Highlander (film) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Highlander |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Russell Mulcahy |
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| Screenplay by |
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| Story by | Gregory Widen |
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| Music by | Michael Kamen |
| Cinematography | Gerry Fisher |
| Editing by | Peter Honess |
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| Release date(s) | March 7, 1986 (United States) August 29, 1986 (United Kingdom) |
| Running time | 111 minutes |
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| Language | English |
| Budget | $19 million |
| Money made | $12.8 million |
Highlander is a 1986 British-American fantasy action-adventure film directed by Russell Mulcahy from a screenplay by Gregory Widen, Peter Bellwood, and Larry Ferguson. It stars Christopher Lambert, Roxanne Hart, Clancy Brown, and Sean Connery. The film chronicles the climax of an age-old war between immortal warriors, depicted through interwoven past and present-day storylines. It is the first film in the Highlander franchise.
Connor MacLeod (Lambert) is born in the Scottish Highlands in the 16th century. After being mortally wounded by the murderous Kurgan (Brown) in battle, he makes a seemingly miraculous recovery and is banished from his village under suspicion of witchcraft. Five years later, MacLeod is found by swordsman Ramírez (Connery), who trains him in swordplay and explains that they and others were born immortal, invincible unless beheaded. Immortals wage a secret war, fighting each other until the last few remaining will meet at the Gathering to fight for the Prize. In 1985, the Gathering is finally happening in New York City, and MacLeod must ensure that the Prize is not won by the Kurgan.
Highlander was a commercial failure on its initial theatrical release, grossing only a little less than $13 million worldwide against a production budget of $19 million, while receiving mixed reviews. Nevertheless, it became a cult film and inspired several film sequels and television spin-offs. The rock band Queen recorded several songs for the soundtrack, with "Princes of the Universe" also used for the title sequence in the television series. The tagline, "There can be only one", has carried on into pop culture.
Cast
- Christopher Lambert as Connor MacLeod, a 16th-century immortal born in Glenfinnan, Scotland near the shores of Loch Shiel. Under the alias Russell Nash, the Scottish Highlander lives and works as an antique dealer in New York in 1985.
- Sean Connery as Juan Sánchez-Villalobos Ramírez, an Egyptian immortal. He later lives for a time in Japan and then later in Spain. Learning the Kurgan has targeted Connor MacLeod, Ramírez tracks down the Highlander and becomes his mentor in the ways of immortals.
- Clancy Brown as The Kurgan, Connor's nemesis, said to be the last of the Kurgan tribe and a murderously brutal barbarian. In 1985, he travels to New York under the name "Victor Kruger" intending to kill the few remaining immortals and claim "The Prize."
- Roxanne Hart as Brenda Wyatt, a forensic scientist and published metallurgy expert helping to investigate the string of murders in New York City.
- Beatie Edney as Heather MacLeod, Connor's first wife. After Connor is banished from his village, he starts a new life with her. She lives with the eternally youthful Connor for many years until she dies of old age.
- Alan North as Lt. Frank Moran, Brenda's colleague in the NYPD.
- Jon Polito as Det. Walter Bedsoe, an NYPD detective working alongside Moran.
- Sheila Gish as Rachel Ellenstein, Connor's middle-aged secretary and adopted daughter. Saved from the Nazis by Connor when she was a Jewish child during the Holocaust, Rachel is one of the few mortal people who know his true identity.
- Nicola Ramsey as a young Rachel.
- Hugh Quarshie as Sunda Kastagir, Connor's fellow immortal and friend.
- Christopher Malcolm as Kirk Matunas, an emotionally unstable Vietnam War US Marine Corps veteran who witnesses the duel between the Kurgan and Kastagir.
- Peter Diamond as Iman Fasil, a French immortal. Diamond was also the film's stunt coordinator.
- Celia Imrie as Kate MacLeod, Connor's lover in 1536, before he met Heather. Convinced Connor's immortality means he is "in league with Lucifer", Kate leads an unsuccessful effort to have him burned at the stake.
- Billy Hartman and James Cosmo as Dougal and Angus MacLeod, Connor's cousins and leaders of the MacLeod Clan.
Other actors in the film include Edward Wiley as Garfield, a slightly unhinged NYPD officer; Jimmy McKenna as Father Rainey, Alistair Findlay as NYPD Chief Murdoch, Ian Reddington as Bassett and Damien Leake as Tony.
