 25, 2006, 04:09:49 PM
A truely 'zen' amazing film, one would argue a typical Boorman film. This movie emplifies a future society in choas and distress, the question in this movie is whether zardoz is really the hero of the film? His messages of distruction could be reflected in today's society. Are we using the penis as a symbol of male dominance in an otherwise unstable level of society and humanity? Could he have been implying the future distruction of humanity through the man or aka the penis? Arthur Fray was argubaly the villian, although again I had to watch the film twice to feel almost pity for his imortal state, the fool, did he think we would feel pity?!! Zardoz will rise again...    


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Scumbalina on November 25, 2006, 04:10:12 PM
GREAT MOVIE! They don't make them like they used to. Anything involving a giant flying stone head, sean connery hurling a woman through the air, weird sexual conotations, fishnet rape, wizard of oz manipulation and lots of boobies!...that's the movie for me!

How can you watch a movie called "ZARDOZ" with sean connery on the cover wearing red speedos and a long braid down his back and be offended that it was "weird", or "cheesy" or "didn't make sense". C'mon, get real. This is a brilliant/sometimes silly cult sci-fi flick from the 70's. Rediculous and entertaining in all it's glory! Accept it for what it is going in and you will love this movie.


Title: Zardoz
Post by: George on November 25, 2006, 04:10:12 PM
Saw it when it came out.

It was strange, Connery was himself, and I walked out

of the theater thinking it over.

Like when I walked out from seeing "King Rat".

Any movie, that makes some impact on you, for good or bad, to stop and weigh some of the ideas presented, then sticks over years but you dont know why,

I put in a separate category from good or bad film.

It was just different.


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Virginia Plane on November 25, 2006, 04:09:49 PM
  This movie is bad enough to be on MST3k. I had an ex who actually took it SERIOUSLY!  (An indication I shouldn't have been in that relationship, hehe.) Charlotte Rampling is such a horrible actress, she's almost as untalented as kirstie alley.  I like how Sean spends much of the movie looking very bored or like he's trying not to laugh. As a het female who is not uptight, I don't really care about boobs in a movie but they should NOT look like they have POOP on them. ycch!


Title: Zardoz
Post by: Hal on June 20, 2006, 12:36:14 PM
The movie concept was brilliant but the execution a bit jarring. They should have kicked the philosophical aspects up a notch and eased up editing the movie a bit so the apathetics could understand.


Title: Re: Zardoz
Post by: Lola on August 30, 2007, 01:10:04 AM
I love thsi movie. It makes no sense, and there is no plot, so you cannot predict what will happen next. Not being able to figure out how the whole movie goes in the fisrt ten minutes is a big plus for me. I always like that in a movie.

I must confess, however, that the main reason I love this movie is Sean Connery in a loincloth. There are many things in this world that are fine and hot, but none so much so as a Scotsman! Especially Sean Connery!


Title: Re: Zardoz
Post by: Fred LeTed on December 13, 2007, 12:43:00 AM
I first read the novel, which I think was written by John Boorman, and it seemed to made strange sense, having read SF by 70's authors like JG Ballard (well, I don't think that I ever read any complete novel written by him), and James Blish, etc ... you get the picture.

Then I saw the movie on TV & convinced myself that it was good. You should never admit to yourself that your judgment in wanting to watch a movie you select is bad. Poor taste and you never regain those 90 minutes of your life.

Then it was like watching an ageing superhero wearing his underwear over his tights having a verbal with the teacher from Please Sir.

and finally: Heheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheh. The 70's was the 70's, as distinct from the 60's.  (I'm trying to be 70's psycho here....)


Title: Re: Zardoz
Post by: Mike on December 13, 2007, 12:57:02 AM
Just saw it!

WOW!  What a train wreck!  A glorious train wreck!  Great Gay Element!  S.C. half naked all the time and that licking the guys hand!  WOW!  Sean! The early seventies definitely was a psychotropic mess.  I love these naked moments with famous people who fall through the membrane of common sense in cultural times. I.E.> Jane Fonda showing her sympathies and support for N Vietnam.   A genuine (RETHINK).  I would have to say after James Bond this was a true reach of confusion.   
I have to admit being very much entertained at times with this movie.  anyone should  admit a movie like this would never be made today.  Wait.... I'm wrong....it was re-made for our modern times.  In fact, it was made into a trilogy called the MATRIX!!!!!!  Tabernacle vs Architect,  Lump of a brute actually being our savior.   A perfect society cloaked to the real world.   The Oracle vs character May.    What has passed will come again.   I'm not s**tting you real big heady similarities.

