“Highlander” (1986) / Z-View
Highlander (1986)
Director: Russell Mulcahy
Writers: Peter Bellwood and Larry Ferguson (screenplay) from a story by Gregory Widen
Starring: Christopher Lambert, Sean Connery, Clancy Brown, Roxanne Hart, Beatie Edney and Jon Polito.
Tagline: There can be only one.
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Highlander is an example of catching lightning in a bottle. Everything, the director, the cast, the editing, the locations and music came together to create a fun ride. In the wrong hands, Highlander could have crashed and burned, but the original (avoid the sequels!) takes flight.
The opening scene finds Russell Nash (Lambert) in the audience at a professional wrestling match. While Nash could have been at any other event, picking pro wrestling sends a signal to the audience. Professional wrestling is about bigger than life personalities who represent good and evil. While the bad guy often seems to be bigger and stronger, good usually prevails! Highlander follows that formula.
From the beginning of time they have walked among us. Immortals who can only be killed by beheading. When two immortals meet they fight to the death for when there is only one left alive in the world, that immortal will receive the prize. That time is upon us!
This is Russell Mulcahy’s finest film. Sean Connery may have been born to play James Bond, but I cannot think of anyone who could have done a better job as Ramirez (and the two characters are vastly different). This was Clancy Brown’s breakout role – he’s big, terrifying and perfect as Kurgan. Christopher Lambert is the star and this is his finest role. Queen was hired to provide one song for the film, but after seeing a rough cut wrote two more. Honestly, I had my doubts how well Queen would work with the story, but I was wrong. The music helps make the movie so good.
If you’ve never seen Highlander, give it a go. It’s definitely a film of the 80s, but still holds up. Avoid the sequels. As for the original Highlander, with me it rates 5 of 5 stars.
