Lyrics When the last eagle flies over the last crumbling mountain And the last lion roars at the last dusty fountain In the shadow of the forest though she may be old and worn They will stare unbelieving at the last unicorn When the first breath of winter through the flowers is icing And you look to the north and a pale moon is rising And it seems like all is dying and would leave the world to mourn In the distance hear the laughter of the last unicorn I'm alive, I'm alive When the last moon is cast over the last star of morning And the future has passed without even a last desperate warning Then look into the sky where through the clouds a path is torn Look and see her how she sparkles, it's the last unicorn I'm alive, I'm alive
Thank you for the lyrics.As a child it remained in my mind only this clip and this wonderful melody, cause in my country( a former communist one), that was all we saw on the tv back then.
Although the ending is generally a good one, I feel so bad and sad for the unicorn. It's a pretty deep concept for a kids' animation. Even though she found the other unicorns, she now cannot unlearn human emotions such as regret and romantic love as a unicorn who naturally cannot live with humans. It's so nostalgic to watch a film from my childhood.
My parents took me to see this movie when it came out, when I was only 6 years old. I was a very sensitive child, and I burst into tears at the end because I thought it was so sad. I remember I couldn’t stop crying even when the lights came on, and a nice older lady walked by and said something kind to me about how she thought it was sad too. I was embarrassed but also amazed at the power of a story. I still loved unicorns for years after that. Every time I found myself in a wooded area, I kept hoping I would come upon a unicorn in a clearing. I was convinced there had to be one somewhere. Funnily enough, it seemed like my wish finally came true a couple of months ago at age 46, when I suddenly came upon a beautiful albino deer in the woods. The little girl inside me felt like I’d finally found my unicorn!
Some movies from childhood are not the same when you watch them as an adult - except this one. It is just as moving. Just as melancholy. Means just as much, if not more to me than it did then. Especially since my sister, my best friend, my partner in crime, died so young. This movie was a foreshadowing of our lives and it is everything to me. Even my sister's grave has a horse rearing up engraved on her tombstone.
Great comment, I totally agree. This movie aged so well and will always be special, especially to those who remember it from their childhoods. And my condolences to your sister, I'm sure she was a wonderful person.
I’m 38 I have the DVD I recently rewatched the movie around April and the nostalgia came back to me from the first time I watched this in 1991 (I was 9 then).
Beautiful. Thank you for sharing its meaning to you. I can’t put into words what it meant to me as a child... and continues to impact me as an adult. Profound.
I teach "The Last Unicorn" in my middle school reading/writing class. The movie is quite faithful to the original text, which is a refreshing contrast to the way adaptations are usually handled. Peter Beagle wrote an absolute masterpiece of young people's literature with this one - you can find the full text online by adding "PDF" to the title. Every chapter is full of vivid, evocative metaphors and similes, lyrical prose and surprisingly sophisticated themes such as the loss of innocence, the nature of knowledge/understanding, the way experience educates us but also hardens our perspectives into bias and unwarranted certainty... I could go on. When I finally show the movie to let students "compare/contrast" with the text, I'm always afraid some of the older kids will make fun of the songs as too precious or earnest. It never happens. They are invariably transported and suspend any hint of disbelief. America absolutely slayed this soundtrack!
Thank you making this masterpiece be more known in today's world! As far as I know, the author wrote the screenplay for the film as well, which makes me happy. Beagle certainly made a masterpiece that'll capture any heart of anyone, no matter what age.
I tell my kids they are growing up in the 80s and one day they will appreciate the magical world they grew up in… Thanks for teleporting other young people to this beautiful nostalgia! 🕊
@@lucyhardy-styles-shield2728 That's awesome, I was 6 first time I saw it and I'm 18 now. Every 1-2 years I watch it again and it never fails to amaze me just how beautifully done the animation, storyline, and music is.
Kind of reminds me of the story within the Rush song Xanadu. Where after finding xanadu our storyteller eats the fruit of paradise and drinks it's milk, becoming immortal. In the end he sits in darkness under a starless sky, waiting for the world to end. Immortality must really be a curse.
I'm 40 years old. This is the first story that ever captured my heart. Before superheroes, before Star Wars, there was the Last Unicorn I lost my son when he was 3 days old. We played this song at his funeral. He would have been 10 years old this July 11th. I got to tell this to Peter S. Beagle. He is the most genuine man I've ever met, So let the pain come. I can hear the laughter of the last unicorn.
@@RA1NB0W_ECH0 It can be summed up as a condition called Potter Syndrome. During his development in-utero, he didn't produce as much amniotic fluid as needed for his lungs to develop and become functional. In examinations after he was born it was found that he had not developed kidneys at all. So he couldn't breathe on his own or process waste. Even after we agreed to have his breathing devices removed (with an increase in pain medication to keep him comfortable), he held on for a full hour before he was gone. The only time he opened his eyes was when his mother and I held him at the end. They were grey like a storm.
My mother took me to see this in the movie theater in 1982, I was 7 years old. It haunted and saddened me then, and I quickly forgot about it and never thought of it again, until today, I'm 46. I have no idea what triggered my recall of it. I came here looking for better answers but all I find is the overwhelming sense of loss I felt then. It is the same loss I felt at age 31 when I became the oldest living male member of my immediate family. And now I'm slightly haunted by it again...
We all cry with that same sense. As a child we enjoyed and flourished. Magical and with promise. As an adult, all that was sacred for us is buried. until we awaken it. We can, and share the wonder once again. Have faith.
This movie was about loss. I think loss of innocence and comforting belief. It affected me strongly as a kid in the 80’s. I think you are just properly feeling this movie. Hugs to another 80’s kid!
You can say truly with Molly Grue, “How dare you…how dare you come to me now? When I am *this*?” The loss doesn’t lessen with time, but our remembrance of the loss fades. It is the last unicorn in the world that comes to us, when we are no longer young and innocent…but she DOES come.
I'm the same age as you, and I used to watch this movie over and over again on cable TV. Every single time it gave me a haunted ssd feeling as well. I'm tempted to watch it again, but I'm not sure I'm ready to have those feelings triggered again. As I was writing this The Secret of NIMH just popped into my mind out of the blue. That movie left me with a sad taste in my mouth too.
