Highlander (1986) - 🤯📼First Time Film Club📼🤯 - First Time Watching/Movie Reaction & Review
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- Опубліковано 26 вер 2024
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Matthew sitting there, "It's fine if it's not your favorite", while crying inside.
"Who Wants To Live Forever" started playing in his head at that point.
I was sure on Matthew's side and could appreciate the crying inside thing.
The Kurgan is one the greatest movie villains of all time. His pure enthusiasm for being evil is so goddamn entertaining.
And given the fact he did it for next to nothing to save the budget and get the screen time.
Unlike the other immortals he's having the time of his life. But he still abides by the rules. He's so awesome.
yeah, right up there with Darth Sidious (Emperor Palpatine) - just has a hoot being evil
You can tell Clancy Brown is having a blast playing him as well
Kurgen and Hanz Gruber are the apex of movie villians. One from a more serious, but comical movie. One from a more comical, but sometimes serous movie.
We need to show her Highlander 2, she'll consider the first one a masterpiece.
can't be done...
because....
THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!!!!!!!
Depends on what version. I mean, it's still a dumpster fire regardless, but at least the Renegade Version is borderline watchable compared to the theatrical release.
There is no such thing as Highlander 2. No one would be silly enought to try to force a sequel to a movie that wrapped itself up perfectly. And certainly no one would try to explain the backstory of the original in the most confusing and baffling way imaginable.
Everyone likes rag on & say that Highlander 2 is the worst sequel, apparently very few have actually seen Highlander: The Source (2007) - that nuclear bomb blast of a film makes Highland 2 look Oscar worthy by comparison...🤣🤣🤣
It's hard to believe that the same director and main actors made it 😱
That being said I'm just confused by the whole Theatrical Cut/Renegade Cut issue - neither seem that good, and the Renegade Cut is rough as fµck with such terrible narrative flow that it makes the disjointed cocoon scene in Alien "Directors Cut" seem positively smooth and well placed by comparison.
I'm always real sad when people don't like Highlander. It does happen.
People with scarce imagination do, sadly.
Me too. I want people to love it as much as I do
I mean, I've always kinda not liked it. But I can't deny it's fucking cool.
I‘m a fan of both queen and Sean Connery, and while this movie is much better than the second part, I consider the TV show superior on all regards. That’s when the concept really began to shine.
I knew the Queen music videos years before I finally saw the movie. The movie just wasn't as awesome as those videos, which really distilled the best of Highlander.
Christopher Lambert is basically blind. The fact that there’s any fight choreography is impressive
Following on from Emily’s point, it speaks volumes about the production that in the role of a Scottish Highlander who does a lot of sword fighting they cast a blind French/Swiss/New York actor who doesn't speak English.
@@karlmortoniv2951 and a Scotsman playing an ancient Egyptian, who takes a Spanish name.
@@nicholasbyrne6485 True, but you can’t say Sean’s accent was unexpected. That’s probably why they assumed Lambert wouldn’t be a problem but Sean always got a pass. Movie accents have always been weird.
If i recall correctly the studio and such didn’t know he was blind and needed glasses. Apparently his vision was the source of injuries or near injuries during sword fighting scenes.
Severely near sighted I believe, but yeah his sight was a major reason for the lack of speed in the swordplay.
"He beheads people, but he also controls the weather..." 😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣 Matt's face is cracking me up!!!!!
All the emotions at once.
Lol, yeah, we talked about that after the movie. I’m pretty sure she got some parts mixed up with the 90s Avengers movie, where Sean Connery plays a villain who controls the weather
😅😂😅😂
@@group-music She was right, his character did cut off heads and then in the sequel controlled the weather haha. I still wonder thought how, she was even able to pick up that odd nugget of information.
Clancy Brown is such a f****** great bad guy. And the soundtrack OMG!!!
The TV series, starring Adrian Paul was good too. Christopher does make an appearance to connect it to the movie.
In many ways, I would say the series was superior. At least in the early seasons it was. It had more room to breathe, to explore the consequences of being an Immortal, and it had some awesome twists.
Ok, first, Queen is at least half the reason this film rocks so hard. Second, The Kurgan is another reason this movie rocks so hard. Third, The Quickening at the end when Connor wins the prize is the most awesome Quickening ever put to film, out of all Highlander iterations. All in all, this movie rocked so hard.
