This movie is comprised of: A Frenchman playing a Scot, a Scot playing an ancient Egyptian pretending to be a Spaniard, and an American playing a Eurasian barbarian who became a punk rocker. Highlander proves that if the description of a movie sounds like insane nonsense, it might just be awesome.
Oddly enough, Brown didn't like playing him. The original script changed A LOT from Greg Widen's final draft to the shooting script. The producers wanted The Kurgan more like Freddy Kruger and Brown constantly griped about the characterization he was being made to play. he was supposed to be extremely world-weary and dour and lived only to get The Prize by specifically killing McLeod.
Just found out that Scotland is of 70 percent of Spanish Celt ancestry & England 60 percent, so I guess Sean Connery can play a Spanish 😅 ruclips.net/video/JSYR2S6V31Y/видео.html
I think you're a bit mistaken, when it comes to Connor being kicked out of his village. He's neither their leader, nor is he a great warrior of any kind. He got killed early in his first battle and rose from the dead, giving no explanation as to how. Sure, they could've viewed that as a miracle, but an undead guy could easily also be interpreted as some sort of necromancy or witchcraft.
Yesss! I'm so glad you explained this so well. He's just an 18 years old lad in what is probably his first battle ever. Also the year is clearly mentioned, 1536 (he was born in 1518), sometimes reactors can't resist babbling over important parts of the dialogue.
@@uraniaininverno995 Well clearly Connor McGregor is from Northampton and not Devonshire, so he had to go. I neither saw nor perceived any of this "babble" you speak of, as both Terry and Steve wouldn't do that.
The greatest tragedy of the Highlander franchise is not the horrible sequel to this film. It's the fact that we never see Conor Macleod ever use the Quikening ability he gets off killing the first dude to flip his way out of trouble. Not once.
The 80s were filled with movies that explained very little. They just were and that was enough I guess. I find there are a lot of James Bond fans who want that. They don’t want a back story or a human Bond. They want a British Die Hard in a tuxedo chasing women.
@@codybishop7526 The Series takes place around the time of the 4th movie Highlander Endgame, Highlander The Source is the 6th movie and takes place close to the end of the Highlander series
When I watched this movie for the first time, I didn't know that Queen scored this entire film. That when I found my favorite Queen song, Who Wants to Live Forever.
Queen didn't score the entire film ! They created songs for the modern parts. Michael Kamen did the score, including some of the themes composed by Queen in some of his own cues for continuity.
I can't believe the guys never mentioned the Queen songs in the soundtrack! It's worth checking out the music video for their epicly epic song Princes Of The Universe.
Oh Highlander........a true classic! One of my favourite movies of all time when I was a young lad. Great cast with the late great Sean Connery, the always awesome Clancy Brown a.k.a. Mr. Krabs, beautiful cinematography, great locations & one badass soundtrack from the legendary rock band Queen.
@@sivonni I did. As a Canadian, productions like that back then ( Stargate, X-Files, etc...) were difficult to avoid. And i have to say, yes, the TV series was definitely good, expanding on the world of the first movie. I simply meant they shouldn't have made sequel movies...
Me and my grandad watched this for the first time together in early 90’s , I was around 9. The scene where it cuts to Scotland from the car park my grandad thought he had sat on the remote and turned the channel over, he scrambled for it saying “ Jesus Christ “ fun times.
This is still one of my all time favourites. Ignore the very dodgy spfx, Highlander is a stone cold classic, with arguably the greatest soundtrack ever. Our beloved Freddie singing "Who wants to live forever" is just heartbreaking. But NEVER watch the sequels. There really should have been only one!
The Second movie is the only one that should not have been made as they are not Immortal and are all Aliens but by Movie 3 everything that happened in the 2nd movie has never happened and they are Immortal again
I may be one of the few people in your comments that saw Highlander on opening weekend. I went because of the trailer and the Queen soundtrack, loved it for many more reasons.
In the "Highlander" universe there is the following: 5 films (with a remake spoken of, but never made), the animated movie, 3 different tv series, the web series, 9 novels, 2 non-fiction books, a comic book series, 5 audio books, 3 different video games, and a collectable card game set.
Honestly, the Highlander franchise is at its best in the TV series, which was super 90s and added tons of character depth to the lead (Connor McLeod's cousin Duncan). I loved it. The original film is highly enjoyable and entertaining, and Clancy Brown's Kurgan is a fantastic villain. The film sequels, even the ones that tie into the TV show are pretty terrible, but if you love the franchise, they're still entertaining enough. I'll be forever disappointed we didn't get the Methos Chronicles (character from the TV series). Fun fact - Christopher Lambert knew no English (he's French) at the time, learned his lines phonetically and tried for a Scottish accent.
I do appreciate you guys, I do think Tom has more of an adventurous side, this is one of my all time favourites, being Scottish myself, also a great soundtrack by Queen!
This and the Highlander TV show are mint Also, Conner being exiled from the clan’s village is due to him dying and coming back to life. The clan would view that as necromancy, a pact with the devil.
Aye as said in the film. Kate (I think?) declares to the tavern 'he's in league with Lucifer', underlining by the follow up "I'll say it. You've the Devil in you." That'd be enough for em.
