Highlander

Please explain this one to me...

Not dissing on anyone who likes it, and I know how popular it is.

But just watched it again (on Blu-ray), and man - even for its time, it was pretty hokey!

 

This sums it up well:

Highlander Blu-ray

"somehow, against some formidable odds and initial critical disdain for the effort, Highlander has gone on to achieve considerable cult status, with a legion of fans, most of whom were probably pretty young when the film was initially released in 1986, and who thrilled to its comic book ambience filled with immortal Scotsmen (and other nationalities) and less than immortal dialogue and action. Highlander unfortunately has not aged very well at all, with wooden performances, oddly (and at times badly) staged action sequences, and lots and lots of big 1980s hair."

So, again, not to beat the drum of denigration, but to better understand its appeal...

...what's up with this one?

 

Immortals? Sword fights? Music video aesthetics? Sean Connery? Music by Queen?

As has been laid out in that article, if you´re not part of the generation, then its appeal might be as lost to you as it was to a lot of old timers when Star Wars hit the theaters. I know quite a few fans of Sci Fi and Fantasy that are just a tad bit too old to be part of the core Star Wars audience and who don´t like Star Wars at all. They like the original trek, though...

 

It won the Academy Award, you know. For Best Movie Ever Made.

 

Sometimes I wonder why I like the movie myself.

The accents are screwed up, the action really does suck, the sound effects during the sword fights are laughable and the whole scene with the militant guy is a total wtf moment amongst many other flaws.

But the premise is cool, the music is cool, the sword is cool, Connor's apartment is cool, and we get to see Roxanne Hart's boobies.

It all balances out to be the perfect idiotic fun 80's movie.

 

A fun concept.

The movie I can hardly watch now and not cringe but the Series took it to where I thought it should go.

A lot of character developement can be explored with some one who is over 400 years old

 

The mere idea of it is awesome-- just imagine, being alive for hundreds of years and never aging, yet you can feel pain and 'be killed'. I would totally love that.
Highlander is a great classic movie-- and hell, I'll even watch Endgame on a rainy day (I hit the fast forward button alot though :lol)

A bit of trivia: What's the one character Sean Connery has ever played twice (besides Bond of course). That would be RAMIREZ, baby!! I actually heard it was because he and Lambert got along so well on the set! It's always nice to hear stories like that about your favorite actors!

 

+1

Some beautiful sweeping shots of Scotland too.

I haven't watched this film in years (maybe it hasn't aged well), but loved it as a teenager. Some fun moments (like Conner's duel in 1783 which he loses over and over again). I was into D&D in the (very) early 80s, so swords, immortality and the showdown between good and evil was fun to watch.

I just wish "There can only be one" meant the number of Highlander films. :lol


Kevin

 

It's a fun, yet hokey, film and even my parents are fans of the original. The later ones suffered from studio interference and other issues sadly. The cartoon wasn't bad if they'd bothered finishing it. It's like the 80s Flash Gordon movie, there is no reason to really like it but you can't help but watch when it's on.

 

Despite it's numerous flaws I love this movie. The premise and story are fantastic. I also love the contrasts in the scenery between ancient scotland and New York and that they portrayed both as gritty and real. There's some great humor in it too. I like the scene with the guy on the street making fun of the cops by reading the article about them and asking "what does incompetent mean? what does baffles mean?" Clancy Brown was great as the Kurgan. I just wish they could have gone into more depth with the characters and developed them even more.

 

Maybe this one would actuallbe a good choice for a reboot or remake...?

 

No.

Not because it couldn't be improved upon, it can. Oh boy it can.

But for some unexplained reason, every single time they try to make new Highlander material it gets worse and worse. The Quickening was terrible. The Series' were mediocre at best, and soap-operatic trash at worst. The cartoon made NO friggin' sense. The Final Dimension was completely stupid in the way only 90's action films can be. Endgame, while not bad, totally messed with the mythos of the franchise. And then there's 'The Source', which I regard as the absolute worst piece of cinema ever created. Seriously, I've seen porn that would stand a better chance of critical acclaim.

Not to mention, that Lambert, Connery, and Brown wouldn't be in it. I cannot see anyone but Lambert as McLeod. Connery and Brown were just too good to be replaced.

Basically, I say leave it be. It's a schmaltzy Sci-Fi Fantasy romp that is perfect in it's imperfection. To remake it will only serve to diminish the Cult Classic status of the original and/or further damage the franchise.

 

If you have to ask.......... why bother.

Highlander is my favorite movie.

Of course i love star wars, star treksssss, indiana jones, etc etc etc, but Highlander was just something special.
The FIRST movie is still great in my eyes.... aged.... eh..... i hope they NEVER remake it.
I also really have a soft sport for the TV series... well... seasons 2-5 that is....

 

I think another reason is that with each passing sequel the first one just looked like more and more of a masterpiece.

 

This is why.