I'm turning 17 years old now, me and my father watched this movie daily when I was really young. He's missed some important years when my parents split, I can't wait for us to sit down and watch this movie again next time I visit
Rest in Peace American director, producer, composer, lyricist, and author Jules Bass (September 16, 1935 - October 25, 2022), who co-founded Rankin/Bass Productions, with his friend, Arthur Rankin Jr. (July 19, 1924 - January 30, 2014). A truly animation legends!!
My sister passed away on December 28th, 2021. Unicorns were her favorite animal as a child and this was arguably one of her favorite films. I remember enjoying it for all the fantasy but feeling a deep sense of sorrow and pain that I didn't understand until later in life. When I hear this song now I will always think of my sister and although it feels like the end of the world right now, I know that she's "alive" in the memories we created together and the lessons she taught me in life.
I was introduced to this film late in life by an elderly friend who became more like an adopted grandmother to me. Her favorite animal was unicorns and she adored this film. Sadly, she passed away yesterday. For as long as I live, I will never be able to watch this film without thinking of her.
You die twice, once when you're heart stops, and again when someone says your name for the last time. As long as you remember your sister, she'll always be there in your heart.
I loved how they maintained that style from The Hobbit, but it was even more refined. It's like the next level to that art style. This is still even great animation by today's standards. The amount of work must have been immense to pull this movie off. Animation was much more pains taking then because it was all handcrafted. This movie was quite an achievement.
When the studio who produced this movie closed down, the animation studio also went under. But the remainder of the staff, who were japanese animators, founded a new studio... Its called studio Ghibli...
There were plans to make a live action version, right around the time the lord of the rings films were on top. They were going for the same feel, I’m not sure why they didn’t go forward. I hope one day maybe.
I honestly wish that we never invented computer animation, it’s just not the same… Hand drawn animation is just so magical, idk there’s just something about it that touches the soul. And i feel bad for children being born in this generation for a lot of reasons but also because most of them won’t experience how magical movies like this are, movies nowadays just have no meaning to them or love put into them.
@@hackett152332 They're both Rankin/Bass productions. And you can see it in the art style. Except The Last Unicorn which they released considerably later than The Hobbit, had an even better production budget and they kept the same style and refined it.
I came to this film relatively late. I was 22 when I saw it for the first time, never having heard of it before. But the moment the film started I was utterly enchanted; and it was so emotional and deep and melancholic it struck a chord way way down. It made me feel like that child we all once were when we all believed that such things as dragons and unicorns might be real. The scene with Molly Grue demanding where the unicorn has been all her life hit me hardest, especially as an adult. Such a great film, such a great book, and this song is just amazing.
I got to see this film in the theatre with my grandma..n I cried for I know how she feels n still do. It touched a part of me which I can't explain in words..n the animation is just brilliant n the song choices are just brilliant. Good taste my friend!!
they ARE real. just not in the way we might think. Theyre creation was based on /inspired by real animal species that exist on the planet and the symbolism of their behaviours and powers like the unicorns beauty, purity and innocence or its tendancy to run away and hide but only approach those who are pure of soul exists aplenty in nature and is what all humans aspire to emulate A deer could be a unicorn, a wise person who says very little but misses nothing could he a unicorn and those who mock him the hunters of one Just because they arent sparkly white magical horned equine creatures doesnt mean they are never present They are as real as you or I
I was 4 years old when I picked out a tape of this movie from the library one day...... It's been one of my favorite movies since then even though after we brought it back I didn't get another chance to watch it until someone gave me the DVD for my 8th birthday, it's been 11 years since I first saw it and I still love the movie just as much. I recently got the book too.
I have a Similar experience, when I was 2 my dad took me to this DVD store where you picked out the case of a movie you wanted then they would give you the DVD, I picked it out without knowing what it was at all(I thought the unicorn was pretty along with the black and blue cover) I watched it and loved it, then we moved and it got lost. So then a few months ago(I'm now 16) I found a video about it and it brought back a bunch of memories so I watched it on Amazon and still loved it but had an older person's perspective, and then I found out it was a book and now it's being shipped to me as I type this.
We had a library downstairs in the building where I grew up in Berlin. I grew up in the 90s and was like 7 or 8 when I first rented it, and rented it again and again and again, until my parents decided to just buy me a copy. I watched it again on youtube maybe a year ago, and just bawled the whole time. As a child I understood that it was sad, but mainly beautiful, as an adult I could see it from a whole deeper level. It will forever be one of my favorite movies.
Reminds me of my departed mother and my lost sister. Takes me back to every Friday night when they would watch it together. Now I'm the last that remembers.
True. The Last Unicorn was masterpiece that still holds up today. I just wish Rankin/Bass produced a lot more animated films for theatrical release during the 80's. They traditionally focused mostly on TV shows and specials. Even Rankin/Bass' other fantasy masterpiece, Flight of Dragons was a made for TV movie.
You know something I noticed while watching this? The backgrounds in the movie go from simple but beautiful, abstract but understandable in her forest to the realistic paintings of the outside world. It really does hammer in the idea of the gritty, complex world out there, different from how the Unicorn lived before, and how she originally saw the world
This movie has brought tears to my eyes ever since the first time I watched it. The beauty is immeasurable. And now, at my factory job, I replay the songs of America and scenes in this movie through my head to get me through the monotonous day.
As a Molly this movie is life. I came here after my husband let me know they are doing a live action remake of this movie. I am a 33yr old woman but my husband knows how much this movie means to me. I remember asking to watch it everytime I stayed with my maw maw's. To this day it is one I can watch over and over again. I was a book nerd as a kid and only have two movies that i truly love. This one and Anne of Green Gables. The fact they are willing to mess with perfection after messing up so many mediocre films makes me want to cry. There are to many people who do not know this amazing movie that will learn to associate it with whatever live action trash they create.
They can make a live action but it will never catch the emotional connection we have to this movie. It is beautiful as it is, no matter how many times we watch it.
@@KaylaCherrieim33 yr old man the secret if you have children is teach to boycott modern movies and watch old originals. I watched this movie for first time few days ago. I dont watch modern movies cause they are gey. If everyone did that they would stop it but most people are probably very stupld.
