Loved this movie, saw it in theatres when it released. There was a Canadian TV series based on the movie also called Highlander, Duncan Macleod (Adrian Paul), an immortal also. 6 Seasons, 119 episodes 92-97. Was so good, delving deeper into the lore. Also a spin-off series called Highlander - The Raven, a 1,200 yo immortal thief Amanda Darieus (Elizabeth Gracen) who joins forces with retired security specialist Nick Wolfe (Paul Johansson) to dispose of crooked immortals
NEVER watch the sequels or TV show. There can be only one. The Kurgan is on my list of best villains with Khan, Hans Kruger and Zorg. I was impressed that you got through Heather’s aging montage to that beautiful song without needing tissues. I’d love to see you watch “The Adventure of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension.” I know you’d like it.
“There can be only one!” Still one of the most iconic lines ever. Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery were brilliant in this, plus the music by Queen was the cherry on top.
AND the cinematography. The movie - nonsense story and all - was pure lightning in a bottle. All the more interesting that the TV show managed to recreate so much of the charm of this for such a lot of episodes. Damn, did we ever have a great time, entertainment-wise, in the 80s and 90s!
There is also a great Highlander TV series that follows another Immortal that is like Connor’s brother, Duncan who is from the same clan he is from. It does a great job expanding the world of Immortals. It lasted for 6 seasons.
@@cruelangel8689 Sason 1 has too many Villain-of-the-week episodes. The series really picks up once you get to the mythology arcs like the Watchers or Four Horsemen.
The side characters were the best thing about the series. Immortal characters who were supposed to only be seen in one episode became recurring characters and fan favorites because of their intriguing back stories. Methos, Fitzcairn, Amanda, Darius, Cassandra and many more. Heck even the villains were so interesting some became recurring characters too. Kalas, Xavier St. Cloud and Kronos to name a few.
Beyond the amazing Queen soundtrack (which makes it sort of a rock opera to me), I unabashedly love how weird Highlander is. Sean Connery plays an Egyptian with a Spanish name, a Japanese sword and a Scottish accent 🤣🤣🤣 and Christopher Lambert's muddled accent is strangely perfect for a man who has lived for centuries all over Europe and America 😅 Throw in Clancy Brown being just the creepiest and Highlander is a gem of the 80s. For another all Queen soundtrack - Flash Gordon (with Timothy Dalton 😉) For more of Lambert with a katana - The Hunted 1995
Christopher Lambert (Connor McLeod) is legally blind as he suffers from a severe eye condition. If the role doesn't allow for his rx glasses, he had to act and perform stunts pretty much blind. If you notice the swords not really connectong or seeming slighlty off that's why. Hes bern injured several times on sets over the years..like stepping off a raised platform because he didn't see the edge. Got to give him credit for perseverance under such conditions..... and a distinctive laugh.😊
The last time I saw him in French tv, he was in couple with the iconic Sophie Marceau. I don't know what he do now. I know he was one of the very first to invest in sous vide cooking and offer dishes to restaurants. He made a lot of money from it. He might not see very well, but he could see far anyway. 😊
The movie insurance company had kittens when the producers said they were going to have lambert poor eyesight swing a sword anywhere near the expensive to insure mega star Sean Connor.
He also played an Imperial officer in the Death Star prison block where Leia was held. He gets shot down pretty quickly when Luke and Han show up. IIRC on top of playing Fasil he was also the stunt coordinator for this movie. I like to call him "Flippy McCoolshades" ;-)
The idea of the movie came from a suit of armor, as Screenwriter Gregory Widen, attending UCLA, was on vacation in Scotland and stopped by a museum of sorts and saw a beautifully restored suit of armor and thought "What if the guy who wore this suit was alive right now and what if he owned all these weapons and each had a story to tell?" The original script was called Shadow Clan, then The Dark Knight, and finally Highlander.
Didn't he wonder what it would be like if he had lived through to the present and at some point went on a tour of his own former property or something like it?
Can't think of a worse thing to do to someone than to make them live forever, or "know everything," ...if we couldn't be able to grow past what we experience, then by far that's a nightmare to condemn someone to. "Who wants to live forever" indeed. The love and hope of a child, and the imperative and nature of self... and ultimately the choice and free will of us all. Here we are.
@@brandonflorida1092 After twenty five years of chronic illness where the people I love the most have had to take care of me? Would be a lie to say I've not danced with that a long while. But the hope is that if we're not selfish, we use the worst of what we go through to help ourselves and help everyone around us as well. That was what I meant as an implied opposite to "I can't think of something worse to do to someone than...." Dying's easy. Giving us time to think about who and what we are, and then time to live that out? *shrugs* I want to live in a world where everyone around me has the same choice I was afforded. Then I'd like to live in a way where I can help others survive. Die? I'd love to. But now? No, not yet.
Re: The gorgeous aerial shot of the wrestling match in the opening scene ("Is this a drone?"). It predated drone photography in films by decades, so it was a hell of a lot trickier to pull off. The camera was suspended on wires to achieve those shots, and that "Skycam" system would eventually help revolutionise the way live sporting events are filmed. The photography in this movie (shoutout to cinematographer Gerry Fisher) really is breathtaking, particularly the sweeping Louma crane shots in the final swordfight, which look like fast, elegant dolly shots but were actually a happy accident achieved by booting the arm of the crane (!), resulting in it spinning out gracefully across the floor of the soundstage.
Funny you talking about the apartment being so cool, that's what I thought as well and wanted since I watched this movie as a kid. :)) The series with Duncan Macleod (Adrian Paul) was one of my favorite series growing up.
The writer, Gregory Widen, also wrote The Prophecy, starring Christopher Walken as the Archangel Gabriel turning evil. It's Walken at his most Walken ever,
@@JS-wp4gs That probably broke his heart in ways we non-Scots will never understand. The closest I’ll ever come is if someone tells me they don’t like Old Bay. 😅
An Egyptian who spent at least one lifetime in Japan, and is currently serving in the Spanish Royal Court. Kind of freaky that he sounds just like a Lithuanian captaining a Russian Submarine.
This movie has one of my all-time favorite low-key background scenes: when the detectives are getting lunch from the hot-dog vendor, the vendor is trolling them while reading news coverage about their investigation. "What does 'baffled' mean?" and "What does 'incompetent' mean?" Great character moment.
Fun fact, they aren't immortal until they die the first time. Then the resurrect and become immortal, but only certain people are immortals, not everyone.
I believe they also have to die violently for their immortality to "activate." So, if you had the ability to become immortal but die of illness or natural causes, you would not resurrect as an immortal.
@@countofdownable--- The saddest, would be children who are immortal.. Imagine being 10 years old FOREVER.. Not having the strength or ability to fight or defend yourself... I think the series had an immortal who was mentally handicapped...
Love this film. Christopher Lambert is a native French speaker who only really learned English after being cast in the lead role of Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes. I believe he also has terrible eyesight, needing glasses to properly see and finds contacts painful to wear, so he’s normally acting half blind.
And raised in Sweden, which gives him the odd french/Swedish mix accent. Which is part of the reason he got the part. An immortal would pick up a mix of accents over time.
