“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!
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.
One of the best Trolls in hundreds of movies I've seen!! For some reason, the cliché-delivering News Vendor in 'A Few Good Men' makes me think of a Polite version of him😂
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
"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.
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,
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.
@@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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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".
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. 😊
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.
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 TH-camr 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”😆
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
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
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.
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.
Loved this movie and the TV series. Conor (Christopher Lambert) was in the first episode and introduced us to his imortal clansman Duncan MacLeod (Adrian Paul).
Christopher Lambert reprised his role in the first episode of Highlander the TV series where he passes the torch to Duncan a kinsman. That series was really good as well. Explained many of the things that are only alluded to here.
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 .....
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...
What amazing timing. I only found out yesterday that Christopher Lambert is legally blind. He was at the time of this film, too: he's not "dark blind" but his myopia is so severe that he needs weird glasses to make it manageable, and he can't correct it with contact lenses due to the nature of his eyes. That's how he gets that wonderful blank faraway stare in most of his scenes, and why he suffered a TON of injuries doing his fight choreography on these films.
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.
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.
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.
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 🕊️☮️♾️😎
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!!!!!
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.
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.
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.
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 😅
There can be only one JennyPenny! Loved that you noticed some of the best transitions in cinema. Always great to share in your joy at a film. Stop here - everything that follows is less than the one before.
Jen, your reactions are amazing. So off-kilter (get it?) and unexpected. Queen, swordfights in sunglasses, the appreciation of the background music, and your strange yet wonderful sense of humor. Another job well done! I saw this movie in the theater as a kid, mostly for the Queen music. I thought it was just OK. Your reaction helped me appreciate as I should have originally. Such a rare talent you have
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.
"There can be only one!" I always say that along with McLeod as he's about to go through the quickening. I love that scene, it's rewound, and rewatched, several times, whenever I watch the movie. This is one of my all-time favorite movies, and I am so glad you reacted to it. It's become a cult movie all around. I love it. And also Queen, a favorite band, so need I say more about how much I love the soundtrack? It's amazing.
Just in case anyone didn't realise. Queen specifically wrote the songs for the film - which is why they work perfectly. To this day I still randomly blurt out random quotes to myself (like...B-A-L-A-N-C-E, Balance'). Of all the films from that era I have watched the most I think Highlander wins as I watched it 20+ times as a kid (though it is probably just ahead of Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Beverly Hills Cop and Total Recall). Great film, songs and score.
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.
I heard an interview with a supper centurion, the man was celebrating his 110th birthday. They asked if he had any advice for anyone who wanted to have a long life. His answer changed my view of living a long time. He said Don't. His wife was dead, all of his friends had died, even his kids had preceded him in death. And his grandchildren were becoming grandparents themselves. I no longer listen to interviews of people celebrating their triple digit birthdays. What must it be like to be interviews by people a quarter of your age, as if living a long time is a good thing. The song is right, "When life has but one sweet moment, who wants to live forever, anyway?"
Poignant. Mortals will always ponder this question. It has been addressed in multiple movies and innumerable books. This movie is one of the best examples. Another good one was Star Trek, the original series episode “Requiem for Methuselah.” In it, the antagonist is revealed to be an immortal human of Earth’s ancient past. He, like Connor McCloud, led many lives, gaining wealth and expertise in many disciplines. His property included articles from a Medieval inventor, unpublished sheet music from the European Classical period, and fresh paintings in the style of a renowned Renaissance Master painter. He became godlike in his knowledge, so much so that he could no longer identify with the childlike minds of normal humans. He sought solitude among the stars and built an Android female companion as a solution to his loneliness. I think retaining happiness and fulfillment in such an existence could only last until the attainment of knowledge was replaced by the wisdom that gaining knowledge has diminishing returns on investment. Eventually, you become too far removed from a blissful ignorance and it all seems pointless. This is where the movie “Groundhog Day” went for Phil Connors. He grew bored with an eternity in which there was nothing left to learn and tried in vain to end it all: unsuccessfully. He found renewed hope in becoming a better, more giving person. But he was released from immortality and could have the companion of his dreams, so, a happy ending. He was not forced to loose her as he stood by as a helpless immortal. Many people who have gained wisdom as they grow old report not fearing death. Through faith or acceptance of our mortal existence of flesh, some feel comfort in the knowledge that all things come to an end; that there is a time when pain ends, tears dry, and one can rest and feel at peace in the knowledge that they lived a good life.
The song also says, "And we can have forever And we can love forever Forever is our today" Connor managed to find love again without loving his centuries dead wife any less. I'd say the pain of losing the people you've loved could be balanced by the new people you can love.
