9 / 10
Highlander is one of the strangest mainstream studio films of the 1980s and one of the most influential fantasy films of the decade. Russell Mulcahy directed it. Christopher Lambert plays Connor MacLeod, a sixteenth-century Scottish Highlander who discovers he’s immortal after being killed at a battle in 1536 and refusing to stay dead. Sean Connery plays Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez, the Spanish-Egyptian immortal who trains him. Clancy Brown plays the Kurgan, the giant Mongol-Russian immortal who killed Ramirez and has spent four hundred and fifty years hunting MacLeod.
The plot moves between sixteenth-century Scotland and 1985 New York. Queen wrote most of the music. The concept is “there can be only one.” The audience figures out what that means about ninety seconds in.
The film flopped at the box office. It made approximately twelve million dollars worldwide on a sixteen million dollar budget. The home video and cable distribution turned it into a cult phenomenon. The franchise eventually included four theatrical sequels (none as good as the original), two television series (one of which, the original Highlander: The Series, is actually pretty good), an animated series, and various other spinoffs that collectively turned the property into a small industry.
What Works
The film commits to its premise without hedging. Immortals exist. They fight each other with swords across centuries. The winner of the eventual final fight gets “the Prize,” which is never quite specified. The Scottish flashbacks are filmed with serious commitment. The New York scenes are filmed with serious commitment. The transitions between them, which include some of the most-imitated dissolves in 1980s cinema, are filmed with such commitment that you forget how silly the premise sounds.
Mulcahy directed music videos before moving to features. The visual style shows the influence. Every frame is composed for maximum graphic impact. The opening sequence of MacLeod fighting another immortal in a Madison Square Garden parking lot is staged like a music video for a heavy metal song. The film isn’t embarrassed by its own pulp roots. It plays them straight and the seriousness raises the material.
For Writers
A silly premise treated with absolute conviction can become a serious work. Highlander is about immortals beheading each other with swords across centuries. The premise sounds like a joke. The film never plays it as a joke. The result is that the audience accepts the premise on the film’s terms. The lesson is that genre material requires the writer to decide whether to take it seriously. Either take it seriously or don’t write it. Half-hearted treatment of pulp produces nothing.
Sean Connery
Sean Connery plays a Spanish-Egyptian immortal who has been wearing Scottish dress in the year 1536 and who teaches a Scottish Highlander how to swordfight. The casting makes no sense. Connery doesn’t attempt a Spanish or Egyptian accent. He sounds like Sean Connery. The film doesn’t address any of this. It just presents Ramirez as a brilliant immortal who happens to sound the way Sean Connery sounds.
The performance is the warmest in the film and the foundation of its emotional engine. Ramirez is a centuries-old man teaching a young man how to live with the curse of not dying. His scenes with Lambert are paced as a relationship instead of as exposition. The audience cares about Ramirez even though he’s on screen for less than thirty minutes. His death at the hands of the Kurgan is the emotional turning point of the entire film.
For Writers
A supporting character who dies in the second act can carry more emotional weight than the protagonist if the writer invests in them properly. Ramirez is on screen for less time than Connor MacLeod but the audience cares about him more. The lesson is that screen time doesn’t determine emotional weight. Investment does. A character who’s fully realized in twenty minutes can land harder than a character who’s partially realized in two hours.
The Music
Queen wrote most of the soundtrack. “Princes of the Universe,” “Who Wants to Live Forever,” “A Kind of Magic,” and “Don’t Lose Your Head” all originated for the film. Michael Kamen scored the orchestral material. The combination is one of the most distinctive musical identities of any 1980s film. Queen had access to a kind of operatic grandiosity that fit Highlander’s premise perfectly. The songs aren’t background. They’re part of the film’s argument.
“Who Wants to Live Forever” plays under the death of Heather, MacLeod’s first wife. The song is about exactly this. The film and the music are saying the same thing at the same time. The technique is what music supervisors aspire to and almost never achieve.
For Writers
Music in a film should be saying something about what is on screen instead of just providing emotional support. Highlander’s Queen songs are about exactly the themes the film is exploring. Mortality. Memory. Loss. The music isn’t decoration. It’s commentary that the audience absorbs unconsciously. The lesson is that the soundtrack is part of the writing if you treat it that way. Specific songs about specific themes that play under specific scenes do work no other element of production can do.
Craft Note
Russell Mulcahy directed. Gregory Widen, Peter Bellwood, and Larry Ferguson wrote, from a story by Widen. Christopher Lambert as Connor MacLeod. Sean Connery as Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez. Clancy Brown as the Kurgan. Roxanne Hart as Brenda Wyatt. Beatie Edney as Heather MacLeod. Queen contributed several songs. Michael Kamen scored. Released March 1986. Approximately sixteen million dollar budget. Twelve million worldwide gross at initial release. Found its audience on home video and cable.
Is Highlander as good as people say?
9/10. One of the strangest and best fantasy films of the 1980s. Christopher Lambert is exactly the right kind of leading man for an immortal with a Scottish accent he can’t quite hold. Sean Connery is Sean Connery and that turns out to be perfect for the role. Queen’s music is one of the great original soundtracks of the decade. The sequels should be ignored. Watch the original.
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