I was 16 when this film came out. It was the pinnacle of an 80s "sword and sorcery" style film. Queen doing the soundtrack, Connery in his best Obi-Wan role, and directed by someone who was more known for directing music videos for MTV. It sums up the whole 80s experience. lol
You forgot to mention for the sword fighting that Lambert is almost blind. He has myopia in his eyes. So sword fighting scenes may be slower because Lambert can't see what he is hitting. I also love this movie and series. Unfortunately sequals are quite bad. There are 4 sequals and 5th in making, 1 animated movie, 2 live action series and 1 animated series. There are also web series, 2 video games and collectible card game.
The only game version of this world I enjoyed was a third party expansion 'book' for the World of Darkness TTRPG setting (Vampire: The Masquerade, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, etc.). It did a fine job incorporating Highlander style immortals into the setting and turned the Quickening into a very well put together game mechanic.
"It's better to burn out than to fade away." Loved Clancy Brown quoted "Rock of Ages" by Def Leppard. That was awesome!
Also, Clancy Brown told a wonderful story recently on a podcast in which he disclosed that he didn't get paid a dime for this film, he did it for free because the budget was spent, he was a young actor out of work and he was just really wanting to work with Sean Connery. Plus, the premise is a wild and wonderful one.
No. Neil Young put that in a song long before Def Leppard existed.
_Loved Clancy Brown quoted "Rock of Ages" by Def Leppard_
I've always assumed he was quoting "Into The Black" by Neil Young.
@@Jacob_Junge Given the Kurgen's age, Neil Young may have heard it from him.
@@brandonflorida1092 Neil young didn't say "I have something to say" Def Lep did. This was also when Rock of Ages was popular. He was quoting Def's version...
@@brandonflorida1092 Actually, the seed of the band started in 1976. They became Deaf Leopard in 1979. "Rust Never Sleeps", with "Hey, Hey, My, My (Into the Black)", came out in 1980. Neil's line does predate their expanded version, which is said by the Kurgan, by 3 years or so. Much like Lead Zeppelin, they made their names more phonetic so people wouldn't say Leed Zeppelin or Deef Leopard.
Clancy Brown and the sound track make this film.
Yeah, I'm disappointed that Emily didn't like it so much (but she did recognize the brilliance of Big Trouble), but I guess that's expected with any extended love story in a film :D. Also glad that Matthew can tell her she's wrong and laugh about it and nobody cares because we're all adults and know opinions are personal and don't really matter. Here's a comment for engagement.
The Romans had a saying: De gustibus non est disputandum. It means "you shouldn't argue about matters of taste".
"What is this movie?!" "Great!"
I think everyone who loves Highlander saw it for the first time before the year 2000. It’s a real “you had to be there.”
One of my favorite movies. And the second best villian in movie history. And Clancy didn't make a nickel being in the movie. They had a very small budget, and that was used on Sean Connery. Clancy was a new young actor and jumped at the possibility of working with connery, forsaking payment.
It brings a tear to my eye, that there are people that don't love this masterpiece.
Im always sad when i hear someone didn't like this movie but everyones entitled to their opinion, personally i think Christopher lambert did an excellent job for being basically blind. Personally im glad i grew up with this masterpiece! Clancy brown is amazing in all of the roles he does, having met him at comic con i can vouch that he's the nicest guy I've ever met.
Connor Macleod: "No one will fight me!"
The Kurgan: "I'll be your huckleberry."
My god, I absolutely love this car crash of a film. The best sound track, the weirdest cast, wild premise. Literal lightning in a bottle. It shouldn't be amazing, but it is.
Lol very well said
For sure it's greater than the sum of it's parts.
Some movies could only have been made in the 80s.
How do you say this is a car crash?
Yeah, it's a mess, but it's a good mess.
Very good movie. It won the Academy Award for best movie ever made.
I love this movie. Flawed, but a classic. The TV show with Adrian Paul is where this concept really shines.
The first two seasons were awesome, than the studio really cashed into the whole action and made it the reason why it got cancelled.
I use "what does incompetent mean?" all the time. Such a good bit.
The greatest thing is that he's absolutely getting a big laugh out of it possibly at the expense of losing police customers and he's just unable to stop 😂
@@mnomadvfx He likely talked to the police like that all the time. Remember the senior detective said, "Don't you know, cops can't read!" to him, so it sounds like they knew each other.