At any rate if you like Sean in a loin cloth or a lot of tittie scenes mashed together with  a huge smattering of seventies nihilistic  dillusionism.  "HEY!!!!"..... DON"T GROAN!   Come on! that can be fun.  Silent Running,  They Shoot Horses don't They,  One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.  Bleak and very entertaining. _ This  is the movie for you.!!!

By the way who wouldn't want to shot-put a chick who puts out like a dead fish! :thumbup:


Title: Re: Zardoz
Post by: indianasmith on December 15, 2007, 11:16:17 AM
This was definitely one of the strangest movies I've ever seen, Exhibit A in my argument that the 1970's were truly "The Decade Without Taste."


Exhibit B is Jimmy Carter.


Title: Re: Zardoz
Post by: Bert on April 24, 2008, 03:37:42 PM
I love Zardoz a-lot.  I used to work in a video store (circa 1984) and we had it.  I ended up buying the VHS copy for $1 due to it NEVER getting rented.  That copy got watched till the wheels fell off.  I picked t up a few years ago on DVD and I've probably watched it 20-30 times since then.  I'm always intrigued by films that have odd premises and Connery in a leather diaper is just a hoot!  I've showed it to all my friends and most of them enjoyed the experience.  Some were confused...but they're the ones that like Waterboy or Cruel Intentions.  So, they don't count.  I highly recommend Zardoz and I love your take on it!  The timeline is a riot...


Title: Re: Zardoz
Post by: avenger the eagle on September 12, 2008, 07:08:34 PM
Wierd movie, not the worst I ever saw, but one of the strangest.


Title: Re: Zardoz
Post by: Giant Claw Jr on October 18, 2008, 11:27:15 PM
Sean Connery going from JAMES BOND to playing some doofus riding on a horse wearing a pampers while a big stone head floats around just how bad can it get? :thumbdown: :buggedout:


Title: Re: Zardoz
Post by: qwerty on February 19, 2009, 11:25:50 PM
I saw parts of this 5 or 6 years ago and ever since I couldn't get it out of my mind.  I don't know why.  I don't think I like it or dislike it, but I'm drawn to it.  I do happen to think that the women in this movie were incredibly hot, and I'm glad they showed their boobs :teddyr:  

I plan to make my friends watch it.


Title: Re: Zardoz
Post by: ChewyMatty on March 12, 2009, 08:02:14 PM
I subcribe to the "gated community" reading of this movie but try and take it even further. We, the people of the western world, are the immortals, the ppl on the outside of the screen are the worlds poor like africans etc, and Zed represents ppl like saddam hussain, idi amin, etc. He is an agent of the rich to hold down the poor and keep the wolf from our door. The immortals who bring him in are like todays libs lol, who are sick of life and want the poor to overrun us, because in their minds its only fair.

Having said that, great movie. one of the best of all time .


Title: Re: Zardoz
Post by: dartek on October 21, 2009, 12:26:39 PM
Kudos to you all and to all behold. This is a transcendent film by mere content alone. Who has dared unravel such a comprehensive and ambitious synopsis of the human psyche? Not since Wells and his Time Machine has their been such an exploration of "where does it all end"? To answer T.S. Eliot ... YES .. it would have been worthwhile. So apart from the wonderful cacophony of literary themes there remains a puzzle. What is that force that restored nature over the human species? For years I assumed Bormann was asserting God himself. If not then are we to conclude that nature will find a way to subject us as a species?

God .. could you imagine Burt Reynolds as Zed .. clearly Burt refused because he didn't understand any of the concepts ... Sean is very convincing as an Intellectual.


Title: Re: Zardoz
Post by: Iman Azol on January 15, 2010, 02:01:54 AM
"They didn't live an unsustainable lifestyle"??????

That was exactly the point of the movie.

Textbook liberals, full of self-loathing, bleating about the poor while treating them as animals.

Pretty simple concept. 

It was only done in Star Trek a dozen times.