Clancy Brown as The Kurgan is awesome. One of the greatest movie villains of all time. Such huge screen presence. So intimidating, scary and darkly charismatic. One of THE great bad guy performances.
The original US theatrical release didn't show how Connor and Rachel met. I liked the inclusion because it make his farewell line to her "Hey, it's a kind of magic" more meaningful. Also the little child Rachel was adorable.
@@deathtoraiden2080 The WW2 scene was put back into the VHS release, and I think it was always included in the foreign theatrical releases. It's almost as if they realized cutting it out was a mistake but didn't have time to redo the domestic theatrical version before its US release date.
I also love the idea that the Nazis were so horrific that this immortal of good conscience put his ancient quest on hold to play a part in stopping them. It says a lot about The Highlanders character.
@@waterbeauty85 Think I'd rather not, haha. Such a great villain brought to life by Clancy Brown - the Kurgan draws a visceral reaction like few others.
One of the big reasons for the success of this film was the inclusion of Queen. Coming off of their memorable performance at Live Aid in July of 1985, the band was eager to work on new music; but were reluctant at first about contributing music for a film. They had a bad experience when recording the music for Flash Gordon(1980). The director wanted Queen because they were known for music of an “anthem quality”. He put together a 20-minute rough cut of the film and showed it to Queen. The band said that not only would they write the title track “Princes of the Universe”, but they would write nine tracks for the film. Some of these tracks were “A Kind of Magic”, “One Year of Love”, “Who Wants to Live Forever”, “Don’t Lose Your Head”, and “Gimme The Prize (Kurgan’s Theme)”. During the recording of songs for Highlander, they also wrote the song “One Vision” for the film Iron Eagle (1986). All of the music they recorded was released on their album A Kind of Magic(1986). Queen would embark on a memorable European tour throughout that summer of 1986; even headlining the place where they stole the show at Live Aid; Wembley Stadium in London. The tour would be bittersweet; as that was the final tour Queen did with Freddie Mercury. A year later he was diagnosed with AIDS, and continued to make music with Queen up until the end. He died in November of 1991 at age 45.
Russell Nash/Connor MacLeod's apartment is to this date one if not THE coolest apartment I've ever seen in a film not counting castles, villas, & manors (though it does rival even most of those). I love this movie and I've seen it more times than I can remember, but of all things that apartment is one the things I loved the most; I'm curious to see your recreation of it in The Sims! :) Also funny note: you technically weren't wrong on the time traveler bit... In a way he is time traveling, it's just VERY slow and it goes only in one direction! 😂
People often forget that he was in there because he wasn't playing much of a character so he kinda melted into the background.. Also we didn't get to see much of him.
"Highlander" is both campy and fun. I love Clancy Brown's performance as the Kurgan. His cruelty and dark humor makes him one of my more favorite movie villains.
It was 15 years before i could hear queens princes of the universe without crying remembering my dad. He loved highlander and all these years later I was able to share it with my wife and enjoy it again. I'm sure you will enjoy this
During the scene with the Kurgan and the priest, Clancy Brown (Kurgan) was into his character so much he freaked out everyone on set. Spectacular performance from a very underated actor.
@@andrewstevenson6026 HIs resume is extensive and of high quality. IMDB has 329 actor entries, plus five upcoming projects. Few actors did more work than him.
It's the only good one and made retroactively better by the garbage sequels that came after. It and the TV series are the only live action Highlander things worth watching IMO.
French dude with a French accent playing a Scot and the most famous Scottish Actor playing a Spaniard while doing nothing about his accent. Gotta love this movie.
Dear Jen, best reaction to this movie I've ever seen here on youtube! Most reactors don't understand the story, are annoyed by the tricks and call the movie lame precisely because they didn't understand it. Of course, much more could have been made of the movie's story, the tricks are from the eighties and therefore don't fit in with today's movies, but back in the 80s it was a great movie with an interesting idea. Because there wasn't much fantasy/sci-fi back then. Sure, there was Star Trek and Star Wars, Flash Gordon, Conan, Krull and a few other good movies, but not much else worth mentioning. No comparison to other genres like thrillers, westerns or comedies and 80+% of fantasy movies were usually trash or for little kids (Sinbad, Aladdin and such stuff). So I'm glad you were able to enjoy the movie. 😊
The best part of Highlander is that they make a movie heavily tied to the Scottish Highlands, then they get Sean Connery, a Scotsman, to play an Egyptian character, and THEN they let him keep his Scottish accent for the character. I find this both hilarious and epic. This movie is an absolute classic.
I like to think that, since he was like 2400yrs old, he was born in Egypt, traveled the world, where he picked up other cultures to blend in, and liked the Spanish name he chose & went by it cause it sounded cooler, the accents he just picks up from living in the area so long. 🙂
In 1500s, when it takes place, if somebody was Spaniard it would command a lot of respect as Spain was like USA at this time, the top superpower in the world. Also in Scotland he may get even more respect as Spain was enemy of England and Scots were also fighting England. So actually it would be rather beneficial to pose as a Spaniard, not just that it was faraway land and they would have trouble to gather info on who you are but also you came from a powerful land which was the enemy of your enemy. So nobody in Scotland really would have reason to fuck with you, Scotland was too weak to defeat Spain but also Spain had no interest in Scotland and they were actually helping Scots in a way by being enemy of English so why sour the relations with Spain by killing or imprisoning high born Spanish guy? @@juggerhulk
As Ramirez briefly explained if the head comes off it's over for them hence the sword-fighting. A cult classic and Lambert's best roll I think but they should have kept it at one movie. The TV series was kinda ok though. It's crazy looking back on the eighties now it's like some foreign planet yet I lived there as a kid...
Russell Mulchay's camera work and transitions in this movie are still amazing. The guy was a sort -after music video director and this was very early in his movie career after "Razorback".
First this your channel! Never need to apologize for being unsure!! This movie 🍿🎥 is not the easiest to fallow at first. My vote, don't bother with ANY of the others!! Great Channel Jen!! Peace 🕊️☮️♾️😎
The scene where he finds Rachel could be viewed as just a fun little moment where we get to see Connor deliver a killer one-liner before blasting a Nazi, but as satisfying as that is in and of itself, it's more than that when you stop to think about it. Here we have this immortal being, alive for hundreds of years already, who could be completely unconcerned with the happenings of mortal man, but instead he puts on hold his ancient quest for the prize to help defeat an evil. That says a lot about The Highlander's character.
Find and read the original script online. There’s more lore, world building, several of the secondary characters like Rachel, Kastagir and the police sergeant are more important to the present day storyline , more things are explained (like Kurgan being the one who killed Osta Vasilek in NJ, and why some immortals are more powerful than others) as well as deleted scenes. One NYC deleted scene has Kurgan beheading an Asian immortal named Yung Dol Kim. It takes place after he and Connor are driven off by the helicopter. The overall story altogether is even stronger than the finished film. One important dialogue exchange explains why Kurgan and Ramirez knew each other on sight: Ramirez to Connor: I have fought the Kurgan three times. In Babylon, Greece, and China. The last time I was lucky to escape with my head.
arrr ya ready kids? ay, ay, captain. I can't heeear youuu. AY, AY, CAPTAIN! whoooooo lives in a pineapple under the sea? Spongebob Squarepants! I took his head and r8pt his woman before his blood was cold. AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!
