Zardoz (1974)
Sean Connery in a red diaper costume.
Characters/Groups
Consuella - Charlotte Rampling
Arthur Frayn/Zardoz - Niall Buggy
IMDB has Star, nothing on Wikipedia check movie give name - Bairbre Dowling
IMDB has Old Scientist nothing on wikipedia check movie give name - Christopher Casson
Voice of Death - Reginald Jarman
Character thumbnails with links to profiles
Detailed Synopsis
In the year 2293 a group of Chosen Ones are gathered around their god Zardoz, which is a giant floating head. He tells them they were chosen to kill the Brutals and tells them chant The gun is good while the penis is evil, because the penis produces more Brutals while the gun purifies the earth. He then tells them go forth and kill and throws up a bunch of rifles. Zed sneaks aboard Zardoz, inside are people wrapped in plastic bags. He looks out a window and sees the ground far below. He shoots Arthur Frayn who calls Zed foolish for shooting him for he could have taught him many things. Arhtur then floats away. Zardoz lands in a valley with buildings and Zed leaves Zardoz. He walks around and explores the building complex and finds artifacts from the past and complex food and vegetable systems. He also sees Immortals walking around or standing still in trees. He finds a ring device that lists the surplus and need of different vortexes and also acts as a form of encyclopedia, answering questions the wearer asks. He is about to shoot May when she uses mental powers to stun his mind, causing him to drop his revolver. She asks him what he knows about the Vortex and he tells her what Zardoz has told the Chosen Ones. She reads his mind to see his past. Later Zed is on a table while May and Consuella watch his memories on a screen, including that Zardoz has taught them to use slavery to produce wheat. Consuella is disturbed by the use of slavery, however May reminds her that she eats the bread from the wheat. Consuella wants to kill Zed while May wants to study him. May asks her ring what happened to Arthur Frayn and it tells her he has died and is being reborn and a fetus appears in a nearby clear bag. George Saden, Apathetic and a group of other Immortals are watching Zed's memories. May and Consuella want to investigate what Arthur was doing and Friend reminds everyone no one else wanted to run the outlands. Friend inspects Zed and May said she wants to look at his DNA to see what new things have dome about. May and Consuella debate the fate of Zed and Avelow predicts they have conjured up a monster in their midst. Friend tells Zed he likes him while also being patronizing to him. A vote is taken and it is decided Zed shall live for another three weeks. Friend takes Zed from his cage in the morning and then demands to know what happened to Arthur Frayn. Friend takes him to a warehouse of artifacts where Zed is to work. may brings him into triangular where she examines Zed physiologically. She is interupted by the trial of George Saden who is on trial for exhibiting negativity which he calls constructive critisism. May decides he is lying. Zed learns from Friend that when a Immortal is convicted of a crime they are aged as punishment, but as there is no death the person just continues to look older as their crimes continue. Friend takes Zed to the area where the Renegades live, Immortals who have been aged to the point of senility. Friend is told he must decide on the fate of George Saden. Friend votes for absolute acquittal. Friend tells Zed about the Apothetics, a disease that affects Immortals and causes them to be highly pliable and in a zombie like state. The final vote is tallied and George Saden is aged 5 years. Consuella is having a meeting discussing the cause of erections which she likens to aggression. She plays an series of images in an attempt to cause Zed to get an erection, however it is Consuella who causes his erection. By studying Zed's DNA she learns he is a mutant with breeding potential and she again asks him how he came into the vortex and realizes he is superior to her and the other Immortals. She promises to keep the knowledge to herself if he makes no move to disrupt the society. During dinner a debate erupts when Consuells acuses Friend of using Zed to do work he is supposed to do himself. Consuells again calls for the destruction of Zed. Another vote is taken and May is given seven more days to complete her study of Zed and then he will be terminated. A meditation is started and Friend tries to resist going to second level, which is a group meditation. Friend is deemed a renegade and he is cast out of the vortex. Zed runs and comes to the invisible shield of vortex 4. He then goes to the home of the Renegades and finds a physically changed Friend who blames Zed for his fate. Friend urges the other Renegades to attack Zed forcing Zed. Zed asks Friend what he wants and Friend tells him he wants death for everything and Zed agrees to help him bring death. Friend tells him about the Tabernacle. Friend takes Zed to meet a founding member of the Immortals who created immortality and the Tabernacle who was deemed a Renegade. The Founder tells Zed to talk to May. Zed opens his memories to May and she learns of his mission to kill the Brutals. He tells of one day where he followed a masked Brutal who taught him things which changed him and he learned to read and then read as much as he could. May sees then that Zed murdered Arthur Frayn, who he knew was Zardoz, because he felt Arthur had betrayed them by making them take slaves instead of killing and eating wheat instead of meat. Zed then explains how he got inside Zardoz. Zed explains he told the other mutant Exterminators of the book he read the Wizard of Oz and how he learned they were worshiping a fake god, a man behind a curtain. Zed admits to May he came for revenge. Consuella finds May about to have sex with Zed and accuses her of bestiality. She tries to use her mind powers on Zed and he resists until he becomes blind. Avelow takes him and restores his vision. Avelow understands that Zed is the one to kill everyone and she agrees to help him if he kills her. Avelow explains the history of the Immortals who cut them off from the rest of the world. Consuella bring a large amount of Immortals who attack Zed but he is able to escape. He runs to the vortex walls and signs to some Executioners outside the vortex wall. Zed is hiding when a group of Apothetics surround him and drain him of his vigor. Zed continues to run and escape and is found by some Renegades who bring him to Friend. Disguised he crosses paths with some Apothetics who stole his vigor and are now having sex. Friend takes Zed to May and she agrees to help. Zed learns all of the Immortals knowledge in exchange for his seed. Friend tells Zed the old were Scientists erased the knowledge of how to destory the Tabernacle. Zed figures out the destruction of a crystal will destroy the Tabernacle. Arthur Frayn appears and explains the meaning of the crystal and then disapears. Consuella finds Zed and she understands she has become him while hunting him and they agree to stay together. Zed asks the Tabernacle a series of questions and realizes the Tabernacle is in the crystal, and Zed is transported inside the crystal. Zed is shown the faces of everyone he will destroy and shoots an image of himself, reemerging from the crystal. Zed returns with psychic powers which he uses to push away any attacking Immortals. Zed takes the crystal to the old scientist who tells him how to destroy the crystal and the old man dies. The skull head of Zardoz crashes into the ground. Zed gives May the crystal and tells her to let her sons and daughters to look into it and how to get out of the Vortex. Arthur Frayn admits to Consuella he and Friend worked together through careful genetic breeding to create Zed. Avalow leads a seance telling the Immortals death approaches and to make their farewells. Avelow asks Zed to kill her like he promised however he is changed and cannot. She is shot by an Exterminator and the rest of the Immortals are killed by the Exterminators. Zed takes May's hand and runs away. Friend and Arthur Frayn are both shot. Zed and Consuella have sex. Consuella has a son who eventually leaves them and then Zed and Consuella grow old and die leaving their handprints on the world.