Professional wrestlers Greg Gagne, Jim Brunzell, Sam Fatu, Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy, and Buddy Roberts appear as themselves in the film's opening sequence at a tag-team match. The event in the film is supposedly held at Madison Square Garden, but was actually shot at Brendan Byrne Arena in New Jersey.
Filming
The budget was put up by Thorn EMI. When brought to Russell Mulcahy, the title was The Dark Knight. Filming took place in Scotland, England, Wales and New York City.
Director Russell Mulcahy filmed Highlander using music video techniques including fast cutting and pacy music.
In preparation, actor Christopher Lambert spent months working four hours each morning with a dialect coach and four hours in the afternoons sword training with Bob Anderson, who had been a Darth Vader stunt double in the Star Wars franchise.
On filming a scene underwater in a Scottish loch, Lambert said, "The first time it's a surprise. I thought the water would be cold, but not that cold. The second time you know it is going to be freezing. The third time you turn away and you say, 'That's the last take you're doing.'" Director of photography Arthur Smith actually filmed the scene in which fish fall out of MacLeod's kilt, but Lambert's kilt proved to be too short. Smith said, "I stuck part of a drain pipe above Chris's kilt out of camera range, and fed live trout down the tube."
Smith also had difficulties shooting MacLeod meeting the Kurgan. It was raining that day and the crew had to use umbrellas and hair dryers to prevent water from hitting the camera lenses and appearing on the film. Smith also remembered that Lambert, who was near-sighted, "kept forgetting to take off his glasses as he came over the hill on his horse."
The filming of the parking garage scene took place in two different places. According to New York location manager Brett Botula, "the garage exterior is Manhattan, across from Madison Square Garden, and the interior is 'somewhere in London.'" The pro-wrestling match in the opening scene featured The Fabulous Freebirds vs. Greg Gagne, Jim Brunzell and The Tonga Kid.
The scene where the MacLeod clan sets off to battle is supposed to take place "in the village of Glenfinnan, on the shore of Loch Shiel" in the Lochaber area, but was actually filmed at Eilean Donan Castle, which is in the same general area but is really on the shore of Loch Duich, a sea loch near Kyle of Lochalsh and the Isle of Skye.
According to the DVD commentary, the film's climax was originally intended to take place on top of the Statue of Liberty. Then it was changed to an amusement park and finally changed to the rooftop of the Silvercup Studios building. The opening sequence was originally intended to take place during a National Hockey League game, but the NHL refused because the film crew intended to emphasize the violence of the match.
The opening voice-over by Connery has an echo effect because it was recorded in the bathroom of his Spanish villa, where he had been working on his Spanish accent for the film with a voice coach. It was played for the producers over the phone, and they approved of it because they could not discern the quality of the recording.
In a Reddit "Ask Me Anything" session in 2014, Clancy Brown said "It was a strange set. We were all trying to make a good movie, and the producers were trying to make money any way they could, so there were a lot of things we had to work around, do on the cheap because of those producers."
As an example of the lengths to which the producers were prepared to go to save production costs, they initially decided on the first day of filming that the extras would not receive breakfast. The crew threatened to leave, but only when one of the assistant directors threatened to bring in Connery to force the issue did the producers back down. The tension also led the largely Scottish extras to burn then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in effigy.
Soundtrack
The Highlander original orchestral score was composed by Michael Kamen. The British rock band Marillion turned down the chance to record the soundtrack because they were on a world tour, a missed opportunity which guitarist Steve Rothery later said he regretted. The band's Scottish lead singer, Fish, had also accepted a part in the film but pulled out because of the scheduling conflict. David Bowie, Sting, and Duran Duran were considered to do the soundtrack for the film. The eventual soundtrack includes several songs by Queen, such as "A Kind of Magic" and "Princes of the Universe" (the latter also being used for the Highlander television series title sequence). Brian May was inspired to write "Who Wants to Live Forever" after watching the love scenes between Connor and his wife Heather, and the song ultimately accompanied the film.
Despite a mention in the end credits, to date a complete soundtrack album for Highlander has not been released. Queen's 1986 album A Kind of Magic features several songs from the film (although sometimes in different arrangements): "Princes of the Universe", "Gimme the Prize (Kurgan's Theme)" (the album version includes snippets of dialogue from the film), "One Year of Love", "Don't Lose Your Head", "Who Wants to Live Forever", and "A Kind of Magic". The album and single edits of "A Kind of Magic" feature a different mix from the one in the film; a 2011 re-release of the album includes the long-unreleased Highlander version of the song. The album does not include Queen's recording of "Theme from New York, New York", which features briefly in Highlander. "Hammer to Fall", a Queen song heard playing from a car radio in one scene, was from an earlier album, The Works.
