Gor

source: Gor

Moviecut—Gor

Many of the negative reviews compare this to an apparent book series. I know nothing of those books, nor their author. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie - of course in the proper context of 80's pulp sci-fantasy. This film did not have the "big name" actors that other contemporaries did, but it was a generally coherent story. Full of cheese and B-grade schtick, this film will not inspire or thrill you as Conan may have - it is definitely on par with others (Red Sonja, Fire & Ice, etc.) It's an Italian film I gather, and if you know anything of spaghetti westerns, expect similar production value. This is NOT for fans of "A" grade barbarian films (are there any really?), nor apparently fans of the fiction upon which this is (loosely) based.

When I first saw this title in the video store, I was excited. I have read and enjoyed several of the books, and I was hoping that the movie version would be truthful to them. Unfortunately, I was wrong. The credits claim that this movie was based on the book "Tarnsman of Gor", but there were no tarnsmen in the movie, nor were there any tarns. They could have released this movie as is without paying any money to John Norman (or his estate) and they wouldn't have been sued. That's how little the movie resembles the book. Jack Palance was given the third credit in the movie. I assumed that he would be playing the bad guy. As the movie neared the end, I turned to my brother and asked, "Wasn't Jack Palance supposed to be in this?" He just shrugged. Then Mr. Palance appeared just before the credits rolled, setting up the sequel. Obviously, he had a much better agent than Oliver Reed. This movie does have a few redeeming qualities. I always liked Oliver Reed (except when he sang in 'Tommy'). Urbano Barberini has a pretty cool name. If you're a fan of character actors, this film has Paul L Smith (a.k.a. Bluto from 'Popeye'/the Beast Rabban from 'Dune'). And, of course, there are the female fight scenes, if that's what you watch movies for.

I've read most of the Gor books and loved them all. They described an epic tale of a reluctant hero that never fails to impress in an alien world based on the most primal of human instincts reminiscent to Burroughs' fabulous John Carter of Mars tomes. This is entirely unlike the makers of this movie who have chopped the fantasy into an ugly circus sideshow. The tales of Tarl Cabot deserved much more of an effort to put on film. Robert E Howard's "Conan" character was given a visual showing thousand-folds better than Gor. The novels will live on in my memories forever and I may yet even read them again, but never will this movie enter my VCR or my mind again. Shame on them. 1 out of 10

Try, if you can, to imagine Disney's fantasy/sci-fi mega-budget flop John Carter as if it had been made in the '80s by The Cannon Group, producers of such cinematic clunkers as Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo, American Ninja, Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold, and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. This might give you some idea of what Gor is like: dreadful production values, a terrible script, lousy action, unconvincing sets, cheap costumes, and a cast of has-beens and never-weres directed by the man responsible for Stephen King dud Children of the Corn. The film stars Urbano Barberini as mild-mannered physics lecturer Tarl Cabot, who is transported to the planet Gor by his magic ring, where he helps a group of brave warriors to overthrow evil despot Sarm (Oliver Reed), who has enslaved the people of nearby villages and stolen their sacred homestones. Featuring wooden performances from everyone, with the exception of Oliver Reed, who hams it up to the max (his exuberant performance no doubt aided by enough alcohol to fuel a small plane), Gor is difficult to endure, although the generous curves of sexy warrior woman Talena (Playboy playmate Rebecca Ferratti) help to ease the pain just a little. 1 out of 10, with a generous extra point added for the battle of the bad '80s hair-dos, as Talena, with her massive rock-babe barnet, fights another woman sporting crimped blonde locks.

When I found out that there was a 'Gor' movie I was surprised, the long running series of bad pulp novels was bad enough but after finally trying to watch the movie I was amazed. Movie versions of decent books are often bad enough but this takes the prize for utter trash...and there was a sequel! In my opinion, worthless (as in not even awful enough to stand a chance of ever gaining cult status)

When I sat down to watch this movie the first thing I noticed was that nearly all of the voices were over dubbed, and the beginning has some of the worst over dubbing I've seen in an English language movie. Overall the movie was pretty good, if you like Fantasy this movie is for you, if you like Rebecca Ferretti then this movie is for you....otherwise you probably won't like it.

Fantasy film in an enchanted yet brutal land. Fantasy girls with super slender pretty slaves and guards and available horny women. Good Watch

Woof, is this a bad film! It can be quite entertaining, watched MST3K-style, but without a hearty sense of humor, this is just plain awful. It's made worse by the fact that it has almost no bearing on the novels upon which it is supposedly based. I'm not convinced anyone involved with the making of this movie (or the sequel, just as bad) read any of the books beyond the back covers.