Title: Re: Zardoz
Post by: Ken Begg on June 08, 2010, 06:47:37 PM
There's always been a camp that has derided critics of this film (which I saw in a drive-in when I was like ten, so you can imagine) as just "not getting it."  So I felt pretty vindicated when decades later the DVD came out with a director commentary by the aptly named John Boorman, who clearly didn't have a thought in his head about the film.  The best moment is when the massive stone Zardoz first appears floating up in the sky and Boorman--this being one of those commentaries that goes dead for five or ten minutes at a stretch--suddenly goes, "That's a model."  I literally burst out laughing.  Yeah, no sh*t, Sherlock.

One of those digest review books, maybe the Leonard Maltin one, opined that the filmmakers seemed to think "ideas were meant to be looked at, but not handled."  I always liked that line.


Title: Re: Zardoz
Post by: Kutter on June 10, 2010, 02:54:13 AM
Sometimes a pretentious movie is just a pretentious movie.  Zardoz is one of those movies.  It's so wacky and yet it takes itself so seriously that people think there has to be some kind of depth to it.  There isn't.  It is exactly what it seems to be.

Still, fun movie, because it is so out there.


Title: Re: Zardoz
Post by: sandra on June 12, 2010, 12:46:10 PM
Boorman has made some good movies, but ZARDOZ isn't one of them.  Its what happens when people with no knowledge of or interest in Sci-Fi meddle with it.  They re-invent the wheel and think they are being profound.


Title: Re: Zardoz
Post by: doctor von awesome on June 13, 2010, 05:37:52 PM
silly, pretentious wankery that thinks its deep. yep, a perfect atheist movie.


Title: Re: Zardoz
Post by: HarlotBug3 on June 21, 2010, 05:32:04 PM
I missed this site, and I don't recommend anyone miss Zardoz.

It will give you something, even if it's "I want to go back to the 70s and kill everyone who wanted to talk to the future."


Title: Re: Zardoz
Post by: indianasmith on June 21, 2010, 05:34:17 PM
welcome back, HB!!!!


Title: Re: Zardoz
Post by: John Richardson on July 08, 2010, 05:16:14 PM
Ahead of it's time.
No surprise the reviewer is tired of people explaining that he 'did not get it'.
I'm afraid he did not.
I will not explain the true origin and role of Z. here, though it is explained clearly by the pool as the Exterminators arrive.
Suffice to say the reviewer (though generous, for somebody who has little clue as to what is going on) might have enjoyed (not to say appreciated) the film more if he understood why the elderly were really aged.
'Friends' first explanation is not actually true....he couldn't tell the truth to Z...because then Z could not....

Oh, and they are impotent because they do not reproduce.

Crummy voice over by the director 26 years later ?
Irrelevant.

A truly fantastic film.


Title: Re: Zardoz
Post by: Andrew on July 08, 2010, 08:11:21 PM
Crummy voice over by the director 26 years later ?
Irrelevant.

Really?  That the writer/director did not delve into any meaning behind his film is irrelevant?  People, including you, insist that I just don't "get it," and the fact that the person who made the film also doesn't seem to "get it" is extremely relevant in my eyes.  He had 105 minutes, surely he could have mentioned something deeper than "that's a model."

Suffice to say the reviewer (though generous, for somebody who has little clue as to what is going on) might have enjoyed (not to say appreciated) the film more if he understood why the elderly were really aged.
'Friends' first explanation is not actually true....he couldn't tell the truth to Z...because then Z could not....

In this and the true role of Z your argument is that my problem is not understanding the film, but you do not offer any insight into what you perceive to be the message.  That is nothing more than a dodge on your part.  Please explain the true role of Z, and please explain the true reason why the elderly were aged.

Also, by using the intentionally confusing "Z" you make it hard to understand who you are referring to.  Zed or Zardoz?


Title: Re: Zardoz
Post by: John Richardson on July 10, 2010, 05:45:38 PM
Hello Andrew,

I hope you see this response as I am unused to this site; my thoughts on 'Zardoz' being my first contribution/visit.
Now, you ask about Zed's true role.
I did not spell this out as it would spoil the film for any one who hadn't seen it.
Zed is not a rebel or a revolutionary.
He is instead the tool of two eternals who have created him to release them from eternity. Everything is planned (as with 'The Matrix Reloaded, there may have been previous Zeds).
This is because the Eternals have exhausted every option, including space travel. As explained in the film, that was; "....another dead end". The Eternals are falling to a 'catatonic state' ("...it's spreading through the Vortexes.")
Very briefly, Zed becomes a true Man-God, or Nazi Superman* or 'Trans-human' to use contemporary/current terms.
He has supernatural powers to control time and natural forces (the wind most dramatically).