And my favorite story about THAT is that he was certain he'd blown the audition because he couldn't bring himself to yell at the casting assistant who was reading opposite him.@@laudanum669
Brown voiced Lex Luthor as well. An episode had him switch bodies with the Flash which was voiced by Michael Rosenbaum. Who ironically played Lex Luthor in Smallville.
Somebody probably mentioned this, but the only official Highlander soundtrack to be released was the orchestra score. Queen released their songs as the album "A Kind of Magic", which also includes the song "One Vision", which was used in the movie "Iron Eagle", an 80s favorite of mine. I love the main title song, "Princes of the Universe". The full version is worth checking out. It was also used as the theme song for the Highlander tv series.
I love Clancy Brown (the Kurgen). The fact that he is also the voice of Lex Luthor in Superman cartoons and Mr. Krabs on SpongeBob makes it even better.
I saw this in the theater in 1986, and several times since. If you want to continue to enjoy this movie, one of the greatest epic fantasies ever made, ignore that anyone ever thought a sequel was a good idea. That said, the TV series that follows his cousin Duncan is an entertaining watch. Not as good, but entertaining. Follow the math. Connor McLeod was 18 when he first went into battle in 1536, so in 1986, he is 468 years old. With every Quickening, it gets stronger. With each of the Immortals, they absorb the energy of the one they have just defeated, as well as all the ones they have absorbed before that. That's why the final Quickening with the killing of the Kurgan is so incredibly strong. Over the centuries, he had killed many Immortals long before The Gathering.
The Kurgan is played by Clancy Brown. He was the head guard in The Shawshank Redemption and Sergeant Zim in Starship Troopers, as well as many other great roles.
I remember when I first saw it: 11 years old in 1987, lying sick on my parent's couch, watching this amazing movie on VCR. I have no idea how many times I have watched it since then.
One thing a lot of people miss is Connor's physical age. He tells Brenda he was born in 1518. The famous battle that he 'died' in was 1536. Connor should only be 18 years old, according to the script. Lambert was like 30 at the time.
It makes me smile to think of all the films where Sean Connery plays Englishmen, Russians etc with a Scottish accent, and the one film where his accent would fit in they make him Spanish! Love this film though.
When Scottish RUclipsr Dawn Marie saw "The Untouchables," she decided that Malone was actually Scottish, but because Americans kept confusing his Scottish accent for an Irish accent, he just gave up correcting them and let them believe he was Irish. Her mind works in unusual ways.
@@treetopjones737 My favourite moment was from Hunt For Red October when he was meant to be Russian. Someone asks if anyone speaks English and, in his familiar old accent, he says “I have a shmattering”😆
There was also a Highlander TV series that came out in the early 90's. It was a different actor, Adrian Paul, playing the Highlander, Duncan, who was Connor's cousin.
Hi Jen ,, do you want a fun film fact : Christopher Lambert since a child has had a severe case of myopia & Requires special glasses to allow him to see it also makes him unable to wear Contact lenses , this means most of the time while acting he`s almost blind so when doing the sword fight scenes in this and other films he cant see his opponents clearly so he has to learn every fight like a dance & carefully remember every move he makes , during the making of Highlander 2 he managed to chip actor Michael Ironside`s Tooth during a swordfight scene & in return Ironside unwittingley severed part of Lamberts Finger , when you think how many action films he done with out wearing his Glasses , its amazing he`s never got hurt more .....
Since everyone's jumping in with fun facts... The filming location for McLeod's village, named as Glenfinnan on the shores of Loch Shiel, is Eilean Donan Castle, about 30 miles north of the real village of Glenfinnan. When McLeod is thrown out of the boat by Ramirez, that is the real Loch Shiel, with Glenfinnan nearby. Also, the final shot isn't Scotland. It's Wales - the Sychnant Pass, near Conwy in North Wales. You can see Anglesey in the background.
There are no sequels -- there can be only one! 😁This is all all-time favourite -- great visuals & transitions, amazing music, the myopia-powered intensity of Lambert's gaze, Sean Connery and ...Clancy Brown's Kurgan, one of the greatest villains in cinema history! He was also a milder sort of villain in Spongebob, but very different 😅
Princes of the Universe was a song that was written just for this movie. Another Queen song that was written for this movie was Who Wants to live Forever. The Quickening is the energy life force of Immortals. When there is only one left that one immortal will carry the energy of all immortals.
I am so excited for this reaction. been looking forward to you watching this movie for a long time. It's one of my all-time favorites!!! I really hope you will be watching Conan the Barbarian soon.
Classic Movie. Top 10 or 15. Immortality and Swords..Jen, your always fun to watch movies with.. Funny, witty, pretty with beautiful hands.. . thanks for the reactions.. 😎
Freddie wasn’t diagnosed with HIV until 1987. Who Wants to Live Forever was written by Brian May in 1985. The songs lyrics are purely based on Highlander and the burden of immortality.
Great reaction! You may want to check out Christopher Lambert in "Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes" (1984). It's probably his best role.
As cheesy and over-the-top as some scenes are, this movie is in my top 5 guilty pleasures of all time. The film was intended to be a one-off, and didn't do well in U.S. theaters. But once it appeared on home video and cable, it's popularity took off. Producers Peter Davis and Bill Panzer knew they needed to capitalize on the surge in popularity and so they made 3 theatrical sequels from 1991-2000, with each new plot being worse than the last. There were also 2 television series. Highlander: The Series (1992-1998) starring Adrian Paul, and Highlander: The Raven (1998-1999) starring Elizabeth Gracen. Both Davis and Panzer have since passed away, but an apparent reboot is still in the works after more than a decade in development.
To give ya a little perspective of how much in over his head Connor initially was, Kurgan was 2500 years old when he first tried for Connor's head and close to 3000 when battling him in the 1980s. Connor was a mere 450 years old when taking on that fight. At the time of his death, Ramírez was 2438 years old.
The best part about this film is the soundtrack. If particular note is the music from Queen because they were only asked for 1 song but after seeing some footage they made 6 and got an entire album out of it. A real case of lightning striking that created a genuine masterpiece.
So James Bond, Raiden from Mortal Kombat, and Mr. Krabs from SpongeBob SquarePants are all immortal? And the Lord commander of the night's watch was raiden from mortal kombat's cousin who saw him banished instead of burned.
Immortals can die at any time if they are beheaded. The part about the gathering was just saying that when only a few immortals are left (because the rest got beheaded), they will feel a pull to all come together in a single place so that they can fight until only one is left. It would be a little hard to do that if you had to hunt all over the world for the only other immortal left. DO NOT watch the other movies, they are terrible and will soil the memory of this one. Seriously, fans dubbed the second movie Highlander 2: The Sickening. Also "There should have been only one." was a popular saying. The third one isn't really any better, and the ones after that mix the worlds of the movies and th TV show to make a muddled mess. They were basically soulless cash grabs. DO however watch the TV show. It changes the mythology a little, but is a MUCH better follow up then any of the other films. I highly recommend it!
The making of the soundtrack is a movie in itself! Warner bros wanted multiple artists, queen wanted to di the whole thing as an Opera. Warne bros won, queen left Warner, formed their own label, and did the opera! The scene cuts, time jumps, camera work in this, is off the chains good!
