"Zardoz is The Time Machine on acid by way of Monty Python." ... Musings of a Middle Age Geek
After Deliverance and before Exorcist II and Excalibur, writer/director John Boorman created Zardoz, a sexual epic set in the 23rd century that's nearer Tolkien than Roddenberry. The production is now regarded with greater fondness than upon its perplexed advent, and in my bold estimation, stands as one of the experimental crème de la crème, thanks in no small part to its surreal, floating head.
This ambitious fantasy is headlined by Sean Connery, who plays Zed, a gun-totting barbarian who shows the indolent, psychedelic snobs of the future the virtues of virility by breaking through society's Wizard of Oz trappings.
In addition to Connery, the movie stars Charlotte Rampling, Sara Kestelman, John Alderton, Sally Ann Newton, Bairbre Dowling and Niall Buggy as Arthur Frayn, aka Zardoz, the, uh, "great and powerful."
I believe this post's Middle Age Geek quotation sums up the movie's unusual atmosphere to a tee, and despite comparisons to other stylings, Zardoz is unlike anything placed on celluloid. Perhaps this is why it's grown in popularity since its underwhelming, 1974 release.
If you know and love this one as I do, celebrate its 50th-anniversary release today with a reverential re-watch; and if you're an open-minded person who's never seen Zardoz, oh, are you ever in for a spellbinding treat!
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