EP66 Highlander

Button

The original:

Highlander (1986)

Directed by:

Russell Mulcahy (Razorback, Blue Ice, The Shadow, Resurrection)

Starring:

Christopher Lambert, Roxanne Hart, Clancy Brown and Sean Connery; with Beatie Edney, Alan North, Hugh Quarshie, Edward Wiley, Sheila Gish, Peter Diamond and James Cosmo

Connor MacLeod (Lambert) is an immortal; born in the Scottish Highlands in 1518, he and others like him have remained locked in combat for centuries; their only means of defeat, death by decapitation.

The last man standing will receive unlimited power in the form of The Prize, elevating the bestowed to an almost god-like status.

At once a historical romp, fantastical action-drama and sci-fi romance, Highlander ticks a lot of boxes. It is also amazing.

Filmed with extreme invention, flair and panache by Mulcahy, and acted with spritely sincerity by each of the players, the film is original, thrilling, funny and joyful.

Its winning characters are played to perfection by, among others, Connery as MacLeod’s mentor, Rameriez, and Brown as barbarian-villain extraordinaire, The Kurgan- a rancid hybrid of The Terminator, Joker, Genghis Khan and that kid in school who could put tennis balls in his mouth.

There have been many works that have explored the mixed blessing of eternal life, and this sits with the greats, managing to evoke the loneliness of never dying, the heartbreak of leaving those you love behind, as well as the self-assurance that comes from a multitude of lives lived, the accumulation of mass experience.

It also has sword fights, gun fights, fist fights and famous duels on Boston Common. It spans countries, eras, lifetimes, hard times and good times. The film, like the Immortals themselves, really shouldn’t exist, but thank The Quickening it does.

All this, plus a wonderful score by Michael Kamen and a truly iconic soundtrack by Queen.

There’s no way this film should be as good as it is, and rough around the edges as it may be, Highlander contains its own kind of magic.

…And as the sequels continuously proved- There can be only one.

“…What does incompetent mean?! …What does baffled mean?!!”

“What do you think the cause of death is, Lieutenant, huh?!”

“Oh, you’re a barrel of laughs, Garfield.”

“Forgive me father, I am a worm.”

“You talk funny, Nash, where you from?”

“Lots of different places.”

“I don’t like boats, I don’t like water. I’m a man, not a fish!”

“Oh, you complain endlessly.”

“You look like a woman, you stupid haggis!”