Claim: Arnold Schwarzenegger acted in a sword-and-sorcery epic.

Conan the Barbarian is a 1982 American low fantasy adventure film directed and co-written by John Milius . It is based on stories by Robert E. Howard , a pulp fiction writer of the 1930s , about the adventures of the eponymous character in a fictional pre-historic world of dark magic and savagery . The film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Earl Jones , and tells the story of a young barbarian -LRB- Schwarzenegger -RRB- who seeks vengeance for the death of his parents at the hands of Thulsa Doom -LRB- Jones -RRB- , the leader of a snake cult . Buzz Feitshans and Raffaella De Laurentiis produced the film for her father Dino De Laurentiis , with Edward R. Pressman as an executive producer . Basil Poledouris composed the music .   Ideas for a Conan film were proposed as early as 1970 ; Pressman and associate producer Edward Summer began a concerted effort to get the film made in 1975 . It took them two years to obtain the film rights , after which they recruited Schwarzenegger for the lead role and Oliver Stone to draft a script . Pressman lacked capital for the endeavor , and in 1979 , after having his proposals for investments rejected by the major studios , he sold the project to Dino De Laurentiis . Milius was appointed as director and he rewrote Stone 's script . The final screenplay integrated scenes from Howard 's stories and from films such as Kwaidan and Seven Samurai . Filming took place in Spain over five months in the regions around Madrid and Almería . The sets , designed by Ron Cobb , were based on Dark Age cultures and Frank Frazetta 's paintings of Conan . Milius eschewed optical effects , preferring to realize his ideas with mechanical constructs and optical illusions . Schwarzenegger performed most of his own stunts , and two types of swords , costing $ 10,000 each , were forged for his character . The editing process took over a year and several violent scenes were cut .   Conan was a commercial success for its backers , grossing more than $ 100 million at box offices around the world , although the revenue fell short of the level that would qualify the film as a blockbuster . Academics and critics interpreted the film as advancing the themes of fascism or individualism , and the fascist angle featured in most of the criticisms of the film . Critics also negatively reviewed Schwarzenegger 's acting and the film 's violent scenes . Despite the criticisms , Conan was popular with young males . The film earned Schwarzenegger worldwide recognition . Conan has been frequently released on home media , the sales of which had increased the film 's gross to more than $ 300 million by 2007 . The film 's success led to the 1984 sequel Conan the Destroyer .