Highlander is 33 years old today!

[Dragonquetra]

https://i.postimg.cc/R0DFKZ4C/HIGHLANDER-Poster-Francesco-Francavilla-Mondo.jpg

Hard to believe it has been 33 years since it was released. I am a big fan of the franchise, more specifically the tv show.

[John Campbell]

I made the mistake of watching Highlander: The Source the other night. There's bad movies, and then there's so-bad-it's-good movies, and then there's so-bad-I-just-turn-it-off movies... this was so bad I kept watching out of a kind of horrified fascination at how bad it was and amazement that this was a thing that some presumable professional actually produced and released.

It makes Highlander II look like a masterpiece of coherence and consistency. I've seriously seen better effects and production values in machinimas on YouTube. The plot made no sense (even after they did a five minute recap of selected scenes from the preceding movie right before the end... I thought for a minute that the Roku had screwed up and started the movie over; it does that sometimes), the acting was beyond wooden, the fight scenes were pointless and badly choreographed and all done in this fast-motion-strobe effect that made me long for shakycam, literally everything was shot through a colored filter of one hue or another, and the final fight was resolved by Adrian Paul circling the bad guy so fast (in fast-motion-strobe) that he literally screwed himself into the ground like it was a Looney Tunes cartoon. And they didn't even have the original Queen music.

In related news, Adrian Paul was on Arrow this week. It's nice to see that he's still getting work after appearing in The Source.

[factotum]

It's amazing that they never made a sequel to such a great film, isn't it? Because there *were* no movie sequels... *twitch*

[veti]

It's amazing that they never made a sequel to such a great film, isn't it? Because there *were* no movie sequels... *twitch*

Great films don't need sequels. Casablanca, Dr Strangelove, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Life of Pi...

There are only two valid reasons for making a sequel. One is if the writers have a bigger and longer story they're bursting to tell, the other is if it's a comedy and there were a lot of good jokes you had to leave out first time. Neither applied to Highlander.

[Peelee]

It's amazing that they never made a sequel to such a great film, isn't it? Because there *were* no movie sequels... *twitch*

Imean, obviously there were no sequels. After all, there can only be one.

I've never seen Highlander, but I feel confident in that joke.

Great films don't need sequels. Casablanca, Dr Strangelove, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Life of Pi...

The Blues Brothers....:smalleek:

[Darth Credence]

Ah, Highlander - winner of the Academy Award for the best movie ever made. Loved it, and wished that there was a good way to make it into a movie franchise. I think that Highlander is a series that really needs a reboot, but with more of an expanded universe feel. Hear me out.
They should make a movie called The Immortals: The Highlander. Keep The Immortals fairly small, and focus on the Highlander. Don't delve too deep into the prize. Mention it a time or two, but don't make it the focus. Have the focus be the life of Conner MacCloud, the death of his wife, and his eventual show down with her killer. Do not have him winning the prize at the end of it. As an after credits stinger, have him feel the pull of the gathering.
Then, if that movie succeeds, make The Immortals: The Saracen. Give us that guy's story, including a little bit of Conner from the first movie, but mostly make it his story. Then keep going. Make the stories of however many immortals make it to the gathering - maybe six? In a few of them, have the bad guy win in the end. You could have some where more than one make it to the gathering as well.
Finally, get to a multi part story of The Immortals: The Gathering. Have them all start to fight for the prize. Bring it out into the open, with immortal fighters openly battling in the modern world. Give those in the gathering a bit more in the way of power - it always seemed like they absorbed the others power when they killed, so make that worth something. The stars, either protagonist or antagonist, of the previous movies would all be gathered together, having magic sword fights where all but one are going to die in the end, and the audience really doesn't know who is going to make it in any given fight.

[Magic_Hat]

Wow! If it was just 12 years younger and a person it would just be barely old enough to drink alcohol in certain countries.

[Peelee]

Wow! If it was just 12 years younger and a person it would just be barely old enough to drink alcohol in certain countries.

All countries, I believe. Only US and Japan have a 21 year old drinking age, IIRC.

[BannedInSchool]

Not all Immortals come from Scotland! Stop calling them all "Highlanders". Fracking kids. :smalltongue:

[Peelee]

Not all Immortals come from Scotland! Stop calling them all "Highlanders". Fracking kids. :smalltongue:

I hope the ones stuck in elevators are immortal, though.

[Magic_Hat]

All countries, I believe. Only US and Japan have a 21 year old drinking age, IIRC.