"Meanwhile, Zed impregnates May and almost a dozen of her friends before the Connery baby-batter-infused ladies flee the ruin of Vortex 4."
I'm pretty sure this does not happen.......
Instead Zed 'revives' or perhaps 'triggers' willing eternals. Using touch.

You also ask about the films 'deeper meaning'. Yes I would certainly address this should you wish, not now as it's late. I warn you, it is frighteningly relevant to today's world. Honest.

Perhaps on reflection you might forgiver the directors rambling. He seems to be adding professional not artistic/philosophical insight. Also he's v. old. Also, he did publish a book he felt would better explain the concept, alongside the film at the time. He wondered if it might work better as a novel; so he did believe in the intellectual concept.

Regards. 


*Don't dismiss this twisted concept without honest enquiry.


Title: Re: Zardoz
Post by: John Richardson on July 10, 2010, 05:57:10 PM
Drat.

Just realised I didn't explain the aged.

They were the eternal's parents.
The created the whole shebang.
Not 'renegades' exactly.
Their children called them, 'middle aged' or 'too middle aged', for their taste....... None survived their children's disappointment and so were all aged. Hence no 'original' scientists in the community Zed arrives in. They lost a power struggle with their (evil) children who discarded them.
The greatest ageing is given to the inventor of immortality. Zed speaks with him as he dies.
Friend is not telling the whole truth when he first explains transgression & punishment in the Vortex.


Title: Re: Zardoz
Post by: Andrew on July 10, 2010, 08:25:27 PM
Now, you ask about Zed's true role.
I did not spell this out as it would spoil the film for any one who hadn't seen it.
Zed is not a rebel or a revolutionary.
He is instead the tool of two eternals who have created him to release them from eternity. Everything is planned (as with 'The Matrix Reloaded, there may have been previous Zeds).
This is because the Eternals have exhausted every option, including space travel. As explained in the film, that was; "....another dead end". The Eternals are falling to a 'catatonic state' ("...it's spreading through the Vortexes.")
Very briefly, Zed becomes a true Man-God, or Nazi Superman* or 'Trans-human' to use contemporary/current terms.
He has supernatural powers to control time and natural forces (the wind most dramatically).

Arthur Frayn does take credit for the selective breeding program that eventually produced Zed and his co-conspirator executioners, but Zed also throws that back into Arthur's face right before the scene at the fountain that you mentioned earlier.  Zed came about because he is the next step in evolution.  The man who made the Tabernacle says that Nature made Zed.  From the review:

Quote
As it turns out, Zed is physically, mentally, and genetically superior to the Eternals. He is the product of hundreds of years of natural selection and a breeding program guided by Zardoz (Arthur Frayn). While the Eternals were inventing time-consuming social etiquette just to fill the endless days of their lives, Zed's ancestors were fighting tooth and nail, blood and sweat, for the right to survive and reproduce.

I see the movie's basic argument is that people were not meant to live forever.  On a personal level, becoming an Eternal removed reasons for living, the things that are the zest of life.  No babies to carry on humanity's march into the future, no frantic efforts to improve the world before death, no fear of death itself.  Just endless days stretching before the Eternals, and no way for them to have any choice in the matter.  From the review: 

Quote
The reason for the ubiquitous erectile dysfunction appears to be the lack of urgency in the Eternals' life. Nobody dies, everyone acts nice to each other, and I doubt any of the men have ever worn boxing gloves or baseball cleats in their uselessly long lives. Life is a bland mixture, served at room temperature, so that nobody is discomforted. Unfortunately, that means that nobody is especially happy, either.


"Meanwhile, Zed impregnates May and almost a dozen of her friends before the Connery baby-batter-infused ladies flee the ruin of Vortex 4."
I'm pretty sure this does not happen.......
Instead Zed 'revives' or perhaps 'triggers' willing eternals. Using touch.