I tend to use "What does Baffled mean?" fairly often, myself. Very few people get the reference, though. Makes me chuckle, at least. :T
"Highlander" is so very much its own uniquely remarkable thing. It's out there, it's metal, it's muddled, and deep down it really is a kind of magic. You don't ever see movies like this getting considered let alone being made anymore. Also, I do believe tha Pippin was quoting Raul Julia at the end there, replying when you so aptly stated there can only be one Pippin, "Of course!" ^ _ ^
Fun fact: The reason they don't fight on "holy ground" is because if an immortal is killed there, their quickening power is absorbed into the ground rather than by the winning immortal.
RIP, Sean Connery.
THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!
Gregory Widen, the screenwriter, got the inspiration for the movie after he was on vacation in Scotland, he was in a museum of sorts and saw a beautifully restored suit of armor and asked "What if the guy who wore this suit was alive right now and what if you owned all of this and you're telling your life story?"
The title for the film was called:
Shadow Clan, then The Dark Knight, and finally HIGHLANDER.
The script was a lot darker and violent than the movie:
Connor McLeod was born in 1408 rather than 1518.
Connor leaves the village after learning he's immortal, instead of getting banished.
Juan Sanchez VillaLobos Ramirez was actually a Spaniard rather than an Egyptian and was born in 1279.
Instead of taking months to train McLeod to become a better swordsman, he takes 3 years to train him
Heather is not present in the script.
The Kurgan goes under the name Carl William Smith, but rather than a savage warrior, he's a cold blooded killer.
McLeod goes under the name Richard Turpin and attends the funerals of one of his sons.
In this version of the script, Immortals do have children, but they grow old and die.
While attending the funeral, his other sons, all in their late 40's, early 50's, and they see him as an immortal.
There is no mention of The Prize, after McLeod kills the Kurgan, nothing happens, except McLeod has a burning sensation in his chest. It's left ambiguous as we don't know if he's immortal or not.
Richard Turpin was the name of a highway robber in 1700s England.
Emily not liking this movie hurts. I don't know if I can forgive her. The only thing that would be worse, is if she ended loving Highlander II!
Or she ended up liking Highlander: The Source (2007) 😂😂😂
It's very much a boys film, and I could see a lot of guys past a certain age just not getting into it in the same way a boys love of swords would carry it through.
Also the casual rape reference from the Kurgan in the church scene has a tendency to put many women off as it did for Emily - these days you would not get that past test screenings even though it just reinforces his evil nature.
@@mnomadvfx Villains are being cancelled for being evil now?
Yeah I’m done with this channel if she cannot appreciate a absolute masterpiece like Highlander
Highlander II, Then KK and Ryan Johnson said hold my beer, and made The Last Jedi.
Christopher Lambert was born in New York to French diplomats and grew up in Switzerland and France.
This movie (series) caused a huge uptick in sword collecting, especially with teenage boys
And some of them outgrew the cheap stainless steel "Highlander katanas" and got into REAL swords.
I've got the Mcloud clan sword on my wall...
My favorite: "I'm Candy." "Of course you are." Clancy Brown and the music by Queen are the best things about this film. It isn't for everyone, and even for the ones who love it, we can likely all agree there should have been only one (movie)! The sequels are terrible and not worth watching. Adrian Paul did okay in the tv series, but even that went on too long. Thanks for your honesty, Emily. I could tell it was a struggle to get through for you. :) But you hung in there like the champ that you are! Love you two :)
Agreed. As much as I like parts of this movie, it really is a trainwreck in some ways but practically a masterpiece compared to what came later. I did like the TV series as it was definitely a step up from the sequels in pretty much every regard. I was so mad that Endgame and especially The Source were such garbage considering it had Adrian Paul in both.
Sadly most people gush over the Queen soundtrack and completely gloss over the Michael Kamen score - just like with Daft Punk and Joseph Trapanese for the TRON Legacy soundtrack.
Kamen was also responsible for composing the orchestral segments and backing track for Who Wants To Live Forever.
@@alucard624 TV series don't really count vs film - you can explore so many more possible story and lore aspects with long form episodic storytelling than you can with short form movie storytelling, and you can take your time with each aspect, while with a film you have to cram all of that into a 2hr ish time span and still keep the viewer entertained throughout the runtime.
