Zardoz Is The 70s Sci-Fi Movie Sean Connery Wants You To Forget About

<div><p>Before <em>Star Wars</em> came along and became the inspiration for decades worth of science fiction film, the genre was a lot more experimental, and ultimately a lot more... well, weird.</p><div><figure><amp-img src="https://legacy.throwbacks.com/content/images/2017/06/forbidden_planet.jpg" title="" alt="" height="9" width="16" layout="responsive"></amp-img><figcaption class="op-vertical-center"><cite>Charlton Heston Forums</cite></figcaption></figure></div><p></p><div align="center" data-freestar-ad="__336x280 __789x280" id="throwbacks_articles_incontent _1"> </div><p></p><p>There were plenty of successes throughout the later half of the 20th Century. <em>Forbidden Planet</em> became a massive hit in 1956, spawning plenty of imitators and making a movie star out of Leslie Nielsen, while 1973's <em>Soylent Green</em> is still quoted throughout pop culture today.</p><div><figure><amp-img src="https://legacy.throwbacks.com/content/images/2017/06/Screen-Shot-2016-02-05-at-9-51-55-AM.png" title="" alt="" height="9" width="16" layout="responsive"></amp-img><figcaption class="op-vertical-center"><cite>Brokelyn</cite></figcaption></figure></div><p></p><p>Then, of course, there's the bad ones. The ones that neither found an audience nor made any money. Ones like <em>Plan 9 From Outer Space</em>, <em>Robot Monster</em>, and, of course, the topic of this article:<em> Zardoz</em>.</p><div><figure><amp-img src="https://legacy.throwbacks.com/content/images/2017/06/51eKBisnVCL.jpg" title="" alt="" height="9" width="16" layout="responsive"></amp-img><figcaption class="op-vertical-center"><cite>Amazon</cite></figcaption></figure></div><p></p><div align="center" data-freestar-ad="__336x280 __789x280" id="throwbacks_articles_video"> </div><p></p><p>The year is 1974. Sean Connery has permanently stepped down from the role of James Bond after 1971's <em>Diamonds Are Forever</em>; considered by many to be his worst turn as the character.</p><div><figure><amp-img src="https://legacy.throwbacks.com/content/images/2017/06/4877c2638a4a9aaa022af6939f9a242a.jpg" title="" alt="" height="9" width="16" layout="responsive"></amp-img><figcaption class="op-vertical-center">Boring. James Boring.<cite>Pinterest</cite></figcaption></figure></div><p></p><p>Struggling to find work after leaving his most iconic role behind, Connery agreed to star in <em>Deliverance</em> director John Boorman's upcoming sci-fi film about a strange new world presided over by a giant floating stone head (more on that in a second). He was paid a mere $200,000 for it (compared to the $1.25 Million he was paid as Bond), which turned out to be a fifth of the film's entire budget. I suspect you can already see where this is going.</p><div><figure><amp-anim src="https://legacy.throwbacks.com/content/images/2017/06/tenor-3.gif" height="9" width="16" layout="responsive"></amp-anim><figcaption class="op-vertical-center"><cite>Tenor</cite></figcaption></figure></div><h3>Click to the next page for why this movie is so brutally weird.</h3><div><figure><amp-img src="https://legacy.throwbacks.com/content/images/2017/06/zardozhead.jpg" title="" alt="" height="9" width="16" layout="responsive"></amp-img><figcaption class="op-vertical-center"><cite>imdb</cite></figcaption></figure></div><p>Trying to explain the plot of <em>Zardoz</em> feels like trying to explain a fever dream, and I honestly wouldn't be surprised if that was what lead to the script being written in the first place. According to imdb:</p><p><strong>"2293. Zardoz, an unseen "God" who speaks through an idol - a large stone statue of a head - leads a barbaric race called the Brutals, who live a harsh existence in the Outlands. Zardoz tells the Brutals that once they die, they will be transported to the Vortex, where they will live happily as immortals. He has armed a small group - the Exterminators - with guns, as Zardoz's philosophy is that killing is good, and procreation is the root of all that is bad."