YES!!! THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE! The script came from UCLA film student Gregory Widen. He was in vacation in Scotland in 1981, he was in a museum of sorts and saw a beautifully restored suit of armor and asked "What if the guy who wore this suit was alive right now? What if you owned all of this and that you're telling your life story?" The original script was more darker and violent than the movie: Connor McLeod was born in 1408 rather than 1518. Aftr Connor learns he is immortal he decides to leave, never to return. Sanchez is actually a Spaniard rather than an Egyptian and trains Connor for 3 years, teaching him how to be swordsman. The Kurgan goes under the alias Carl William Smith,but rather than a savage warrior, he was a cold blooded killer. Immortals do have children and in one scene, Connor attends the funeral for one of his sons while his other sons, all in their late 40's early 50's see him as an immortal. Connor goes under the name Richard Turpin. After Connor kills the Kurgan, it's left ambiguous as we don't know if he's still immortal or not, and there is no mention of The Prize in the script.
What's really amazing is that Christopher Lambert did this movie basically blind. Lambert has profound myopia and cannot see without his glasses. He cannot wear contact lenses and often had to perform while virtually blind, which has led to injuries while performing his own stunts. He did all of that fight choreography while effectively blind. You have a Frenchman playing a Scot and a Scot playing an Egyptian. Lol.
Highlander is such a weird movie with so many flaws but it's still such an 80's classic. Sword fighting, leather action heroes, sci fi elements, big hair, Queen doing the soundtrack. Just a trip.
I’m going through the TV show, it’s free on RUclips. It’s actually pretty darn good. It expands on the lore and I love the handoff in ep 1 from the movies character to the tvs protagonist.
My disappointment when they don't show the part where the little girl says "You're still alive, why didn't you die?" and he replied "Hey, it's a sort of magic."
Ever since I learned that Clancy Brown voices Mr Krabbs in SpongeBob, any time I watch Highlander I crack myself up imagining the Kurgan randomly going "money money money money!"
This movie is one of my favorites, period. I didn't care very much for any of the sequels, or even the TV show. This one movie was originally made to be "one and done", and it didn't even fare that well during its original box-office release. The VHS version is what made it so popular.
Ricky Bobby: Wow. I feel like I’m Highlander! Jean Girard: What is the Highlander? Ricky Bobby: It’s a movie. It won the Academy Award. Jean Girard: Oh for what? Ricky Bobby: Best movie ever made
Christopher Lambert barely knew English when he filmed Highlander. The Prize is basically what the immortal wants it to be... you can be a god or a mortal.
Great reaction to one of my favourite movies, and Shaun's criticisms and rating are completely understandable and pretty fair. It's interesting how there's quite a few salty comments that you were having fun throughout the reaction, but for me that's the point. It's such a fun and campy movie, that the moment it starts getting overanalysed, the fun is gone!
This was a joy to watch. I lost it at she should have said eeeee XD The number of face palms in this is epic.... Have you ever seen Lambert in Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan?
Let me say this ---- in 1986, this shit was AMAZEBALLS. You boys have seen so much, and so much better FX and swordplay, that this film seems dated and "music video"-ish. Christopher Lambert was playing him like a trope hero of the time, a stoic man of mystery and smoldering intensity. Hahaha. Movies don't do that anymore because it's cheesy. But in 1986, this played very well and Lambert was a rock star, coming off, "Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes" (1984).
Lovvveee this movie, Best Score of all time, not just Queen , Michael Kamen too, the Celtic Music in Scotland gives me goosebumps like no other film I've ever seen.
Great fun review of this classic movie. Can we also have an honourable mention for the soundtrack ... I assume hiring Queen was where all their money went 😆
Connery was always very particular about his film contracts - what he was going to be paid and how much time he was going to be available. The budget only extended to him being in the film for a certain amount of shooting days, hence why he is in it only for a certain section. Of course, the financing of the film was predicated on getting a 'name', which is why he was hired as well.
I love the fact that Sean accidently just gave us the plot of Highlander 2 and how it totally unwrites all the lore given in the first movie. He wasn't even far off the name of the planet. Haha.
Clancy Brown who played the Kurgan tells the story of how this movie even got made. It's a great story. You should watch the interview he gives about it. Puts a lot of things in perspective.
Didn't like their reaction at 18:06. :( I thought it was beautiful how he still stayed with her even when she had turned into an old woman, and told her, when she wondered why he stayed, that he did it because he still loved her as much as when they met.
10:17 ... we later learn Connor was born in 1518, so if he's about 25 or so at that time then it's roughly 1543. I never really noticed until I re-watched this a few weeks ago, but the castle seen in the distance (at 11:23 in this clip) is the same one ThePianoGuys used for their rendition of Rachel Platten's "This Is Our Fight Song" ... and the funny thing is that the people you see at the castle in the distance were actually TOURISTS visiting the site
Guess if you'd listened when you made reference to the holy hand grenade you'd have worked out the earliest part of the movie was 1536 as stated by the man with the banner.
The soundtrack for this movie was Queen’s “It’s a Kind of Magic” album. The only song not used in this was “One Vision” that was used as the theme song for the movie “Iron Eagle.” Queen’s fee for songs written specifically for this movie? For the studio to cover making the video for “Princes of the Universe” and be directed by the director of the movie. Connor was killed in Scotland is 1536. So right in the middle of the “Renaissance” period.
