The Blade Master (1984)

[+]

Ator 2
Ator II
Ator the Invincible
Ator, the Blade Master
Cave Dwellers
The Cave Dwellers
Day of the Sword Man
The Return

Tagline(s):	A pure action fantasy where good, strength and exotic beauty battle evil.
	Warrior, Magician, Hero, Thief. They called him .... The Blade Master.
	A pure action fantasy.

Nomination Year: 1992

SYNOPSIS: In a world of swords-and-sorcery, Ator is an enlightened Hero of the Ages: strong, handsome, intelligent. When his arch-nemesis Zor captures his old teacher (the "Great One," who seems to do nothing but spout meaningless platitudes), Ator, his faithful companion Thong, and the Great One's daughter Mila must journey to the Great One's castle to rescue him before he's forced to reveal the "Geometric Nucleus," a force of unstoppable power (i.e., a thinly-disguised atomic bomb reference). They are beset by many obstacles along the way, and only the fighting prowess, scientific knowledge, and watered-down pseudo-Zen philosophy of Ator can save the day. But can he save Mankind...from itself?

Bryan Cassidy

Smithee Award Nominations

Inane Dialogue
"Thong! The Fish Is Ready!" In a quiet moment by the river, Ator and the Great One's daughter have an incomprensible conversation, which terminates with "Thong! The fish is ready!"	Sorry, this clip has not yet been made available!

"Whoops!"
Neutra-Liminated! The mustachioed bad guy Zor is ordering his sorcerer-for-hire to wipe out Ator and friends: "I want him neutra-liminated!" In the middle of that strange word, "neutra-liminated," his head teleports to a new position. Obviously, they changed the line from "neutralized" to "eliminated" in midstream. But the editor must've liked them so much, he kept them both -- involuntarily.	Sorry, this clip has not yet been made available!

"WHAT?!"

If He Can Do That, Why Doesn't He Invent a Better Movie?

You may need to sit down for this one. Ator and his two companions need to somehow get into the fortress to rescue the Great One. Ator points offscreen. "You two take the secret entrance. I'll keep them busy out here." Ator leaves, stage right. Abruptly, we see Ator running off a mountaintop in a hang-glider! The aluminum parts are covered with straw, as if we're to believe that he constructed the darn thing himself in his spare time. As you're wondering where he got the hang-glider, you suddenly also wonder where the heck he got the mountain, since it was all flat land where he left his companions just a second before. In fact, the two of them look up and say, "Look, it's Ator! He's flying!" They smile and wave. Ator smiles and waves. The audience channel-surfs. As if that weren't enough to swallow, they begin to show Stock Footage of flying scenes: waterfalls, mountains, famous castles in Europe -- some in Germany, some in France... Where the hell is Ator going, anyway? There's even one shot where you can briefly see a modern town way off in the distance if you look carefully. But wait -- there's more! When Ator finally flies over the villain's castle, he begins to unhook homemade grenades from his belt, and merrily starts tossing them at the bad guy's goons from above. Which leads us to this question: If there's a "secret passage," why didn't Ator just use that instead of going through all this trouble?!

Sorry, this clip has not yet been made available!

Directors

Director	Claim to Fame
Joe D'Amato	VERY prolific Z-Movie and softcore porn director in the '70s through '90s, including helming such gems as Ator, the Fighting Eagle (as David Hills), 2020: Texas Gladiators (as Kevin Mancuso), and several of the Emanuelle franchise. His list has to be seen to be believed. Many of his credits are under aliases (how Smithee of him), spanning many nationalities, like "Raf De Palma," "Chang Lee Sun," "Alexandre Borsky," and many others. Much of his work is (by request) uncredited. Was born Aristide Massaccesi in Rome...at least he thinks so.

Director

Claim to Fame

Joe D'Amato

VERY prolific Z-Movie and softcore porn director in the '70s through '90s, including helming such gems as Ator, the Fighting Eagle (as David Hills), 2020: Texas Gladiators (as Kevin Mancuso), and several of the Emanuelle franchise. His list has to be seen to be believed. Many of his credits are under aliases (how Smithee of him), spanning many nationalities, like "Raf De Palma," "Chang Lee Sun," "Alexandre Borsky," and many others. Much of his work is (by request) uncredited. Was born Aristide Massaccesi in Rome...at least he thinks so.

Cast

Actor	Character	Claim to Fame
Miles O'Keeffe	Ator	The titular (cough) Ator in the franchise of the same name. Sometimes he spells it "O'Keefe."
Lisa Foster	Mila	Did The Blade Master and The Jitters and not much else...
Chen Wong	Thong	AKA Kiro Wehara and Huera Kiro.
David Cain Haughton	Zor	Some parts in Italian productions. AKA David Brandon.
Charles Borromel	Akronas	Played an insane prisoner in Ladyhawke, Mulholland in Waterloo, and Calilgola in Messalina vs. The Son of Hercules.
Nello Pazzafini	Wallon	A very LONG filmography of spaghetti fantasy flicks... AKA Nat Williams.


[Smithee Film Gallery]		[Return to Lobby]