I just watched this last night and finally understand why this movie is so special to many. You rarely see family films this well written and this music is beautiful…
As I stare deeply into my reflection, projected by a curbside puddle, the memory of the last unicorn emerged once again in my mimd. I felt a deep sorrow, only comparable to the loss of my dear Dobby. From walks in the woods, to being sick in car journeys, or even bringing me random artifacts from the woods. Pain is the great reminder of a love once shared between man and dog. Today would be his 56th birthday.
As a proud Horse With No Name defender, it's hard to believe that the band that wrote the song with the lyric "plants and birds and rocks and things" would eventually go on to write something this lyrically solid. Like this goes way harder than it needs to for a song from a kids movie.
In Remembrance to The Last Unicorn (1982) animated film.... - Alan Arkin voice role as Schmendrick (Born: March 26, 1934 - Died: June 29, 2023) - Tammy Lee Grimes voice role as Molly Grue (Born: January 30, 1934 - Died: October 30, 2016) - Angela Lansbury voice role as Mommy Fortuna (Born: October 16, 1925 - Died: October 11, 2022) - Christopher Lee voice role as King Haggard (Born: 27 May 1922 - Died: 7 June 2015) - Keenan Wynn voice role as Captain Cully (Born: July 27, 1916 - Died: October 14, 1986) - Paul Frees voice role as Mabruk (Born: June 22, 1920 - Died: November 2, 1986) - Don Messick as Additional Voices (Born: September 7, 1926 - Died: October 24, 1997) - René Auberjonois voice role as Skull (Born: June 1, 1940 - Died: December 8, 2019) - Brother Theodore voice role as Ruhk (Born: November 11, 1906 - Died: April 5, 2001) - Ed Peck voice role as Jack Jingly, Cully's Men (Born: March 26, 1917 - Died: September 12, 1992)
This movie is a work of art. No matter how many times I see it or hear the soundtrack I feel so moved. It just connects to something in me and my heart. I feel so melancholy and yet warm...
As a kid I wasn’t able to appreciate how beautiful these older movies were. I am now able to admire the animation and artstyle as well as the songs. Is this what it feels like to have matured?
I`m 42 years old normaly, a Badass. But this Movie and Soundtrack gives me goosepumps. I saw this Movie sure 10 times. And everytime i cried. I don`t shame or blame about my tears. It`s all about this Movie, just timeless.
Loved this as a child in the early 80s. Still do as an adult. It's nice to switch off once in a while and enter a fantasy world because sometimes it's more preferable than reality.
Excellent work. I love the book and this cartoon. Thanks to group America I became a music lover. I first saw him on TV when I was seven years old. It was back in 1997. I did not fully understand all the events, but I could not tear myself away from watching. My childish mind and heart were filled with an incomprehensible feeling of sadness, although everything ended well in cartoon.
I know how you feel. I loved this movie when I was 5-6, and I loved this music. I didn't get the chance to see it again for a long time. When I started playing the movie on my laptop when I was 18, the nostalgia, beauty of this song, and the feelings of sadness were overwhelming, I just started to sob.
This really was art. Others have said it here and I cannot agree more. I MADE my husband and 12 yr old son watch this when it was my turn to pick something for family movie night. So far this is now one of their absolute favorite movies. It only comes behind a select few Marvel movies.
I saw this in the theater with two of my 9th grade friends. We can still recite it all lol We can grow up, but some part of being young is always there.My brother looks just like Schmendrick! Lol, I still call him that.
I’ve watched this movie several times in my life. And it always leaves me with this melancholy sense of “What if?..” and “I miss this magic..” I.. I like to think that if there really are Unicorns out there somewhere, watching us.. I’d like to think if I ever saw one… I would still know it for what it was. At least.. I really hope so.
I had a dream about a white unicorn about two months ago, was on the phone talking to my younger sister about it today and she led me to this movie. She told me how much she liked it and how I should watch it and that maybe I'd receive some insight into my dream. I believe that they do exist and you get what you believe. Keep believing, never doubt, peace, peace, peace unto you!
Magic, excitement, music, action, fantasy, thrills, romance, and adventure. Beautiful song for the old movie, The Last Unicorn (1982). It was released eight years before I was born. I never knew it existed until I found out for myself. Unicorns are legendary and most beautiful of all creatures that walk the land. They have the body of a horse, the tail of a lion, the legs of an antelope, and a single horn in their foreheads. Their horns are magical to heal the sick and wounded, stop an ambush, and purify toxic water. The unicorns may be old and worn, but they look young, feisty, playful, and strong. As long as they have magic in their horns, they will never die and go extinct like the dinosaurs did. I love unicorns and I do believe they are real. Understand this, just because you can't see something, doesn't mean they don't exist. I never gave up believing in fairies and magic with all my heart because I still refuse to wake up, grow up, and forget all about the precious things I knew, especially those from my childhood. I am a child within. I am strong, childlike, young, and beautiful. Believe in magic and never grow up.
I was 6 and a half months old when i first discovered the VHS tape of this film in my uncle franks attic. It was New Years Eve, and the sky was thick with mist (or it may have been fog). My family had just been through a very traumatic event (I wont go into it here, as that would be oversharing). I remember crawling into the living room and beginning to watch, transfixed, when my mother came into the room and announced that this was her favourite movie as a young girl. I was deeply saddened, pained, moved, touched, elbowed, caressed, and flabbergasted by the moral story of this film. my mother was hit by an eddie stobart lorry 3 days laters, and this memory will always live with me in my heart. its been 34 years. I miss you, mum.
I will be 50 this year and me too, I will never forget this movie I saw as I was very young. The first and may be the last time I flet like a unicorne 😄. Thanks to America for the sound track 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
One of the things i adore was there depiction of unicorns. They didn't just describe a horse with a horn with magic tricks, they truly made the unicorns feel like a otherworldly creature apart from animals that demand respect.
I watched this movie over and over again when my sisters and I were kids. We still love this movie, and I can honesty say (without asking any of them), that we'd pick this movie to watch over any repackaged Disney Princess.
this movie was a change to my life. It was beautiful, she was beautiful, and this song is so heavy. I absolutely adore her, So much that my parents got matching tattoos of her,
It really hurts, when you hear this wonderful song in another version for the first time. Best rendition of the song, together with the orchestra it is really beautiful.
