HIGHLANDER (1986)

There Can Be Only One. 

Only one Immortal that this - the Immortals are special swordsmen who can live forever, except when they are facing off against other swordsmen who can kill them but ONLY by decapitating them.  The Immortal this particular story focuses on is Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert) who is from the Highlands of Scotland in the 1500's when he discovers that he has this unique designation.  We follow his adventures through several centuries all the way up the "present day" in 1985 New York City where he is now being hunted by a bloodthirsty immortal barbarian named the Kurgan (Clancy Brown). Along the way, he has also been mentored by another Immortal named Ramirez (Sean Connery) in the ways of swordsmanship, along with other special gifts.  Featuring songs by Queen and directed by Russel Mulcahy (The Shadow, Resident Evil: Extinction), this action fantasy was a commercial disappointment upon first release forty years ago but has since become a beloved cult classic.  

Host & Editor: Geoff Gershon
Producer: Marlene Gershon 

Transcript

HIGHLANDER - 1986

Directed by Russell Mulcahy

Starring Christopher Lambert, Roxanne Hart, Clancy Brown, Beatie Edney, Alan North, Jon Polito, Sheila Gish, Hugh Quarshie, Peter Diamond, Billy Hartman, James Cosmo, Celia Imrie, Christopher Malcolm, Ian Reddington, and Sean Connery

Genre: Fantasy Action

This movie just has it ALL: Christopher Lambert pretending to be Scottish, Sir Sean pretending not to be Scottish, parking garage swordfights, Clancy Brown flashing his tongue at nuns, really aged whisky, old WWF wrestlers draped with the stars and bars, SIX songs from Queen, metallurgy, the late great Jon Polito....very young almost unrecognizable as a New York cop,, old school flophouses where you could assemble your broad sword in peace, Lambert's dazzling smile, bizarrely lit sex scenes, being referred to as "Brrrrrotherrr!" by Sean, pissing off British fops back in the 1700's, breathing underwater, stags you can bond with, smashing entire walls of windows overlooking a skyline, and..... some ghoulish thug taking your grandma for a scary drive in Manhattan at night! 🙂

Well beyond that, does it have an actual STORY? I think so though it likely takes at least a hearty forty or so minutes to get the full grasp of it when Connery first appears as....Juan Sanchez Villa Lobos Ramirez to kind of explain it all. 😆 But that's ok because WHO better than the late great Sir Sean during his funky post-Bond/pre-Untouchables Oscar wilderness period (1971 to 1986) when he was doing a lot of his most out-there stuff like Zardoz, The Name of the Rose, Time Bandits, or THIS? His Ramirez ends up being a pretty necessary exposition machine/mentor - this film's Obi Wan or Morpheus - who kinda sorta grounds this film. 

As explained by Ramirez, Lambert's Connor McLeod is a Scottish swordsman living in the 16th Century....who happens to be IMMORTAL. He cannot be killed and he will live on for centuries and centuries unless he encounters ANOTHER immortal who can potentially kill him by cutting off his head.....as he is the titular HIGHLANDER and there can be ONLY one. Hmmm.....sounds simple enough but by this point in the story, we have already jumped back-and-forth between McLeod in the 1500's AND McLeod living in then present-day 1980's New York City. Mr. McLeod still not only has his same trusty broad sword but has amassed much wealth living in a swanky Manhattan loaded with various valuable metallurgical treasures. Oh and there is ONE mysterious, threatening pale warrior who in both the past AND present who is ALSO immortal....that's the Kurgan who is also trying to KILL McLeod....because there can be ONLY ONE. Got that?? 😜

What helps is that he also pulls off this wacky tale with a lot of style. The make-up and costumes don't ALL hold up extremely well when viewed through HD but they're still just different and fun enough to keep you interstellar thanks to production designer Allan Cameron who would go on to a lot of very distinctive work in the '90's with bigger budget fare like The Mummy and Starship Troopers. And the same goes for the cinematography which is WAY better than your typical B-grade genre movie from this era thanks to veteran DP Gerry Fisher (Victory, Running On Empty, the underrated Exorcist III) who delivers both sweeping shots of the Scottish highlands and roving dolly shots of modern Manhattan alleys with the same acumen. The movie just LOOKS good with several fun swordfights among its highlights. 

And much of that enjoyment ALSO comes from a game cast lead by French/Swiss American (look it up....dude was born on Long Island! 😆) Christopher Lambert....whom I'm not ever sure was actually a GOOD actor with both his awkward smile and grasp of the English language. He seemed to often come off like Van Damme, just with fewer facial expressions and EVEN fewer roundhouse kicks. But....place him in a certain off-kilter genre lane (Greystoke, Mortal Kombat, Hail Caesar) and he would just seem to work on-screen. And that's certainly the case here - he handles the emotional stuff just well enough and the swordplay even better. At the very least, he DOES come off as a man out of time with where he is.....and he's just serviceable enough in this role to have me genuinely pumped to see what Henry Cavill with bring to it in the forthcoming remake. ;) 

