A group of cavemen and women who apparently live in prehistoric times are celebrating, and to cement the mood of joy they all go hunting for food. Ka-Laa (Corinne Clery) and the older Pag (Luciano Pigozzi) find a small animal which would feed a few, but as they catch it a huge triceratops interrupts them and goes on the attack. Things are looking bleak for the duo when suddenly a hero appears and fends off the dinosaur, eventually killing it with a well-placed blow to the head with his axe. Kala and Pag are thankful, and bring this he-man - called Yor (Reb Brown) - back with them, but their euphoria is shortlived...
Here's a film that cannot make up its mind which is the better opus: Conan the Barbarian or Star Wars. In the end, it settles for a draw and the entertainment on offer here is half one and half the other, but you're not aware of the George Lucas influence until the final third. Yor is a man of mystery, you see, with not even him sure of where he has come from, but all will be revealed. In the meantime, there's what could kindly be termed the usual shenanigans with the blond-bewigged, musclebound lunk hacking and slaying his way through anonymous and costumed extras.
Yes, it's quest time once more and Roy, sorry, Yor plans to find a near-mythical castle, or, erm, an island as it turns out, to settle the question of his origin once for all. But before that he has to contend with, firstly, a group of hairier cavemen who take it upon themselves to kidnap the nice tribe that Ka-Laa and Pag belong to. Yor isn't having that, so he takes it upon himself to save them, but one thing you'll notice about this bloke is death, destruction and disaster follow in his wake. This is never clearer than when a flood not only wipes out the first group of bad guys, but all the decent tribe as well.
Well, all except Ka-Laa and Pag, after all Yor couldn't very well embark on his quest without cheerleaders. It looks as though our hero is going to be feeling the benefit of not one but two love interests when he meets another tribe led by a young woman, Roa (Ayshe Gul), who takes a liking to him: Ka-Laa is most put out by this and stages a three second catfight with the interloper, but soon, true to form, meeting Yor has ensured her demise. Episodic is a good word for this plot, with the barbarian striding into the midst of one group of people, seeing them most of them destroyed and blithely moving on.
So after making a hang glider out of a giant bat, and wondering what - what! - his medallion could possibly represent (might be nothing more than it was the early eighties and jewellery for men was the in thing) among other absurdities, the plot takes a left turn. You may have been pondering over the title, simply Il Mondo di Yor (or The World of Yor) in the original, and thinking that none of this is especially futuristic but abruptly your concerns are allayed when Yor and his pals get to the fortress of Overlord (John Steiner) and it all goes forward a few centuries in technology. This means robots, laser guns and a few Star Wars lifts as the bad guy's plans to create a new master race from Yor's mighty loins are put into effect. Sounds a bit queasy? Don't worry, it's simply laughable, and in its easy to watch manner fairly painless. Music by Guido De Angelis, Maurizio De Angelis and John Scott, including that memorably exultant theme song.
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