From the scene when Zed bids farewell to May and the others, I believed that he had given then children to carry on the evolution of the human race.  He does mention their sons and daughters.

My interpretation of the apathetics becoming full of life was that their exposure to Zed introduced them to something more than their flavorless existence.  The rediscovered a reason to enjoy, to struggle, to live. 

You also ask about the films 'deeper meaning'. Yes I would certainly address this should you wish, not now as it's late. I warn you, it is frighteningly relevant to today's world. Honest.

Please, when time allows for you to post such.

Drat.

Just realised I didn't explain the aged.

They were the eternal's parents.
The created the whole shebang.
Not 'renegades' exactly.
Their children called them, 'middle aged' or 'too middle aged', for their taste....... None survived their children's disappointment and so were all aged. Hence no 'original' scientists in the community Zed arrives in. They lost a power struggle with their (evil) children who discarded them.
The greatest ageing is given to the inventor of immortality. Zed speaks with him as he dies.
Friend is not telling the whole truth when he first explains transgression & punishment in the Vortex.

I believe that the renegades are populated by both the parents, the scientists who created the vortexes and the Tabernacle, and some of their children.  From what is told, there was not a power struggle between the scientists and their children.  It's just that all of the parents have gone renegade, perhaps because they were less suited to the way of life in the vortexes than the younger generation (who grew into adulthood in the confines of the vortex).


Title: Re: Zardoz
Post by: John Richardson on July 13, 2010, 12:10:17 PM
'Zardoz', my understanding of it's spiritual/political import.

Now, for me 'Zardoz' is not entertainment as such. Boorman had total control following his 'Deliverance' smash hit. He chose to either make a statement or to give a warning, depending upon your view. I understand your analysis; that humans should not live forever, but surly, there is so much more going on throughout the film ? I imagine the boredom and insanity of eternity would have figured even more prominently, if that were the case.

I regard the people who enter the Vortex as being the contemporary elite that we endure in our world today.
Those who desire control over others.
Those who pursue unimaginable wealth.
Those born to expect the above & to view it as their birthright ['My Duty & My Right'; motto of our House of Windsor].
Now supplanted or joined by a new, debased, Godless, scientific/technological elite.
Who refuse to label GM food.
Who sell terminator seeds.
cont.   


Title: Re: Zardoz
Post by: John Richardson on July 13, 2010, 12:21:12 PM
Those who use the Internet to exert control.
Those who invent WsMD.
Those who would 'chip' the human population.
Those who create mood altering drugs for profit; such as MDMA for example. (Who really believes that was designed as a slimming drug ?)

You can throw your own examples on the pile if you like. My point is that we are living in a unique era. We are more vulnerable to the power of elites than ever before. The technology at their disposal is terrifying. The information (about us,the natural world,human behaviour,even the human psyche) they have easy access to, when allied to new technology, affords almost supernatural power to them and their progeny.
Think I'm overstating my case ?


Title: Re: Zardoz
Post by: John Richardson on July 13, 2010, 12:50:11 PM
That would be reasonable. However, I would ask you to consider reading (especially the first few pages) this short essay by Bill Joy 'Why The Future Doesn't Need Us' (2000), co founder and Chief Scientist of Sun Microsystems, co chair of the presidential commission on the future of IT research. For example he explains; "I think it is no exaggeration to say we are on the cusp of the further perfection of extreme evil, an evil whose possibility spreads well beyond that which weapons of mass destruction bequeathed to the nation-states, on to a surprising and terrible empowerment of extreme individuals."
Yes.
Andrew, these 'extreme individuals' are real. They exist today and they are not idle.
For example, see You-tube; 'Bill Gates Admits Vaccines Are Used for Human Depopulation'. If you are unfamiliar with these topics you will be shocked.