Damn, I just rewatched this move after not seeing it for at least 10 years I both feel like me as a kid was an idiot and realized that I still have some of the same traits. I grew up with moves like this and the secret of nymh etc. And now people say that those moves were dark but as a kid I thought they were grea, and still do. The song makes me realize that Last is a more powerful word then I thought, even more so then End simply because while something can End, that same thing can start again but if some thing is the Last then it will never happen again.
i saw this movie when i was very little, one of the first movies i can remember watching as a toddler, and i loved it for years whenever i remembered it. i am going to be 18 this year, and i still adore this movie to bits, especially its animation. i appreciate it a lot now, and consider it a masterpiece.
I remember this movie when I was young . In the early 80's . I was in early elementary school. Well we flip around the bars and call it playing The Last Unicorn 🦄 with my friend, a girl about my age . Also , group of us would pretend the wood chips are hot lava, we'd stay on tires and side. Love this movie, it's a classic. ,🤙👍🦄😎💜
I found America through mere chance, A Horse With No Name, Chasing the Rainbow, Tin Man, and many, many more. This song always sounded so sad when I heard it and I never knew there was an entire film made until earlier this year when my partner and I watched it together. It never fails at bringing a tear to my eye. Such a sad yet beautiful story...
I'm a guy love this movie , I'm 45 mom n dad took me and my older sister to see this when it came, out I didn't rent it online I got it from the , library today it's sad that the live action movie never came to be would have loved to see it , I'm a hard ass lol but get sentimental when I remember my childhood , can't wait to watch this again tonight
I really miss this song and the movie itself. I still remember some of the phrases. Saw the movie when I was in gradeschool. Thank goodness for TH-cam. Thank you so much for sharing.
![ใจดำกับฉันก่อน - วงทัพห้า [Official MV]](/img/n.gif)
Lyrics
When the last eagle flies over the last crumbling mountain
And the last lion roars at the last dusty fountain
In the shadow of the forest though she may be old and worn
They will stare unbelieving at the last unicorn
When the first breath of winter through the flowers is icing
And you look to the north and a pale moon is rising
And it seems like all is dying and would leave the world to mourn
In the distance hear the laughter of the last unicorn
I'm alive, I'm alive
When the last moon is cast over the last star of morning
And the future has passed without even a last desperate warning
Then look into the sky where through the clouds a path is torn
Look and see her how she sparkles, it's the last unicorn
I'm alive, I'm alive
Thank you for the lyrics.As a child it remained in my mind only this clip and this wonderful melody, cause in my country( a former communist one), that was all we saw on the tv back then.
This song ment so much to my little sister then she came down with skisofrinia ,we lost her into that wourld she created for her self ,so sad
She was alive, she lives on.
Beautiful video!!🌈🦄⭐👑🦊
Autistic fight
Although the ending is generally a good one, I feel so bad and sad for the unicorn. It's a pretty deep concept for a kids' animation. Even though she found the other unicorns, she now cannot unlearn human emotions such as regret and romantic love as a unicorn who naturally cannot live with humans. It's so nostalgic to watch a film from my childhood.
Yeah that's life in a nut shell
It wasn't originally aimed at young children. It was meant for teens/young adults.
the sequel is a lot more heartbreaking than the first one.
@@ShadrackMeduson wait wait wait, there's actually a sequel?!
@@cristiancojocaru9821 not in movie format but there is a sequel to the original book. The prince and the unicorn meet again.
WHen you know that HALF the animators who worked on this, then founded Studio Ghibli, you know why the animation is lit af.
This movie really is Rankin Bass's magnum opus. Not just their holiday TV specials but also this.
This!!!!!!!
No WonderI really adore Ghibli animation❤
@@rommix0 agreed, this and The Hobbit are so visually stunning
I STILL need to see Princess Mononoke!
My parents took me to see this movie when it came out, when I was only 6 years old. I was a very sensitive child, and I burst into tears at the end because I thought it was so sad. I remember I couldn’t stop crying even when the lights came on, and a nice older lady walked by and said something kind to me about how she thought it was sad too. I was embarrassed but also amazed at the power of a story.
I still loved unicorns for years after that. Every time I found myself in a wooded area, I kept hoping I would come upon a unicorn in a clearing. I was convinced there had to be one somewhere. Funnily enough, it seemed like my wish finally came true a couple of months ago at age 46, when I suddenly came upon a beautiful albino deer in the woods. The little girl inside me felt like I’d finally found my unicorn!
Your story makes my heart so happy, a unicorn can be a symbol for whatever we wish it to be ❤
This is so wholesome
What a beautiful experience ♥️
Remember men cannot see a unicorn, that could be a unicorn, u just can't see it.
@@hiro0500 op is clearly a woman?
I am grown man but I cry every time I hear this song....
And that's what makes you a man.
It has never not made me cry.
The last magic has faded and we are left forlorn and abandoned.
There's nothing wrong with mourning.
I as well.
That last "I'm Alive! I'm ALIIIIVEE!" gets me in tears every single time.
Me too 😭
Whole song makes me cry 😢
I'm literally watching this with tears streaming down my face 😢
That verse is so painful and emotive at the same time - it resonates with human existence. Makes me cry all the time.
Some movies from childhood are not the same when you watch them as an adult - except this one. It is just as moving. Just as melancholy. Means just as much, if not more to me than it did then. Especially since my sister, my best friend, my partner in crime, died so young.
This movie was a foreshadowing of our lives and it is everything to me. Even my sister's grave has a horse rearing up engraved on her tombstone.
Great comment, I totally agree. This movie aged so well and will always be special, especially to those who remember it from their childhoods. And my condolences to your sister, I'm sure she was a wonderful person.
I’m 38 I have the DVD I recently rewatched the movie around April and the nostalgia came back to me from the first time I watched this in 1991 (I was 9 then).
i completely agree with you and im so sorry for your loss i lost my sisiter too and its the worst pain :( lots of love xx
Beautiful. Thank you for sharing its meaning to you. I can’t put into words what it meant to me as a child... and continues to impact me as an adult. Profound.
Truly the end of an age and the departure of magic from the world. Our time will come when we relinquish our own spark and fade into memory.
I'm 43 now, but will forever remember this movie.
I’m 44. 100% the same!
