"Zardoz" is a weird, messy freakin' movie
Nonetheless, it's campy fun with some points to make
Today we are watching a scene from Zardoz, starring Sean Connery fresh off his time playing James Bond in a succession of previous movies that spanned roughly a decade. The science-fiction production was originally slated for Burt Reynolds, but an illness had the team scrambling for a new star mere weeks before the scheduled start of filming and Connery jumped at the chance. Apparently, his turn as the red-loincloth(diaper?)-wearing “barbarian” Zed was a way to keep from being typecast as a British spy. “Success!” I say. The 1974 film also stars Charlotte Rampling, never one to shy away from unconventional roles, as Connery/Zed’s romantic interest.
The setting of the film is a post-apocalyptic society in which a race of psychic immortal beings (the Eternals) is served by a group of mortal and violent barbarians (the Brutals), who worship the floating stone head Zardoz. Zardoz supplies the Brutals with weapons in exchange for the food they gather, keeping the barbarians occupied with conflict while insulating the Eternals, holding them separate. A curious Zed (Connery) manages to smuggle himself aboard Zardoz and infiltrates Eternal society, first enslaved and eventually befriended, becoming a subject of study by a set of Eternals secretly hoping to use Zed in the overthrow of a world they view as shiftless and corrupted.
While the premise is intriguing, the plot of Zardoz loses the thread at several points along the way. The Eternals are bored and aimless, with immortality rendering their existence meaningless; this joylessness threatens to overtake the viewer at moments. While the film does touch on an exploration of what constitutes “civilized” in two societies with widely desperate development, priorities and moralities, the movie spends a lot of time in strange psychedelic weirdness and over-the-top pomposity. It’s a film that takes itself far too seriously far too often, although it does manage moments of what I think are intentional humor. All that being said, however, it’s an amusing watch, particularly for viewers that enjoy creative, trippy science fiction with a heavy stoner influence (it was the 70’s, man!), punctuated by sex and violence. Although not well-received when the movie was first released, it has since gained a cult following.
A bit of an alert… I recommend the linked article from Slash Film about Connery’s ire arising during filming of Zardoz. It does talk about how the movie ends, but it is hysterical if you don’t mind the spoiler; not so funny to Connery, though, at least not at the time. Curiously, it’s not embarrassment over the unflattering costuming or the arthouse-level strangeness and unfocused direction of the move that bothered the established star, but some technical difficulties that had him riled.
"the plot of Zardoz loses the thread at several points along the way." No way!
Interesting, thanks for the link. One of my favourite so-bad-it's-good movies.