I'm a baby boomer. I'm also a science fiction fan and a movie fan. But, until the coming of Star Wars, there were precious few science fiction movies to satisfy us post-war babies.
So I greeted Zardoz with enthusiasm. And it was great! Murderous thugs - the Brutals (catchy name, I wonder how they came to choose it) - swanning around a grim and gritty post-apocalypse landscape,gunning down innocents, while a giant flying head spews out firearms and ammunition to fuel the status quo.
Then one of the Brutals - Sean Connery - shows he had some brains, stows away on the giant flying head, and discovers a secret hidden valley where there was a group of people who didn't live in mud. Plus they were clever and immortal and hippie-ish and didn't do killing.
Well, OK. Not so much fun as riding around shooting people in mud, but I'll give it a chance.
The trouble is it then gets a bit talky and existentialist or metaphysical or something and, to be frank, a tad difficult to follow. Anyway, it all ends up for the best - the Brutals break in and kill all the clean, hippie-type people, and Sean Connery swans off with Charlotte Rampling and starts a family. And then they die. Or something.
Oh, and Sean Connery wears the least macho costume ever worn by a macho protagonist in a mainstream movie.
Sheer genius. I could never have thought of it.
So I greeted Zardoz with enthusiasm. And it was great! Murderous thugs - the Brutals (catchy name, I wonder how they came to choose it) - swanning around a grim and gritty post-apocalypse landscape,gunning down innocents, while a giant flying head spews out firearms and ammunition to fuel the status quo.
Then one of the Brutals - Sean Connery - shows he had some brains, stows away on the giant flying head, and discovers a secret hidden valley where there was a group of people who didn't live in mud. Plus they were clever and immortal and hippie-ish and didn't do killing.
Well, OK. Not so much fun as riding around shooting people in mud, but I'll give it a chance.
The trouble is it then gets a bit talky and existentialist or metaphysical or something and, to be frank, a tad difficult to follow. Anyway, it all ends up for the best - the Brutals break in and kill all the clean, hippie-type people, and Sean Connery swans off with Charlotte Rampling and starts a family. And then they die. Or something.
Oh, and Sean Connery wears the least macho costume ever worn by a macho protagonist in a mainstream movie.
Sheer genius. I could never have thought of it.