42 and can't agree more. Love this so much I imported the soundtrack on vinyl from Poland to Canada
Same
@Aaron 98Gamer You're 22? Man I'm only 14 xD, I think i first saw this when i was like 4. Maybe earlier.
I’m 13 but I seen this when I was like 5
I teach "The Last Unicorn" in my middle school reading/writing class. The movie is quite faithful to the original text, which is a refreshing contrast to the way adaptations are usually handled. Peter Beagle wrote an absolute masterpiece of young people's literature with this one - you can find the full text online by adding "PDF" to the title. Every chapter is full of vivid, evocative metaphors and similes, lyrical prose and surprisingly sophisticated themes such as the loss of innocence, the nature of knowledge/understanding, the way experience educates us but also hardens our perspectives into bias and unwarranted certainty... I could go on.
When I finally show the movie to let students "compare/contrast" with the text, I'm always afraid some of the older kids will make fun of the songs as too precious or earnest. It never happens. They are invariably transported and suspend any hint of disbelief.
America absolutely slayed this soundtrack!
Thank you making this masterpiece be more known in today's world! As far as I know, the author wrote the screenplay for the film as well, which makes me happy. Beagle certainly made a masterpiece that'll capture any heart of anyone, no matter what age.
Your students are so lucky to have you.
@@mistercarterceoofdoodlewor6468
Do you also review the second book as well?
I tell my kids they are growing up in the 80s and one day they will appreciate the magical world they grew up in…
Thanks for teleporting other young people to this beautiful nostalgia! 🕊
THIS IS ART. Really takes me back to the first time I saw this film. The nostalgia is real. 🖤
My sister put the DVD of this on for me when I was 11 and I loved it, I'm now 23 and I still love this movie. Never read the book though and I mean to
@@lucyhardy-styles-shield2728 That's awesome, I was 6 first time I saw it and I'm 18 now. Every 1-2 years I watch it again and it never fails to amaze me just how beautifully done the animation, storyline, and music is.
Same here 🥺
You are right, this is art!! So much more meaningful and beautiful than anything Disney makes. It's quality.
@@untamedfox35 agree
Am I the only one who cries when I hear the "I'm alive, I'm alive" lyrics😭
Nope
I think they’re the best part of the song. Also, I misheard that part as “The last one alive.”.
Anyone who doesn't is a robot.
Nope. I’m 37 and have a tear
Doing that right now homie
This song and its theme of the last unicorn is so full of mystical magic and sorrow. The last noble creature watching the world die.
Said perfectly. I had no idea why this movie made me so emotional as a child and still gives me goosebumps to this day
Kind of reminds me of the story within the Rush song Xanadu.
Where after finding xanadu our storyteller eats the fruit of paradise and drinks it's milk, becoming immortal. In the end he sits in darkness under a starless sky, waiting for the world to end.
Immortality must really be a curse.
This movie has more meaning than anyone could possibly hope to understand for me...
You’re a fellow INFJ-T?
@@shengyi1701 found out a short period of time ago
are you a unicorn?
@@yorkshire_tea_innit8097 yup INFJ-T
Ikr
I'm 40 years old. This is the first story that ever captured my heart. Before superheroes, before Star Wars, there was the Last Unicorn
I lost my son when he was 3 days old. We played this song at his funeral. He would have been 10 years old this July 11th. I got to tell this to Peter S. Beagle. He is the most genuine man I've ever met,
So let the pain come.
I can hear the laughter of the last unicorn.
I'm so sorry for your loss.
Rip
This comment had me cry more. I am so sorry for your loss... and the song makes me cry
Also one question.... How did he die at this young age??? This is really sad to see your son leave the world so early... 😢💔
@@RA1NB0W_ECH0 It can be summed up as a condition called Potter Syndrome. During his development in-utero, he didn't produce as much amniotic fluid as needed for his lungs to develop and become functional. In examinations after he was born it was found that he had not developed kidneys at all. So he couldn't breathe on his own or process waste.
Even after we agreed to have his breathing devices removed (with an increase in pain medication to keep him comfortable), he held on for a full hour before he was gone.
The only time he opened his eyes was when his mother and I held him at the end. They were grey like a storm.
My mother took me to see this in the movie theater in 1982, I was 7 years old. It haunted and saddened me then, and I quickly forgot about it and never thought of it again, until today, I'm 46. I have no idea what triggered my recall of it. I came here looking for better answers but all I find is the overwhelming sense of loss I felt then. It is the same loss I felt at age 31 when I became the oldest living male member of my immediate family. And now I'm slightly haunted by it again...
U r *alive*
We all cry with that same sense. As a child we enjoyed and flourished. Magical and with promise. As an adult, all that was sacred for us is buried. until we awaken it. We can, and share the wonder once again. Have faith.
This movie was about loss. I think loss of innocence and comforting belief. It affected me strongly as a kid in the 80’s. I think you are just properly feeling this movie. Hugs to another 80’s kid!
You can say truly with Molly Grue, “How dare you…how dare you come to me now? When I am *this*?” The loss doesn’t lessen with time, but our remembrance of the loss fades. It is the last unicorn in the world that comes to us, when we are no longer young and innocent…but she DOES come.
I'm the same age as you, and I used to watch this movie over and over again on cable TV. Every single time it gave me a haunted ssd feeling as well. I'm tempted to watch it again, but I'm not sure I'm ready to have those feelings triggered again. As I was writing this The Secret of NIMH just popped into my mind out of the blue. That movie left me with a sad taste in my mouth too.
This is my child movie, that I'll never forget.
And I always love this song
Same. I have the song on my iTunes.
Same. 😢
I'm turning 17 years old now, me and my father watched this movie daily when I was really young. He's missed some important years when my parents split, I can't wait for us to sit down and watch this movie again next time I visit
Did you watch it? I hope so.
@@tangleshootburrfoot36 and he never answered…..
@@VeryFatMonkey318 I said I watched it in the comment? lmao
Rest in Peace American director, producer, composer, lyricist, and author Jules Bass (September 16, 1935 - October 25, 2022), who co-founded Rankin/Bass Productions, with his friend, Arthur Rankin Jr. (July 19, 1924 - January 30, 2014). A truly animation legends!!
R.I.P. Sir Christopher Lee (1922-2015).
The feeling of sadness and nostalgia in this song is pretty damn beautiful.