I mean could you imagine trying to fit the average season of Star Trek episodes into a single film? 😅
Star Trek The Motion Picture is problematic for me because it basically reads like a feature length original series episode with a larger budget - it needed something more to take it to the film genre properly, and that is what we got with Wrath of Khan.
My friend and I used to rent absolutely every Christopher Lambert movie we could find at Blockbuster. There's a thin line between amazing and terrible... and Lambert made a career out of obliterating that line - never more so than Highlander. It's great and awful and entirely fun for both reasons.
This won the Oscar for Greatest Film of All Time
This movie has one of my favorite soundtracks. Queen is my all time favorite band and this soundtrack has some of my favorite songs by them. Princess of the Universe begins my favorite. Actually enjoyed all the movies, the series, and the anime film.
OK, punish her by watching Highlander II. Then she'll realize why this movie is a masterpiece.
That's ridiculous! There is no Highlander II!
Everyone likes to say that Highlander 2 is the worst sequel, apparently very few have actually seen Highlander: The Source (2007) - that nuclear bomb blast of a film makes Highland 2 look Oscar worthy by comparison (everyone who has ever seen it, completely agrees with that statement)...🤣🤣🤣
The Source was that bad? Daaayum
That ending seals up everything perfectly. Too bad it doesn’t leave an opening for any further continuation or sequels.
"There should have been only one!"
The series is the most faithful to the lore, and I think expands on it rather well. If you haven't seen it, it's worth a watch.
The highland sorcerer is a good spiritual successor...
Well, it kinda does. It ends with Connor having the power to read minds and bring world leaders together. And then Highlander II picks up on that by showing that he used the Prize to assemble nations and scientists to save the world from the depletion of the ozone layer.
Of course, that idea wasn't enough to sustain a film that was expected to deliver sword fights, so we also got Michael Ironside showing up and revealing that Connor MacLeod's true identity was Kakarot from the planet Vegeta. (I mean, I doubt that the screenwriters were stealing their plot developments from Japanese comics, but it's a strange coincidence that Dragon Ball revealed its magical lead hero to be an extraterrestrial less than a year before development began on Highlander II...)
Please watch the STAR TREK movies.
I was introduced to Highlander by the series and then watched the movie. I absolutely love both, but as I've gotten older I do realize that the movie need a little bit more time in the oven. Matthew missed the part about Christopher Lambert being blind without his glasses, making the fight scenes incredibly difficult to film.
Was Lambert and the whole movie production not aware that contact lenses were already a thing in 1986?
@@NecramoniumVideoOf course they knew contact lenses existed. Didn't you see Clancy Brown's eyes at the end of the movie? I can't speak to his specific condition. I do know that by the '90s, there were still plenty of prescriptions that couldn't be matched with a contact lens.
I'm extremely nearsighted and when I wore contacts, I couldn't see anything up close, which is 99% of my job. I finally got rid of the contacts and got glasses since I only need correction for driving and distance. Lambert may be the same way.
Emily needs to watch "Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films". If you didn't grow up with this stuff, I think that documentary provides a great context for how these 80s films are the way they are.
Honestly, Emily's not wrong about any of that 😂 I especially appreciated the quip about being thankful that there can be only one. It is very uncontrovertial to say this was as good as the films got, however one may personally enjoy any of the subsequent movies if they find them playing on the TV late Sunday night. We are lucky today that there is so much more investment in fight choreography in Western cinema. The bar was just lower for stuff like that. Seeing my first Hong Kong film was a revelation about what could be achieved with fight choreography.
Yes, Western fight choreography tended to be perfunctory until Blade came out in 1998.
(One exception is the sword fighting in the old swashbuckling adventures like those starring Errol Flynn - they weren't particularly realistic, but had to be well coordinated just so the actors wouldn't injure each other.)
Ninja III The Domination is my favorite Cannon Film
Clancy Brown, you saw him in Buckaroo Banzai, you saw him in Starship Troopers, you saw him in Shawshank Redemption and you may have heard him in the DCAU. Here in Highlander (early in his career) they pay him to have a metric crap ton of fun! Also Yo Pip! The Wrestling of the 80's, before the Dark Times, before the Empire, before McMahon betrayed the Promoter Senate and became Emperor. The Castle is the definition of a 'fixer-upper'. NO! Ramirez is Egyptian, by way of Japan and Spain, and by the accent he probably has been kicking around Scotland for 56 years (give or take a week). Maybe she should be punished, but even I cannot advocate making her watch Highlander 2: The Sicking.