The best Highlander experience is 1st movie - 3rd movie - TV Show - 4th Movie ... the TV show really dives into the lore of the immortals and gives you alot of growth with Connor and Duncan Macleod. Watching the 4th movie endgame without watching the TV show is almost a waste of how impactful that movie is . This movie doesnt explain the quickening all that great . When one immortal kills another they get all their knowledge. So when the lightning happens and you see the immortal kinda seizing thats them gaining all of the power and knowledge of the other immortal . Thats why Connor says he knows everything , its all the knowledge from every immortal that ever lived .
Something I just realised, when Connor in the church says "Ramirez's blade did not cut deep enough" there's no way he could've known it wasn Ramirez who cut him as Ramirez died before he could tell Connor, so it was just a guess. I guess when he found Juan's katana it had blood on it but that could come from any cut to the body, considering Juan impaled Kurgan at one point.
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!
Queen has the album 'A Kind of Magic' which is full of songs related to Highlander. Its a great album. Also Queen did all the songs and music for the movie 'Flash Gordon'.
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.
One of the best soundtracks ever. I had forgotten how many of these songs were from this movie. The number of hits from one movie soundtrack must be unequalled.
What do you think of the sequels?
1980's Playlist: th-cam.com/play/PLQHhQlj8i5drsQx2uSifPV3sKWZEJrnyx.html
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
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.
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.
One of the best Trolls in hundreds of movies I've seen!! For some reason, the cliché-delivering News Vendor in 'A Few Good Men' makes me think of a Polite version of him😂
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Clancy Brown who plays the Kurgan has a reputation of being one of the nicest guys
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!
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? "
"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.
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.
His fake Terror when he plays chicken in the car are great also😂
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.
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.😂
“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.
"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.
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.
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.
I love the line "my cut has improved your voice"
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
The Kurgan is one of the best villains in film.
So enjoyable to see someone watch this 100% blind, and experience the mythos unfold.
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.
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.
I love it when Jen goes "Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!" She get's so invested.
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.
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
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.
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.
The unofficial soundtrack is pretty much Queen's album "It's a kind of magic".
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..
This is such an underrated classic. Really surprised that it’s not talked about more.
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. 😊
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.
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 TH-camr 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”😆
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.
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!"
Rawhide!!!
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.
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.
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.
36:34 - “You’re going Down Ugly”
😂 Absolute Classic 😂
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.
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.
“Sunglasses and sword… you just don’t see that very often.” Most hilarious thing I’ve heard in a long, long time!
😎😎
“I wonder if this is gonna get bloody.” 😂
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
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
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.
Highlander (1986) is a prime example of how a great production can elevate mid storytelling.
Loved this movie and the TV series. Conor (Christopher Lambert) was in the first episode and introduced us to his imortal clansman Duncan MacLeod (Adrian Paul).
Had no idea those were called groove pits. I love those setups.
Christopher Lambert reprised his role in the first episode of Highlander the TV series where he passes the torch to Duncan a kinsman. That series was really good as well. Explained many of the things that are only alluded to here.
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 .....
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’ll bloody well walk out of here!” 😂🤣😂
What amazing timing. I only found out yesterday that Christopher Lambert is legally blind. He was at the time of this film, too: he's not "dark blind" but his myopia is so severe that he needs weird glasses to make it manageable, and he can't correct it with contact lenses due to the nature of his eyes. That's how he gets that wonderful blank faraway stare in most of his scenes, and why he suffered a TON of injuries doing his fight choreography on these films.
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.
Funny thing is, Queen agreed to do ONE song for the soundtrack, but they loved the premise of the movie so much that they did it all.
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.
Jen: "Is he a good guy or a bad guy?"
Clancy Brown: "There can be only one... bad guy in this movie!"
The TV series from the 90's is fantastic, Jen. You'd love it!
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.
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 🕊️☮️♾️😎
Always loved the fact that a german was playing a scott and a scott was playing an englishman.
lol.
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!!!!!
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’.
Christopher Lambert also starred in the best Tarzan movie ever, Greystoke.
So glad that you reacted to this movie Jen, it clearly went under the radar here on youtube.
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!😁
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.
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?
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 😅
The soundtrack is a thing of legend. Hearing Freddy sing "no one wants to live forever" just tugs at you.
There can be only one JennyPenny! Loved that you noticed some of the best transitions in cinema. Always great to share in your joy at a film. Stop here - everything that follows is less than the one before.
Those Queen tracks get me hyyyyyyped! 🎸 🎤 🥁
Jen, your reactions are amazing. So off-kilter (get it?) and unexpected. Queen, swordfights in sunglasses, the appreciation of the background music, and your strange yet wonderful sense of humor. Another job well done!
I saw this movie in the theater as a kid, mostly for the Queen music. I thought it was just OK. Your reaction helped me appreciate as I should have originally. Such a rare talent you have
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.
"There can be only one!" I always say that along with McLeod as he's about to go through the quickening. I love that scene, it's rewound, and rewatched, several times, whenever I watch the movie.