My sister passed away on December 28th, 2021. Unicorns were her favorite animal as a child and this was arguably one of her favorite films. I remember enjoying it for all the fantasy but feeling a deep sense of sorrow and pain that I didn't understand until later in life. When I hear this song now I will always think of my sister and although it feels like the end of the world right now, I know that she's "alive" in the memories we created together and the lessons she taught me in life.
I’m sorry for your loss.
So sorry for your loss...may God's light shine down upon you and your loved ones..you have my deepest condolences..Godspeed 🙏 🥲
I was introduced to this film late in life by an elderly friend who became more like an adopted grandmother to me. Her favorite animal was unicorns and she adored this film. Sadly, she passed away yesterday. For as long as I live, I will never be able to watch this film without thinking of her.
🦄🦄😉😊
You die twice, once when you're heart stops, and again when someone says your name for the last time. As long as you remember your sister, she'll always be there in your heart.
I loved how they maintained that style from The Hobbit, but it was even more refined. It's like the next level to that art style. This is still even great animation by today's standards. The amount of work must have been immense to pull this movie off. Animation was much more pains taking then because it was all handcrafted. This movie was quite an achievement.
When the studio who produced this movie closed down, the animation studio also went under.
But the remainder of the staff, who were japanese animators, founded a new studio...
Its called studio Ghibli...
There were plans to make a live action version, right around the time the lord of the rings films were on top. They were going for the same feel, I’m not sure why they didn’t go forward. I hope one day maybe.
I honestly wish that we never invented computer animation, it’s just not the same… Hand drawn animation is just so magical, idk there’s just something about it that touches the soul. And i feel bad for children being born in this generation for a lot of reasons but also because most of them won’t experience how magical movies like this are, movies nowadays just have no meaning to them or love put into them.
I’m lost but what had The Hobbit got to do with this film ?
@@hackett152332 They're both Rankin/Bass productions. And you can see it in the art style. Except The Last Unicorn which they released considerably later than The Hobbit, had an even better production budget and they kept the same style and refined it.
I came to this film relatively late. I was 22 when I saw it for the first time, never having heard of it before. But the moment the film started I was utterly enchanted; and it was so emotional and deep and melancholic it struck a chord way way down. It made me feel like that child we all once were when we all believed that such things as dragons and unicorns might be real. The scene with Molly Grue demanding where the unicorn has been all her life hit me hardest, especially as an adult. Such a great film, such a great book, and this song is just amazing.
Molly Grue is tragic af
I got to see this film in the theatre with my grandma..n I cried for I know how she feels n still do. It touched a part of me which I can't explain in words..n the animation is just brilliant n the song choices are just brilliant. Good taste my friend!!
they ARE real. just not in the way we might think.
Theyre creation was based on /inspired by real animal species that exist on the planet and the symbolism of their behaviours and powers like the unicorns beauty, purity and innocence or its tendancy to run away and hide but only approach those who are pure of soul exists aplenty in nature and is what all humans aspire to emulate
A deer could be a unicorn, a wise person who says very little but misses nothing could he a unicorn and those who mock him the hunters of one
Just because they arent sparkly white magical horned equine creatures doesnt mean they are never present
They are as real as you or I
I was 4 years old when I picked out a tape of this movie from the library one day...... It's been one of my favorite movies since then even though after we brought it back I didn't get another chance to watch it until someone gave me the DVD for my 8th birthday, it's been 11 years since I first saw it and I still love the movie just as much. I recently got the book too.
Is your name really lunarwing? Awesome hippie name
@@unknownkingdom I mean Lunarwing isn't my irl name😅😆 I came up with it a few years ago as a name for an OC based on me in a book series universe
I have a Similar experience, when I was 2 my dad took me to this DVD store where you picked out the case of a movie you wanted then they would give you the DVD, I picked it out without knowing what it was at all(I thought the unicorn was pretty along with the black and blue cover) I watched it and loved it, then we moved and it got lost. So then a few months ago(I'm now 16) I found a video about it and it brought back a bunch of memories so I watched it on Amazon and still loved it but had an older person's perspective, and then I found out it was a book and now it's being shipped to me as I type this.
We had a library downstairs in the building where I grew up in Berlin. I grew up in the 90s and was like 7 or 8 when I first rented it, and rented it again and again and again, until my parents decided to just buy me a copy. I watched it again on youtube maybe a year ago, and just bawled the whole time. As a child I understood that it was sad, but mainly beautiful, as an adult I could see it from a whole deeper level. It will forever be one of my favorite movies.
Reminds me of my departed mother and my lost sister. Takes me back to every Friday night when they would watch it together. Now I'm the last that remembers.
How can a song be this beautiful?
🎸❤🎸❤🎶
*Only when u r alive*
Try litening to The Willow Maid by Erutan. That's a little mini movie and song in one.
I will forever be grateful for the Rankin bass "fantasy movement", those movies shaped me
True. The Last Unicorn was masterpiece that still holds up today. I just wish Rankin/Bass produced a lot more animated films for theatrical release during the 80's. They traditionally focused mostly on TV shows and specials. Even Rankin/Bass' other fantasy masterpiece, Flight of Dragons was a made for TV movie.
@@saiberunato it was, but it was amazing just the same
Rankin Bass deserve more shine.
@@KadanzaD Well said.
Right
I’m 18 and this was one of my favourite movies as a kid :)
You know something I noticed while watching this? The backgrounds in the movie go from simple but beautiful, abstract but understandable in her forest to the realistic paintings of the outside world. It really does hammer in the idea of the gritty, complex world out there, different from how the Unicorn lived before, and how she originally saw the world
There's something in this song that you can't even describe, amazing movie and song
This movie has brought tears to my eyes ever since the first time I watched it. The beauty is immeasurable. And now, at my factory job, I replay the songs of America and scenes in this movie through my head to get me through the monotonous day.
i have this unicorn as my tattoo when my artist was doing it she asked everyone who came in have you seen the last unicorn :)
This movie looks even more beautiful now than it did when I was a kid. That animation! Those backgrounds!