Or, more accurately, they don't pay him. He took the part for fun and exposure. He was my second favorite Hong Kong Cavalier, but he's not quite Perfect.
I remember pro wrestling before McMahon took over. He sucked all of the fun right out of it.
@@platinumspider7859 hmm favorite Cavalier...that's a tough question. OK since at the end of the movie Buckaroo gives Scooter Lindsey Perfect Tommy's job one would expect that would make him a Cavalier. Thus Scooter is eligible to be my favorite Cavalier. After all he is the one who got the overthruster back and he did save Buckaroo at least once.
I'm surprised Matthew didn't mention that Christopher Lambert is nearly blind without his glasses so that didn't help with the sword fighting because he couldn't see what the other actor was doing.
I’m glad Matt still enjoys it.
For the times and how movies were made, having CGI and creative transitions this is still a classic.
The Kurgan ranks with Montalban’s Khan, Hans Gruber, and HAL 9000 on my top movie villain list.
You gotta appreciate a movie with a Scottish guy playing a Spaniard, a Frenchman playing a Scottish guy, and an American playing a Russian. This movie has issues, but it’s all good. When this came out, we loved it and I still love it almost 40 years later. I didn’t do drugs, but I’ve watched this movie drunk many times!
It probably be best not to have Emily watch “Excalibur.” I think that today’s frenetic, highly-choreographed sword fights have ruined older movies for many younger folks.
Excalibur and then Beastmaster. Show the good and the bad of the era.
When I was a kid this was pure awesomeness. As I grow old, the campiness and cheesiness only add to its awesomeness
Russell Mulcahy is the director of cool shots. He's the Ridley Scott that we have at home.
Definitely a visualist much like Zack Snyder but can't tell a coherent story to save his life.
Mulcahy is a music video director that made it big - MTV was his start, much like Alex Proyas who directed The Crow and Dark City.
Ridley Scott on the other hand is an art school director that made it big because the producers for Alien saw his self funded motion picture debut (The Duellists) at Cannes film festival and were impressed enough to offer the job to him.
The difference is pretty palpable in the way that they manage a production.
@@alucard624 Not necessarily.
The Shadow was pretty coherent, much more so than Highlander, and certainly much more so than Resident Evil Extinction which was just a mess (as are all of the live action RE films, let's face it 😂).
The one thing with Mulcahy is that he seems to have a glass shattering fetish.
I don't know about anything else but both Highlander and The Shadow have way too much shattered glass moments.
@@mnomadvfx Yes!! He did paved the way for other music video directors like David Fincher, Spike Jonze and Hype Williams, among others, to direct movies as well. I love every video that Russell directed like Pressure by Billy Joel, Is There Something I Should Know by Duran Duran, The Thin Wall by Ultravox, Take The L by The Motels and many others.
26:19 Yeah....about that. Look, I like Christopher Lambert, I really do, but cast and crew had to deal with some issues, none of which were really Lambert's fault. The guy didn't speak a word of English when he got cast and had to deliver his lines by learning them phonetically. That's obstacle no. 1. Obstacle no. 2 was his extremely bad eyesight. Lambert is shortsighted, but this part didn't allow for him to wear his glasses. He's also allergic to contacts. And then he had to do fight choreography under those circumstances. All things considered, I have mad respect that they managed to finish this movie.
1:51
This is the first time I ever considered the possibility that the makers of Mortal Kombat chose Christopher Lambert to play Raiden because of all the damn lightning in this movie!!!
More likely just because he's playing an immortal so casually.
It doesn't matter if Christopher Lambert isn't Scottish or Japanese, as long as his genetic makeup is 50% lightning.
"...and he also controls the weather."
Honestly, pretty close until that point.😂
Now, it's true I was 16 when I first saw this, but I loved it. It remains a nostalgic favorite for me, despite its....eccentricities. I even had the soundtrack on cassette tape, and still have it downloaded.