At 33 years old it's old enough to just be a few years away from a midlife crisis. 33 is also about the age to be a hip, cool aunt/uncle who doesn't have her/his entire life in order, but she/he still manages to get by: "Hey kiddo! You're parents are out for the night so I'm babysitting. I'd figure we'd eat pizza and ice cream and watch a bunch of violent movie your parents normally wouldn't want you to see."

Man, I love my uncle Highlander.

[factotum]

Not all Immortals come from Scotland!

And the only one that does is actually Egyptian, apparently! :smallsmile:

[Metahuman1]

And the only one that does is actually Egyptian, apparently! :smallsmile:

Which begs the queston why he keeps introducing himself as Spanish. ;)

[KillianHawkeye]

33 years? Wow, it hasn't aged a day!

[Reslain]

33 years? Strange though that people say it didn't have sequels i distinctly remember one movie sequel, strangely labeled highlander 3, was kind of the same movie as the first except worse. but not necessarily bad.

[LibraryOgre]

It remains a horrible movie wrapped around a good idea.

Why is it horrible, I hear you cry?

1) Christopher Lambert can't act. He is a bit of wood waved through scenes, and completely overshadowed by Sean Connery and Clancy Brown. I vaguely recall that there is a modern love interest, but she carries no weight and is written poorly. Connor's first wife is a bit more memorable, but ultimately fridged... twice.

2) The film is visually too dark. You cannot see a thing in most of the movie.

3) The sound mixing is bad. So, Christopher Lambert can't act, and you can barely hear what he does say because the sound is terrible.

It's a very neat idea, and could be really cool, and the series based off the idea wasn't bad because it avoided these problems.

People like it because of nostalgia. It is still a horrible movie.

[137beth]

They are apparently still working on a reboot. (https://deadline.com/2018/03/highlander-reboot-gets-moving-after-colony-writer-ryan-condal-hands-in-script-1202307522/)

[Saintheart]

Which begs the queston why he keeps introducing himself as Spanish. ;)

YOU have the manners of a goat! And you smell like a dungheap! And you've no knowledge whatsoever of your potential! Now -- GET OUT!

[Cockroach King]

Any film that is responsible for this Aqua Teen clip is pretty awesome:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccrhTmWurvQ

There's also this clip from the same episode, but I can only post one video per post. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkugCyP7leU)

[Wraith]

It's amazing that they never made a sequel to such a great film, isn't it? Because there *were* no movie sequels... *twitch*

I'm going to just say it - I liked Highlander 3. Which I like to refer to as Highlander 2, because referring to something as '3' when there never was a '2' is weird.


Which begs the question why he keeps introducing himself as Spanish. ;)

He introduces himself as being the chief metallurgist to the King of Spain, and McCloud keeps calling him 'Spaniard' because it annoys him. He never claims to be Spanish himself. :smalltongue:

[Aedilred]

It remains a horrible movie wrapped around a good idea.

Why is it horrible, I hear you cry?

1) Christopher Lambert can't act. He is a bit of wood waved through scenes, and completely overshadowed by Sean Connery and Clancy Brown. I vaguely recall that there is a modern love interest, but she carries no weight and is written poorly. Connor's first wife is a bit more memorable, but ultimately fridged... twice.

2) The film is visually too dark. You cannot see a thing in most of the movie.

3) The sound mixing is bad. So, Christopher Lambert can't act, and you can barely hear what he does say because the sound is terrible.

It's a very neat idea, and could be really cool, and the series based off the idea wasn't bad because it avoided these problems.

People like it because of nostalgia. It is still a horrible movie.

I agree with all of this.

[The Troubadour]

"Highlander" is an interesting case. I love the movie, and it's genuinely good in many places, but by all rights, it should have been awful. As written in the actual script, the Kurgan is a by-the-book bad guy who's mean, strong, and not much else; in the finished movie, we barely have any hints as to why Ramirez chose to train Connor instead of just taking off his head; and while I disagree Brenda was a weak presence in terms of character, she could easily have been written out that barely anything would have changed in the plot (it's not as if we needed a mortal viewpoint character, Ramirez' scenes already provided all the information we couldn't gather ourselves).

(Although I firmly disagree with Lambert's acting being bad or wooden.)

And yet, despite all that, it works. Heather being raped was cheap and unneeded, but her death by old age was a genuinely sad moment which provided the movie with the first half of its main theme ("Who dares to love forever when love must die?", as Queen put it so aptly); as written and shown, Brenda wasn't important to the plot, but was very important to the second half of the movie's theme (to quote her, "Most people are afraid to die, but not you; you're afraid to live"); Clancy Brown was so good he elevated the Kurgan to an actual character; and of course, the Queen soundtrack greatly enhanced* the movie's emotional points.

