“Conan the Barbarian” and “Predator”
Two Schwarzenegger cult films are celebrating milestone anniversaries
40 and 35 years ago: Arnold Schwarzenegger as “Conan the Barbarian” (left) and as Major “Dutch” Schaefer in “Predator”.
© imago/United Archives / imago/Everett Collection
Two iconic roles, one actor: The Schwarzenegger cult films “Conan the Barbarian” and “Predator” celebrate anniversaries in quick succession.
In her remarkable career, the “Styrian Oak” Arnold Schwarzenegger (75) has created numerous iconic figures. Two films that have made a significant contribution to the success of the Austrian Mister Universum are celebrating anniversaries within a very short time: “Conan the Barbarian” and “Predator”.
On August 25, 2022, it will be exactly 40 years to the day that Arnie, as a broad-shouldered and taciturn barbarian, enjoyed the “screaming of the women”. On August 27, exactly 35 years ago, as a defensive alien prey, he stated pregnant with meaning: “If it bleeds, we can kill it!”
The starting signal for a storybook career in Hollywood
Schwarzenegger had already celebrated his involuntarily comic debut in the dream factory in 1969 in the B-movie “Hercules in New York”. However, the final breakthrough as Hollywood’s favorite one-man wrecking ball didn’t come until 1982 – thanks to “Conan”. The fact that Schwarzenegger was nominated for a Golden Raspberry as the worst actor as the title barbarian didn’t hurt either – an anti-award that Laurence Olivier (1907-1989) “snatched away” from him that year, by the way.
Even today, “Conan” enjoys great popularity – albeit in most cases as “Guilty Pleasure”. Dialogues like “Why are you crying? – It’s Conan, he can’t cry. That’s why I’m crying for him!” contributed significantly to this. In 1984, Schwarzenegger unpacked his broadsword and the even broader Austrian accent a second time in “Conan the Destroyer” – in the same year that he first became the “Terminator”…
Oneliner fireworks in the jungle
When the sci-fi hit “Predator” was released in 1987, Schwarzenegger had long been a star. Together with Carl Weathers (74), Bill Duke (79), Shane Black (60) and company, dripping with testosterone, he faced an alien monster in the jungle of Central America, the “Predator”, which hunted down the robust soldiers. Even more than with their guns, they fired back with oneliners: “I don’t have time to bleed”, “It’s about time to get the Ballermann out of the bag” or – here the English original is recommended -: “You’re One Ugly motherfuckers!”
The “Predator” formula, according to which the alien kills its prey in a classic counting rhyme manner, is as popular today as it was 35 years ago. “Predator 2” – with Danny “I’m too old for that shit” Glover (76) as Schwarzenegger’s replacement – was followed by “Predators” in 2010 and “Predator: Upgrade” in 2018. Meanwhile, behind the brand new title “Prey” from 2022 hides a prequel to the series in which Native Americans have to defend themselves against the creature from space.
If that’s still not enough, “Alien vs. Predator” (2004) and “Alien vs. Predator 2” (2007) can also see how intergalactic big game hunters and parasitic life forms from the “Alien” franchise affect their to smack (various) mouths. However, all “Predator” offshoots have one thing in common: Arnold Schwarzenegger stayed away from them all.