Ator, The Fighting Eagle (1982) Comworld Pictures/Action-Adventure-Fantasy RT: 92 minutes Rated PG (violence, mild sexual content) Director: Joe D’Amato (as “David Hills”) Screenplay: Joe D’Amato (as “David Hills) and Jose Maria Sanchez (as “Sherry Russel”) Music: Carlo Maria Cordio Cinematography: Federico Slonisco (Joe D’Amato) Release date: February 1983 (Philadelphia, PA) Starring: Miles O’Keeffe, Sabrina Siani, Ritza Brown, Edmund Purdom, Dakkar, Laura Gemser. Box Office: $1.2M (US)
Rating: *
In the wake of the many cheap knock-offs that followed 1982’s Conan the Barbarian, Ator, the Fighting Eagle is the worst. It’s absolutely bottom of the barrel sword-and-sorcery entertainment. It’s even worse than Sorceress and The Warrior and the Sorceress combined. At least those two movies had an R rating going for them. This movie’s PG rating means three things- 1) no graphic violence, 2) no gratuitous nudity and 3) no sex. WTH, guys?! Even the PG-rated The Beastmaster treated audiences to a glimpse of Tanya Roberts’ boobs. What’s left is a rather boring and pointless fantasy adventure that would be better off playing on a UHF station than a theater.
Ator plays exactly like one of those cheesy movies that used to play on the UHF channels on weekend afternoons. It also makes every one of those awful movies seem better by comparison. It’s an Italian-made movie (that explains a lot!) that looks like it cost about $300 to make. They didn’t even have any money to spare for fake blood which would explain the lack of splatter during the sword fights. You would at least expect the sword to have a little blood on it after the hero defeats his opponent, right? Not in this movie. One can only surmise that these swords are self-cleaning.
Although the movie clearly defines its villain(s), the real bad guy is director Joe D’Amato (going by the pseudonym “David Hills”). He previously directed the 1979 giallo Beyond the Darkness as well as several Black Emanuelle films. Any of those (presumably) look much better when compared to Ator.
Ator opens with a muddled explanation of a prophecy about the son of Torren defeating the Spider King (Dakkar) and saving the world from 1000 years of darkness. When this child is born, the golden eagle in the Spider King’s lair will weep tears of blood. That’s the gist of it anyway. Somewhere, in some random village, a woman gives birth to a baby boy bearing the mark of Torren which looks suspiciously like one of those stick-on tattoos you used to find in boxes of Cracker Jack. Realizing that the prophecy is about to come true, the evil sorcerer sends his “Black Knights” to wipe out the entire village and kill the baby.
Fortunately, a mysterious man named Griba (Purdom, Pieces) takes him away before the Spider King’s men arrive. He leaves baby Ator with a poor family, promising that they will never want for anything ever again if they take in the child and raise him as their own. He grows up into a muscular young man (O’Keeffe, Tarzan the Ape Man) who falls in love with his own sister Sunya (Brown, Monsignor). Keep in mind this is before he learns the truth about his parentage. It sounds like an episode of Jerry Springer just waiting to happen.
For really terrible dialogue, you can’t beat this hilarious (and somewhat disturbing) exchange between the two wanna-be lovers:
Ator: “I love you.
Sunya: “And I love you.”
Ator: “Why can’t we marry?”
Sunya: “Ator, we are brother and sister.”
Ator: “I’ll talk with our father.”
What might have been an extremely uncomfortable father-son talk turns into a cause for celebration. Dad (and Mom) couldn’t be happier about the shocking news because it means Ator will be their true son.
The newlyweds’ happiness is short-lived when the Spider King’s guards crash the wedding and kill everybody except Ator and Sunya. They kidnap the girl leaving her husband to go on a quest to rescue his beloved sister-wife. That’s when he finally meets Griba who fills him in on his true identity and destiny. After what seems like an especially short training period, he sends Ator off with “Sword of Torren” in hand to fulfill the prophecy. His quest includes being kidnapped by a gang of Amazons, travelling through the “Land of the Walking Dead” (a surprisingly sunny place) and fighting a bunch of blind warriors for possession of a magic mirrored shield (aka “Shield of Mordor”) that will help him defeat the Spider King.
Along the way, Ator picks up a beautiful, blond-haired companion named Roon (Siani, 2020 Texas Gladiators) who happens to be a thief. He also finds himself in a hut with a beautiful witch (Gemser, Black Emanuelle) who turns into some sort of creature. Where have we heard all this before? Could it be a certain Arnold Schwarzenegger S&S epic?
To call Ator completely derivative would be a serious understatement. It’s a shameless rip-off of Conan and any of the other imitators that followed. I don’t know when it was shot, but D’Amato apparently had enough time to give our warrior hero an animal sidekick (a bear cub) a la The Beastmaster. It would be one thing to make a Conan clone that ended up being reasonably entertaining. It’s quite another to make one this boring, inept and cheap-looking. Ator faces off against a giant spider near the end. We never get a full shot of the jumbo arachnid, but what is shown looks totally fake. His web consists of rope tied together in a web-like pattern. Who do the makers think they’re fooling?
Miles O’Keeffe, the perfect mix of beefcake and bonehead, is one of the worst actors EVER! Remember his wooden performance in 1981’s Tarzan the Ape Man? He’s no better in Ator. He makes Lou Ferrigno look like a master thespian in Hercules (1983) and the 1985 sequel. Purdom looks ridiculous in that fake wig as does Dakkar sporting tacky gold eye-shadow. The actresses are basically eye candy, nothing more. Gemser is especially easy on the eyes. Unfortunately, the PG rating means we don’t see any of the ladies in the flesh.
The production values are cheaper than any given Roger Corman flick. He would NEVER have even touched this movie. There’s not a single redeeming feature here. I can’t believe the utter ineptitude of all involved with Ator, the Fighting Eagle. What’s even worse is that there are three sequels to this movie although to be fair, the second Ator movie (The Blademaster) is a minor improvement over its predecessor. I didn’t see the other two. I would have like to have seen an Ator movie in which Schwarzenegger and Marc Singer (The Beastmaster) show up and take down that bonehead for good. That’s what I would call justice, sword-and-sorcery style!
