Trailer
Plot summary
Maax leads a cult in the city of Aruk, and its witches warn him that King Zed's unborn son will one day kill him. Maax sends a witch to take the child from his mother, and the witch brands the boy, meaning to offer him in sacrifice, but a passing traveler rescues the infant and carries him away. The traveler names him Dar and raises him in the village of Emur, where Dar grows up able to speak with animals, a gift his father tells him to keep secret. Barbarian raiders called the Junds destroy Emur, leaving Dar the only survivor. He takes his father's weapons and heads for Aruk, joined by a golden eagle, two ferrets and a black panther. On the way he meets Kiri, a young woman held as a slave by the cult.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Beastmaster (1982)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The black "panther" in the film was actually played by a tiger, which the crew dyed black because tigers are easier to handle for filming. During production the tiger was not allowed on set at the same time as children or other animals.
- In 1993, a programming director for TNT claimed the film was second only to Gone with the Wind as the most popular movie to air on the network, attributing its success to its "mythological appeal - it's more serious than the Conan movies".
- The film was shown so often on HBO that the comedian Dennis Miller joked that HBO stood for "Hey, Beastmaster's On".
- Coscarelli feuded with the film's executive producer over editing and casting. He wanted Demi Moore for the role of Kiri but was overridden and Tanya Roberts was cast, and Klaus Kinski, for whom the role of Maax was originally written, was not cast over a salary dispute.
- Paul Pepperman and Don Coscarelli based their screenplay on Andre Norton's 1959 novel The Beast Master but changed the story dramatically. Norton was unhappy with the liberties taken with the script and asked for her name to be removed from the credits.
- In Andre Norton's original 1959 novel The Beast Master, the hero was named Hosteen Storm and was a veteran soldier of Navajo descent in a futuristic science fiction setting. The writers changed the story dramatically for the film.
- The filmmakers arranged for star Tanya Roberts to appear in Playboy to help promote the film, but that issue did not come out until after the film had already been released.