From what I remember, Lambert didn't speak a word of English at this point, and had to speak the lines phonetically. This resulted in the funky accent that would become his signature.
The French guy plays a Scot, the actual Scot plays a Spaniard who is actually an Egyptian, and Clancy Brown is basically an orc from Warhammer. Love this movie! 🤣
Yet the Cleopatra Netflix special is the one that got everyone triggered over a race of the woman who plays the show's title.
I saw this in the theatre when it came out and I loved it. I still do. The soundtrack by Queen is first rate. Clancy Brown is the most memorable villain on film. "Happy Halloween Ladies. Nuns. No sense of Humour.'
Clancy Brown (the Kurgan) is also a great voice actor, for many animated shows, including the great Lex Luthor for both Batman the animated series and Superman the animated series, along with Justice League and MANY DC animated universe movies, along with Ben 10 and a host of other toons.
FunFact: Russell Mulcahy, the movie's Australian director, also filmed the video for the Buggles Video Killed The Radio Star that became the first music video played on MTV. His first movie Razorback (1984) is also a cult classic.
34:00 The history of Cannon Films is insane. The documentary may not be reaction material but it's a wonderful piece of cinema and home video history.
Emily: "There's a Scottish guy, and he beheads people. But he also controls the weather"
Well no but also yes
3:10 - YES, MATTHEW!!! SING!!! Because that's what one does with the soundtrack to "Highlander".
17:50 - Emily, you don't understand. This movie was an institution back in the 80's. The campy effects and dialog were part of the charm, and the soundtrack was the stuff of legends! Clancy Brown was the PERFECT villain. "Highlander" to the 80's was what "Rocky Horror" was to the 70's.
18:17 - *THE STUFF OF LEGENDS!!!*
21:27 - Tony's lines will pop into my head at random, exactly as delivered by Damien Leake.
27:50 - Yes. Quite often. 😁
37:19 - For the record, Emily's "Oh no" right here is the appropriate response.
40:36 - People whop don't like Emily's laugh are also wrong, because her chipmunk laugh is the best! ❤
46:16 - Just so you know, Emily, you are wrong.
46:29 - And the tiddies. You forgot the tiddies. 🤣
46:57 - Matthew, you are also wrong. 8.5, and righteous indignation as to why this didn't win any Academy Awards! (I know, I know. I'm pushing my luck. 🤪
By the way, you two... Amazon Prime series: "Reacher". 8.1 on IMDb. 92/91% critics/audience ratings on Totten Tomatoes. One of the most faithful adaptations of a book EVER! Watch it! Please?
I love Highlander. I would give it a solid 8 out of ten. I grew up with 80s films, and I love the fantasy aspect of the story. The film is prime sword and sorcery material for a GenX D&D nerd. And Shadowrun, and Vampire The Masquerade Enthusiast.
I understand Emily's opinions on the movie. It needed much polishing. With a little more time, and resources it could have been better. Not much more, B movie status will keep it hungry.
The TV Show staring Adrian Paul goes into a lot of what Emily wished for in the movie. The series, in modern vernacular, is a soft reboot/adaptation. Duncan Macloud is Conner's distant cousin born a few generations later. The series explores more on the idea of being immortal and living through out the centuries, and adapting to modern life. IT shows Duncan, and other''s lives in flash backs that deal with a theme, and or beheading of the week. Adrian Paul was great in the roll. He has that it factor for charisma, good comedic timing, and he is a martial artist. Many of the sword fights are a lot better than the film. The pilot is a little rough. It's basically a remake of the film, by a back water cable station. It gets better from there. The last season is not very good. IT's trying to back door pilot a spin off show in most of the episodes.
There is also a Highlander cartoon. Quentin Macloud a teen age immortal living in a post Apocalypse setting. The immortals decided not to fight each other, because cartoon. And Ramirez is his mentor.
It's a classic no matter what she thinks 🤣
Don't watch this movie for the lore (it's paper thin). Don't watch it for the production values (the wrestling match at the beginning of the film had better production values). Don't watch it for the plot (there barely is one). Watch it for the wacky camera work. Watch it for the chaotic background characters. Watch it for the cool swords (if not swordplay). Watch it for the uncanny charisma of Christopher Lambert and, if nothing else, watch it for the career-making performance of one Clancy Brown!
