"Actor: Gerry Lopez"

• Conan the Barbarian | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £8.09   |  Saving you £-2.10 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  The film that launched Arnold Schwarzenegger's international career, Conan the Barbarian is still regarded by many as his finest hour. Limited to a mere handful of lines and expertly directed to play up the Nietzschean strength of the character by John Milius, the Austrian Oak has never looked more suited to a role, his muscle flexing and sword twirling apparently effortless. The extraordinarily finely detailed production design ensures that the barren Spanish countryside perfectly suits the Hyborean-era backdrop envisioned by author Robert E Howard. Whether dressed in rags or riches, Schwarzenegger and companions Subotai (Gerry Lopez) and Valeria (Sandahl Bergman) look believably born to their surroundings. Backing their own very fine performances are brilliant supporting roles from James Earl Jones as serpentine baddie Thulsa Doom and Max Von Sydow as doomed King Osric. Plot-wise the film is simply the transformation of a wild barbarian into a worldly-wise king who, via a quest for revenge, finally learns the riddle of steel. The script is highly regarded for its dazzling set-pieces (the opening village raid, the orgy of body parts) and quotable dialogue ("They shall all drown in lakes of blood"), and it comes complete with an anti-peace movement reactionary subtext for anyone who cares to look close enough. One other element deserving mention is the extraordinary score by Basil Poledouris, which inspires the film with a sense of operatic grandeur. On the DVD: Conan the Barbarian appears as a suitably mythic special edition DVD. Sadly the magnificent score can only be heard in a mono mix, but the very fine picture is presented in 2.35:1. The extras package is phenomenal, too. Several deleted scenes have been re-edited into the film, but are available to view independently as well. There's a quick split-screen special effects feature showing how the ghostly spirits were added to Conan's resurrection. "The Conan Archives" is an 11-minute slide show of drawings, costumes and advertising. Best of all is the fantastic 53-minute "Conan Unchained" documentary interviewing every conceivable contributor who all reminisce with great fondness. It's slightly better seeing Schwarzenegger and Milius than hearing them talk in their commentary, which inevitably re-tells many of the same anecdotes in between puffs of Arnie's stogies. --Paul Tonks

• Conan The Barbarian | DVD | (18/04/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Thief. Warrior. Gladiator. King. Through the history of mankind the times that are most recorded in mythology and song are those of the great deeds and fantastic adventures. Such a time was the Hyborean Age. Such a tale is the story of 'Conan The Barbarian'. Cimmeran Conan witnesses his parents' savage murder at the hands of the raiding Vanir and their master Thulsa Doom also leader of the snake-cult of Set. Fifteen years of agony first chained to the Wheel Of Pain grinding grain and then enslaved as a pit fighter forge a magnificent body and indominitable spirit. Freed miraculously one day by his owner Conan with his companions Subotai the Mongol and Valeria the Queen of Thieves sets forth upon his quest to learn the riddle of steel which his father has prophesied will confer ultimate power; and to kill the arch-villian Thulsa Doom...

• Farewell To The King | DVD | (28/07/2003) from £6.22   |  Saving you £0.77 (12.38%)   |  RRP £6.99

  During World War II a British Army officer is despatched to Borneo to train the local tribesmen to fight the Japanese and is surprised to discover the tribal king is an American. The two train the tribe and fight in a series of battles but both are sadly aware that their destruction is imminent...

• Big Wednesday | DVD | (01/06/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  John Milius charts a decade of social change as three surfing buddies use the sport as a personal touchstone for their lives whilst growing up in the turbulent 1960s. Irresponsible hot-dogging legend Matt (Jan-Michael Vincent),serious and stable Jack (William Katt) and mad misfit Leroy, aka "Masochist" (Gary Busey), are teenage surf bums in 1963, living at the beach in a perpetual summer under the sway of surfboard-maker Bear (Sam Melville), guru, mentor, and keeper of the lore. But times are changing and boys grow up in the shadow of Vietnam while adulthood pushes them into hard decisions. John Milius mixes the nostalgia of American Graffiti with the reverence of a John Ford cavalry drama. Surfing becomes a kind of spiritual quest spoken of in awed mythic tones and photographed with the epic grandeur of a rite of passage. Milius's heavy-handed direction andr everent attitude slows the films and will turn off some viewers but Milius fans will appreciate his macho stylings and philosophical musings, and surfing fans will love the spectacular surfing footage, including the dazzling stylings of world champion Gerry Lopez (who Milius later cast in Conan the Barbarian). Lee Purcell costars as Matt's supportive wife, with Patti D'Arbanville, Barbara Hale and Robert Englund in supporting roles. Look for Ford stock player Hank Worden in a small role and Milius himself in a cameo role selling marijuana in Tijuana. --Sean Axmaker