</strong></p><div><figure><amp-img src="https://legacy.throwbacks.com/content/images/2017/06/wut-jackie.jpg" title="" alt="" height="9" width="16" layout="responsive"></amp-img><figcaption class="op-vertical-center"><cite>QuickMeme</cite></figcaption></figure></div><p></p><p>You catch all of that? Yeah, that's stuff you find out in the opening. It also leads to dialogue like this.</p><div><amp-youtube height="9" width="16" layout="responsive" data-videoid="YOROvO2fxTc"></amp-youtube></div><p>Sean Connery plays Zed, one of the aforementioned Exterminators. Which translates to him running around in this costume for damn near the entire movie.</p><div><figure><amp-img src="https://legacy.throwbacks.com/content/images/2017/06/T2ROuhxKL7jehflZGkB4td_tq8U.jpg" title="" alt="" height="9" width="16" layout="responsive"></amp-img><figcaption class="op-vertical-center"><cite>imdb</cite></figcaption></figure></div><p></p><p>Zed ultimately discovers the fact that Zardoz is actually a man named Arthur Frayn, who not only raised him to be the ultimate Exterminator, but based his entire persona and philosophy on <em>The Wonderful Wi<strong>zard </strong>of <strong>Oz</strong></em>. <strong>Zardoz</strong>. Yes, I am dead serious. </p><div><figure><amp-img src="https://legacy.throwbacks.com/content/images/2017/06/Zardoz-wizard-of-oz.jpg" title="" alt="" height="9" width="16" layout="responsive"></amp-img><figcaption class="op-vertical-center"><cite>Monkeys Fighting Robots</cite></figcaption></figure></div><p></p><p>There's also a bunch of stuff about a race of immortal beings called Eternals, and an artificial intelligence program that presides over them, but the movie gets so wrapped up in its own metaphors for the evils of humanity that it's hard to follow the plot.</p><div><figure><amp-img src="https://legacy.throwbacks.com/content/images/2017/06/Zardoz-avi_snapshot_01-05-35_-255B2011-08-29_17-30-36-255D.jpg" title="" alt="" height="9" width="16" layout="responsive"></amp-img><figcaption class="op-vertical-center">The year 2293, according to 1974.<cite>Mounds and Circles</cite></figcaption></figure></div><p></p><p>It all ultimately ends with Frayn dead, the Eternals' society destroyed, and the Earth "returned" to the Brutals. We're then treated to a montage of Zed and Consuella (one of the surviving Eternals) having a child, who grows into a man and leaves them, while they grow old and die.</p><div><amp-youtube height="9" width="16" layout="responsive" data-videoid="bwq5RYrm5kE"></amp-youtube></div><p>The movie was ultimately both a box office and critical failure, though it does have its fans. Roger Ebert referred to it as a "genuinely quirky movie, a trip into a future that seems ruled by perpetually stoned set decorators." It's also gone on to be something of a cult favorite, even receiving a blu-ray release in 2015.</p><div><figure><amp-img src="https://legacy.throwbacks.com/content/images/2017/06/113766_front.jpg" title="" alt="" height="9" width="16" layout="responsive"></amp-img><figcaption class="op-vertical-center"><cite>Blu-ray.com</cite></figcaption></figure></div><p></p><p>It's weird, cheesy, and overly complicated (as a lot of sci-fi at the time was), but it makes for an enjoyable watch if you want to check out some weird 70s-era filmmaking. Check it out!</p><div><amp-youtube height="9" width="16" layout="responsive" data-videoid="kbGVIdA3dx0"></amp-youtube></div><p><strong>What do you think?</strong></p><p></p><amp-apester-media height="390" data-apester-media-id="5941389abe3db6a6300b2989"></amp-apester-media><p></p><h3>Like sci-fi movies? Check out <a href="https://www.throwbacks.com/30-years-later-predator-is-still-the-most-awesome-80s-movie/">why <em>Predator</em> is awesome even 30 years later!</a></h3><p></p></div>