27:56 The Quickening is the surviving immortal absorbing the life energy of the decapitated immortal. That energy imbues them with stronger powers of insight (which is what they use to detect other immortals, like how Ramirez knew Kurgen was coming), and can also increase their fighting skill, and some knowledge transfer happens as well. The reason "there can be only one" is that The Prize is being the sole remaining immortal, with all of the powers, knowledge, and skills of every other immortal being placed into one immortal. That's why the transfers get more and more powerful as the more immortals are defeated. It started with a little lightning storm in a parking garage, and at this point, buildings start to explode from the sheer amount of energy being transferred.
That part with Heather always gets me, especially now later in life... So sad. But at the same time, there's truth in "It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all"...
Every time I rewatch that scene on her deathbed, it makes the ending even more bittersweet. Connor can finally experience love and will one day reunion Heather up in heaven.
This is another fun movie with some cool action and great music. Super reaction Jen. The sequels are pretty good with a lot of information on the questions you asked. The TV series was pretty good too with a different main character who is related to Conner, plus Conner makes a few appearances.
There can be only one! Not a fan of the sequels, however the TV series was pretty great. I love this movie, one of my all time favorites! Great reaction Jen!
What do you think of the sequels?
1980's Playlist: ruclips.net/p/PLQHhQlj8i5drsQx2uSifPV3sKWZEJrnyx
i imagine many will say there are no sequels haha they are not great thats all i will say :)
If you enjoy this one then Highlander 3 The Sorcerer aka The Final Dimension is worth a watch. Highlander 2 should only be viewed to win a bet.
I don't know what to think of them, nor do I even know what to say about them...
You and me both 😂@@tomhoffman4330
The only Good one was, Endgame.The rest were BAAAAAAAD....
Everytime a musician dies, Keith Richards experiences the Quickening.
This makes a surprising amount of sense.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
🤣🤣🤣 goddammit, you got me on that one.
Nope what Keith experiences is the "Cocening"
@@Sho81 makes no sense in regards to what she was watching also you are just making up a word
One of the many hard things to catch is when Angus snuck him his MacLeod sword, so he had it with him when he was banished.
Loved this movie, saw it in theatres when it released. There was a Canadian TV series based on the movie also called Highlander, Duncan Macleod (Adrian Paul), an immortal also. 6 Seasons, 119 episodes 92-97. Was so good, delving deeper into the lore. Also a spin-off series called Highlander - The Raven, a 1,200 yo immortal thief Amanda Darieus (Elizabeth Gracen) who joins forces with retired security specialist Nick Wolfe (Paul Johansson) to dispose of crooked immortals
"What is this, magic?"
Yeah... its a kind of magic.
We are all time travellers, most of us only travel in one direction
This was made pre-drones, so the shots in the first scene were gotten by actually flying a full blown helicopter around inside a crowded stadium!
NEVER watch the sequels or TV show. There can be only one. The Kurgan is on my list of best villains with Khan, Hans Kruger and Zorg. I was impressed that you got through Heather’s aging montage to that beautiful song without needing tissues.
I’d love to see you watch “The Adventure of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension.” I know you’d like it.
every time Jen says “I don’t know if there’s magic in this” I think “it’s A Kind of Magic”
Exactly what I said.
“There can be only one!” Still one of the most iconic lines ever. Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery were brilliant in this, plus the music by Queen was the cherry on top.
There should have been only one 😉
The most epic Queen soundtrack is Flash Gordon, though.
AND the cinematography. The movie - nonsense story and all - was pure lightning in a bottle. All the more interesting that the TV show managed to recreate so much of the charm of this for such a lot of episodes. Damn, did we ever have a great time, entertainment-wise, in the 80s and 90s!
Yep! A Frenchman playing a Scotsman, and a Scotsman playing a Spaniard.
@@davesteller6301A Scotsman playing an Egyptian pretending to be a Spaniard.
There is also a great Highlander TV series that follows another Immortal that is like Connor’s brother, Duncan who is from the same clan he is from. It does a great job expanding the world of Immortals. It lasted for 6 seasons.
TheTV series was awesome - once we get past S1. Adrian Paul did an excellent job crafting Duncan McLeod
@@sergioaccioly5219 Agreed, just gotta plug through season 1. Then they really upped the fight choreography
@@cruelangel8689 Sason 1 has too many Villain-of-the-week episodes. The series really picks up once you get to the mythology arcs like the Watchers or Four Horsemen.
If i remember correctly, Conner was from what would have been Duncan's grandfather's time.🤓
The side characters were the best thing about the series. Immortal characters who were supposed to only be seen in one episode became recurring characters and fan favorites because of their intriguing back stories. Methos, Fitzcairn, Amanda, Darius, Cassandra and many more. Heck even the villains were so interesting some became recurring characters too. Kalas, Xavier St. Cloud and Kronos to name a few.
Beyond the amazing Queen soundtrack (which makes it sort of a rock opera to me), I unabashedly love how weird Highlander is. Sean Connery plays an Egyptian with a Spanish name, a Japanese sword and a Scottish accent 🤣🤣🤣 and Christopher Lambert's muddled accent is strangely perfect for a man who has lived for centuries all over Europe and America 😅
Throw in Clancy Brown being just the creepiest and Highlander is a gem of the 80s.
For another all Queen soundtrack - Flash Gordon (with Timothy Dalton 😉)
For more of Lambert with a katana - The Hunted 1995
'with Timothy Dalton' - I think you've sold her.
@@timeofgifts You gotta know your audience 😉
I wholeheartedly second "Flash Gordon" for any fan of Queen.
He's a Miracle.
King of the Impossible.
@@gibbletronic5139 He'll save everyone of us!
Wow, someone else who remembers The Hunted. The internet is cool sometimes.
Connor's clansmen shouldn't've beat him up. They just needed to see if he weighed the same as a duck.
its a fair cop
Naw, just burn the witch.
🤣
I don't know about not giving him a good lashing. He turned me into a newt ... I got better though 😜.
Did you give him that accent? No! No! Well, yes alright, but he IS Scottish!
"There can be only one" is how I feel about this movie. There have never been, nor should be made ever any sequels.
Definitely when it comes to the movies. The TV series was pretty fun though.
The TV series is actually fairly entertaining. The movie sequels, not so much.
There is a Turkish made sequel called Highlander 2. Rumor has it if you see it you will go blind then your pancreas explodes.
There is a Highlander II: The Quickening from 1991...
I am waiting with bated breath for the Henry Cavill remake. Anything would be better than the sequels
Christopher Lambert (Connor McLeod) is legally blind as he suffers from a severe eye condition. If the role doesn't allow for his rx glasses, he had to act and perform stunts pretty much blind. If you notice the swords not really connectong or seeming slighlty off that's why. Hes bern injured several times on sets over the years..like stepping off a raised platform because he didn't see the edge. Got to give him credit for perseverance under such conditions..... and a distinctive laugh.😊
And then you have those other actors who gloat about doing their own stunts, lmao
He also didn't know English and memorized the script but never really knew what he was saying.