This is my fav movie of all time!!
one of my all time favorite movies, and it has once of the greatest soundtracks of movie history.
the extras for the Highland battles were students fae Glasgow University who were predominantly paid in drink, the Director had no idea that taking a bunch of Glaswegians, dressing them up like Highlanders, and getting them drunk would result in the situation that when he shouted action they began to set about each other and gave him a real battle to film which resulted in a lot of minor injuries.
there's also a claim that one of the extras who was a 6.5ft Scotsman that got fed up sitting around between takes so he told the filmakers to "Go And Get Fucked" before calmly walking off into the hills in full Highlander costume and never came back😂(most people doubt this happened, but as a Glaswegian i can tell you its exactly the sort of thing we would do).
he probably hadn't seen what happens around a football match in the 80s....
The claim about the drunk man wonderingg off sounds unlikely, short of falling off a nearby cliff they are already up so high that there really was not really very far to go where you wouldn't be easily seen from a distance due to the sparsity of vegetation in those highland regions.
Interesting they literally paid the extras in booze, because a friend of mine believes Sean Connery did the movie for Scotch.
@Kantami
Great story, great comment.
Thanks for the fun info!
Warm regards from the hills of Kentucky.🌿
@@mnomadvfx sady i know the chances of it being true are almost nil, but i believe it to be true simply because i really want it to be(similar to the "Good Luck Mr. Gorsky" myth😂).
I'm 49. This has been my absolute favorite movie since I was 14. You (my guy) get it. Your wife doesn't get it. My wife doesn't get it. It's a guy thing. It's awesome.
Christopher Lambert also appears in the clip, Queen - Princes of the Universe
She loves Leo in lethal weapon, but hardly anything in this movie. Get her Matt. Lol
😂
The movie where a Frenchman plays a Scot, a Scot plays an Egyptian, and a Jew which plays a Russian
Chrs Lambert was so nearsighted that he couldn't really see what was going on during the sword fights- it's all done from choreography and muscle memory.
The Olympic fencing instructor was Bob Anderson, who played Darth Vader's stunt scenes in empire strikes back and Return of the Jedi. He also taught all the sword fighters in The Lord of the rings trilogy, old Errol Flynn movies, etc how to do their business. He was one of the last great sword Masters. This film seemed steered towards a more fantastical look of sword play instead of technical, so I imagine that was quite a slog.
I remember the first time watching this movie. August of 1987 I had joined the Army and they put me up in a hotel with hundreds of other new recruits to put us on an airplane the following morning. In the hotel I did some channel surfing and saw this movie playing and watched it till the end.
Went through basic training and got assigned to Ft. Monmouth NJ for AIT, every Friday and Saturday night we'd be allowed to pick out a movie to watch so someone asked me if I had a preference.
"Yea, I saw a movie several months ago that looked good but I missed the beginning so I don't know what it's called"
He asked me to describe what I saw and said "some Scottish guy runs around beheading people with a sword"
The entire room of 20 men said in unison "Highlander" and it was decided that we'd watch that.
The following weekend we watched Lethal Weapon.
Ahh the memories!
On the off chance it hasn't been already stated-not going through 600+ comments to check-, there's a two-part comic from Dynamite Entertainment titled Highlander Origins: The Kurgan. It gives the back story Emily said she was wanting.
You should definitely have her watch "Greystoke, the legend of Tarzan" with Lambert. definitely worth watching if you ask me
I'm sorry, I'm with the Emily. 100% on this one, I was her, and my wife was Matthew. Difference is, my wife agreed with me after we watched it that it did not hold up and it was just the glorious mind of a child that made that movie watchable back in the day 😆. I'll be just fine keeping my memory of growing up sword fighting and yelling "There can only be one!" knowing that I never saw Highlander, than my current memory of actually watching Highlander. My imagination was way better 😆
Come on. I saw this movie when it came out. I'm 66 years old. This movie has everything in it. Love story, the sond track , action. And the trouble with being able to live forever. Come on. What more could you ask for.
I was obsessed with this movie, and the TV show. It didn't hurt that queen did both either.
The one and ONLY Highlander.
