I can’t imagine the Italian filmmakers directing Conan knock-offs in the 1980s really gave a shit about the mythology or the lore in their movies. They weren’t sketching maps of the various realms or had a bible of notes about the kingdoms and tribes living in this fantasy world. Whatever worked in Conan, or any other popular adventure movie (Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Superman, Excalibur, Mad Max), just throw it against the wall and stretch the budget as far as possible. With Iron Warrior (1987), I didn’t need it to make sense, not when it had a certain style, and the senselessness ventured into surrealism. Here is a Conan knock-off that feels caught in the slipstream of 1980s new romantic MTV aesthetics, and at points I thought of music videos like Robert Palmer’s ‘Simply Irresistible’ or Duran Duran’s ‘Girls On Film’, particular the princess (Savina Gersak) wearing a sheer cloak and hints of new wave in her make-up and hair. Iron Warrior is the third movie in the Ator series, but works as a stand alone movie (I’ve only seen the first), and where Miles O’Keefe as Ator previously resembled a glam heavy metal singer with his big blonde hair, here he looks like Tim Cappello without the saxophone: slicked down hair, muscular and tanned.
The visual impact of Iron Warrior is significantly aided by its location shooting on the island of Malta, with characters striding through ancient ruins, sandstone structures, jagged caverns and epic cliff-sides, and even the seaside town built for Robert Altman’s Popeye. An evil witch named Phaedra (an entertainingly hammy Elisabeth Kaza) overtakes a kingdom, forcing a runaway princess to seek help, and receives it from the sword-swinging chivalry of Ator. A battle between good and evil aided by magic and expanded through side-quests, featuring a fearsome opponent in the titular Iron Warrior, looking like a cross between Darth Vader and a Mad Max biker, steel skull plate on-top of black leather with a nifty red scarf for colour. Baffling yet entertaining, moving at a decent pace with strange bits of business to capture the eye. A battle fought with spears thrown and caught in quick succession, or obvious stunt doubles for Ator in particular obscured by scarf-masks.
Watched a copy available on YouTube. Recommended.
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