That condition also forces him to focus his eyes whenever he isn't wearing his glasses, which makes his piercing stare much more intense
The last time I saw him in French tv, he was in couple with the iconic Sophie Marceau. I don't know what he do now. I know he was one of the very first to invest in sous vide cooking and offer dishes to restaurants. He made a lot of money from it. He might not see very well, but he could see far anyway. 😊
The movie insurance company had kittens when the producers said they were going to have lambert poor eyesight swing a sword anywhere near the expensive to insure mega star Sean Connor.
The only thing wrong with this film is that they made sequels to it 😤😠😡
Testify brother
It would have been alright if they hadn't sucked.
Didn’t we all agree to not mention the sequels?
It was only intended to be a one and done. But the studios sensed the money… should have left it alone.
2 ik on if you find the right edit.
3 is ok.
4..is good cause it has both Highlander's...
5...Stinks to high heaven!
Fun fact: The guy who lost his head in the parking garage (Peter Diamond as Fasil) was also the Sandperson who attacked Luke Skywalker in Star Wars.
Haha no he wasn't
@@KentuckyBrad Yes he was.
@TeslaRangerNY Peter Diamond also had a cameo as a mercenary robbing a church in the episode "Band of Brothers" in the "Highlander" t.v. series.
He also played an Imperial officer in the Death Star prison block where Leia was held. He gets shot down pretty quickly when Luke and Han show up.
IIRC on top of playing Fasil he was also the stunt coordinator for this movie. I like to call him "Flippy McCoolshades" ;-)
Defo a fun fact ,more than star wars it self
The idea of the movie came from a suit of armor, as Screenwriter Gregory Widen, attending UCLA, was on vacation in Scotland and stopped by a museum of sorts and saw a beautifully restored suit of armor and thought "What if the guy who wore this suit was alive right now and what if he owned all these weapons and each had a story to tell?"
The original script was called Shadow Clan, then The Dark Knight, and finally Highlander.
Thanks; I've been a fan since the movie's theatrical release, but didn't know anything of the story's background.
Didn't he wonder what it would be like if he had lived through to the present and at some point went on a tour of his own former property or something like it?
Can't think of a worse thing to do to someone than to make them live forever, or "know everything," ...if we couldn't be able to grow past what we experience, then by far that's a nightmare to condemn someone to. "Who wants to live forever" indeed.
The love and hope of a child, and the imperative and nature of self... and ultimately the choice and free will of us all.
Here we are.
@@wren7195 Are you implying that you'd like to die now?
@@brandonflorida1092 After twenty five years of chronic illness where the people I love the most have had to take care of me? Would be a lie to say I've not danced with that a long while.
But the hope is that if we're not selfish, we use the worst of what we go through to help ourselves and help everyone around us as well. That was what I meant as an implied opposite to "I can't think of something worse to do to someone than...."
Dying's easy. Giving us time to think about who and what we are, and then time to live that out? *shrugs*
I want to live in a world where everyone around me has the same choice I was afforded. Then I'd like to live in a way where I can help others survive.
Die? I'd love to. But now? No, not yet.
Re: The gorgeous aerial shot of the wrestling match in the opening scene ("Is this a drone?"). It predated drone photography in films by decades, so it was a hell of a lot trickier to pull off. The camera was suspended on wires to achieve those shots, and that "Skycam" system would eventually help revolutionise the way live sporting events are filmed. The photography in this movie (shoutout to cinematographer Gerry Fisher) really is breathtaking, particularly the sweeping Louma crane shots in the final swordfight, which look like fast, elegant dolly shots but were actually a happy accident achieved by booting the arm of the crane (!), resulting in it spinning out gracefully across the floor of the soundstage.
Funny you talking about the apartment being so cool, that's what I thought as well and wanted since I watched this movie as a kid. :))
The series with Duncan Macleod (Adrian Paul) was one of my favorite series growing up.
The writer, Gregory Widen, also wrote The Prophecy, starring Christopher Walken as the Archangel Gabriel turning evil. It's Walken at his most Walken ever,
Another great movie or actually the Prophecy movies were almost all great.
I love that the movie about an immortal Scottish warrior cast *Sean Connery* as the Egyptian.
I'm still shocked he could tolerate calling haggis revolting
@@JS-wp4gs That probably broke his heart in ways we non-Scots will never understand.
The closest I’ll ever come is if someone tells me they don’t like Old Bay. 😅
An Egyptian who spent at least one lifetime in Japan, and is currently serving in the Spanish Royal Court. Kind of freaky that he sounds just like a Lithuanian captaining a Russian Submarine.
And a Belgian as the Scottish lead, with an American as his Lithuanian enemy.
In fairness, he did have a decent tan .... it's the details hahaha
This movie has one of my all-time favorite low-key background scenes: when the detectives are getting lunch from the hot-dog vendor, the vendor is trolling them while reading news coverage about their investigation. "What does 'baffled' mean?" and "What does 'incompetent' mean?" Great character moment.
Fun fact, they aren't immortal until they die the first time. Then the resurrect and become immortal, but only certain people are immortals, not everyone.
I believe they also have to die violently for their immortality to "activate." So, if you had the ability to become immortal but die of illness or natural causes, you would not resurrect as an immortal.
This was an idea apparently added in the subsequent TV show.
Which explains why they look different ages.
@@countofdownable--- The saddest, would be children who are immortal.. Imagine being 10 years old FOREVER.. Not having the strength or ability to fight or defend yourself... I think the series had an immortal who was mentally handicapped...
@@bekindandrewind1422 The series also has a child immortal who kind of has to get other immortals to do their fighting for them.
The Kurgan is one of the best villains in film.
So enjoyable to see someone watch this 100% blind, and experience the mythos unfold.
Love this film. Christopher Lambert is a native French speaker who only really learned English after being cast in the lead role of Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes. I believe he also has terrible eyesight, needing glasses to properly see and finds contacts painful to wear, so he’s normally acting half blind.
And raised in Sweden, which gives him the odd french/Swedish mix accent. Which is part of the reason he got the part. An immortal would pick up a mix of accents over time.
@@imthewolf1Absolutely not raised in Sweden, maybe you're mixing it up with Switzerland.
Clancy Brown as The Kurgan is awesome. One of the greatest movie villains of all time. Such huge screen presence. So intimidating, scary and darkly charismatic. One of THE great bad guy performances.
Can you believe that this is the same guy who plays as Mr. Krabs.
And he didn’t make a dime making this movie..
He is an awesome actor.
The original US theatrical release didn't show how Connor and Rachel met. I liked the inclusion because it make his farewell line to her "Hey, it's a kind of magic" more meaningful. Also the little child Rachel was adorable.
You serious? That's terrible. Basically deletes her character from the movie.
@@deathtoraiden2080 The WW2 scene was put back into the VHS release, and I think it was always included in the foreign theatrical releases. It's almost as if they realized cutting it out was a mistake but didn't have time to redo the domestic theatrical version before its US release date.
I also love the idea that the Nazis were so horrific that this immortal of good conscience put his ancient quest on hold to play a part in stopping them. It says a lot about The Highlanders character.
@@TrentRidley It does! Just imagine what the Kurgan would have been doing.
