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Roger Corman’s 'Amazons' Feminist Movie

Warrior-woman films like Roger Corman’s 'Amazons' took a new look at feminism in cinema.

By Eddie WongPublished 8 years ago 5 min read
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Put a strong female actor in the jungle, sword in her hand, with producer Roger Corman in charge and you have the beginning of Amazon movies. Not Amazon.com, but actually Amazonian women in movies. Corman is a legendary masters of genre filmmaking. Post–Texas Chainsaw Massacre era, Corman's base of operations was New Horizon Pictures, located in the Brentwood Section of Los Angeles. Along with comedy films like The Last Resort with Charles Grodin and a children's movie called The Dirt Bike Kid, Corman took a try at a spin-off of the sword-and-sorcery genre: the warrior-woman film. Roger Corman’s Amazons took a new look at feminism in cinema.

Barbarian Queen

"I think strong, physical women in the movies are definitely a trend,” said Corman, before it really was a trend. Roger Corman was the trend setter. He had done a film, Deathstalker, in 1983 starring Barbi Benton. The costar of that movie was Lana Clarkson, who stands 5' 11" and is very strong and athletic. Almost every review mentioned Lana, so he cast her in a film called Barbarian Queen, which had a very successful run in theaters in the United States and actually did well overseas, which was no easy feat in the 1980s.

Amazons

The success of Corman's Barbarian Queen led to a film called Amazons, starring actress, stuntwoman, and karate expert Windsor Taylor Randolph. The women in Amazons had to be extremely physical. That included being able to ride horses, fence, shoot a bow and arrow, and generally look like believable Amazon warriors.

One Million Years B.C.

Women running around the jungle wearing revealing clothing was not a new idea in 1986. Maureen O'Sullivan bared her belly button as Jane in the early Tarzan flicks, back when people could still remember silent films. Carole Landis played a prehistoric cavewoman in the 1930s and Raquel Welch reprised the role in the sixties with One Million Years B.C. In the 1950s, a warrior-woman might be found in the jungle, Atlantis, or outer space, but she was likely to be played by Zsazsa Gabor, rather than a woman with any serious athletic ability.

Conan

The original Conan the Barbarian, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, featured dancer Sandahl Bergman, whose athletic feats and ability to wield a sword were among the best things in the film. The sequel gave us Grace Jones, about as far from a 50s starlet as you can get.

Female Warriors

Ron Shane, Ph.D. in the Social Psychology of Literature, explains, "On the surface these films are action adventure, but here is a deeper symbolic meaning of reality. These movies are about the underlying power of women. Many historians believe women still possess that transcendental mental and physical force that inspired the ancient myths of supremely beautiful, intuitive, and wise female deities. From the 1990s hit TV series Xena: Warrior Princess to DC's rebooted Wonder Woman, Roger Corman's style can still be seen beneath the glossy special effects of contemporary works. Real women doing tough stunts and action sequences in a man's world, was Roger Corman's signature vibe.

Ronda Rousey

Whatever the underlying mythological realities that affect our culture may be, Corman was more interested in what he saw in the newspaper, on the evening news, and in what he observed going on around him in society as a whole. He said in a 1986 interview, "I think motion pictures more often reflect trends than set them. Two cultural trends come to mind. One is the feminist movement, which says women do not have to always stand in the background, that they can take an active and positive role in the world. There is a general movement toward physical fitness. More people in general, and women in particular, are working out with weights and putting a greater emphasis on strength, conditioning, and fitness." This was long before Ronda Rousey gave us the real life version of movie star tough girls.

Amazon Women in the Modern Era

Given the combination of the then-new perception of women's roles in society and the beginning of the health and wellness generation, it wasn’t surprising that Corman was drawn to the rising genre. Amplified by the increased emphasis on keeping the body fit, strong, and healthy, movie stars began to gear their training toward physical as well as dramatic styles. Windsor Taylor Randolph said of her role as one the original female movie action stars or amazonian women, “I was glad they were being made and that I was being asked to star in them. I began acting and modeling when I was twelve years old, but was also a tomboy and always very physically active. We shot Amazons in the Argentine jungle, and it was tough—hot and humid, and you had to watch out all the time for snakes and spiders. On top of that, a lot of the stunts they asked me to do were dangerous. I was thrown from horses repeatedly, and one horse brushed me off against a tree. I got a gash in the knee during one sword fight. But I loved it. I've done a number of feature films, but this was the first time I've had this kind of challenge, to create a larger-than-life warrior woman character, and use all of my physical and acting talents at the same time."

The amazon women movie was an emerging sub-genre film type. The mere notion that women could play extreme physical roles was still a new concept as early as the 1980s. Roger Corman was amongst the few filmmakers to take the old battle axe out of the woman and put it in her hand.

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About the Creator

Eddie Wong

Lives in Malibu, California. Loves movies. Cutting expert, lover of Final Cut Pro 7. Parents wanted him to be a doctor, but he just wants to edit.

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