Christopher Lambert is pretty competent when he's acting in french. Luc Besson directed a film called Subway (or Metro in french) with Lambert as the lead, and it's a fun and weird heist movie, and was the role that got him noticed by Hollywood for this film.
Some of Michael PS Hayes's best work! "What if you were immortal?" There's a Twilight Zone episode where a guy becomes immortal (sells his soul), commits murder for kicks, and gets sentenced to prison. For life.
There is plenty of historical context for people seeing anything "unnatural" as being of the devil or looking to blame people as evil when things cannot be sufficiently explained for the time.
Love this film. I've lost count how many times I've seen this movie in part or in whole. As always: finish Carpenter's Apocalypse Trilogy: 2) Prince of Darkness and 3) In the Mouth of Madness
A Scottish immortal played by a New York born French actor trained by an Egyptian by way of Spain played by a Scotsman fighting a Russian immortal played by an American. Yeah, that checks out. If the sword fights look pretty basic, it’s because Christopher Lambert had an eye condition that rendered him almost completely blind without glasses and he couldn’t wear contacts. So he was literally sword fighting blind. Wild. I love how they at one point in the present joke about Lambert’s French accent. He does a passable Scottish accent, but after that, he just gives up and he sounds like a guy from Paris. But his whole look and speech does make him stand out from other movie heroes. He’s got a darkness to him that you didn’t see a lot of in the 80s. The cinematography is nuts.
Love the series. Methos is the greatest character. He's the oldest immortal and hiding out from the watchers who are looking for him, by pretending to be a watcher, looking for himself.
Russell Mulcahy started off as a music video director. Which explains a lot of the quick cuts. Also, Christopher Lambert is French so his accent is 'odd' as a Scot. They explain it away when he says he's lived 'lots of places'. When an immortal kills another immortal, the Quickening imbues them with the life force and (supposidely) memories of the one who died. The Highlander TV show went more in-depth into the lore of the immortals. It was pretty good!
The Kurgan might be one of my favorite "magnificent bastard" shitheels! Menacing and over-the-top at the same time. There's just something special about a bad guy with no redeeming qualities other than a twisted sense of humor. Clancy Brown knocked it out of the park in this breakthrough role.
LOVE watching you two react to literally anything - even if I haven't seen it!! I know you're doing nostalgia right now BUT when you get back to horror - the 90's film Brainscan is worth a watch! It has the kid from Terminator in it.
The Kurgan was just so good at being evil, he's always worth the price of admission. This was set in 15-something (you talked thru the announcement) Scottish Highlands.
Highlander the Series. Raven which was a spin off of the first series and Highlander the cartoon. The TV series is worth a watch especially the Roger Daultry episodes. He made a good immortal.
Yes, I loved Fitz.🥰"I know I am beautyful to behold. .."😅 I thought that it would be great if they would bring him back in flashback episodes and then they did exactly that. "The Stone of Scone" must be my favorite episode ( but I haven't seen all.)
I love this movie... despite its flaws... it is a movie that almost shouldn't work, but it does. I also have huge nostalgia for it, since I saw it back when it was new and I was just a kid. The Queen soundtrack is great too... I had to buy it, of course. ;-) Oh... and as many people have already pointed out, completely ignore all sequels... seeing Highlander 2 in the theater is seriously the only time I can remember walking out of the theater genuinely mad.
One thing to note is that, either the director or the cinematographer, had only done music videos before, and this was their first movie, which explains some of the choices with the cinematography, as well as sets they used. The aerial panning shots, and the crumbling keep set are straight out of an MV of the time.
I learned this from a Movie Class. We watched old Black and White films and was dull as hell. One day the teacher states we are going to Watch the Highlander, I'm like WHAT. I raise my hand "The Highlander- There can be only one Movie THAT HIGHLANDER?" Yes he says. "Wait. SEAN CONNERY< CHRISTOPHER LAMBERT?!?!? " Still unbelieving this. YES AGAIN from him smiling the class is like WTF!?!? I ask to bring popcorn and drinks. GOD loved that class
The director was Russell Mulcahy, who was an extremely significant music video director at the dawn of MTV. Just the list of music artists he worked with is incredible. His first full-length film was Razorback (1984), a low budget horror flick that didn't have great script or acting, but was visually impressive. Fun fact; after Razorback, Mulcahy wanted to make a film of William Burroughs' surrealistic novel The Wild Boys, but the closest he got was directing the Duran Duran video for their song of the same name. Acts that Mulcahy worked with: Duran Duran, INXS, AC/DC, The Buggles ("Video killed the radio star"), Culture Club, Elton John, The Human League, Paul McCartney, The Stranglers, Ultravox (including "Vienna"), Rod Stewart, Kim Carnes ("Bette Davis Eyes"), Spandau Ballet, Fleetwood Mac, Billy Joel, Supertramp, Rolling Stones, Queen (of course), Def Leppard ("Pour some sugar on me"), The Vapors ("Turning Japanese"), XTC, plus a bunch of less famous names.
