She (1984)

Avi Nesher is now a well-respected filmmaker for his many dramatic “serious” motion pictures. But early in his career the Israeli director jumped at the opportunity to make an exploitation movie in Italy. Producer Renato Dandi was planning to do an adaptation of H. Rider Haggard’s 1887 novel “She: A History of Adventure,” and he approached Nesher to write the script. Nesher used the classic novel only as a jumping-off point, and the wildly imaginative final screenplay was completely original. Only a tiny bit of Haggard’s story remained. To Nesher’s surprise Dandi approved his script and production began in Rome. The title role went to Sandahl Bergman, a rising star after her appearances in “All That Jazz” and “Conan the Barbarian.”

This week’s movie was “She” from Trans World Entertainment in 1984, written and directed by Avi Nesher. The movie opens 23 years after an apocalyptic disaster called the “Cancellation.” Two brothers and a sister called “Tom, Dick, and Hari,” (David Goss, Harrison Muller, and Elena Wiedermann), run afoul of the “Norks,” a gang of Neo-Nazi warriors led by the evil “Hector,” (Gordon Mitchell, the star of many Italian sword and sandal movies). Hari is captured by the Norks and taken back to their home city. Tom and Dick set out to rescue her, but during the journey they encounter a bizarre variety of weird mutants. The first is the mysterious “She,” (Bergman), an immortal warlord worshipped as a goddess by her subjects. She captures Tom and Dick, but falls in love with Tom. “She” and her lieutenant “Shandra,” (Quin Kessler), join the brothers in their quest. This quartet encounter a Communist with psychic powers, a commune of hedonistic vampires, a mad scientist, and a one-eyed sailor man who regenerates into a series of identical clones! Eventually Hari is rescued but the group must battle the entire Nork army!

This movie is very bad indeed. The whole film consists of a series of episodic captures and rescues, all taking place in a dreamlike fantasy world that is never developed beyond the bare minimum. Yet the movie is never boring, and sometimes the sheer silliness is endearing and amusing. Bergman is fun to watch, and the cheesy production design has a certain charm. This is a prime example of a good bad movie, and I will watch it again.

The appealing rock music soundtrack was created by Rick Wakeman of “Yes” and Justin Hayward of the “Moody Blues,” with contributions from the bands “Motörhead” and “Bastard.”