 

^ No matter how bad the TV show or movie Clancy Brown always gives a good performance. He's a great voice actor as well.

 

It's a guilty pleasure thing.

 

I agree with most of the above. But probably, it is really a film of the times it was made. Which is probably why, after the 1980s, all of the sequels seemed so horrid and butchered.

80s cheese fest, definitely. With James Bond. And cool swords.

 

It's in preproduction now.

 

Awwwww.....no sound ?

 

:lol MOM!!!! WOOF!!! :lol

Ya can't forget the scene in the church.

"HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!"

:lol "Nuns! No sense of Humor!!" :lol

 

It is up for a re-make. :unsure

 

I love the first one. After all, what did we learn?
"There can be only ONE!"

Apparantly not so much. :lol

 

It's okay. Worth the $7 DVD I bought. I don't see how it's legendary, either. But enjoyable. Neat transitions to and from flashbacks.

I still don't get the compulsion to meet and kill each other. What if an immortal in Ukraine just decided, nah, I'll just skip the trip to NY, stay here and not get my head chopped off and continue living forever. They didn't even know what the "prize" was going to be. I'd pass! :lol

 

I'm sure several did just that. Heck Connor did just that... but there were those who wanted the prize, so they traveled the world to seek out and kill the others to get it. That's pretty much what Kurgan does. So even if you don't care about the prize, someone else does and will come for you.

 

I'm with PCArchivist on this one. I really want to like it, but it doesn't work for me. The premise is awesome, and Sean Connery is awesome in it. I don't think I like Lambert as MacLeod. His accent is horrible for a Scot, and he's not the greatest actor.
The scene when he is underwater, and he laughs,...he seems like he's retarded.

Funny thing is, I liked the TV series. So who am I to judge.
Mike

 

Connery was in Highlander 2 because they were under contract to do another one. From what I had always read, neither he or Christopher Lambert wanted to do another but they really had no choice in the say.

I LOVE the original movie. Clancy Brown totally made this movie for me. The sequels got worse as they went along though. The TV series was fair for the first few seasons but from season 3 on it got much much better.

 

The church scene, Clancy ad libbed the bit with the nuns, and the priest was shall we say, less than happy with the sacrilege.

 

There are two movies that tie for my favorite movie of all time. Highlander is one of those two. I hate the sequels and often pretend that they do not exist. I am also a fan of the series but choose to ignore the one episode that makes reference to Connor killing Kurgan as I like to think of the series as happening before the first Highlander movie or as taking place in an alternate dimension (yes, I am a "fan").

I like the idea of being immortal and having an awesome healing factor to rival Wolverine. I love sword fights. I also love Queen music. Put them all together and it's pure win (at least for me). I like the movie so much I made a music video to Queen's "Gimme the Prize (Kurgan's Theme)" using footage from the movie.

 

You mean Rabbi, the Man playing the Priest was actually a Rabbi

 

Personally, despite its flaws, Highlander remains one of my all time favorite films. Sure, as a film itself, its not perfect, but the premise, story, characters, etc just fall perfectly for such a film (sure not everyones cup of tea, but its generally good for most and loved by those who would be attracted to its formula) and such a setting allows for a lot of other stories and possibilities.

Like other fans, i tend to neglect the sequels and tv series, though they have their rare good moments. The only one I watch as religiously as the original would be the anime spin-off The Search for Vengeance, which as far as the mythos goes, is as close to the original as anything after it ever came. As for the prop end of things, the swords are just iconic. I myself own a custom replica of the first movie sword (though slightly more screen accurate ones have been made since, which i would like to obtain one day) and a custom hand made from the ground up idealized version of the sword from my friends at Zeist Armouries. I would get some others, but money and obligation issues have prevented my collection from expanding.

In my spare time, im also penning an outline for a new graphic novel series featuring completely new characters, settings, and storylines which, while faithful to the idea, premise, and concept of Highlander, including a few shout outs and call backs, it is its own universe and continuity. Hey if youre going to reboot, dont just copy-pasta and rip off, make it a fresh and new take on an old story! I seek to expand on the mythos and have a long cultivated "Count of Monte Cristo" type plot with intertwining twists and turns that reveals itself evermore the reader with each installment. Still in its infancy, but I hope to get everything done eventually.

 

I liked the tv series more than the movies as well, though it looked to me like a lot of sci-fi series they had too little money often and they were trying to produce too many stories a season, thus it got soap-opera like at times.

I suppose I liked it because it flashed back nicely a lot to other times that Duncan had lived. The real problem with it was it was a limited premise because some baddie had to come along every week and the only drama could be that Duncan would never be in any real jeopardy because he would always win and only lose when someone he liked got killed so it's a formula. It's like saying "I really liked that episode of "Gilligan's Island" where they almost got rescued. A lot of the good stuff though was through the character Joe I think his name was, the Watcher guy who was great.