Title: Re: Zardoz
Post by: John Richardson on July 13, 2010, 01:21:25 PM
Any sane person would be.
'Zardoz' is a warning.
These elite notions of technological immortality are powerful ideas.They go back to Thomas Malthus. Boorman is flagging them up. Andrew, if you study the eugenicist movement and their actions & beliefs, ;you would surly conclude the world of Zed was not 'dying' as explained. Instead it was murdered. The elite murdered it. They exterminated Billions another contributors to this site mentioned 'the Illuminate' in reference to 'Zardoz', he was correct. The elite did not hide from catastrophe, they caused it & then inherited the Earth. (Friend admits the technology was for space travel, lucky they were able to work so quickly amid social breakdown ? Hardly.)This is the reason the Exterminators exist you see. As 'man would spread like a pestilence across the land' if not murdered by them. Did you ever wonder why the eternals did not use their technological power to help the savage survivors ? Why they are not developing civilisation? They did not become immortal to survive. No. The whole point was the quest for perfection, the deaths of the common rabble an irrelevance. This is the statement Boorman was making, 'This is the future planned for the masses; savagery and madness. Technology makes the elite's dark fantasies a possibility. Nature will be the self correcting factor. Eventually.'
I disagree with his statement but respect his warning.
If I am correct it would explain his reserved, technical voice over I suppose.
As for 'not getting it' the whole point of 'Zardoz' is that we don't 'all get it'. Boorman obviously has real sympathy with the elite. Neither did I at first, but as another blogger here wrote,'There was something about the film....I couldn't get it out of my mind'.
Well. I warned you it was heavy.
Try, if you would, to find the time to peruse those above two sources. This topic is so strange, original 'references' are more necessary than usual.
I look forward to any response you might post here.

Regards. 


Title: Re: Zardoz
Post by: Andrew on July 14, 2010, 02:48:49 PM
These elite notions of technological immortality are powerful ideas.They go back to Thomas Malthus. Boorman is flagging them up. Andrew, if you study the eugenicist movement and their actions & beliefs, ;you would surly conclude the world of Zed was not 'dying' as explained. Instead it was murdered. The elite murdered it. They exterminated Billions another contributors to this site mentioned 'the Illuminate' in reference to 'Zardoz', he was correct. The elite did not hide from catastrophe, they caused it & then inherited the Earth. (Friend admits the technology was for space travel, lucky they were able to work so quickly amid social breakdown ? Hardly.)This is the reason the Exterminators exist you see. As 'man would spread like a pestilence across the land' if not murdered by them. Did you ever wonder why the eternals did not use their technological power to help the savage survivors ? Why they are not developing civilisation? They did not become immortal to survive. No. The whole point was the quest for perfection, the deaths of the common rabble an irrelevance. This is the statement Boorman was making, 'This is the future planned for the masses; savagery and madness. Technology makes the elite's dark fantasies a possibility. Nature will be the self correcting factor. Eventually.'

I believe that I understand your argument for the film's deeper meaning.  However, there is not a scene in the film that supports the idea that the Eternals caused the downfall of civilization.  From the scene with the scientists and their children, and the little speech given, it appears that the world is going to Hell in a handbasket and the Eternals effectively shut it out.  They used their technology to wall themselves off from the misery, poverty, starvation, and war that consumed everything else.  Such comes the scene with the refugees staring across the invisible wall into the idyllic paradise of the Eternals.

Also, there are different classes of elite in modern human culture.  Scientific is one of them, and appears to be the one represented by the Eternals, but most of your examples appear to be more targeted at the power elite.

I disagree with your argument about the elite causing the savagery and madness endured by others.  Besides Arthur's selective breeding program and forced labor for growing crops (which must be a limited scope - he is still only one person), the Eternals do not meddle in the affairs of the people outside the vortex.  Even the forced farming must be fairly recent, as Zed's comments indicate it was a new development that did not sit well with him.  So, the Eternals just turned their back on the rest of the world as it fell into chaos.  Granted, they could have tried to help civilization to rebuild, but that also doesn't fit with how the Eternal society is portrayed.  Unless something affects them or their harmony, such as disturbing thoughts during group meditation, they are too self-engrossed to care.

The idea of an elite caste controlling technology that so outpaces that available to the average person is interesting.  It has been covered in a number of books and stories as well.  In some, everyone eventually becomes more equal due to the tech being shared.  In others, the worst case scenario like you depict is the result.


