Red Sonja *** (1985, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Brigitte Nielsen, Sandahl Bergman) – Classic Movie Review 7840

Director Richard Fleischer’s 1985 Red Sonja is a fairly amusing sword-and-sorcery romp culled from the fantasy adventure stories of Conan the Barbarian creator Robert E Howard and based on the character created by him. The remarkable Brigitte Nielsen plays the title redheaded heroine Red Sonja, a woman warrior whose quest it is to battle the bad guys who killed her sister and sets out on a killing spree to avenge the murder.

The 6′ 1″ Great Dane Gitte Nielsen looks perfect in the formidable female avenger role, while Arnold Schwarzenegger muscles his way through a large guest star role as powerful talisman’s master Kalidor, who follows Sonja to protect her and falls in love with her, even though she is sworn never to give herself to any man. Sandahl Bergman as the tyrant Queen Gedren and Ronald Lacey as Ikol run off with the over-acting honours as the bad guys under the experienced hand of fantasy and action film expert Fleischer.

Red Sonja does not get the tone quite right, and is taken a bit too seriously instead of being overtly campy, whereas a few more tongues placed more evidently in the actors’ cheeks would have made it even more enjoyable. But it does still deliver ample undemanding cartoon-action entertainment value. Red Sonja is hardly a great movie, but it is fun, and rather endearing in its simple-minded way, and it is fast paced, lively and commendably short at just 90 minutes.

Also in the cast are Paul L Smith, Pat Roach, Ernie Reyes Jr, Terry Richards, Janet Agren, Donna Osterbuhr and Lara Lamberti.

Red Sonja is directed by Richard Fleischer, runs 90 minutes, is made by Dino De Laurentiis Company and Famous Films, is released by Thorn-EMI (UK) and MGM-UA (US), is written by Clive Exton and George MacDonald Fraser, based on the character created by Robert E Howard, is shot in Technicolor by Giuseppe Rotunno, is produced by Dino De Laurentiis and Christian Ferry, is scored by Ennio Morricone and is designed by Danilo Donati.

Conan the Barbarian (1982) of course provided one of Schwarzenegger’s breakout roles, and Fleischer went on to direct him in its sequel Conan the Destroyer (1984).

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7840

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