Conan (Arnold Schwarzenegger) leads a ragtag group of adventurers on a quest for a princess.
When John Milius, director of "Conan the Barbarian", proved to be unavailable to direct the sequel, Dino De Laurentiis suggested Richard Fleischer to his daughter Raffaella De Laurentiis, who was producing Conan the Destroyer. Fleischer had already made "Barabbas" (1961) and "Mandingo" (1975) for Dino De Laurentiis. Yes, this is from the same guy who gave us "Mandingo"! From the first film, the violence and such was toned down, dropping from an R to a PG. Some would say this hurt the film, but I think it might actually be better. It makes it more fun and definitely more of a comic book or pulp story. Despite decreased sales, it apparently was good enough that they moved ahead with a part three (which was shelved, then reworked into "Kull") and "Red Sonja".
When John Milius, director of "Conan the Barbarian", proved to be unavailable to direct the sequel, Dino De Laurentiis suggested Richard Fleischer to his daughter Raffaella De Laurentiis, who was producing Conan the Destroyer. Fleischer had already made "Barabbas" (1961) and "Mandingo" (1975) for Dino De Laurentiis. Yes, this is from the same guy who gave us "Mandingo"! From the first film, the violence and such was toned down, dropping from an R to a PG. Some would say this hurt the film, but I think it might actually be better. It makes it more fun and definitely more of a comic book or pulp story. Despite decreased sales, it apparently was good enough that they moved ahead with a part three (which was shelved, then reworked into "Kull") and "Red Sonja".