Title: Re: Zardoz
Post by: John Richardson on July 14, 2010, 05:28:02 PM
Thanks for your response Andrew.
I take your point about other artistic efforts regarding technology-progress-power-evolution-nature-God.
The 'Dune' series centered upon the prospect of artificially accelerated evolution. Then there is 'Blade Runner' obviously.
Though I can certainly understand why someone could regard 'Zardoz' as absurd, perhaps you might see why some (a minority if not an elite:-) do see 'deeper meaning'.
I do think you let the Eternals off a little lightly. Though it's many years since I saw the film ; didn't the Eternals first create the Exterminators to eradicate the small but growing numbers of survivors ? Why would they do that ? The savages could never have threatened those inside the vortex. I recall they were being slaughtered on principle, in case they did increase in number, their utility for food production being a later happy coincidence. This confused & angered the Exterminators. Yep, when I think about it, it seems implicit the Eternals maintain a genocidal attitude to any outside their caste. Regarding them as animals......mind you...if you saw some of the people I have to work with sometimes...where's 'Zed' when you need him ?
Boorman drops loads of hints though...even the Egyptian headdresses are highly significant. The Eternal's crystal's placed in the 'third eye' pineal gland location...it's all there...

Regards.


Title: Re: Zardoz
Post by: Andrew on July 15, 2010, 08:46:25 AM
I do think you let the Eternals off a little lightly. Though it's many years since I saw the film ; didn't the Eternals first create the Exterminators to eradicate the small but growing numbers of survivors ? Why would they do that ? The savages could never have threatened those inside the vortex. I recall they were being slaughtered on principle, in case they did increase in number, their utility for food production being a later happy coincidence. This confused & angered the Exterminators. Yep, when I think about it, it seems implicit the Eternals maintain a genocidal attitude to any outside their caste. Regarding them as animals......mind you...if you saw some of the people I have to work with sometimes...where's 'Zed' when you need him ?

It appears that Arthur (with possibly Friend as a collaborator) created the whole Zardoz religion and instructed the exterminators to engage in genocide.  They never really give a reason why, besides Arthur's selective breeding program to produce a super human that can defeat the Tabernacle.  At the fountain, Arthur does claim credit for breeding and leading Zed.  It seems that everything Arthur inflicted on the people outside of the vortex is justified, in his mind, by the need to be free of eternal life. 

Otherwise, the rest of the Eternals seem to ignore the people suffering outside of the walls.

Thanks for your response Andrew.
I take your point about other artistic efforts regarding technology-progress-power-evolution-nature-God.
The 'Dune' series centered upon the prospect of artificially accelerated evolution. Then there is 'Blade Runner' obviously.
Though I can certainly understand why someone could regard 'Zardoz' as absurd, perhaps you might see why some (a minority if not an elite:-) do see 'deeper meaning'.

Part of it is the vehemence and air of superiority that is displayed by those who have told me I just don't "get it."  It's not a good way to perk my interest in discussion.  Another part is that I feel the main focus of the film is that people are not meant to live forever; we are not wired for endless days upon days, and doing so could stagnate our journey to what we will become.


Title: Re: Zardoz
Post by: John Richardson on July 15, 2010, 10:15:54 AM
The Eternals certainly do ignore the suffering outside the Vortex. They also ignore the suffering inside the Vortex; their parents & the apathetics. I seem to remember Friend being cruel about an ex-love as well.....Again, for me, they were devoted to the quest for perfection, personal and social. (A la Communism/Nazism. A true 'Master Race' on Earth, a perfect commune sharing everything including consciousness). If perfection is achieved, eternity would be only natural. This is why they hoarded all those art treasures and studied literature, mystic religions & human behaviour and stuff (as opposed to regenerating the lost world). The intrinsic evil that they are given over to is not explicitly spelt out in the film. Hence, for me, the film's subtle brilliance. It gradually dawns on the audience just what the Eternals have become. Who they really are. Though they are seemingly a perfect democracy & all equal; the truth is that they have arrived at a tyrannical and cruel terminus. I wish I could recall what the condemned Eternal says about his fellows, but he hated them deeply. We certainly are not told why the extermination programme was started. I think that we are to work that out ourselves. After all, Zed had to, and the name of the film itself is a riddle, a code. Interesting that Boorman (despite contemporary political concerns) did not use a post-atomic-war scenario. No radiation. No mushroom clouds. Instead, something else caused civilisation's downfall. I remember Zed being shown pages from a child's book. Slowly being educated and given the parts of a puzzle like a novice or detective. That is how I regard this film as intended to 'work'. If a person is interested in the eugenicist* angle, many of the themes will have a direct and frightening relevance. This, allied to the portentous Beethoven at the end, affords the film a dark grandeur. 

