Zardoz Week!

@ VincentVendetta

Exactly. How can you be disappointed with literally anything the movie does after that point? It’s pretty much firmly established that you’re watching something batshit crazy.

Guys, I don’t agree that this is the film Gilliam wants to make, because Gilliam also has this thing about childhood and innocence (even in Brazil : look at how he goes about seducing the girl like a little puppy) that he never lets go of. This movie? All about a world where childhood and innocence aren’t even in the dictionary anymore.

—PolarisDiB

I love Boorman when he goes off the deep end with his crackpot visionary pics like Zardoz and Exorcist II: The Heretic. A true original!

I generally have no interest in seeing movies that are so bad they’re good, but for some reason I sort of want to see this.

“I’ve never seen Zardoz. What am I missing? Is it like Xanadu? Do you have to have a huge tolerance for kitsch? (I’m only mildly tolerant)”

Zardoz is to Boorman as Flash Gordon is to Mike Hodges.

“movies that are so bad they’re good”
Jazz, I agree, I normally think that movies that are purportedly “so bad, they’re good” end up being so bad, they’re boring and terrible and not worth watching. Michael Crichton’s RUNAWAY being a rare and in every way incredible exception.

But I wouldn’t classify ZARDOZ as bad, nor does it sound like most on the thread would either. I think that Razzie award and Connery’s infamous costume have really stigmatized this movie into a context it doesn’t deserve, thanks to unimaginative folks with a very low tolerance for anything bizarre. I think EXCALIBUR is, unfortunately, much closer to the dubious honor that ZARDOZ has been unfairly stuck with.

I wonder what Sean Connery thinks of that photo…

ZARDOZ reminds me of Charlton Heston’s SF period. Wacky but alotta fun.

Finally saw this. It was rough going and not as terrible as some of the posts (especially the ones with excerpts) made it out to be. On the other hand, it may have been a more interesting—or a least more entertaining—film if it had taken more risks at being a more terrible one.

I might have been more interested in the film if I saw it when it was first released as I think the some of the art direction and effects haven’t aged well. I must say that I haven’t thought through the whole film (not really motivated), but I think I get the general gist of what it’s about. The verdict? I didn’t care for it, and I don’t think it’s very good. However, it is not a terrible movie and I appreciate some of the ideas and the effort. (34/100)

Btw, I liked Jack’s “prog rock movie.”

@Greg

Zardoz is basically the film Terry Gilliam has always wanted to make but never had the balls to put together as far as I’m concerned.

It’s funny you should say that. A part of me thinks of the film as if the Monty Python crew started making the movie and at one point tried to make a more serious film.

I actually do not get Terry Gilliam or Monty Python from this movie at all, because that would be like saying David Lynch is trying to be Luis Bunuel. There are different types of surrealism used for different effects, and honestly I cannot think of any movie that has the same vibe as Zardoz. It certainly fits in context to the time it came out, but then again, so does 2001: A Space Odyssey, and try drawing parallels between Zardoz and THAT.

—PolarisDiB

On a superficial level, there’s the British connection. Then there’s the actor who plays Arthur Frayn, who sort of reminds me of Eric Idle; the flying Zardoz head lookd Gilliamesque; the “penis is bad; guns are good” line; the sets and costumes.

Of course, the tone is very different, among other things, but if the Monty Python crew started a film and midway decided to make a more serious film, I could see it being close to this one.

The true test of whether someone is a Boorman head is if they like Exorcist ll: The Heretic.

Parallels to 2001: worshiping of a mysterious monolithic object, impenetrable idiosyncrasy, and an metaphorical closing sequence depicting isolation and accelerated decrepitude. After I finished watching ZARDOZ the first time, someone called it a poor man’s 2001, and I understandably had no clue what he was talking about, but I think upon reflection that some of Boorman’s decision to undertake the project has to have been inspired by the success of Kubrick’s zeitgeisty film.

Niiiiiiice.

I have to watch this!

Zardoz week is coming around again. Beginning of next month!

—PolarisDiB