The novelisation is good at filling in some gaps, for example Fazir does the flips in the car lot so he can move at speed and look under each car for Conner as he goes. Conner's original girlfriend that turns on him and wants him burned slept with him on the eve of the battle and fears if she is pregnant by him she will have the devils seed, and so burning him will cleanse any child she might be carrying. Theres more backstory to him growing up in the clan and his cousin Dougal whose life he saves on a frozen loch, making his turning against him later feel much more like a betrayal. Connery's accent is explained away by the fact he adopts whatever accent of the land he is currently living in and he's been in Scotland trying to track down Conner for some years. If you are a fan of the film and can track it down its worth a read.
OK this is one of my all time favourite films, loved it since I was a kid. The one thing that has always bothered me was the decision to use the French guy as the Scottish character and the Scottish guy as the Egyptian. Looking at it now I would love to know what went on in that casting meeting.
FUN FACT: The Opening Monologue was Recorded While Sean Connery was in his bathroom. Connery was reading over the lines in his bathroom with a Recorder to go the lines.
If the guy without a beard would have just watch and listen to the film, he wouldn’t have been babbling constantly through important dialogue and details.
Just a suggestion. Give Excalibur a try. I think you guys will love it. It has early appearances from the likes of Patrick Stewart, Helen Mirren and Liam Neeson. It's the best film about the Arthurian legend ever made. Also definitely not PG.
Christopher Lambert who plays Connor MacLeod could barely speak a word of English when he made this film. He also wore glasses and was practically blind without them. They gave him contact lenses at first but he had some sort of allergic reaction to them. So he had to do all the sword fighting scenes almost completely blind, learning all the moves off by memory.
This movie is comprised of: A Frenchman playing a Scot, a Scot playing an ancient Egyptian pretending to be a Spaniard, and an American playing a Eurasian barbarian who became a punk rocker. Highlander proves that if the description of a movie sounds like insane nonsense, it might just be awesome.
The Frenchman also didn't speak a word of english and learned his lines phonetically.
The Kurgan is one of the best villains ever caught on film!
The pure joy he gets from being evil is so much fun.
Mr Krabby's best performance.
Didn’t Clancy Brown get payed almost nothing for it too?
It's a real Mad Max vibe.
Oddly enough, Brown didn't like playing him. The original script changed A LOT from Greg Widen's final draft to the shooting script. The producers wanted The Kurgan more like Freddy Kruger and Brown constantly griped about the characterization he was being made to play. he was supposed to be extremely world-weary and dour and lived only to get The Prize by specifically killing McLeod.
Clancy Brown is absolutely fantastic, like everything else he is in
Yeah and to think he wasn't paid shit for this movie. At least according to what he said in a interview.
Including Mr. Crabs on Spongebob Squarepants. I've loved Clancy since Buckaroo Banzai.
@@edyc1989 He needed a start.
@@frankgesuele6298 he actually was great in a movie called Bad Boys in 1983 Starring Sean Penn before this movie.
Sean Connery playing an Egyptian who dresses like a Spaniard and wields a katana is amazing.
Connery never tried any accent but his own.
He’s the original Robert Downey Jr from tropic thunder.
A dude playing a dude, disguised as another dude!
Just found out that Scotland is of 70 percent of Spanish Celt ancestry & England 60 percent, so I guess Sean Connery can play a Spanish 😅 ruclips.net/video/JSYR2S6V31Y/видео.html
I think you're a bit mistaken, when it comes to Connor being kicked out of his village. He's neither their leader, nor is he a great warrior of any kind. He got killed early in his first battle and rose from the dead, giving no explanation as to how. Sure, they could've viewed that as a miracle, but an undead guy could easily also be interpreted as some sort of necromancy or witchcraft.
Yesss! I'm so glad you explained this so well. He's just an 18 years old lad in what is probably his first battle ever. Also the year is clearly mentioned, 1536 (he was born in 1518), sometimes reactors can't resist babbling over important parts of the dialogue.
@@uraniaininverno995 Well clearly Connor McGregor is from Northampton and not Devonshire, so he had to go. I neither saw nor perceived any of this "babble" you speak of, as both Terry and Steve wouldn't do that.
The clown that had not seen the film was an amazing babbling Imbecile.
@@TheCaptainSlappy That's exactly what the obnoxious one did though
@@nenabunena Dave would never do that.
The greatest tragedy of the Highlander franchise is not the horrible sequel to this film. It's the fact that we never see Conor Macleod ever use the Quikening ability he gets off killing the first dude to flip his way out of trouble. Not once.
Watch the show. It’s free on RUclips and it holds up well. I’m actually going through the series right now. On S4
The 80s were filled with movies that explained very little. They just were and that was enough I guess. I find there are a lot of James Bond fans who want that. They don’t want a back story or a human Bond. They want a British Die Hard in a tuxedo chasing women.
@@codybishop7526 Oh trust me Cody. I've watched the show. Many times. 😊
@@christhornycroft3686 British die hard in a tuxedo, chasing women?
Now that's my kinda movie.
Top banana!😂
@@codybishop7526 The Series takes place around the time of the 4th movie Highlander Endgame, Highlander The Source is the 6th movie and takes place close to the end of the Highlander series
When I watched this movie for the first time, I didn't know that Queen scored this entire film. That when I found my favorite Queen song, Who Wants to Live Forever.