@@waterbeauty85 Think I'd rather not, haha. Such a great villain brought to life by Clancy Brown - the Kurgan draws a visceral reaction like few others.
One of the big reasons for the success of this film was the inclusion of Queen.
Coming off of their memorable performance at Live Aid in July of 1985, the band was eager to work on new music; but were reluctant at first about contributing music for a film. They had a bad experience when recording the music for Flash Gordon(1980).
The director wanted Queen because they were known for music of an “anthem quality”. He put together a 20-minute rough cut of the film and showed it to Queen.
The band said that not only would they write the title track “Princes of the Universe”, but they would write nine tracks for the film. Some of these tracks were “A Kind of Magic”, “One Year of Love”, “Who Wants to Live Forever”, “Don’t Lose Your Head”, and “Gimme The Prize (Kurgan’s Theme)”.
During the recording of songs for Highlander, they also wrote the song “One Vision” for the film Iron Eagle (1986).
All of the music they recorded was released on their album A Kind of Magic(1986). Queen would embark on a memorable European tour throughout that summer of 1986; even headlining the place where they stole the show at Live Aid; Wembley Stadium in London.
The tour would be bittersweet; as that was the final tour Queen did with Freddie Mercury. A year later he was diagnosed with AIDS, and continued to make music with Queen up until the end. He died in November of 1991 at age 45.
There was some legal problem with making a soundtrack album of the film, so "A Kind of Magic" album was Queen's work-around for that.
Russell Nash/Connor MacLeod's apartment is to this date one if not THE coolest apartment I've ever seen in a film not counting castles, villas, & manors (though it does rival even most of those).
I love this movie and I've seen it more times than I can remember, but of all things that apartment is one the things I loved the most; I'm curious to see your recreation of it in The Sims! :)
Also funny note: you technically weren't wrong on the time traveler bit... In a way he is time traveling, it's just VERY slow and it goes only in one direction! 😂
Clancy Brown, who played the Kurgan, is a great actor. I loved him in “The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai, Across the Eighth Dimension.”
People often forget that he was in there because he wasn't playing much of a character so he kinda melted into the background.. Also we didn't get to see much of him.
Also, the sheriff in Pet Semetary 2. And many other things. Always cool when you're watching something and like "Hey, it's that guy!"
"Highlander" is both campy and fun. I love Clancy Brown's performance as the Kurgan. His cruelty and dark humor makes him one of my more favorite movie villains.
“Who wants to live forever “ one of my favorite songs! The whole soundtrack is truly epic!
Brian May wrote it.
And the song was written specifically for that scene. Brian May wrote it after seeing a first cut of the film.
It always brings a lump to my throat.
It was 15 years before i could hear queens princes of the universe without crying remembering my dad. He loved highlander and all these years later I was able to share it with my wife and enjoy it again. I'm sure you will enjoy this
I'm 45 and still struggle to get through "who wants to live forever? "
During the scene with the Kurgan and the priest, Clancy Brown (Kurgan) was into his character so much he freaked out everyone on set. Spectacular performance from a very underated actor.
Brown is an impressive man, for sure. And I agree, he's underrated.
Clancy Brown also played the part of Byron Hadley, the top prison guard in The Shawshank Redemption. Again brilliantly acted.
@@andrewstevenson6026 HIs resume is extensive and of high quality. IMDB has 329 actor entries, plus five upcoming projects. Few actors did more work than him.
The enemy cannot cut off your head if you disable his HAND!
@@deathtoraiden2080 I see a Starship Troopers connoisseur.😂
A lot of the soundtrack will have been edited out but I'm guessing Jen really enjoyed it. Queen also did the soundtrack to 80s movie flash Gordon.
Flash Gordon was the worst campiest movie that I ever loved. And it has a great soundtrack.
Whoever told you this wasn't good, are people you now know not to listen to again 😅
It's the only good one and made retroactively better by the garbage sequels that came after. It and the TV series are the only live action Highlander things worth watching IMO.
French dude with a French accent playing a Scot and the most famous Scottish Actor playing a Spaniard while doing nothing about his accent. Gotta love this movie.
Dear Jen, best reaction to this movie I've ever seen here on youtube!
Most reactors don't understand the story, are annoyed by the tricks and call the movie lame precisely because they didn't understand it.
Of course, much more could have been made of the movie's story, the tricks are from the eighties and therefore don't fit in with today's movies, but back in the 80s it was a great movie with an interesting idea. Because there wasn't much fantasy/sci-fi back then. Sure, there was Star Trek and Star Wars, Flash Gordon, Conan, Krull and a few other good movies, but not much else worth mentioning. No comparison to other genres like thrillers, westerns or comedies and 80+% of fantasy movies were usually trash or for little kids (Sinbad, Aladdin and such stuff). So I'm glad you were able to enjoy the movie. 😊
Connery a Scotsman portrays an Egyptian, Lambert a Frenchmen portrays a Scot, that's Hollywood for ya.
and Brown is an american playing a russian hehe.
@@eolsunder Yeah totally missed Clancy's Kurgan. Thanks.
Lambert was actually born in the USA, and lived in Switzerland until he was a teen. His father was a French diplomat.
@@Parallax-3D Lambert did't speak English when he agreed to make Highlander. He learned the script phonetically
@@Parallax-3D Cool. Did not know that. I just remember the press that came out when he was cast as Tarzan of him being French.
Good reaction Jen. You might like the TV show Highlander. It is way better than the sequels.
The best part of Highlander is that they make a movie heavily tied to the Scottish Highlands, then they get Sean Connery, a Scotsman, to play an Egyptian character, and THEN they let him keep his Scottish accent for the character. I find this both hilarious and epic. This movie is an absolute classic.
I like to think that, since he was like 2400yrs old, he was born in Egypt, traveled the world, where he picked up other cultures to blend in, and liked the Spanish name he chose & went by it cause it sounded cooler, the accents he just picks up from living in the area so long. 🙂
And a Frenchman to play a Scotsman, who apparently didn't speak English before this movie. 😁
In 1500s, when it takes place, if somebody was Spaniard it would command a lot of respect as Spain was like USA at this time, the top superpower in the world. Also in Scotland he may get even more respect as Spain was enemy of England and Scots were also fighting England. So actually it would be rather beneficial to pose as a Spaniard, not just that it was faraway land and they would have trouble to gather info on who you are but also you came from a powerful land which was the enemy of your enemy. So nobody in Scotland really would have reason to fuck with you, Scotland was too weak to defeat Spain but also Spain had no interest in Scotland and they were actually helping Scots in a way by being enemy of English so why sour the relations with Spain by killing or imprisoning high born Spanish guy? @@juggerhulk
As Ramirez briefly explained if the head comes off it's over for them hence the sword-fighting.
A cult classic and Lambert's best roll I think but they should have kept it at one movie. The TV series was kinda ok though.
It's crazy looking back on the eighties now it's like some foreign planet yet I lived there as a kid...
I love the line "my cut has improved your voice"
Russell Mulchay's camera work and transitions in this movie are still amazing. The guy was a sort -after music video director and this was very early in his movie career after "Razorback".
Very much so... She mentioned the show being dated I think only the final quickening seems lacking in special effects..
