Zardoz (1974)

Zardoz is written and directed by John Boorman, the director of Deliverance and Point Blank. There is no point in trying to describe the plot or story of Zardoz, which is very weird and strange piece of film. It stars Sean Connery as "brute" among "greater" and "wiser" people, who have also developed a way to live forever. The film is set in future and there are many things that are impossible to describe or write down. The less you know about the story and plot of Zardoz the better.

The film's main point is that humans are primitives and brutes that are only hiding under their "civilized" surface and society. Zed (Connery) is loathed because of his "animalism" but soon it turns out that the more they hate him, the more they become like him. The film is pretty philosophical and needs to be watched with brains, since there are many issues under its science fiction film oriented surface.

The film tells also something about immortality and asks is it after all as great thing as we may think. In the film, there are those who have lived many hundreds of years and gained all the possible knowledge about everything. They have become sad and bored, it is not so great to live forever especially once we see our "real face" what Connery's character in the film reflects. Some have said that the film is artificially philosophical, but that is not true; the subject matters the film tells (with great optimism, though!) are as topical and important as they were back then, when Boorman wrote this film.

The film could have been very cynical and pessimistic, but it is not. Boorman tells the story with great optimism and most importantly, with humor. Zardoz is very funny at times, but with clever way, and many will not understand the film and its satiric elements. For me, the film was fantastic and pleasant, with all its themes and merits. The film is also shot fantastically, and MUST be seen in widescreen or in the big screen. The cinematography is gorgeous and the gorgeous landscapes were shot in Ireland and near Boorman's house. The film is occasionally little slow moving and repeats itself, but there are no other negative points I can say about this satiric classic.

Zardoz has deserved its cult status and it is great to see James Bond in little different role. Zardoz is way too difficult for many viewers, and so the film is easy to hate and laugh at, for those who don't understand it. I give Zardoz 8/10 and really smiled after the viewing. This will not leave your mind too soon, if you just manage to understand the film and see into its core.

Fmovies: Saw this when it first came out.. simply loved Sean Connery in heels, the the Egypt-Brit village, the fem-men, butchy yet gorgeous women...a flying, gun spewing head....weird beyond belief....and yet universally panned by all as a lousy film. How wrong they were!

This film was the father of Memento, and sister of Vanilla Sky, cousin to Lathe of Heaven [1980]

No matter who laughed at me I continued to love this film, and when I finally bought a video play it was the first film I ever purchased.

as a note, the end music on Zardoz is also the same track as in Waterland with Eric Stoltz.

I 1st saw this movie in 1975, at the Students Union all night "sci-fi" event and as it was so off the horizon I loved it. The word plays, picture plays and complex storyline at 3.00 am in the morning were extremely entertaining. The basic themes it pretends of elites vs worker slaves, the boredom of eternal life, the decadence of forced idleness, the pureness of the macho noble savage are all interwoven in a Midsummer Nights fantasy futuristic world. I have to explain it is "British" so the special effects were limited . However, this left the actors with parts to act. Quite simply Zardoz was great, especially the name and how it unfolds. This was despite the fact even then we knew who would eventually win.. and the Union cinema was not Dolby.

I saw it again in the 90's and I was rather depressed, somehow my memory of great film was overwritten. It seemed so pretentious. John Alderton seemed fresh out of `please sir', Sean Connery at bit too macho etc etc. The whole thing so terribly amateur. The cast of typecast British TV / Movie stars waffling through some clever student sci-fi 1984-cum-Brave New World thing, brought to screen with a bad script.. Mind you I thought similar things about `Oh Lucky man the 2nd time around. It was rather like seeing an old flame many years later somehow the chemistry was gone and perhaps love is blind.

I saw it again recently and well I think I have it back. (Perhaps with all these `cloning' and `genetic-engineering' stories being now topical). I seemed to have re-captured the initial feelings. I have thought about these two extremes: To enjoy this movie one needs to regain the feeling of being entertained by actors in a Play. Zardoz more like a fantasy play than a Sci-Fi movie. The imagery is excellent, the themes of immortals and mortals still a relevant possibility for the future. There are gaps that we need to bridge over with our own imaginations and yes we do have to get over the feeling that `Q' will pop up as John Cleese.. But bridging that gap was nearly always the case in a play. Connery really does act, despite his costume.