When they tried to merge the movie and tv series into that one last movie it was a real let-down.

It wasn't the greatest tv show, but hell it beat a lot of crap, especially the 'reality' soaked tv we get today. If it was re-running someplace I'd be watching them again.

 

I had a similar reaction when I first saw it earlier this year-
http://www.therpf.com/f47/highlander-1986-a-109885/

Still the characters and story have a charm to it that is hard to shake even if it wasn't carried out as well as possible. I sense that a true classic was narrowly missed.

As clunky and awkward as most of the dialogue is, I find myself quoting it often.

Nick

 

One thing i liked about the TV Series, espeically in the later seasons when David Aberonsky (sp?) came on as a writer.... they added more MORALE to the show.
They showed Duncans growth as a person, and I always liked those morals, espeically as a young teenager when i was watching it..... it was sorta inspring.
Heck, even the original movie had that: ".....With heart, faith and SCHTEEL!"

 

He wasn't supposed to have a Scottish accent, at least during the modern periods. He was supposed to have an accent of someone who had lived hundreds of years and lived all over the world to the point that he no longer had his original accent. As he said, about where he's from, he's from "lots of places."

 

one of my faves, even though i get my hackles up every time i see/hear that dumb * connery nowadays.
Clancy's always been one of my faves, and the film deserves extra kudos purely for his armour design. that skull helemt is just sublime.

 

Ah - didn't know there was an earlier thread...!

When he's in Scotland in the 1500's I'm fairly certain Lambert is attempting a Scot accent, though it is thin and barely recognizable.

I think I've read that he (the actor; not the character) was barely fluent in English in '85/'86 when the film was made.

 

The commentary for the movie is actually really interesting.

If I remember correctly they hired Lambert right after he debuted in Greystoke not knowing that he didn't speak english. All the contracts were signed before that bombshell was realized. Crazy, huh?

Nick

 

Yep, I'm sure that casting director was whipped senseless!

 

I fell in love with Highlander when I was young an still really like it. It has its own style, and themes, and its based on dialoge. The caracters are very interesting and cool. Always loved the Kurgan. Its one of the evil characters that are still evil after you see him. They are like gods among men.

It is really hard to understand that its the same guy who did Highlavder 2 though.

 

...or 3, or 4, or...:lol

 

I suspect he meant "the director" who did the first film.

though, I could be wrong. :lol

 

I was so put off by 2, so I never bothered the others.

 

HIGHLANDER is maybe my second favorite film (on some days it's in a tie with THE ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BANZAI as my favorite).

With both films I'm willing to admit that the characters/concepts are probably greater than the actual end product but that doesn't stop me from enjoying the heck out of both films several times a year. So much so that I flew to New York to see TABB in October and used what little free time I had to hit a few HIGHLANDER locations.

And then freaked out the rest of the people in the airport shuttle van as I realized we were going right past the Silvercup building where the HIGHLANDER final battle took place. They had no idea why I was suddenly pawing my cellphone out of my pocket or what I was trying to get a picture of. Probably thought there was an accident or something.

Yes, the rest of the films are disappointing at best and "oh my God did I really just spend two hours of my life watching that?" awful, but even so I can sometimes watch the first two sequels if I consider HL2 just another Christopher Lambert sci-fi b-movie along the lines of FORTRESS and HL3 as a movie-verse episode of the TV series.

 

Smart you are not missing much! :lol

 

At one time I really liked the Highlander franchise. I liked the first film, thought the third was cool (but 2 was stupid) and really got into the series. I thought Methos was a cool character (alive for over 5,000 years, was even a bad guy at one time).

In the last few years I have rewatched parts of the series. Just a few months ago I watched the movie on Netflix.

It's amazing just how bad it is. Lambert is a bad actor.

The flashbacks are great, and the opening sequence in the arena and the fight afterwards are pretty awesome. But it's one of those films where the idea is better than the actual reality is. If anything ought to be remade, it's highlander.

The franchise has no continuity whatsoever. I mean, the first film ends with the Connor killing the Kurgan, winning The Prize, becoming mortal and having the ability to influence the thoughts of world leaders. Didn't he win the prize in each subsequent film? Until he made Duncan cut his head off in one of the sequels?

The series is even worse. The two parter where Methos and Kronos get the four horseman back together is so cheasy it's almost unbearable.

 

Ha!

That's the greatest post, like, ever.

 

Couldn't have put it better myself. :thumbsup

Love the original and all the sequels.

I totally dig the storyline too

 

My old roomie and I used to watch this religiously just about every week. We were totally into it. This was around the early 90's. We were so into it I started an unofficial adaptation of the Highlander/Immortal mythos for the World of Darkness so we could start playing them.

Never liked the sequels and never got into the TV show, but the original was awesome. There *should* have been only one.

 

That's right, there was the TV show too ! I'd forgotten about that.

I used to love them too.