First this your channel! Never need to apologize for being unsure!! This movie 🍿🎥 is not the easiest to fallow at first. My vote, don't bother with ANY of the others!! Great Channel Jen!! Peace 🕊️☮️♾️😎
The scene where he finds Rachel could be viewed as just a fun little moment where we get to see Connor deliver a killer one-liner before blasting a Nazi, but as satisfying as that is in and of itself, it's more than that when you stop to think about it. Here we have this immortal being, alive for hundreds of years already, who could be completely unconcerned with the happenings of mortal man, but instead he puts on hold his ancient quest for the prize to help defeat an evil. That says a lot about The Highlander's character.
I love it when Jen goes "Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!" She get's so invested.
Find and read the original script online. There’s more lore, world building, several of the secondary characters like Rachel, Kastagir and the police sergeant are more important to the present day storyline , more things are explained (like Kurgan being the one who killed Osta Vasilek in NJ, and why some immortals are more powerful than others) as well as deleted scenes. One NYC deleted scene has Kurgan beheading an Asian immortal named Yung Dol Kim. It takes place after he and Connor are driven off by the helicopter.
The overall story altogether is even stronger than the finished film.
One important dialogue exchange explains why Kurgan and Ramirez knew each other on sight:
Ramirez to Connor: I have fought the Kurgan three times. In Babylon, Greece, and China. The last time I was lucky to escape with my head.
Mr Krabs is a very good villain
"Krabs!" "Ramirez." 😆
Clancy Brown makes the movie for me. He's incredible, I watch and listen to everything he does. His video game works rocks too.
@@TeslaRangerNY Rawhide
So was Career Sergent Zim.
arrr ya ready kids?
ay, ay, captain.
I can't heeear youuu.
AY, AY, CAPTAIN!
whoooooo lives in a pineapple under the sea?
Spongebob Squarepants!
I took his head and r8pt his woman before his blood was cold.
AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!
The line, 'if your head comes away from your body, it's over' was relevant exposition 😉
She missed the significance for a while didnt she.
Same with the opening narration
I will never not be amused by the fact that Clancy Brown, the actor playing The Kurgan, is also the voice for Mr. Krabs.
Clancy also plays the evil prison guard in "The Shawshank Redemption".
And my favorite story about THAT is that he was certain he'd blown the audition because he couldn't bring himself to yell at the casting assistant who was reading opposite him.@@laudanum669
Brown voiced Lex Luthor as well. An episode had him switch bodies with the Flash which was voiced by Michael Rosenbaum. Who ironically played Lex Luthor in Smallville.
@@RandomAmerican3000He's also in the Flash CW series as a military general who gets possessed by Gorilla Grod.
And the sheriff in Pet Semetary 2.
“I wonder if this is gonna get bloody.” 😂
Somebody probably mentioned this, but the only official Highlander soundtrack to be released was the orchestra score.
Queen released their songs as the album "A Kind of Magic", which also includes the song "One Vision", which was used in the movie "Iron Eagle", an 80s favorite of mine.
I love the main title song, "Princes of the Universe". The full version is worth checking out. It was also used as the theme song for the Highlander tv series.
I personally still like Duncan much better than Connor. Adrian Paul was fantastic in that series.
Next, Flash Gordon! Music by Queen. It's just the right amount of cheese.
I love Clancy Brown (the Kurgen). The fact that he is also the voice of Lex Luthor in Superman cartoons and Mr. Krabs on SpongeBob makes it even better.
I saw this in the theater in 1986, and several times since. If you want to continue to enjoy this movie, one of the greatest epic fantasies ever made, ignore that anyone ever thought a sequel was a good idea. That said, the TV series that follows his cousin Duncan is an entertaining watch. Not as good, but entertaining.
Follow the math. Connor McLeod was 18 when he first went into battle in 1536, so in 1986, he is 468 years old.
With every Quickening, it gets stronger. With each of the Immortals, they absorb the energy of the one they have just defeated, as well as all the ones they have absorbed before that. That's why the final Quickening with the killing of the Kurgan is so incredibly strong. Over the centuries, he had killed many Immortals long before The Gathering.
The Kurgan is played by Clancy Brown. He was the head guard in The Shawshank Redemption and Sergeant Zim in Starship Troopers, as well as many other great roles.
I always thought he did amazing in the HBO series Carnivale. Clancy playing a creepy role is best Clancy.
Wow, I knew he looked familiar but couldn't place him!
@@NefariousKoel HBO's Carnivale is a masterpiece. ♥
He is also the voice of Mr. Krabs in Spongebob
Earth 2?
Love this reaction Jen! If you enjoyed this one try' Greystoke, The legend of Tarzan' same actor! Great film! 😊...Eric
I am glad you mentioned Greystoke. I hope Jen gets to react to this one.
This is one of my favorite Tarzan adaptations.
Christopher Lambert also starred in the best Tarzan movie ever, Greystoke.
I remember when I first saw it: 11 years old in 1987, lying sick on my parent's couch, watching this amazing movie on VCR.
I have no idea how many times I have watched it since then.
Those Queen tracks get me hyyyyyyped! 🎸 🎤 🥁
The best thing about being immortal is that you have so much time to collect great furniture.
And have a countless number of storage units. Lol
And toys!😁
Top 10 Greatest Films Ever, the sequels on the other hand, don't bother, you'll never get that time back
One thing a lot of people miss is Connor's physical age. He tells Brenda he was born in 1518. The famous battle that he 'died' in was 1536.
Connor should only be 18 years old, according to the script. Lambert was like 30 at the time.
When it was filmed, Lambert was 28, and he was 29 when it was released.
It makes me smile to think of all the films where Sean Connery plays Englishmen, Russians etc with a Scottish accent, and the one film where his accent would fit in they make him Spanish!
Love this film though.
When Scottish RUclipsr Dawn Marie saw "The Untouchables," she decided that Malone was actually Scottish, but because Americans kept confusing his Scottish accent for an Irish accent, he just gave up correcting them and let them believe he was Irish. Her mind works in unusual ways.
He's not Spanish, he's Egyptian! 😂
There’s a comedian who did a whole bit about Sean Connery having the same Scottish accent in every role.
"Bond. Jamesh Bond."
@@treetopjones737 My favourite moment was from Hunt For Red October when he was meant to be Russian. Someone asks if anyone speaks English and, in his familiar old accent, he says “I have a shmattering”😆
There was also a Highlander TV series that came out in the early 90's. It was a different actor, Adrian Paul, playing the Highlander, Duncan, who was Connor's cousin.
Connor made a few appearances in it too!
@@Roguefem76Chris Lambert was only in the first episode as Connor MacLeod.
@@BrotherDerrick3X
CONNOR
appeared in a few episodes
in flashbacks
Hi Jen ,, do you want a fun film fact : Christopher Lambert since a child has had a severe case of myopia & Requires special glasses to allow him to see it also makes him unable to wear Contact lenses , this means most of the time while acting he`s almost blind so when doing the sword fight scenes in this and other films he cant see his opponents clearly so he has to learn every fight like a dance & carefully remember every move he makes , during the making of Highlander 2 he managed to chip actor Michael Ironside`s Tooth during a swordfight scene & in return Ironside unwittingley severed part of Lamberts Finger , when you think how many action films he done with out wearing his Glasses , its amazing he`s never got hurt more .....