I remember when I first saw this movie at the age of 8 or 9 I was scared of the bull but I couldn't stop watching it💞
As a Molly this movie is life. I came here after my husband let me know they are doing a live action remake of this movie. I am a 33yr old woman but my husband knows how much this movie means to me. I remember asking to watch it everytime I stayed with my maw maw's. To this day it is one I can watch over and over again. I was a book nerd as a kid and only have two movies that i truly love. This one and Anne of Green Gables. The fact they are willing to mess with perfection after messing up so many mediocre films makes me want to cry. There are to many people who do not know this amazing movie that will learn to associate it with whatever live action trash they create.
They can make a live action but it will never catch the emotional connection we have to this movie. It is beautiful as it is, no matter how many times we watch it.
@@KaylaCherrieim33 yr old man the secret if you have children is teach to boycott modern movies and watch old originals. I watched this movie for first time few days ago. I dont watch modern movies cause they are gey. If everyone did that they would stop it but most people are probably very stupld.
"And it seems like all is dying and will leave the world to mourn, in the distance hear her laughter" I love these lyrics!
I still weep for this.
I love that film so much.
I just watched this last night and finally understand why this movie is so special to many. You rarely see family films this well written and this music is beautiful…
As I stare deeply into my reflection, projected by a curbside puddle, the memory of the last unicorn emerged once again in my mimd. I felt a deep sorrow, only comparable to the loss of my dear Dobby. From walks in the woods, to being sick in car journeys, or even bringing me random artifacts from the woods. Pain is the great reminder of a love once shared between man and dog. Today would be his 56th birthday.
Haunting and beautiful! Yanks at my heart.
As a proud Horse With No Name defender, it's hard to believe that the band that wrote the song with the lyric "plants and birds and rocks and things" would eventually go on to write something this lyrically solid. Like this goes way harder than it needs to for a song from a kids movie.
Lol... very well put. These guys were great musicians.
Actually, famed pop songwriter Jimmy Webb ("Macarthur Park") wrote the lyrics and music to this and the other songs in the film
First time saw this film on HBO back in 1984. The Last Unicorn is one of my all favorite childhood movie and soundtrack song by America.
100%
This movie was my absolute favorite growing up. I'd watch it with my mom. I tear up every time I watch it.
In Remembrance to The Last Unicorn (1982) animated film....
- Alan Arkin voice role as Schmendrick
(Born: March 26, 1934 - Died: June 29, 2023)
- Tammy Lee Grimes voice role as Molly Grue
(Born: January 30, 1934 - Died: October 30, 2016)
- Angela Lansbury voice role as Mommy Fortuna
(Born: October 16, 1925 - Died: October 11, 2022)
- Christopher Lee voice role as King Haggard
(Born: 27 May 1922 - Died: 7 June 2015)
- Keenan Wynn voice role as Captain Cully
(Born: July 27, 1916 - Died: October 14, 1986)
- Paul Frees voice role as Mabruk
(Born: June 22, 1920 - Died: November 2, 1986)
- Don Messick as Additional Voices
(Born: September 7, 1926 - Died: October 24, 1997)
- René Auberjonois voice role as Skull
(Born: June 1, 1940 - Died: December 8, 2019)
- Brother Theodore voice role as Ruhk
(Born: November 11, 1906 - Died: April 5, 2001)
- Ed Peck voice role as Jack Jingly, Cully's Men
(Born: March 26, 1917 - Died: September 12, 1992)
Mia Farrow outlived Alan arkin and Tammy Lee Grimes.
Just like The Last Unicorn, out lives Molly grue and Schmendrick her friends
Happy 40th anniversary, The Last Unicorn!
Released 11/19/1982!
This movie is a work of art. No matter how many times I see it or hear the soundtrack I feel so moved. It just connects to something in me and my heart. I feel so melancholy and yet warm...
As a kid I wasn’t able to appreciate how beautiful these older movies were. I am now able to admire the animation and artstyle as well as the songs. Is this what it feels like to have matured?
I`m 42 years old normaly, a Badass. But this Movie and Soundtrack gives me goosepumps. I saw this Movie sure 10 times. And everytime i cried. I don`t shame or blame about my tears. It`s all about this Movie, just timeless.
i watched this as a child. this melody is something my brain always reverts to and i never even realized until recently that it was this soong.
Loved this as a child in the early 80s. Still do as an adult. It's nice to switch off once in a while and enter a fantasy world because sometimes it's more preferable than reality.
Excellent work. I love the book and this cartoon. Thanks to group America I became a music lover. I first saw him on TV when I was seven years old. It was back in 1997. I did not fully understand all the events, but I could not tear myself away from watching. My childish mind and heart were filled with an incomprehensible feeling of sadness, although everything ended well in cartoon.
I know how you feel. I loved this movie when I was 5-6, and I loved this music. I didn't get the chance to see it again for a long time. When I started playing the movie on my laptop when I was 18, the nostalgia, beauty of this song, and the feelings of sadness were overwhelming, I just started to sob.
@@alyssalewis8421 lol. I also saw it when i was 6, and then hadn't chance to see it again till i became 18...
I absolutely adored this movie as a child🥺 I’m now 22 and tearing up seeing this again. Feels like I unlocked some very early childhood memories
I"m getting so much Led Zeppelin Stairway to Heaven vibes from this. The song and the visuals. Am I alone in this?
Yes.
I listened to this song by America for the very first time on TH-cam and it was amazing
This really was art. Others have said it here and I cannot agree more. I MADE my husband and 12 yr old son watch this when it was my turn to pick something for family movie night. So far this is now one of their absolute favorite movies. It only comes behind a select few Marvel movies.
Y'all have a great taste then
What movies?
Still makes me cry in 2021. So many memories from the movie and the song.
I saw this in the theater with two of my 9th grade friends. We can still recite it all lol We can grow up, but some part of being young is always there.My brother looks just like Schmendrick! Lol, I still call him that.
I’ve watched this movie several times in my life. And it always leaves me with this melancholy sense of “What if?..” and “I miss this magic..”
I.. I like to think that if there really are Unicorns out there somewhere, watching us.. I’d like to think if I ever saw one… I would still know it for what it was.
At least.. I really hope so.
I had a dream about a white unicorn about two months ago, was on the phone talking to my younger sister about it today and she led me to this movie. She told me how much she liked it and how I should watch it and that maybe I'd receive some insight into my dream. I believe that they do exist and you get what you believe. Keep believing, never doubt, peace, peace, peace unto you!
Believing is seeing.