• Riding Giants | DVD | (22/08/2005) from £5.90   |  Saving you £14.09 (238.81%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Riding Giants is more than another blissful surfing movie. It's an outstanding documentary about one era in American alternative lifestyles, when surfing was well-suited to a radical culture of social dropouts. Using an amazing array of amateur film clips, shot for the most part in Hawaii and California from the late 1950s and early '60s, director Stacy Peralta traces the rise of surfing's appeal to young men looking to test themselves in an unorthodox (and sexy) milieu--of "living life to the fullest," as former surfer-turned-screenwriter John Milius (Big Wednesday) puts it at one point. Lengthy chapters on the glories of Oahu's Makaha and the "superstition and dread" that accompanied the big-wave challenge of Waimea Bay are riveting and sometimes heroic, particularly told through the memories of surf legend Greg Noll. Great material, too, about the deadly wonders of surfing Mavericks, California, where the rocks will get one if the violent tides don't. --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com

• A Broke Down Melody | DVD | (29/01/2007) from £18.98   |  Saving you £-3.99 (-26.60%)   |  RRP £14.99

  In the spirit of the traditional surf film format A Brokedown Melody tells the story of the surfer's journey by combining surfing footage music and commentary and weaving it together with the colorful imagery collected from destinations around the globe. Featured is the surfing of Jack Johnson Kelly Slater Tom Curren Gerry Lopez the Malloys Rob Machado CJ Hobgood and others.

• Conan The Barbarian (Special Edition) | DVD | (08/02/2006) from £6.73   |  Saving you £3.26 (32.60%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Now they will know why they are afraid of the dark. Now they learn why they fear the night. - Thulsa Doom Through the history of mankind the times that are most recorded in mythology and song are those of the great deeds and fantastic adventures. Such a time was the Hyborean Age. Such a tale is the story of Conan The Barbarian. Cimmeran Conan witnesses his parents' savage murder at the hands of the raiding Vanir and their master Thulsa Doom also leader of the snake-cult of Set. Fifteen years of agony first chained to the Wheel Of Pain grinding grain and then enslaved as a pit fighter forge a magnificent body and indominitable spirit. Freed miraculously one day by his owner Conan with his companions Subotai the Mongol and Valeria the Queen of Thieves sets forth upon his quest to learn the riddle of steel which his father has prophesied will confer ultimate power; and to kill the arch-villian Thulsa Doom.

• Conan The Barbarian | DVD | (24/09/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The Warrior Gladiator King. Through the history of mankind the times that are most recorded in mythology and song are those of the great deeds and fantastic adventures. Such a time was the Hyborean Age. Such a tale is the story of 'Conan The Barbarian'. Cimmeran Conan is captured as a child after his parents' savage murder by raiding Vanir led by Thulsa Doom head also of the snake-cult of Set. Fifteen years of agony first chained to the Wheel Of Pain grinding grain and then enslaved as a pit fighter forge a magnificent body and indominitable spirit. Freed miraculously one day by his owner Conan with his companions Subotai the Mongol and Valeria the Queen of Thieves sets forth upon his quest to learn ""the riddle of steel"" which his father has prophesied will confer ultimate power; and to kill the arch-villian Thulsa Doom...

• VANS - Triple Crown Of Surfing | DVD | (19/09/2005) from £26.81   |  Saving you £-12.56 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Every winter VANS sponsers an elite surfing contest on the North Shore of Oahu - this DVD captures the exciting highlights of this 3-part contest edited down to 60 taught minutes including intense moments like Sunny Garcia's cliffhanger victory. The DVD also features 30 minutes of never before seen bonus footage that goes behind the scenes of the event and gets in to the personalities of these legendary surfers from Kelly Slater to Big Wednesday's Gerry Lopez.

• Bluebird - Stylemasters Original Soundtrack | DVD | (28/05/2007) from £3.27   |  Saving you £10.98 (546.27%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A documentation of performance surfing on the North Shore 1977-79. Journey back to a free era of change when boards became shorter and movements more radical. A time when Style was being re-defined and there were no limits to where surfing couldgo. Shot in the late 70s on Oahu's North Shore (with an early side trip to Uluwatu) STYLEMASTERS chronicles the progression of surfing in this pivotal time documenting the lifestyle andperformance of some of the most influential surfers ever.