Not to hark on...but the French revolutionaries deliberately murdered 20% of their own population to create a perfect society, before they ran out of steam after killing too many fellow revolutionaries. We all know about the Nazis quest for perfection. The Russian & Chinese & Cambodian 'progressives' launched genocidal campaigns against their own people also. All in the quest for perfection here on Earth. They would all understand the Eternals in my view.


Title: Re: Zardoz
Post by: judge death on July 25, 2010, 07:20:20 PM
One point I need to make. People rag on the fact that in the beginning we see Arthur Frayne's talking, floating head with a goatee drawn on with a magic marker.

I think the point was that eternal males were no longer capable of growing facial hair, just like they could not get an erection.

True, the guy playing friend usually sported a 5 oclock shadow and some of the aged eternals had some facial growth, but by and large I think there was a subtle hint that eternal males no longer grew facial hair, and that was the message with frayn's magic marker goatee.


Title: Re: Zardoz
Post by: John Richardson on August 06, 2010, 04:13:15 PM
The Rt. Honourable Judge Death is correct.
I regard everything about this film as being a part of the whole. In other words, the Director and actors knew the beard was false.
I suppose some might think...er...I'm not sure what they might think. However, if you imagine a total mistake/gaff has been committed ; you may need to take a second look.

In the end not all films are supposed to be immediatly accessible. It depends upon the subject matter. With politics & religion, it makes sense to cloak a message sometimes. Frustrating though that may be for some.   


Title: Re: Zardoz
Post by: judge death on August 07, 2010, 12:46:18 AM
Thanks, JR.

Frayne said that merlin was his hero, and merlin is usually portrayed as bearded, hence the magic marker goatee on his beardless face.


Title: Re: Zardoz
Post by: ballyboy on January 09, 2011, 06:16:33 AM
I just watched this movie on almost no sleep, in the middle of the night, with the sound off so as not to wake my fiance'. That had to be one of the most bizarre things I have ever seen in my life. What, on God's green earth, was that? I am 56. I lived through the sixties and early seventies. I know what those times were like. But that was bizarre regardless of what period it came from. I wonder if Sean Connery looks back on that movie with embarassment: running around looking like a kind of sumo wrestler.



Title: Re: Zardoz
Post by: HarlotBug3 on February 01, 2011, 02:00:15 PM
Wow, I can't believe there's an argument over this...that isn't going on, live, in front of a bunch of film and communication students, with the two on either side of the writer/director.



Title: Re: Zardoz
Post by: Rev. Powell on February 10, 2011, 05:04:22 PM
“When I see the film now, I’m astonished at my hubris in making this extraordinary farrago.”  That's John Boorman from the DVD commentary, and it describes the movie perfectly.  It has a lot of serious ideas---about social engineering, immortality, religious fanaticism, sexual dynamics---but it can't stay focused on any single idea for move than a few minutes at a time.  It's a pretentious mess, but it is extraordinary and tons of fun. 


Title: Re: Zardoz
Post by: Knightsaber1 on June 15, 2013, 03:06:00 AM
I found this to be either one of the worst movies ever or one of the best. That's how confused I was the entire time. But I have another question that I'm sure has been asked before on the forum but i'm too lazy to look: If Zardoz says that "the penis is evil", why does Sean Connery say that he "took a woman" for Zardoz? Is this inconsistency supposed to exist so as to show the inconsistencies in religion, or did they just f**k up majorly while in the process of filling their exploitation flick rape quota?


Title: Re: Zardoz
Post by: FatFreddysCat on June 15, 2013, 07:28:21 PM
I saw this a while back... it's a stylish, pretentious mess.

I still can't get the image of Sean Connery in an orange Speedo out of my mind!!  :hatred:.


Title: Re: Zardoz
Post by: indianasmith on June 15, 2013, 07:50:45 PM
This movie is the perfect explanation as to why I call the Seventies "The Decade Without Taste".


Title: Re: Zardoz
Post by: The Burgomaster on July 11, 2013, 05:04:28 PM
I actually liked this movie the first time I saw it many years ago (but I was young and didn't know any better).  I bought the DVD a few years ago and about 15 minutes into the movie I started asking myself, "What the hell am I watching?"