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HIGHLANDER (1986) |
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MORGAN'S RATING |
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| Conner Macleod is a Scot who should have died in 1536. But he belongs to a rare race of immortals that can only be killed when beheaded with a sword. Their destiny is to duel through history until the Gathering, when the remaining few will battle for supremacy. Macleod lives in peace for four centuries. Then his old enemy, the evil Kurgan, arrives to challenge him. With modern New York as their arena, the two time-scarred swordsmen square off. Only one can survive. And he will weild more power than any man ever dreamed existed. |
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| Christopher Lambert (Connor Macleod/Russell Edwin Nash), Roxanne Hart (Brenda J. Wyatt), Clancy Brown (Victor Kruger/The Kurgan), Sean Connery (Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez), Beatie Edney (Heather Macleod), Alan North (Lt. Frank Moran), Jon Polito (Det. Walter Bedsoe), Sheila Gish (Rachel Ellenstein), Hugh Quarshie (Sunda Kastagir), Christopher Malcolm (Kirk Matunas), Peter Diamond (Aman Fasil), Billy Hartman (Dugal Macleod), James Cosmo (Angus Macleod), Celia Imrie (Kate Macleod), Alistair Findlay (Chief Murdoch), Edward Wiley (Garfield), James McKenna (Father Rainey), John Cassady (Kenny), Ian Reddington (Bassett), Sion Tudor Owen (Hotchkiss), Damien Leake (Tony the Hotdog Vendor), Gordon Sterne (Dr. Willis Kenderly), Ron Berglas (Erik Powell), Louis Guss (Newsvendor), Peter Banks (Priest), Corrinne Russell (Candy), Ian Tyler (Lab Tech). |
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| HIS NAME IS CONNOR MACLEOD. HE IS IMMORTAL. |
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PRODUCTION INFORMATION |
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DIRECTOR: Russell Mulcahy (Highlander II).
WRITERS: Gregory Widen, Peter Bellwood and Larry Ferguson.
PRODUCERS: Peter S. Davis and William N. Panzer.
ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS: Eva Monley, Harold Moskovitz and John H. Starke.
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: E.C. Monell.
ORIGINAL MUSIC: Michael Kamen, Queen (additional music).
DISTRIBUTOR: 20th Century Fox |
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QUOTES |
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FACTS |
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Ramirez: [narrating] From the dawn of time we came; moving silently down through the centuries, living many secret lives, struggling to reach the time of the Gathering; when the few who remain will battle to the last. No one has ever known we were among you...until now. |
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RELEASE DATE: March 7th, 1986 (USA)
BOX OFFICE OPENING: $2.4 million (USA)
BOX OFFICE RESULT: $5.9 million (USA)
BUDGET: $16 million (USA)
- Clancy Brown nearly turned down the role of Kurgan, concerned that his allergy to makeup would prevent him from wearing the prosthetics required late in the film.
- Christopher Lambert spent time with a dialogue coach, developing an accent which sounded non-specifically foreign. In fact, he just barely learned to speak English when he took this role. The only other English-speaking film he had been in at that point was Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984), in which he spoke only a few words.
- The castle where Connor Macleod lived is the same castle used for the interior shots for Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975).
- Non-American versions of this film include a WWII flashback sequence showing Macleod rescuing Rachel, where he tells her "It's a kind of magic".
- Unused footage includes a sequence with Kurgan fighting an immortal security guard named Yung Dol Kim in an office building. Kim, tiring of his immortal life, yields to Kurgan, who takes his head.
- The brief snippet of "New York, New York" performed by Queen during the movie has never been released officially on an album or single by the group. Most of the songs featured in the film are alternate versions to those released, and also remain in the vaults of Queen Productions.
- The final fight scene that takes place at the Silvercup studios (the sign is used in a few shots) used to be a bakery for the Silvercup bread company that had gone out of business a few years earlier.
- During the final fight sequence between Mcleod and Kurgan on the roof of the Silvercup Studios building, cables can be seen in the foreground pulling the studio's neon sign down. After filming had been completed, the production discovered that they had done so much damage to both the set and the actual roof of the Silvercup studios building as to make re-takes impossible.
- Followed by four sequels: Highlander II: The Quickening (1991), Highlander: The Final Dimension (1994), Highlander: Endgame (2000) and Highlander: The Source (2005). |
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Connor: You're a liar!
Ramirez: You have the manners of a goat. And you smell like a dung-heap! And you have no knowledge whatsoever of your potential. |
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Ramirez: The sensation you feel is the Quickening. We are one, Macleod. We are brothers! |
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Heather: You can do that to me forever if you like, my Lord. |
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Ramirez: Crude and slow, clansman. Your attack was no better than that of a clumsy child. |
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Garfield: Are you a faggot Nash?
Connor: Why Garfield? Cruisin' for a piece of ass? |
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Connor: I am Connor Macleod of the Clan Macleod. I was born in 1518 in the village of Glenfinnan on the shores of Loch Shiel. And I am immortal. |
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Ramirez: Why does the sun come up, or are the stars just pinholes in the curtain of night? |
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Ramirez: If your heard comes away from your neck, it's over! |
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Connor: I've been alive for four and a half centuries, and I cannot die.
Brenda: Well, everyone has got their problems. |
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Candy: Hi, I'm Candy.
Kurgan: Of course you are... |
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Kurgan: Forgive me father, I am a worm. |
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Kurgan: Nuns. No sense of humor. |
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Kurgan: So now it ends... |
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CRITICAL COMMENTS |
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"Maybe it was the sheer audacity of the film's silliness that made it so popular or the brief, swaggering presence of Connery." -- John J. Puccio, DVDtown.com |
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"No equal among sword-and-sorcery flicks." -- Christopher Null, Filmcritic.com |
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"Another example of a decent film that led to a mediocre series. Great performances from Connery and Brown." -- Brian McKay, EFilmCritic.com |
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