Retro Review - Highlander

 

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“In the end, there can be only one.” 

                                        -Sir Sean Connery 

As promised in my retro review for Finding Forrester, in honor of the late Sir Sean Connery, I shall now review another one of his many gems, Highlander. 

The Cannon Group was an independent film company which was responsible for a ton of crazy films that most of you likely enjoyed in your youth. Founded in 1967 by Dennis Friedland and Chris Dewey, they kicked off their early years by producing english dubs for soft-core Swedish porn. Later on, they would start producing their own content, maintaining an extreme low-budget policy for all of their movies, earning them a greater deal of prestige and financial success than most Hollywood studios at the time. 

Although, it wasn’t until Cannon’s acquisition by Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus in 1979 that the film company really took off. Under their management, they produced some of the most memorable (if unintentionally goofy) and entertaining movies of the 1980s. Including Breaken’ 2: Electric Boogaloo, American Ninja, and the live-action feature-film adaptation of Masters of the Universe. Cannon would continue to produce low-budget schlocky movies until its untimely demise in 1994. 

Amongst all of the films in Cannon’s library, Highlander is arguably their best achievement. Even though it has some less-than-stellar makeup effects, occasional audio inserts that are painfully obvious, and one too many compromised shots with things such as lighting gear in the frame, none of that ever matters in the grand scheme. Because the movie itself is incredibly awesome! An epic tale of conquest, survival, honor, and love the likes of which you almost couldn’t find anywhere else. Plus, the film is aware of how cheesy it is, but rather than try and compensate for it, the movie embraces its cheesiness and has a blast. Its a delightful Red Sangria made with a fine Pinot Noir. 

Released in 1986, the story follows an antiques dealer named Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert) operating in New York city. However, unbeknownst to nearly everyone in his life, Connor has a big secret; he’s immortal. Connor was born in Scotland in the year 1518. Upon reaching proper age, he died in battle against an invading force lead by a ruthless warlord known as The Kurgan (Clancy Brown), who is also an immortal. Death by an immortal grants your own immortality. After waking up from the dead, Connor is exiled from his village, and seeks a new life for himself. He finds it with his lover, Heather (Beatie Edney), and all seems stable. That is until the two of them are visited by a mysterious and flamboyant stranger calling himself Ramírez (Sir Sean Connery), who informs Connor of his immortality, and must now learn the ways of their culture and survival. 

Of the many fascinating aspects of this films creation, Sir Sean Connery’s performance is, by far, the most engaging. Due to the tight budget and shooting schedule, the filmmakers only had Mr. Connery available for one week. Like any of his other roles, Mr. Connery plays Ramírez with enthusiasm and conviction. Probably the most iconic part of Mr. Connery’s performance is his opening monologue at the beginning of the film. Apparently, he recorded it in his bathroom at his house, creating a beautiful and ominous echo effect. A fantastic example of how you can make something epic out of the ordinary. 

The sword fight scenes are appropriately entertaining. While they’re not as well choreographed as any of the lightsaber duals from Star Wars, nor as poorly improvised as the sword fights from Bloodrayne,  they are executed with enough commitment for proper entertainment value. Almost like watching kids play fighting; it’s too charming and silly not to enjoy. 

Director Russel Mulcahy, also known for Ricochet, the 1994 feature-film adaptation of  The Shadow, and a few episodes of the television series Teen Wolf, seems to specialize in silly over-the-top entertainment. Creatively, the man is unchained and clearly knows how to have fun with his material. While I would not claim the man is a genius, nor do I sing praises of all his movies, I believe he was the right man for Highlander. I can’t think of any other director at the time who could have treated this material with the amount of bombast it requires. 

Highlander is a rare masterpiece of cheesy schlock. It knows what it is and doesn’t try to be anything else. It’s loaded with heart, sweet goodness, and bad-ass moments. If you haven’t seen this gem yet, I encourage you to check it out as soon as you can. They don’t make them like this anymore. 

Ladies & gentlemen, I am TheNorm; thank you all for reading.