Zardoz (1974)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

John Boorman

Writer:

John Boorman (written by)

Release Date:

6 February 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Fantasy | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Beyond 1984, Beyond 2001, Beyond Love, Beyond Death

Plot:

In the far future, a savage trained only to kill finds a way into the community of bored immortals that alone preserves humanity's achievements.

Plot Keywords:

Immortal | Future | Head | God | Library

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Sean Connery	...	Zed
Charlotte Rampling	...	Consuella
Sara Kestelman	...	May
John Alderton	...	Friend
Sally Anne Newton	...	Avalow
Niall Buggy	...	Arthur Frayn / Zardoz
Bosco Hogan	...	George Saden
Jessica Swift	...	Apathetic
Bairbre Dowling	...	Star
Christopher Casson	...	Old Scientist
Reginald Jarman	...	Death (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Daisy Boorman	...	Eternal (flashback scene) (uncredited)
John Boorman	...	Farming Brutal Shot by Zed / Zardoz Mask & Head Model (uncredited)
Katrine Boorman	...	Eternal (flashback scene) (uncredited)
Telsche Boorman	...	Eternal (flashback scene) (uncredited)

Directed by
John Boorman

Writing credits
John Boorman		(written by)

Produced by
John Boorman	....	producer
Charles Orme	....	associate producer

Original Music by
David Munrow

Cinematography by
Geoffrey Unsworth		(photographed by)

Film Editing by
John Merritt

Casting by
Miriam Brickman

Production Design by
Anthony Pratt

Set Decoration by
John Hoesli

Costume Design by
Christel Kruse Boorman

Makeup Department
Colin Jamison	....	hair stylist
Basil Newall	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Seamus Byrne	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Redmond Morris	....	second assistant director
Simon Relph	....	assistant director

Art Department
Martin Atkinson	....	assistant art director
Reg Bream	....	assistant designer (as Reginald Bream)
Peter McGoldrick	....	construction manager

Sound Department
Jim Atkinson	....	sound editor
Liam Saurin	....	sound mixer
Doug E. Turner	....	dubbing mixer (as Doug Turner)
Peter Maxwell	....	adr mixer (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Gerry Johnston	....	special effects (as Gerry Johnson)

Camera and Electrical Department
John J. Campbell	....	assistant camera (as John Campbell)
Jack Conroy	....	electrical supervisor
Paddy Keogh	....	grip
Peter MacDonald	....	camera operator

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Jack Gallagher	....	wardrobe master

Editorial Department
Alan Jones	....	assistant editor

Other crew
Austin Gaskin	....	horse master
Robin Hughes	....	special projection material
Jean Skinner	....	continuity
Charles Staffell	....	process projection effects
Bill Stair	....	design and story associate

Production Companies

• John Boorman Productions

Distributors

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (1974) (USA) (theatrical)
• Fox-Rank (1974) (UK) (theatrical)
• Fox-MGM Film (1974) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment España S.A. (2002) (Spain) (DVD)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (Brazil) (DVD)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2002) (UK) (DVD)
• CBS/Fox (199?) (USA) (VHS) (pan/scan)
• CBS/Fox (????) (USA) (laserdisc)
• Key Video (199?) (USA) (VHS) (pan/scan)
• Svensk Filmindustri (SF) (2005) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2000) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• De Lane Lea  sound re-recording (as De Lane Lea London)
• Panavision UK  filmed in (as Panavision)
• La Tabard Boutique  costumes made by (as La Tabard Boutique, Dublin)
• Rank Film Laboratories  processed by
• Air Structures Design  inflatables (as Air Structures Design London)
• Deluxe  color prints
• Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest  orchestra: "Beethoven's Symphony No. 7" (as Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam)
• Ardmore Studios  filmed at (as Ardmore Studios Ireland)

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo

Certification:

Singapore:M18 | Iceland:16 | Canada:18 (video rating) | South Korea:15 | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Ardmore Studios - Herbert Road, Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland

Company:

John Boorman Productions

Trivia:

John Boorman made this film on the rebound, after his project to film The Lord of the Rings was canceled.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When the exterminators on horseback are killing the brutals, tire tracks can be seen on the wet beach sand.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Arthur Frayn: I am Arthur Frayn, and I am Zardoz. I have lived three hundred years, and I long to die. But death is no longer possible. I am immortal. I present now my story, full of mystery and intrigue - rich in irony, and most satirical. It is set deep in a possible future...

Movie Connections:

References The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Soundtrack:

Symphony No. 7 in A, op. 92, 2nd movement

Nothing like it ever made!

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.