The directorial debut of cult director and B-movie icon Albert Pyun (“Cyborg”, “Nemesis”) is one for the history books. As the first film, “Talon Against the Empire” was quite generous with a budget of no less than four million dollars, but the calculation was still correct: the film brought in almost ten times the production costs, but was not only a box office hit, but reached in the over time also a cult status – to which indexation may have played a role, at least in Germany.
“Talon in the fight against the empire” entered the index in 1983 and was not allowed to be openly advertised or sold in Germany for 25 years. Today, the fantasy adventure is officially considered rehabilitated. If you want to have “The Sword And The Sorcerer” (the original title) in your collection, getting your hands on the movie is still not easy. At least it now regularly appears in continuously optimized versions.
After the Pyun debut had already been released on DVD by Laser Paradise of ’84 Entertainment in several editions over time, the Blu-ray premiere followed in 2022, available exclusively at drugstore chain Müller, as a strictly limited (and on many places no longer available edition in media book. The following upgrade will take place at the beginning of 2023: “Talon in the fight against the empire” celebrates its German 4K premiere on January 30, 2023 – of course completely unabridged.
As distributor Mediacs has now confirmed via Facebook, the Ultra HD premiere will also appear in the media book in a limited edition. The set will consist of four discs, consisting of the following: movie on 4K Blu-ray, movie on Blu-ray, movie on DVD, and bonus features on another Blu-ray.
It can certainly be argued to what extent it makes sense to offer a film on three different media in one set. If you want to enjoy the best possible version of “Talon in the fight against the Empire”, you cannot avoid the package on offer for 49.99 or 59.99 euros, at least for now. But there are still five postcards, a poster for the film and an extra thick booklet (56 pages) on top. The bonus disc features numerous interviews with filmmaker Albert Pyun, among others, trailers and a featurette about stuntman Jack Tyree. For slightly less money you can get the film as an import Blu-ray:
» “Claw in the fight against the Empire”: Import from Amazon*
“Talon in the fight against the empire”: an exceptional film – already in production
Pyun managed to ride the wave of success of “Conan – The Barbarian” with his pseudo-prehistoric fantasy film and was inspired with an entertaining adventure somewhere between historical epic and trash spectacle – which is clearly based on the Schwarzenegger cult. But almost as exciting as the story about young Talon (Lee Horsley), who flees into exile as the son of the murdered king and is confronted with his past years later, was making the film.
For example, Albert Pyun had to deal with a number of setbacks during filming: Richard Moll, who plays the undead wizard, had to be hospitalized because the contact lenses he had to wear for his role fused with his eyes. The original narrator, Oliver Reed, came to work dead drunk and became not only abusive but aggressive – eventually having to be replaced by Simon MacCorkindale.
However, the greatest tragedy unfolded around the aforementioned Jack Tyree. The stuntman, who also worked on sci-fi classics such as “Planet of the Apes”, “The Rattlesnake” and “Blade Runner”, was killed when he jumped off a cliff because he missed the safety cushions. He was only 37 years old.
All this gave the film a very special status in genre circles, which has been consolidated in many different ways over the years: “The Sword And The Sorcerer” received not only an alternative version for television, but also a new adaptation, including other stuff and a video game that was never completed. Incidentally, the film was even continued after almost 30 years: Albert Pyun himself returned to the director’s chair for “The Sword And The Sorcerer 2”, with “Hercules” cult star Kevin Sorbo taking the lead role.