The part with the crystal continues to excite my imagination. I still love the part in the old public library and his macho strutting don't seem so out of place in a fantasy. The sexual chemistry with the immortal maidens doesn't seem so sexist anymore. His character seems well fitted to the time and place and to me at least it is easy to believe his curiosity led him into the idol.



I think with these type of films , where you extend the script in your head, they are so different from the sci-fi / fantasy genre of today - you either love them or leave them. There is very little middle ground. So for a period piece that has not lost its charm. - Zardoz has place on my shelf of fantasy greats.

Zardoz fmovies. I've seen some weird movies in my time! 'The Holy Mountain', 'Human Highway', 'Men behind The Sun', 'Nude For Satan', 'Pink Flamingos', 'Dune', but NOTHING as weird as 'Zardoz'! Nothing!

'Zardoz' has the feel of a Alan Smithee movie. It's like you're watching a movie made by committee or recut behind the director's back. But you see that it is written, produced and directed by John Boorman, the man who made the still dazzling revenge thriller 'Point Blank', and the first rate hillbilly suspense classic 'Deliverance', and you realize that this movie is EXACTLY what Boorman intended it to be. And your mind boggles!

'Zardoz' is neither a mindless sci fi action movie not a serious SF-as-ideas film ala Tarkovsky or Kubrick. It's... well, I don't know WHAT it is! A trippy Dystopian fantasy that cribs a few ideas from other sources (Huxley's Savage, Wells' Eloi and Morlocks, Moorcock's Jherek Carnelian), adds plenty of philosophical gobbledygook, some semi-naked babes, an embarrassed looking pony-tailed Sean Connery, and by the look of it, mixes in a bucket full of psychotropics, and hey presto! you end up with a movie like no other before or since!

'Zardoz' MUST be seen! By you. Right now. Unforgettable.

This movie came out when I graduated from high school and I first viewed it with the awe and admiration of a young man seeking intriguing concepts of what the future might be like. Zardoz did not disappoint me. The question of what would happen to mankind if all our physical needs were met and we were thereby allowed to expand intellectually is fascinating. We are constantly striving to make life easier, better and to live longer. Do we really need a struggle to exist or is it merely a leftover animalistic aspect of our evolution? Personally I like living in a climate controlled surrounding versus a cave where I have to kill something with my bare hands in order to eat. For what it's worth, I saw it again as a middle aged adult and I am still impressed with some of the concepts of the movie. My 13 year old daughter was not so much impressed. I'd still give it a good review and wouldn't mind owning it for my personal collection. I guess it takes a sci-fi geek to not be so bored with it and, of course, a bare breast thrown in gets my attention just as it did back in 1974.

This movie just about defines what a Great Bad Movie is supposed to be.

It starts off with Sean Connery dressed only in red diapers and bandoleers sneaking into a giant levitating stone head, passes through a fruity utopian post-nuclear society, and then heads into post-modern literary references.

The film looks like it was cooked up at an LSD fuelled party in the 70's that I wish I had been at. I wonder if Boorman came up with Excalibur at the same party. Visually there is a similar thread in both films. One is just a whole lot more coherent than the other. At first viewing Zardoz makes no sense at all, but is so wonderfully weird, so out there that you stare at it in disbelief. How did they get James Bond to run around Northern England in his undies? Why is the bread green? What's with the magic marker mustache? These are the types of questions that come to mind and keep you wading through the mess on the screen. The questions keep your mind occupied while your eyes feast on state of the art 70's futuristic concepts. It's as brilliantly fascinating as a 10 car freeway pile-up and you can watch it with considerably less guilt.

Everything is so beautifully, perfectly confusing in this film that it was with a heavy heart that I had to admit after the 4th viewing that it DOES MAKE SENSE. I will not spoil the fun for anyone else but the whole thing really does come together. I can only say that you should enjoy the cacophony while it lasts because once you get the film's storyline it's not half as fun. Though there are still some great lines of dialogue left: "I'm voting for him, Monster" being my favourite.

In any case viewing the film from a 21st century perspective reminds me that back in the 70's some very original, idea based SF movies could be made with a fittingly large budget. Some of these films have become classics which is more than I can say for the big-budget, no-brainer crap that mostly comes out of Hollywood nowadays.

I wholeheartedly recommend Zardoz for those who can admit to cinephilic guilty pleasures!