Highlander (1986)

Regisseur:

Russell Mulcahy

Drehbuchautoren:

Gregory Widen (written by) and
Peter Bellwood (writer) ...

Premierendatum:

7. März 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

Werbezeile:

He fought his first battle on the Scottish Highlands in 1536. He will fight his greatest battle on the streets of New York City in 1986. His name is Connor MacLeod. He is immortal.

Plot:

An immortal Scottish swordsman must confront the last of his immortal opponent, a murderously brutal barbarian who lusts for the fabled "Prize".

Plot Keywords:

Sex Scene | 1530s | Good Versus Evil | Rape | 1540s

Nutzerkommentare:

A Good Film Whose Reputation Has Been Dragged Down By Poor Sequels

Besetzung

Christopher Lambert	...	Connor 'The Highlander' MacLeod / Russell Edwin Nash
Roxanne Hart	...	Brenda J. Wyatt
Clancy Brown	...	Victor Kruger / The Kurgan
Sean Connery	...	Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez
Beatie Edney	...	Heather MacLeod
Alan North	...	Lieutenant Frank Moran
Jon Polito	...	Det. Walter Bedsoe
Sheila Gish	...	Rachel Ellenstein
Hugh Quarshie	...	Sunda Kastagir
Christopher Malcolm	...	Kirk Matunas
Peter Diamond	...	Aman Fasil
Billy Hartman	...	Dugal MacLeod
James Cosmo	...	Angus MacLeod
Celia Imrie	...	Kate MacLeod
Alistair Findlay	...	Chief Murdoch

Alternativ:

Highlander - Es kann nur Einen geben (Bundesrepublik Deutschland) [de]

MPAA:

Rated R for strong action violence, a scene of sexuality and some language.

Länge:

116 Min | USA:110 Min (theatrical version)

Produktionsland:

USA | UK

Sprache:

Englisch

Farbe:

Farbe (Technicolor)

Seitenverhältnis:

1.85 : 1

Tonverfahren:

70 mm 6-Track | Dolby

Altersfreigabe:

Iceland:14 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | New Zealand:M | Germany:16 (cut) | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Canada:R (Nova Scotia) (original rating) | Germany:18 | Italy:T | Germany:12 (cut) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) (director's cut) (1996) | South Korea:15 | Canada:R (Manitoba/Ontario) | Argentina:Atp | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Norway:18 (cut) | Singapore:M18 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R | West Germany:18 | Netherlands:16

Drehorte:

59th Street Bridge, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Firma:

EMI Films

Dies und das:

'Christopher Lambert' had just barely learned to speak English when he took this role. The only other English-speaking film he had been in at that point was Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984), in which he spoke only a few words.

Pannen:

Faktische Fehler: The Bagpipes seen in the early part of the film are the wrong style. These are 'Regulation' pattern pipes, which only came into being about 1850, pipes from the time frame of the movie should be 'Chalice' pattern, ie, the top of the drone should look like a wine glass.

Dialogzitate:

Kurgan: [to a pair of nuns passing by him] Happy Hallowe'en, ladies!
Kurgan: Nuns. No sense of humor.
Connor MacLeod: Ramirez's blade did not cut deeply enough. He was right about you. You're slime.
Kurgan: Ramirez was an effete snob! He died on his knees. I took his head and raped his woman before his blood was even cold.
[MacLeod looks at him in fury]
Kurgan: Ah, I see. Ramirez lied. She was not his woman. She was *your* woman. And she never told you. I wonder why. Perhaps I gave her something you never could, and secretly she yearned for my return.
[...]

Querbezüge:

Bezug enthalten in 'Highlander 2': Seduced by Argentina (2004) (V)

Soundtrack:

Gimme the Prize (Kurgan's Theme)

A Good Film Whose Reputation Has Been Dragged Down By Poor Sequels

When I first saw this film, I thought it was great. Connery is good, Lambert does passably well, the effects are good, the idea of a bunch of special individuals who had known about each other (and in some cases, liked each other) for centuries being drawn together, knowing that only one could come out alive. The effects were, at the time, good and had not been flogged to death. I even enjoyed the introductory clan-on-clan warfare.

Then came Highlander 2, a film which deserved its place on the Bottom 100 and the nadir of Sean Connery's career. As someone else said about that film: "don't break every rule you set up in the first film." Even the series didn't do that. And the reputation of the first good film suffered.

Separating the first film from the bad sequels, and a series that a lot of people can take or leave, it is still a good film. Unfortunately, a good idea was taken and flogged to death afterward.