Gor | |
---|---|
Directed by | Fritz Kiersch |
Written by | Rick Marx Peter Welbeck (screenplay) |
Based on | Tarnsman of Gor by John Norman |
Produced by | Avi Lerner Harry Alan Towers |
Starring | Urbano Barberini Rebecca Ferratti Oliver Reed |
Cinematography | Hans Khule |
Edited by | Ken Bornstein Max Lemon |
Music by | Pino Donaggio |
Distributed by | The Cannon Group, Inc. |
Release date |
|
Running time | 94 minutes |
Countries | United States South Africa |
Language | English |
Box office | $159,731 [1] |
Gor is a 1987 science fiction fantasy film. It was loosely based on the 1966 novel Tarnsman of Gor, the first in the Gor series of sword and planet novels. The series was written by philosophy professor and author John Frederick Lange Jr. under his pen name John Norman. There was a sequel to the film, Outlaw of Gor (1989).
After being snubbed before a weekend-getaway by his teaching assistant, socially awkward professor of physics Tarl Cabot accidentally unlocks the magical properties of a ring which transports him to the planet Gor. After his arrival, Cabot encounters a village being attacked by the army of the tyrannical priest-king Sarm. Sarm's forces are invading neighboring settlements in an effort to retrieve the Home Stone, a mystical object that creates pathways between Gor and distant Earth. Cabot too is abruptly attacked by Sarm's warriors. After inadvertently killing Sarm's own son during the encounter, he is left for dead in the desert. He awakens to find himself being nursed back to health by Talena (Rebecca Ferratti), a scantily clad barbarian princess of the Kingdom of Ko-ro-ba. Cabot learns that Talena's father, the King, has been captured by Sarm, along with the Home Stone. Cabot travels with Talena on a rescue mission to Sarm's lands, where they are captured. Cabot leads a group of rebels in an escape effort, whereupon Cabot is able to kill Sarm, rescue Talena and her father, and reacquire the Home Stone. Tarl et al. return to Ko-ro-ba, where, after Cabot and Talena admit their love for one another, Cabot accidentally activates the Home Stone, and is returned to Earth. [2] [3] [4]
Cannon Films had initially planned to release the film in September 1987, but the theatrical release was cancelled. [5]
Gor was widely panned upon its release (and subsequently remembered) for its poor production value and camp. The film has been the target of criticism for its overt sexual themes, and its portrayal of women as slaves to men. [6] [7]
In a 2002 interview with online fanzine The Gorean Voice, John Norman recalled that Ballantine Books, holder of the rights to his novels, balked at the idea of publishing movie tie-in books. He said that Ballantine had to be circumvented in order to make the movie: [8]
Ballantine Books refused to do movie tie-ins to either film; they failed even to answer my letters. My attorney finessed his way around Ballantine's rights department and contacted the legal department at Random House. The movies were made by going over the heads of the censors.
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Gor is the fictional setting for a series of sword and planet novels written by philosophy professor John Lange, writing as John Norman. The setting was first described in the 1966 novel Tarnsman of Gor. The series is inspired by science fantasy pulp fiction works by Edgar Rice Burroughs, such as the Barsoom series. It also includes erotica and philosophical content. The Gor series repeatedly depicts men abducting and physically and sexually brutalizing women, who grow to enjoy their submissive state. According to The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Norman's "sexual philosophy" is "widely detested", but the books have inspired a Gorean subculture.
John Frederick Lange Jr. is an American writer who, as John Norman, has authored the Gor series of science fantasy novels. Norman is also a philosophy professor.
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