The Queen album, A Kind of Magic, is basically the soundtrack to this film.
Queen didn't score the entire film ! They created songs for the modern parts. Michael Kamen did the score, including some of the themes composed by Queen in some of his own cues for continuity.
@@yanndick Michael Kamen also wrote a great score for the under-rated Terry Gilliam film The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.
Kamen also scored Die Hard.
@@AutoPilate Kamen composed a lot of great scores. Too bad he passed away so young because of such a sh*tty disease they can't cure so far.
I can't believe the guys never mentioned the Queen songs in the soundtrack! It's worth checking out the music video for their epicly epic song Princes Of The Universe.
They’re young Brit’s..so..dumb.
Oh Highlander........a true classic! One of my favourite movies of all time when I was a young lad. Great cast with the late great Sean Connery, the always awesome Clancy Brown a.k.a. Mr. Krabs, beautiful cinematography, great locations & one badass soundtrack from the legendary rock band Queen.
Lex Luthor
The MUSIC - QUEEN rules!
Best movie sountrack. Period.
I think Lambert did a really god job. He didnt even speak a word of English when he got this gig.
It's amazing that Shaun guessed the story of Highlander 2's theatrical cut.
Total classic. An amazing movie. Yet another fine example of how it's often best to leave things alone, and not make a sequel.
When a movie intended to be closed ended and standalone develops a following and people see dollar signs.
Did you ever watch the tv series?
@@sivonni I did. As a Canadian, productions like that back then ( Stargate, X-Files, etc...) were difficult to avoid. And i have to say, yes, the TV series was definitely good, expanding on the world of the first movie. I simply meant they shouldn't have made sequel movies...
Me and my grandad watched this for the first time together in early 90’s , I was around 9.
The scene where it cuts to Scotland from the car park my grandad thought he had sat on the remote and turned the channel over, he scrambled for it saying “ Jesus Christ “ fun times.
The music for Highlander was composed by the late Michael Kamen, who also composed the music for the Lethal Weapon and Die Hard movies.
This is still one of my all time favourites. Ignore the very dodgy spfx, Highlander is a stone cold classic, with arguably the greatest soundtrack ever. Our beloved Freddie singing "Who wants to live forever" is just heartbreaking. But NEVER watch the sequels. There really should have been only one!
I saw the tv series first and thoroughly enjoyed it. Didn't really care for the movies.
The Second movie is the only one that should not have been made as they are not Immortal and are all Aliens but by Movie 3 everything that happened in the 2nd movie has never happened and they are Immortal again
I still get emotional whenever I hear that, such a good sequence.
@@glenmartin7978 no spoilers!
Who Wants to Live Forever, is my favorite song... I have even told family and friends I want it to be played at my funeral. Seemed fitting. LoL
I may be one of the few people in your comments that saw Highlander on opening weekend. I went because of the trailer and the Queen soundtrack, loved it for many more reasons.
In the "Highlander" universe there is the following: 5 films (with a remake spoken of, but never made), the animated movie, 3 different tv series, the web series, 9 novels, 2 non-fiction books, a comic book series, 5 audio books, 3 different video games, and a collectable card game set.
Why ignore what makes this movie truly immortal? QUEEN!
Yeah, i was thinking that aswell.
The music is totally out if this world in this movie
Honestly, the Highlander franchise is at its best in the TV series, which was super 90s and added tons of character depth to the lead (Connor McLeod's cousin Duncan). I loved it. The original film is highly enjoyable and entertaining, and Clancy Brown's Kurgan is a fantastic villain. The film sequels, even the ones that tie into the TV show are pretty terrible, but if you love the franchise, they're still entertaining enough. I'll be forever disappointed we didn't get the Methos Chronicles (character from the TV series).
Fun fact - Christopher Lambert knew no English (he's French) at the time, learned his lines phonetically and tried for a Scottish accent.
I do appreciate you guys, I do think Tom has more of an adventurous side, this is one of my all time favourites, being Scottish myself, also a great soundtrack by Queen!
That Queen song... iconic.
This and the Highlander TV show are mint
Also, Conner being exiled from the clan’s village is due to him dying and coming back to life. The clan would view that as necromancy, a pact with the devil.
Aye as said in the film. Kate (I think?) declares to the tavern 'he's in league with Lucifer', underlining by the follow up "I'll say it. You've the Devil in you."
That'd be enough for em.
YES!!!
THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!
The script came from UCLA film student Gregory Widen. He was in vacation in Scotland in 1981, he was in a museum of sorts and saw a beautifully restored suit of armor and asked "What if the guy who wore this suit was alive right now? What if you owned all of this and that you're telling your life story?"
The original script was more darker and violent than the movie:
Connor McLeod was born in 1408 rather than 1518.
Aftr Connor learns he is immortal he decides to leave, never to return.
Sanchez is actually a Spaniard rather than an Egyptian and trains Connor for 3 years, teaching him how to be swordsman.
The Kurgan goes under the alias Carl William Smith,but rather than a savage warrior, he was a cold blooded killer.
Immortals do have children and in one scene, Connor attends the funeral for one of his sons while his other sons, all in their late 40's early 50's see him as an immortal.
Connor goes under the name Richard Turpin.
