Why you should watch “Zardoz”
This is not a good movie. But.
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The year is 2293. Immortality has been achieved for a privileged few. Across the barren countryside, angry floating heads command a subjugated underclass. And Sean Connery is there, clad in a skimpy loincloth and a rakish pair of thigh-high boots.
Watch it for the aforementioned costumes. Watch it for the campy, 70s special effects. Watch it for Connery’s self-satisfied smirk when he learns that he’s a genetic superman.
Zardoz forces us into a muted state of cognitive dissonance, a background hum of confusion and disbelief that intensifies the longer we watch. How did this thing ever get made? And yet it was made. It’s right there in front of us. The images are flickering over the screen: Connery’s ponytail sways across his back; a handlebar moustache frames his grinning mouth; the BDSM gear he’s wearing is very real. Was taking on this project some grotesque fit of hubris? A senseless cry for help? Or is the man a genius?
Zardoz provides no answers. It doesn’t need to. Stream it on Amazon or Vudu.
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Follow CG Inglis on Twitter @viscereal and on Instagram @viscerealism
2 thoughts on “Why you should watch “Zardoz””
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Sean Connery looks like Chewbacca in that movie. Even that head looks like Chewbacca. This film should be called: “The origin of Chewbacca”
It got made because Boorman was on a roll with Point Blank, Hell in The Pacific and Deliverance. I think it was also the first full script he wrote that ended up in production and by 1974, the smell of the sixties was still strong. Post-Easy Rider, Hollywood was willing to take a gamble here and there. So was Connery, apparently! (Remember, this roll was actually written FOR Burt Reynolds!)
So, now, the problem with the film is that EVERYONE seems to stop dead in their tracks with the thong and overall kooky “look” of the “future”. This is too bad, as the film is actually quite intelligent and chock full of meaning to be picked apart by those that dare!