The 1995 CD Highlander: The Original Scores includes five cues from Kamen's Highlander score (along with six cues from Stewart Copeland's Highlander II score, and four cues from J. Peter Robinson's Highlander III score). Furthermore, a rearrangement of an excerpt from Kamen's score (specifically, the beginning of the track "The Quickening") was eventually used as the logo music for New Line Cinema's ident between 1994 and 2011.
Novelization
A novelization of the film was written by Garry Kilworth under the pen name "Garry Douglas." It expanded the events of the movie by revealing details such as Heather finding out about Connor's immortality from Ramírez, the Kurgan's First Death, and the villain's training with an Arabian immortal known as "The Bedouin" (whom he eventually kills). The novel depicts the Kurgan battling and defeating an immortal Mongol warrior soon before meeting MacLeod in 1536. Another scene reveals how he acquires his customised longsword.
The novel depicts Connor and Kastagir as having a more somber relationship, the two comfortable talking and confiding in each other about their fears. An alternate scene has them meet in the subway before going to the Bridge.
The book expands the ending following Connor's last battle with the Kurgan. He returns to his antique shop to say a final goodbye to Rachel before leaving for Scotland. Once there, he and Brenda tour the country for two months then open an antique shop in Camden Alley. On one occasion, Connor returns to the Scottish Uplands alone and stares at the remnants of his home with Rachel. There is no croft there but he finds a few stones from the fallen tor and locates the burial place of Ramírez and Heather. Finding two timbers and fashioning a crude cross, Connor tells Heather that she would like Brenda because "she is much like you."
Sequels and reboot
The film was followed by two direct sequels. Highlander II: The Quickening was released in 1991 and met with an overall negative response, with some considering it among the worst films ever made. Highlander III: The Sorcerer (also known as Highlander: The Final Dimension) was released in 1994 and retroactively erased the canon of Highlander II, acting as an alternate sequel to the first film. The movies Highlander: Endgame (2000) and Highlander: The Source (2007) follow the continuity of the TV show Highlander: The Series. Both movies received negative reviews from fans of both the original film and the TV show. The anime movie Highlander: The Search for Vengeance (2007), which existed in its own continuity with protagonist Colin MacLeod, received largely positive reviews.
In March 2008, Summit Entertainment announced that it had bought the film rights to Highlander and was remaking the original film. Chad Stahelski was announced as a new director of the reboot which has been described to be John Wick with swords with the reboot planned as a possible trilogy. As of May 2020, the filming for the remake had not yet begun. In May 2021, Henry Cavill was confirmed to play the lead role in the film, although his exact character was unknown. In October 2023, Lionsgate was moving forward with the reboot, with Cavill starring as MacLeod and Stahelski directing from a screenplay by Mike Finch. The project is expected to begin filming in early 2024.
TV series
Christopher Lambert was offered a chance to return as Connor MacLeod in a TV series adaptation. Lambert turned down the role, so the series became a spin-off, introducing a new character Duncan MacLeod played by Adrian Paul. Highlander: The Series began airing on television in 1992, with Lambert appearing as Connor in the first episode. The series explains Duncan is a man born decades after Connor's banishment and adopted by the Clan MacLeod. After Duncan discovers he is immortal, Connor finds him and trains him before going his separate way. The season two premiere episode "The Watchers" confirms Connor's battle with the Kurgan still happened in 1985 in the canon of the show, but the Prize was not won because there were still several living immortals in this version of events, including Duncan. Lambert did not appear in any other episode, but he and Duncan meet again in the movie Highlander: Endgame.
Highlander: The Animated Series aired 1994 to 1996. A loose science fiction adaptation and sequel of the original film, the series imagines a meteorite causing an apocalypse on Earth. In the wake of this, Connor MacLeod is one of several immortals who decides to help preserve knowledge for humanity rather than continue their war for the Prize, though he is then killed by Kortan, the one remaining evil immortal. Taking place in the 27th century, the series features the young immortal hero Quentin MacLeod, last descendant of the MacLeod Clan. He is trained by another immortal named Don Vincente Marino Ramirez, an old friend of Connor's.