Since everyone's jumping in with fun facts...
The filming location for McLeod's village, named as Glenfinnan on the shores of Loch Shiel, is Eilean Donan Castle, about 30 miles north of the real village of Glenfinnan. When McLeod is thrown out of the boat by Ramirez, that is the real Loch Shiel, with Glenfinnan nearby.
Also, the final shot isn't Scotland. It's Wales - the Sychnant Pass, near Conwy in North Wales. You can see Anglesey in the background.
There are no sequels -- there can be only one! 😁This is all all-time favourite -- great visuals & transitions, amazing music, the myopia-powered intensity of Lambert's gaze, Sean Connery and ...Clancy Brown's Kurgan, one of the greatest villains in cinema history! He was also a milder sort of villain in Spongebob, but very different 😅
36:34 - “You’re going Down Ugly”
😂 Absolute Classic 😂
Princes of the Universe was a song that was written just for this movie. Another Queen song that was written for this movie was Who Wants to live Forever. The Quickening is the energy life force of Immortals. When there is only one left that one immortal will carry the energy of all immortals.
Queen wrote a couple songs for this movie. Princes and Who Wants to Live Forever is the other one.
A Kind Of Magic is one of my favourites.@@biguy617
Don’t forget ‘One Year of Love’, ‘Gimme the Prize’ and ‘Don’t Lose Your Head’.
Clancy Brown who plays the Kurgan has a reputation of being one of the nicest guys
Whoever told you the original was not good, doesn’t really like fantasy movies.
I am so excited for this reaction. been looking forward to you watching this movie for a long time. It's one of my all-time favorites!!!
I really hope you will be watching Conan the Barbarian soon.
The TV series from the 90's is fantastic, Jen. You'd love it!
Classic Movie. Top 10 or 15. Immortality and Swords..Jen, your always fun to watch movies with.. Funny, witty, pretty with beautiful hands.. . thanks for the reactions.. 😎
Who wants to live forever. I tear up every time. Freddy Mercury knew he was dying of AHIDs. His voice is mesmerizing.
Freddie wasn’t diagnosed with HIV until 1987. Who Wants to Live Forever was written by Brian May in 1985. The songs lyrics are purely based on Highlander and the burden of immortality.
@@Highlander1518 being friendly diagnosed by a doctor and knowing you have a disease are two different things.
@@VictorD80 I agree. But I don’t think Freddie was aware he had HIV in 1985 when the song was written.
@@Highlander1518 ok, maybe in thinking over the live concert he gave after his diagnosis.
And he would have known those who died before the affliction was identified.
Great reaction! You may want to check out Christopher Lambert in "Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes" (1984). It's probably his best role.
Had no idea those were called groove pits. I love those setups.
As cheesy and over-the-top as some scenes are, this movie is in my top 5 guilty pleasures of all time. The film was intended to be a one-off, and didn't do well in U.S. theaters. But once it appeared on home video and cable, it's popularity took off.
Producers Peter Davis and Bill Panzer knew they needed to capitalize on the surge in popularity and so they made 3 theatrical sequels from 1991-2000, with each new plot being worse than the last. There were also 2 television series. Highlander: The Series (1992-1998) starring Adrian Paul, and Highlander: The Raven (1998-1999) starring Elizabeth Gracen. Both Davis and Panzer have since passed away, but an apparent reboot is still in the works after more than a decade in development.
“Sunglasses and sword… you just don’t see that very often.” Most hilarious thing I’ve heard in a long, long time!
😎😎
To give ya a little perspective of how much in over his head Connor initially was, Kurgan was 2500 years old when he first tried for Connor's head and close to 3000 when battling him in the 1980s. Connor was a mere 450 years old when taking on that fight.
At the time of his death, Ramírez was 2438 years old.
The best part about this film is the soundtrack.
If particular note is the music from Queen because they were only asked for 1 song but after seeing some footage they made 6 and got an entire album out of it.
A real case of lightning striking that created a genuine masterpiece.
So James Bond, Raiden from Mortal Kombat, and Mr. Krabs from SpongeBob SquarePants are all immortal? And the Lord commander of the night's watch was raiden from mortal kombat's cousin who saw him banished instead of burned.
“I’ll bloody well walk out of here!” 😂🤣😂
Immortals can die at any time if they are beheaded. The part about the gathering was just saying that when only a few immortals are left (because the rest got beheaded), they will feel a pull to all come together in a single place so that they can fight until only one is left. It would be a little hard to do that if you had to hunt all over the world for the only other immortal left.
DO NOT watch the other movies, they are terrible and will soil the memory of this one. Seriously, fans dubbed the second movie Highlander 2: The Sickening. Also "There should have been only one." was a popular saying. The third one isn't really any better, and the ones after that mix the worlds of the movies and th TV show to make a muddled mess. They were basically soulless cash grabs.
DO however watch the TV show. It changes the mythology a little, but is a MUCH better follow up then any of the other films. I highly recommend it!
The making of the soundtrack is a movie in itself! Warner bros wanted multiple artists, queen wanted to di the whole thing as an Opera. Warne bros won, queen left Warner, formed their own label, and did the opera! The scene cuts, time jumps, camera work in this, is off the chains good!
27:56 The Quickening is the surviving immortal absorbing the life energy of the decapitated immortal. That energy imbues them with stronger powers of insight (which is what they use to detect other immortals, like how Ramirez knew Kurgen was coming), and can also increase their fighting skill, and some knowledge transfer happens as well. The reason "there can be only one" is that The Prize is being the sole remaining immortal, with all of the powers, knowledge, and skills of every other immortal being placed into one immortal. That's why the transfers get more and more powerful as the more immortals are defeated. It started with a little lightning storm in a parking garage, and at this point, buildings start to explode from the sheer amount of energy being transferred.
Highlander was one of those rare media projects that the TV show turned out way better than the movie. The show was excellent for its time.
Highlander (1986) is a prime example of how a great production can elevate mid storytelling.
The soundtrack is a thing of legend. Hearing Freddy sing "no one wants to live forever" just tugs at you.
Frakkin great movie! Clancy and Chris (and Sean) performed well for 1985
That part with Heather always gets me, especially now later in life... So sad. But at the same time, there's truth in "It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all"...
Every time I rewatch that scene on her deathbed, it makes the ending even more bittersweet. Connor can finally experience love and will one day reunion Heather up in heaven.
The unofficial soundtrack is pretty much Queen's album "It's a kind of magic".
This is another fun movie with some cool action and great music. Super reaction Jen. The sequels are pretty good with a lot of information on the questions you asked. The TV series was pretty good too with a different main character who is related to Conner, plus Conner makes a few appearances.
There can be only one! Not a fan of the sequels, however the TV series was pretty great. I love this movie, one of my all time favorites! Great reaction Jen!
Speaking of "There can only be one," you should check out Jet Li's movie and do a reaction to, _"The One."_
You may find that movie very interesting.
Christopher Lambert was also one of the best characters in the 90s Mortal Kombat movie. I think you'd enjoy that.
Jen: "Is he a good guy or a bad guy?"
Clancy Brown: "There can be only one... bad guy in this movie!"