After Connor kills the Kurgan, it's left ambiguous as we don't know if he's still immortal or not, and there is no mention of The Prize in the script.
as I was fond of saying to my friends with a certain name: "There can be only Juan!"
@@kingscorpion7346 It's like how Mexican jokes and Black jokes are alike: Once you've heard Juan, you've heard Jamal.
What's really amazing is that Christopher Lambert did this movie basically blind. Lambert has profound myopia and cannot see without his glasses. He cannot wear contact lenses and often had to perform while virtually blind, which has led to injuries while performing his own stunts.
He did all of that fight choreography while effectively blind.
You have a Frenchman playing a Scot and a Scot playing an Egyptian. Lol.
Music for this film was done by Queen btw.
Highlander is such a weird movie with so many flaws but it's still such an 80's classic. Sword fighting, leather action heroes, sci fi elements, big hair, Queen doing the soundtrack. Just a trip.
What flaws?
I’m going through the TV show, it’s free on RUclips. It’s actually pretty darn good. It expands on the lore and I love the handoff in ep 1 from the movies character to the tvs protagonist.
My disappointment when they don't show the part where the little girl says "You're still alive, why didn't you die?" and he replied "Hey, it's a sort of magic."
"It's a KIND of magic". 🙂
@@yanndick Sorry.
A Kind of Magic
Tom: He isn't a viking
Shaun: What is he then?
Tom: He is a Highlander.
Shaun:🤔🤨( I think you are pulling my leg.)
Ever since I learned that Clancy Brown voices Mr Krabbs in SpongeBob, any time I watch Highlander I crack myself up imagining the Kurgan randomly going "money money money money!"
I LOVED this movie when I was a pre-teen and teen. I don't know why. It's so clunky, but the story itself is just so imaginative and fun.
This movie is one of my favorites, period. I didn't care very much for any of the sequels, or even the TV show. This one movie was originally made to be "one and done", and it didn't even fare that well during its original box-office release. The VHS version is what made it so popular.
"I have to go, my planet needs me."
"My planet...Zorb."
Zeist, actually. But we don't talk about that.
Ricky Bobby: Wow. I feel like I’m Highlander!
Jean Girard: What is the Highlander?
Ricky Bobby: It’s a movie. It won the Academy Award.
Jean Girard: Oh for what?
Ricky Bobby: Best movie ever made
Loves Cinema Rules ❤. These fellas keep it 100%. Shaun and Tom, keep delivering the best RUclips content.
Christopher Lambert barely knew English when he filmed Highlander.
The Prize is basically what the immortal wants it to be... you can be a god or a mortal.
Great reaction to one of my favourite movies, and Shaun's criticisms and rating are completely understandable and pretty fair. It's interesting how there's quite a few salty comments that you were having fun throughout the reaction, but for me that's the point. It's such a fun and campy movie, that the moment it starts getting overanalysed, the fun is gone!
Got to recommend "Excalibur" as a Great movie for you, as another commenter on here did. Brilliant King Arthur movie!
11:17
Connor - "I'll not forget you Angus!"
Angus- "i''ll see you 9 years from now...in Braveheart!
This was a joy to watch. I lost it at she should have said eeeee XD
The number of face palms in this is epic.... Have you ever seen Lambert in Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan?
Another good one with Lambert is movie Called " Fortress "
16:40 I’m glad you are watching the Director’s Cut. The “master race” comment is silly, but establishing the relationship with his ward is important.
Why is it silly? Is he making fun of your Nazi friends?
Let me say this ---- in 1986, this shit was AMAZEBALLS. You boys have seen so much, and so much better FX and swordplay, that this film seems dated and "music video"-ish. Christopher Lambert was playing him like a trope hero of the time, a stoic man of mystery and smoldering intensity. Hahaha. Movies don't do that anymore because it's cheesy. But in 1986, this played very well and Lambert was a rock star, coming off, "Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes" (1984).
Lovvveee this movie, Best Score of all time, not just Queen , Michael Kamen too, the Celtic Music in Scotland gives me goosebumps like no other film I've ever seen.
Aw, dudes! This was the jam right next to the TV show with Duncan MacLeod!
back in the VHS days you couldn't see the wires at the end of the film. Its due to the HD restoration that you can now see the wires.
Great fun review of this classic movie.
Can we also have an honourable mention for the soundtrack ... I assume hiring Queen was where all their money went 😆
Connery was always very particular about his film contracts - what he was going to be paid and how much time he was going to be available. The budget only extended to him being in the film for a certain amount of shooting days, hence why he is in it only for a certain section. Of course, the financing of the film was predicated on getting a 'name', which is why he was hired as well.
Clancy Brown, the Kurgan, didn't even get paid, but he jumped at the chance to work with Connery.
I love the fact that Sean accidently just gave us the plot of Highlander 2 and how it totally unwrites all the lore given in the first movie. He wasn't even far off the name of the planet. Haha.
Clancy Brown who played the Kurgan tells the story of how this movie even got made. It's a great story. You should watch the interview he gives about it. Puts a lot of things in perspective.
Didn't like their reaction at 18:06. :(
I thought it was beautiful how he still stayed with her even when she had turned into an old woman, and told her, when she wondered why he stayed, that he did it because he still loved her as much as when they met.
