While Conan was born in 1932 on the pulpy pages of “Weird Tales” magazine, for many of us it was the 1982 film “Conan the Barbarian” that gave us our proper introduction to the character. Directed by John Milius, this sword-and-sorcery epic was a commercial success and over time it gained a sizable cult following. Perhaps most notable, “Conan the Barbarian” put its star, a young Arnold Schwarzenegger, on the cinematic map.

Bringing Robert E. Howard’s creation to the big screen had been attempted for years, but licensing and funding issues repeatedly got in the way. But it wasn’t until Dino De Laurentiis came onboard that the movie received its proper green light. Milius was to direct and co-write the script along with Oliver Stone. Filming began in October, 1980 with the majority of the production shot in Spain. And Spain provides some truly epic landscapes which helps give the film its grand and epic scale.

In a harrowing prelude, we watch as a young Conan (Jorge Sanz) witnesses his Cimmerian village being ravaged and his people being slaughtered by a violent band of marauders led by a ruthless sorcerer and cult leader named Thulsa Doom (James Earl Doom). Among the massacred dead are Conan’s father and his mother, who was beheaded as she held her son’s hand. Conan and the other children are then taken south and sold into labor.

Years pass for the enslaved Conan, who is forced to work in a grueling mill until adulthood. Now played by Schwarzenegger, the rugged and muscled Conan is forced into brutal pit fighting where he battles to the death for the pleasures of bloodthirsty crowds. He eventually earns his freedom. But with no place to call home, he roams the land, having a number of fantastical encounters (and a few hedonistic ones) along the way.

But Conan’s course changes after he meets and teams up with a fierce warrior and bandit, Valeria (Sandahl Bergman) and a skilled thief named Subotai (Gerry Lopez). The trio loot, waste their riches, and then steal some more until they are captured and brought before King Osric the Usurper (played by the late, great Max von Sydow). But rather than imprison them, the king hires them to retrieve his daughter Yasimina (Valérie Quennessen) who has been lured away by none other than Thulsa Doom.

Seeing his chance for revenge, Conan readily accepts, setting the stakes for the rest of the story which plays out similarly to so many other sword-and-sorcery adventures. But to its credit, “Conan the Barbarian” has long stood out as one of the blueprints for a movie genre that thrived for over a decade before dying off amid the waves of new genre trends. And for many of us, there is an appreciation for it (and other films like it) that goes beyond mere nostalgia.

Perhaps you could pick apart some of the performances. Maybe certain elements haven’t aged as well as others. It’s possible that the film’s serious tone is too much for more modern expectations. Regardless, “Conan the Barbarian” remains a pillar among the 1980s fantasy adventure films while setting Arnold Schwarzenegger on a path to motion picture stardom. It’s true that it’s a movie of its time. But that does nothing to take away its impact or appeal.