* I concede that one might say "carried", though.

It was lightning in a bottle which they've tried, and failed, to recapture for the first two sequels (I mostly didn't like the series or its additions to the mythos, greatly disliked Endgame, and would rather go through life-risking surgery than rewatch The Source, but to their credit, they did try to be more original than The Gathering and The Sorcerer).


[...] and the series based off the idea wasn't bad because it avoided these problems.

...You think Adrian Paul is a good actor?!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEK43-o3LCE

[Lapak]

we barely have any hints as to why Ramirez chose to train Connor instead of just taking off his head
This is one of the few things I felt the movie communicated coherently: they are all pretty lonely. Same reason MacLeod was all buddy-buddy with the only other immortal we saw much of: until the final gathering, other immortals are the only people who you can befriend and assume they'll stick around.

And at the final gathering, well, if you have made a bunch of friends and made sure that all the decent like-minded immortals you come across are trained swordsmen, it's more likely that someone you like and/or is non-terrible will win the Prize, even if it isn't you.

[The Troubadour]

This is one of the few things I felt the movie communicated coherently: they are all pretty lonely.

Yeah, sure, and I agree that it's Ramirez' way of coping: since he can't have relationships with mortals, he'll substitute them with ones with other immortals. But the movie could have stood to explore that a bit further, particularly when every other immortal we see is so focused on the Prize they WOULD kill their friends for it, even Kastagir (though that's stated more explicitly in the original script, the final cut of the movie still has some of that).

[LibraryOgre]

...You think Adrian Paul is a good actor?!


Compared to Christopher "I have one tone of voice and no facial expressions" Lambert? He's goddamn Laurence Olivier.

[The Troubadour]

Ok, now I'm sure you haven't seen the movie in a while. :-) Lambert projects a variety of emotions throughout the movie, particularly in the scenes in the past. He's not "wooden", it's Connor who's depressed.

[The Patterner]

I'm going to just say it - I liked Highlander 3. Which I like to refer to as Highlander 2, because referring to something as '3' when there never was a '2' is weird.


It's not as good as the first by any means, but I liked it. Also, it does have that scene when the swords break because they are fighting in a church and I really liked that, and how it connect to their myhtos.

I'd love a immortals series were they kind of ignore the whole endgame thing, I always felt that was poorly explained. Just have them absorb the strength of those they kill. That should give the bad guys a reason to kill anyway.

Altough I guess the There can be only one line is way to iconic for that...

[Red Fel]

I will admit I loved the film's mythos. And the show's mythos. And the show's Methos. Sorry, not sorry.

But it was all bonkers, let's be completely honest. In the movie, Ramirez was an ancient Egyptian Spaniard with a Japanese sword played by a Scotsman. And in the show, when they ran out of clever ideas, they decided to throw in a Zoroastrian demon. Just 'cause, I guess. It was all bonkers.

But I absolutely loved the concept. Even if you set aside the duels and rules, Watchers and Gatherings and Quickenings (oh my!), the idea of these immortals throughout history creates so many storytelling opportunities. And the show especially liked to explore that, even if the writing and acting wasn't always on par with the stories they wanted to tell. And I'll admit that a reboot - a true reboot, start it over and wipe the slate clean - could absolutely do that. (No more cartoons, though. That was a dismal mistake.)

That said, the fact that I'm older than (the story of) an immortal Scotsman is somewhat depressing. Only a little bit.

[LibraryOgre]

Ok, now I'm sure you haven't seen the movie in a while. :-) Lambert projects a variety of emotions throughout the movie, particularly in the scenes in the past. He's not "wooden", it's Connor who's depressed.

Yeah, that's not my experience.

[0wca88]

One thing I found really funny about this movie is the fact that a french dude plays a scottish highlander, while an actual scotsman plays a spanish conquistador. :smallbiggrin:

[factotum]

One thing I found really funny about this movie is the fact that a french dude plays a scottish highlander, while an actual scotsman plays a spanish conquistador. :smallbiggrin:

Actually, Connery is playing an Egyptian who happens to be working for the King of Spain. :smallsmile:

[Malphegor]

This thread just reminded me that I still need to watch the animated series. I've heard it's good, but never got around to it.

Only seen the 1st one and bits of the second up until they said the word 'solar shield' and never did much with the idea that Connor McLeod is in the public limelight for SAVING THE WORLD. (the alien stuff is whatever, but that bit would mean a major change. The Highlander is the one who shielded the world from the sun when things got bad- cool, but what does that mean to the secretive Immortal? Not going to explore that movie? Celebrity immortal... no? Alien stuff? Okay.)