10:17 ... we later learn Connor was born in 1518, so if he's about 25 or so at that time then it's roughly 1543. I never really noticed until I re-watched this a few weeks ago, but the castle seen in the distance (at 11:23 in this clip) is the same one ThePianoGuys used for their rendition of Rachel Platten's "This Is Our Fight Song" ... and the funny thing is that the people you see at the castle in the distance were actually TOURISTS visiting the site
Guess if you'd listened when you made reference to the holy hand grenade you'd have worked out the earliest part of the movie was 1536 as stated by the man with the banner.
The soundtrack for this movie was Queen’s “It’s a Kind of Magic” album. The only song not used in this was “One Vision” that was used as the theme song for the movie “Iron Eagle.” Queen’s fee for songs written specifically for this movie? For the studio to cover making the video for “Princes of the Universe” and be directed by the director of the movie. Connor was killed in Scotland is 1536. So right in the middle of the “Renaissance” period.
Silly Tom and Sean. The Highlander was a documentary and the events depicted happen in real time.
True that. 😁
Christopher Lambert is pretty competent when he's acting in french. Luc Besson directed a film called Subway (or Metro in french) with Lambert as the lead, and it's a fun and weird heist movie, and was the role that got him noticed by Hollywood for this film.
Some of Michael PS Hayes's best work!
"What if you were immortal?" There's a Twilight Zone episode where a guy becomes immortal (sells his soul), commits murder for kicks, and gets sentenced to prison. For life.
There is plenty of historical context for people seeing anything "unnatural" as being of the devil or looking to blame people as evil when things cannot be sufficiently explained for the time.
Love this film. I've lost count how many times I've seen this movie in part or in whole. As always: finish Carpenter's Apocalypse Trilogy: 2) Prince of Darkness and 3) In the Mouth of Madness
Seconded
KNBs effects and the awesome direction really makes I.T.M.O.M. awesome af.
"I have to go now, my planet needs me. Planet Zorg" Closer to the sequel then you realise...
A Scottish immortal played by a New York born French actor trained by an Egyptian by way of Spain played by a Scotsman fighting a Russian immortal played by an American. Yeah, that checks out. If the sword fights look pretty basic, it’s because Christopher Lambert had an eye condition that rendered him almost completely blind without glasses and he couldn’t wear contacts. So he was literally sword fighting blind. Wild. I love how they at one point in the present joke about Lambert’s French accent. He does a passable Scottish accent, but after that, he just gives up and he sounds like a guy from Paris. But his whole look and speech does make him stand out from other movie heroes. He’s got a darkness to him that you didn’t see a lot of in the 80s. The cinematography is nuts.
Also don't forget that the music really lifts the film.
love this film , great soundtrack
Love the series. Methos is the greatest character. He's the oldest immortal and hiding out from the watchers who are looking for him, by pretending to be a watcher, looking for himself.
The Queen Soundtrack is Pure Fire!
With regard to the squeals. I think the original movies says it best, "There can be only one."
Russell Mulcahy started off as a music video director. Which explains a lot of the quick cuts. Also, Christopher Lambert is French so his accent is 'odd' as a Scot. They explain it away when he says he's lived 'lots of places'. When an immortal kills another immortal, the Quickening imbues them with the life force and (supposidely) memories of the one who died.
The Highlander TV show went more in-depth into the lore of the immortals. It was pretty good!
The Kurgan might be one of my favorite "magnificent bastard" shitheels! Menacing and over-the-top at the same time. There's just something special about a bad guy with no redeeming qualities other than a twisted sense of humor. Clancy Brown knocked it out of the park in this breakthrough role.
LOVE watching you two react to literally anything - even if I haven't seen it!! I know you're doing nostalgia right now BUT when you get back to horror - the 90's film Brainscan is worth a watch! It has the kid from Terminator in it.
Just to remind you lot, The Kurgen is also the voice of Mr Krabs
And the guard in Shawshank Redemption.
Lex Luthor
Ok, this is a good one off movie, so glad there weren't any sequels, DON'T LOOK IT UP JUST TRUST ME!
There can be only one!
The Kurgan was just so good at being evil, he's always worth the price of admission. This was set in 15-something (you talked thru the announcement) Scottish Highlands.
Highlander the Series. Raven which was a spin off of the first series and Highlander the cartoon. The TV series is worth a watch especially the Roger Daultry episodes. He made a good immortal.
Yes, I loved Fitz.🥰"I know I am beautyful to behold. .."😅 I thought that it would be great if they would bring him back in flashback episodes and then they did exactly that. "The Stone of Scone" must be my favorite episode ( but I haven't seen all.)
How the crap did I miss this upload? Not fair. I love this one.
"Time on the tape, 10 minutes" LOL - We had cassettes that could record up to 120 min.
The thing is..... You watch it and then you get it. You know, instead of just talking all the way through it
The highlander 90s show is hands down my favorite of all the highlander material.
I love this movie... despite its flaws... it is a movie that almost shouldn't work, but it does. I also have huge nostalgia for it, since I saw it back when it was new and I was just a kid. The Queen soundtrack is great too... I had to buy it, of course. ;-) Oh... and as many people have already pointed out, completely ignore all sequels... seeing Highlander 2 in the theater is seriously the only time I can remember walking out of the theater genuinely mad.