This is beautiful. I remember seeing this movie in the 80s as a child.
One of the most beautiful deep and dark stories ever told. I own this on dvd. Bought it. Btw rip Alan Arkin (Schmendrick)
Magic, excitement, music, action, fantasy, thrills, romance, and adventure. Beautiful song for the old movie, The Last Unicorn (1982). It was released eight years before I was born. I never knew it existed until I found out for myself. Unicorns are legendary and most beautiful of all creatures that walk the land. They have the body of a horse, the tail of a lion, the legs of an antelope, and a single horn in their foreheads. Their horns are magical to heal the sick and wounded, stop an ambush, and purify toxic water. The unicorns may be old and worn, but they look young, feisty, playful, and strong. As long as they have magic in their horns, they will never die and go extinct like the dinosaurs did. I love unicorns and I do believe they are real. Understand this, just because you can't see something, doesn't mean they don't exist. I never gave up believing in fairies and magic with all my heart because I still refuse to wake up, grow up, and forget all about the precious things I knew, especially those from my childhood. I am a child within. I am strong, childlike, young, and beautiful. Believe in magic and never grow up.
This movie was so influential to me as child. I became obsessed with it when I was in high school. The animation is really refreshing.
I was 11 when this came out. I just watched it 2022. I will always love this movie and the music. Nothing but a great memory.
I was 6 and a half months old when i first discovered the VHS tape of this film in my uncle franks attic. It was New Years Eve, and the sky was thick with mist (or it may have been fog). My family had just been through a very traumatic event (I wont go into it here, as that would be oversharing). I remember crawling into the living room and beginning to watch, transfixed, when my mother came into the room and announced that this was her favourite movie as a young girl. I was deeply saddened, pained, moved, touched, elbowed, caressed, and flabbergasted by the moral story of this film. my mother was hit by an eddie stobart lorry 3 days laters, and this memory will always live with me in my heart. its been 34 years. I miss you, mum.
This is the song that always makes me cry. Reminding me of my childhood 😢
If it weren't for Rankin/Bass, there wouldn't be a movie about The Last Unicorn 🦄.
i really enjoyed this movie as a kid and i still do, its so sad how underrated it is
I will be 50 this year and me too, I will never forget this movie I saw as I was very young. The first and may be the last time I flet like a unicorne 😄. Thanks to America for the sound track 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
Turning 33, saw this when I was 4. Absolutely legendary.
One of the things i adore was there depiction of unicorns. They didn't just describe a horse with a horn with magic tricks, they truly made the unicorns feel like a otherworldly creature apart from animals that demand respect.
This song is filled with such happiness and yet it has such a sad tone every time I listen to this song it makes me shed a tear why Jimmy Webb
I was 11 years old when I saw this movie. God I miss my childhood.
I watched this movie over and over again when my sisters and I were kids.
We still love this movie, and I can honesty say (without asking any of them), that we'd pick this movie to watch over any repackaged Disney Princess.
this movie was a change to my life. It was beautiful, she was beautiful, and this song is so heavy. I absolutely adore her, So much that my parents got matching tattoos of her,
It really hurts, when you hear this wonderful song in another version for the first time. Best rendition of the song, together with the orchestra it is really beautiful.
Das einer meiner liebsten Filme an heilig Abend
this movie was my whole childhood!
RIP Angela Lansbury and Alan Arkin loved your performances as the witch and Schmendrick respectively in this film
America's heartfelt chord progressions such as the ones in this song are still a major influence in my own songwriting. There really is magic in it.
This whole movie was my childhood crush!
As a child that was my favourite movie.
As a human, Lady Almathea is a beauty. However, as a unicorn, Lady Almathea is absolutely GORGEOUS!
i’m only 16 and i don’t what brought me back here but it did and now i have tears
Damn, I just rewatched this move after not seeing it for at least 10 years I both feel like me as a kid was an idiot and realized that I still have some of the same traits. I grew up with moves like this and the secret of nymh etc. And now people say that those moves were dark but as a kid I thought they were grea, and still do.
The song makes me realize that Last is a more powerful word then I thought, even more so then End simply because while something can End, that same thing can start again but if some thing is the Last then it will never happen again.
But if it's the Last it can Last.
@@EndTH-camShorts_ lol that's what I thought when I re-read my own comment
i saw this movie when i was very little, one of the first movies i can remember watching as a toddler, and i loved it for years whenever i remembered it. i am going to be 18 this year, and i still adore this movie to bits, especially its animation. i appreciate it a lot now, and consider it a masterpiece.
I remember this movie when I was young . In the early 80's . I was in early elementary school. Well we flip around the bars and call it playing The Last Unicorn 🦄 with my friend, a girl about my age . Also , group of us would pretend the wood chips are hot lava,
we'd stay on tires and side. Love this movie, it's a classic. ,🤙👍🦄😎💜
The animation was so beautiful in this movie!
I found America through mere chance, A Horse With No Name, Chasing the Rainbow, Tin Man, and many, many more. This song always sounded so sad when I heard it and I never knew there was an entire film made until earlier this year when my partner and I watched it together. It never fails at bringing a tear to my eye. Such a sad yet beautiful story...
This movie and this song is just magical... It helps me to remember the childhood.
I never watched this movie as a child, but I definitely want to buy it on DVD someday!
My god, I can close my eyes and travel back in time. 😮
She's such a beautiful creature.
I'm a guy love this movie , I'm 45 mom n dad took me and my older sister to see this when it came, out I didn't rent it online I got it from the , library today it's sad that the live action movie never came to be would have loved to see it , I'm a hard ass lol but get sentimental when I remember my childhood , can't wait to watch this again tonight
I really miss this song and the movie itself. I still remember some of the phrases. Saw the movie when I was in gradeschool. Thank goodness for TH-cam. Thank you so much for sharing.
There are no happy endings, because nothing ever ends.
I’m not gonna lie.. I’m rolling on acid rn and I remember playing this on my CD player in 2013
I can feel this body dying all around me, probably the best expression of losing one's self.
This was my most favorite movie even tho It was made way before I was born I still loved it!❤
This was my favorite movie as a child. It’s no wonder my life turned the way it did
Gosh i cant hear this song without crying. The voice is so beutiful and it brings me back to my childhood❤❤😢