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Battle Beyond the Stars is producer Roger Corman's B-movie response to the success of George Lucas's first Star Wars movie. It’s a colourful and very kitschy spin on The Magnificent Seven or Seven Samurai and does not deny its sources of inspiration, (and refers directly to both - The Magnificent Seven’s Robert Vaughn stars in a supporting role here, and the planet to be fought for is called Akira). Screenwriter John Sayles filled the movie with a wide variety of extraterrestrial species, of which the tyrannical warlord Sador, the ruler of the universe, is the most interesting. In terms of storyline, it's just a terrible set of all sorts of clichés with actors giving worn-out speeches, yet it's quite fun to watch. The funny thing is how easily the main character manages to put together a team of desperadoes to fight villain John Saxon (among the "courageous" team there’s George Peppard from the A-Team, armed with an extensive collection of classic westerns, and Austrian sex bomb Sybil Danning, armed with probably the biggest cleavage in all the galaxies). Interestingly, this is one of the first movies for James Horner and also James Cameron, then 26, who worked on the spaceship miniatures. (14.03.2020)

Among the films riding the coattails of Star Wars, the Roger Corman-produced Battle Beyond the Stars is entertaining, yet surprisingly self-conscious meta trash. Everyone knows that Lucas borrowed the essential elements of his story from Akira Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress, so this time the filmmakers helped themselves to the master’s greatest classic, The Magnificent Seven, i.e. Seven Samurai ;). They did not conceal the model they followed and thus the central planet is called Akira and the cast even includes Robert Vaughn from The Magnificent Seven, who almost literally copies his character from the classic western. In addition to that, Battle Beyond the Stars is as entertaining as a naïve fairy tale tacked together in a frenzy which, instead of the epic and spectacular nature of Lucas’s saga, places its bets on hackneyed clichés, a handful of superficial jokes, attempts at pathos and, primarily, an absurd squad of characters. The cast itself is a source of considerable amusement, when the more deserving, or at least more experienced, actors such as Robert Vaughn, John Saxon and George Peppard coast along, while naïve young performers like Richard Thomas, star of the TV series The Waltons, and Sybil Danning dressed in silly costumes act as if their lives depend on it, because they think this will be their big break. The most surprising thing is the momentary flashes of creative ingenuity, which, thanks to the disjointed episodic narrative, come completely unexpectedly, such as the motif involving Sador’s hand. The film’s primary weakness is the space combat scenes, which, despite the ridiculously zealous acting of all involved, simply lack a spatial concept, since Corman did not splash out on the budget, so action shots couldn’t have more than one ship at the same time. In the end, as with a number of other Corman films, it is appropriate to remember that the king of B-movies actually built modern Hollywood – the future renowned animator Jimmy T. Murakami, John Sayles, James Horner, James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd first came together behind the camera on the set of Battle Beyond the Stars. (27.03.2016)