17:45 "1200"??? Are you kidding? Just take a look at Sean Connery's costume!
It screams "16th century".
One thing to note is that, either the director or the cinematographer, had only done music videos before, and this was their first movie, which explains some of the choices with the cinematography, as well as sets they used. The aerial panning shots, and the crumbling keep set are straight out of an MV of the time.
I learned this from a Movie Class. We watched old Black and White films and was dull as hell. One day the teacher states we are going to Watch the Highlander, I'm like WHAT. I raise my hand "The Highlander- There can be only one Movie THAT HIGHLANDER?" Yes he says. "Wait. SEAN CONNERY< CHRISTOPHER LAMBERT?!?!? " Still unbelieving this. YES AGAIN from him smiling the class is like WTF!?!? I ask to bring popcorn and drinks. GOD loved that class
Russel Mulcahy's first film was Razorback in 1984.
The director was Russell Mulcahy, who was an extremely significant music video director at the dawn of MTV. Just the list of music artists he worked with is incredible. His first full-length film was Razorback (1984), a low budget horror flick that didn't have great script or acting, but was visually impressive. Fun fact; after Razorback, Mulcahy wanted to make a film of William Burroughs' surrealistic novel The Wild Boys, but the closest he got was directing the Duran Duran video for their song of the same name.
Acts that Mulcahy worked with: Duran Duran, INXS, AC/DC, The Buggles ("Video killed the radio star"), Culture Club, Elton John, The Human League, Paul McCartney, The Stranglers, Ultravox (including "Vienna"), Rod Stewart, Kim Carnes ("Bette Davis Eyes"), Spandau Ballet, Fleetwood Mac, Billy Joel, Supertramp, Rolling Stones, Queen (of course), Def Leppard ("Pour some sugar on me"), The Vapors ("Turning Japanese"), XTC, plus a bunch of less famous names.
The novelisation is good at filling in some gaps, for example Fazir does the flips in the car lot so he can move at speed and look under each car for Conner as he goes. Conner's original girlfriend that turns on him and wants him burned slept with him on the eve of the battle and fears if she is pregnant by him she will have the devils seed, and so burning him will cleanse any child she might be carrying. Theres more backstory to him growing up in the clan and his cousin Dougal whose life he saves on a frozen loch, making his turning against him later feel much more like a betrayal. Connery's accent is explained away by the fact he adopts whatever accent of the land he is currently living in and he's been in Scotland trying to track down Conner for some years. If you are a fan of the film and can track it down its worth a read.
I didn't realize how much of this movie I remembered until I watched this reaction LOL oooh what a time the 80s were!
OK this is one of my all time favourite films, loved it since I was a kid. The one thing that has always bothered me was the decision to use the French guy as the Scottish character and the Scottish guy as the Egyptian. Looking at it now I would love to know what went on in that casting meeting.
14:40 - I lived in Northampton for a time. Is the 'Daventry' you mention the one associated with Northants?
FUN FACT: The Opening Monologue was Recorded While Sean Connery was in his bathroom. Connery was reading over the lines in his bathroom with a Recorder to go the lines.
There are only 4 amazing Christopher Lambert movies and they are „Highlander“ „Fortress“ „Knight Moves“ and „Mean Guns“ all absolute fantastic
If the guy without a beard would have just watch and listen to the film, he wouldn’t have been babbling constantly through important dialogue and details.
There were multiple directors on this that didnt share a vision, the disjointed feeling isnt just a feeling.
I watched this film so much as a kid and used to wander about less than 10 years old loudly quoting obscene stuff the Kurgan said.
For me it's a 10/10. My childhood favorite.
AMAZING SOUNDTRACK, GOT TO LOVE QUEEN
The wrestlers in the beginning were the fabulous Freebirds
Lambert’s intense gaze is largely due to his severe myopia, but I feel that it works for a character who’s lived as long as MacLeod has.
Just a suggestion. Give Excalibur a try. I think you guys will love it. It has early appearances from the likes of Patrick Stewart, Helen Mirren and Liam Neeson. It's the best film about the Arthurian legend ever made. Also definitely not PG.
True. No other King Arthur movie comes close.
Fantastic fantasy film, great cast and the best Merlin of all time.
Christopher Lambert who plays Connor MacLeod could barely speak a word of English when he made this film. He also wore glasses and was practically blind without them. They gave him contact lenses at first but he had some sort of allergic reaction to them. So he had to do all the sword fighting scenes almost completely blind, learning all the moves off by memory.
There can only be one!!
Ahhh....nostalgia
2:54 - fun factoid, the wrestler is a actually a young Peter Kay.
And don't forget it gave us that amazing Queen song.
5:44 I strongly recommend reacting to *The Duellists (1977)*
That is a great film that looks soo beautyful.
Lambert did pretty well for someone who didn’t speak English at all when this was filmed. He’s a French actor playing a Scottish character.
Christopher Lambert is a French dude playing a Scottish dude getting taught by a Spanish dude played by a Scottish dude.
I love shaun just guessing what happens bc he's so lost on wtf is happening
It was like that scene of Homer Simpson constantly asking questions about what's happening in a movie.