This is one of my all-time favorite movies, and I am so glad you reacted to it. It's become a cult movie all around. I love it.
And also Queen, a favorite band, so need I say more about how much I love the soundtrack? It's amazing.
Good reaction Jen. You might like the TV show Highlander. It is way better than the sequels.
Just in case anyone didn't realise. Queen specifically wrote the songs for the film - which is why they work perfectly.
To this day I still randomly blurt out random quotes to myself (like...B-A-L-A-N-C-E, Balance').
Of all the films from that era I have watched the most I think Highlander wins as I watched it 20+ times as a kid (though it is probably just ahead of Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Beverly Hills Cop and Total Recall). Great film, songs and score.
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.
Frakkin great movie! Clancy and Chris (and Sean) performed well for 1985
I heard an interview with a supper centurion, the man was celebrating his 110th birthday. They asked if he had any advice for anyone who wanted to have a long life. His answer changed my view of living a long time. He said Don't.
His wife was dead, all of his friends had died, even his kids had preceded him in death. And his grandchildren were becoming grandparents themselves.
I no longer listen to interviews of people celebrating their triple digit birthdays.
What must it be like to be interviews by people a quarter of your age, as if living a long time is a good thing.
The song is right, "When life has but one sweet moment, who wants to live forever, anyway?"
There are definitely fates worse than death, eh?
Kind of like Tom Hanks character in The Green Mile.
Poignant. Mortals will always ponder this question. It has been addressed in multiple movies and innumerable books.
This movie is one of the best examples. Another good one was Star Trek, the original series episode “Requiem for Methuselah.” In it, the antagonist is revealed to be an immortal human of Earth’s ancient past. He, like Connor McCloud, led many lives, gaining wealth and expertise in many disciplines.
His property included articles from a Medieval inventor, unpublished sheet music from the European Classical period, and fresh paintings in the style of a renowned Renaissance Master painter.
He became godlike in his knowledge, so much so that he could no longer identify with the childlike minds of normal humans.
He sought solitude among the stars and built an Android female companion as a solution to his loneliness.
I think retaining happiness and fulfillment in such an existence could only last until the attainment of knowledge was replaced by the wisdom that gaining knowledge has diminishing returns on investment. Eventually, you become too far removed from a blissful ignorance and it all seems pointless.
This is where the movie “Groundhog Day” went for Phil Connors. He grew bored with an eternity in which there was nothing left to learn and tried in vain to end it all: unsuccessfully.
He found renewed hope in becoming a better, more giving person. But he was released from immortality and could have the companion of his dreams, so, a happy ending. He was not forced to loose her as he stood by as a helpless immortal. Many people who have gained wisdom as they grow old report not fearing death. Through faith or acceptance of our mortal existence of flesh, some feel comfort in the knowledge that all things come to an end; that there is a time when pain ends, tears dry, and one can rest and feel at peace in the knowledge that they lived a good life.
The song also says,
"And we can have forever
And we can love forever
Forever is our today"
Connor managed to find love again without loving his centuries dead wife any less. I'd say the pain of losing the people you've loved could be balanced by the new people you can love.
The best Highlander experience is 1st movie - 3rd movie - TV Show - 4th Movie ... the TV show really dives into the lore of the immortals and gives you alot of growth with Connor and Duncan Macleod. Watching the 4th movie endgame without watching the TV show is almost a waste of how impactful that movie is .
This movie doesnt explain the quickening all that great . When one immortal kills another they get all their knowledge. So when the lightning happens and you see the immortal kinda seizing thats them gaining all of the power and knowledge of the other immortal . Thats why Connor says he knows everything , its all the knowledge from every immortal that ever lived .
Agree with the sequence of experiencing Highlander.
The second movie should be skipped entirely and never mentioned.
It’s more than just past knowledge, because after he gets the prize, Conor says he can know what people are thinking.
Whoever told you the original was not good, doesn’t really like fantasy movies.
Something I just realised, when Connor in the church says "Ramirez's blade did not cut deep enough" there's no way he could've known it wasn Ramirez who cut him as Ramirez died before he could tell Connor, so it was just a guess. I guess when he found Juan's katana it had blood on it but that could come from any cut to the body, considering Juan impaled Kurgan at one point.
Where was Connor during the fight between Ramirez ans the Kurgan ?
@@NABIL7 Noone knows, probably off to fetch some form of supplies.
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!
Queen has the album 'A Kind of Magic' which is full of songs related to Highlander. Its a great album. Also Queen did all the songs and music for the movie 'Flash Gordon'.
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.
The line to Rachel, "It's a kind of magic," was for Queen. It's one of their songs
Top 10 Greatest Films Ever, the sequels on the other hand, don't bother, you'll never get that time back
One of the best soundtracks ever. I had forgotten how many of these songs were from this movie. The number of hits from one movie soundtrack must be unequalled.
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.