Shame they never made a sequel. 😁
It's amazing how good a film can be, with such horrible acting. The score, the scenery, and the few mins of screen time Sean Connery has makes this movie. It's sequels are hit or miss (mostly miss), but the TV show spin-off is actually very good. I highly encourage anyone who likes this movie to skip right to that, and forget about Highlander 2, 3, etc. In fact, even the screenwriters and producers tend to forget about Highlander 2.
in my mind, Highlander 3 tries to apologize to the audience about H 2.
18:45 That scene with Queen and Freddie singing destroys me every time.
grew up on this movie and I legit cried after the Conner/Duncan fight in endgame.
Angus McLeoud is played by the same actor who played Jeor Mormont in Game of Thrones..
And was Brendan Gleeson's dad in Braveheart.
Just an FYI on the fight scenes. Christopher Lambert is incredibly short sighted. They didn't want him wearing glasses so the fights had to be slowed for safety
Lol that they didn't discount him on principle because of eyesight issues 😂
The Scottish guy who gets Connor out of the village, is the old guy in Braveheart!😮. Bad guy in real life was broke, no money, no acting gigs, heard about this gig, came up with the character himself, and I believe took no money, or scale, to be in this, he said, just to get the screen credit, and to be in a movie with Connery!
"Low level backyard wrestling"
That's the fabulous freebirds you're talking about xD
Holy ground, Highlander, holy ground!
I remember in the show, it's mentioned that two immortals once fought in a church. In the city of Pompeii. Yeah...
"Power Rangers had better fights."
Oh? Yeah, because Power Rangers were using footage from Japan where this kind of show was worked on by incredibly skilled pros, and the people making the US additions were also skilled and well trained martial artists. Power Rangers having genuinely good action scenes is not a low bar.
This movie is incredibly imperfect, unless you're a ten year old boy in 1986 like I was and then it's the best thing that was ever made ever.
I immediately transformed from 10 to 40 the first time I saw this when it first came out on VHS.
"No Frylock, Highlander was... a documentary."
Another point of note, is that Christopher Lambert is virtually blind, especially without his glasses, and he cannot wear contacts. So, when he sword fights, he's basically having to go through the motions without really being able to see what's going on around him.
After almost 40 years I have yet to find any flaws with this film.
We live in a time where sci-fi and fantasy has evolved a TON since the 80s. This movie was groundbreaking in it's day. I love it.
It's always hard to take the scenes in the police station seriously because the detective is the same actor who played Frank Dreben's partner in the Police Squad TV series. I keep waiting for Leslie Neilsen to show up.
Highlander was one if the first movies to benefit from home video. It got a sequel because it was a huge renter on home video.
Gregory Widen wrote this. He went on to write and direct The Prophecy starring Christopher Walken. The Prophecy is far superior to Highlander. It's really good.
It would have been great to end this movie on a freeze frame...
Still my most liked fakt... A Scottsman plays a Spaniard, while a Frenchman plays a Scottsman. Whoever made this decision shouldve gotten an Oscar just for that!
Great Reaction......
The Scene Transitions in this Movie are Awesome....
"And That is how He Became Rayden"........ LoL
A: “Yep. What’s the problem?”
Q: What is something you say before fists start flying?
Don’t kick Matthew’s puppy.
The disrespect to call the Fabulous Thunderbirds at Madison Square Garden "low level backyard wrestling".
I never thought she was worth it either, Emily, but I love this film. It's full o' camp. Love Christopher Lambert's gaze, and loved it even more when I found out it was caused by not wearing his rx eyeglasses. Heheheehee Clancy Brown was a baby in this. So young. I love it, for the most part.
The castle at the start is Eilean Donan on loch duich,people have their wedding pics on the bridge
There's a reason this movie won the Oscar for being "The Greatest Movie Ever Made"!
It's really amazing, usually when somebody doesn't like one of my fav movies, I dislike them. But she has so much charm and humor, I'm actually fine with it.
A French man playing a Scotsman, A Scotsman with playing an Egyptian who has a Spanish name and uses a Japanese sword, lots a swordplay and a soundtrack by the greatest band ever, Queen. What's not to love.
I quite like Highlander, at least this first one. It definitely is far from perfect, but I like that it takes a different route in storytelling. I never realized it didn‘t well at the box office… for me as a teenager it was a hit and everyone seemed to have seen it and to like it.
27:35 - 😂😂😂 Ok: That one was funny af (And I can't believe I never heard anyone link the wo in that scene before!)