Of course, the cast member who pretty much steals this movie is the aforementioned Clancy Brown who plays the Kurgan who is likely having THE most fun here, even slightly more than Connery. For more than forty years now, Clancy has just been one of those go-to-guys for bringing menace, humor, and/or gravitas to any kind of genre or platform he's on. His imposing stature, his unmistakably deep voice....he brings extra value to every TV show, video game, movie, etc. This was early in his career just a couple of years after his breakout role in Bad Boys (the prison drama with Sean Penn, NOT the buddy cop comedy with Will Smith) and while I'm not sure this remains his SIGNATURE performance, it's certainly up there alongside other scenery-chewing turns in The Shawshank Redemption and Starship Troopers. He's just having so much fun here especially as it's HIS character who is presented as the fish-out-of-water in modern day NYC....it's infectious to the point where we can even enjoy him humming a few bars of "New York, New York" in the build-up to the final climax!  (Audio clip) 

Best Needledrop (best song cue or score used throughout runtime of film):

First things first…do NOT sleep on this film’s strong score from the late, great Michael Kamen.  Kamen kind of remains one of the more underappreciated composers from this era as he did genuinely good scores for big action films including Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.  His music for Highlander is rousing and fun and even fits the fantastical setting surprisingly well despite so many jumps in time…. (Audio clip) 

Of course one of this film’s lasting legacies remains the soundtrack featuring the aforementioned SIX songs from the band Queen….and even though needle-drops from the legendary band have been used in dozens and dozens of films, TV, and other media, this soundtrack along with previous episode Flash Gordon remains the ONLY ones they actually created original songs for.  Speaking of which if you want more of a deep-dive into Queen contributions to cinema, check out that episode….which is incidentally where I stated that my favorite Queen needle-drop for this film was the epic power ballad, “Who Wants to Live Forever” which is featured so prominently during a section focusing on Duncan’s relationship with his wife form the past, Heather.  Still a great song. (Audio clip) 

However having rewatched this SINCE then, I have actually changed my mind about which Queen song remains the standout.  Yeah this time around…..watching this on a much bigger screen with better sound this time around, I just found myself LITERALLY pumping my fist to the rousing anthem which opens the film playing over the opening credits.  The song not only ROCKS but even kind of summarizes what an “Immortal” actually is….the track I’m referring has to the gloriously FACE-MELTING, “Princes of the Universe. (Audio clip) 

Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film):

Oh right they tried to make this into a FRANCHISE didn’t they?  Well the potential was there for setting up future installments – hell we could just jump back and forth in time with Duncan McLeod for new adventures.  And there was a sequel five years later…with Lambert AND Connery coming back plus with Mulcahey coming back to direct.  It was officially titled, “Highlander II: The QUICKENING” – sounds promising right?  I had been hearing about this sequel for DECADES now and just how notoriously bad it was….I finally got around to watching it a few months ago, actually one of many different versions of it, this being the more definitive “Renegade Cut.” And……well it’s not good, not the abomination I had expected but not good….and since, I think there had been two more sequels AND a spin-off show.  Haven’t seen any of them, haven’t heard good things either.  So yeah even with so much sequel potential, we can chalk this up as yet ANOTHER surprise genre hit from the ‘80’s where they ATTEMPED to sequelize it in the ‘90’s and failed miserably…..right alongside previous episodes The Delta Force and Robocop, oh well. (Audio clip) 

Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie):

Speaking of the climax…..the final sword fight at the the neon Silvercup Studios sign atop Long Island City is fantastic featuring the BEST swordplay of the film helping it to peak at just the right time.  The sparks from when those swords hit, those exploding windows, the inexplicably physics-defying water which plays SUCH a big factor on the roof yet doesn’t apparently flow downward alongside both combatants…..and of course those charmingly dated animated effects which flow all around McCleod when the “quickening” actually occurs.  Yes it looks cheesy but it’s well-shot and genuinely kinetic action filmmaking.  (Audio clip) 

MVP (person or people most responsible for the success of this film):

In case it wasn’t already OBVIOUS….there are some definite logical leaps taken with such a fantastical story – much of this likely comes from the absurdly jam-packed screenplay co-written by Peter Bellwood & Larry Ferguson (Hunt For Red October, Beverly Hills Cop II).  And this thing just MOIVES forward....leaping through time with abandon. And a big reason it still works for me is just how well Russell Mulcahy (Ricochet, The Shadow) directs all of this with such confidence, simply assuming that the audience will keep up without chirons to explain where or WHEN we are. Rewatching this, it even started to remind me of Batman Begins at points....a pretty ambitious origin story being explained out of order. Now does Mulcahey pull this off quite as well as Nolan? Definitely not but he keeps it all briskly paced and entertaining for the entire 110 minute runtime. For pulling that off with such an ambitious project, Russell Mulcahey is the MVP. (Audio clip)

Final Rating: 4 stars out of 5

If I’m being honest, I WAS late to the party on this one – I MIGHT have caught snippets of it on cable growing up but I don’t believe that I watched this ENTIRE film in full until just a few years ago.  But I DO love it and I 100% get how it has become such a cult phenomenon over time.  Happy 40th Anniversary to an immortal ‘80’s classic!  

Streaming on Prime Video, fubo, peacock, AMC+, philo, Roku, hoopla, & Pluto TV

And that ends another THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE review!