There can only be one.

[BlinkingDuck]

@Biggirl

You know I’m gonna have to watch the sequels now.

No. I know it is compelling like a car accident. You might think they might be ‘so bad they’re good’. However, just don’t. Trust me.

However, as my dad used to say…some people you can tell. Some people you can show. However there are a few that just have to piss on the electric fence.

[Balance]

@Yllaria

Flying monkeys? Highlander 2 had flying monkeys?

Well, it was supposed to. Then the monkeys got a look at the script, fired their agent, and flew away screaming.

[Dogzilla]

Clancy Brown has been in a lot of movies. I can’t see him without hearing, “There can be only one.” in my head. He will always be The Krugen to me. In every movie. Forever. Until the end of time.

On that note, Christian Bale will always be the American Psycho and Hugo Weaving will always be Agent Smith. Don’t care how brilliant any of these actors are, or what their best roles were, when I see one of those three, I am taken out of that movie and right back to Highlander/American Psycho/The Matrix.

[muldoonthief]

@Red_Wiggler

Clancy Brown driving across the bridge with the girlfriend captive, swerving directly at oncoming traffic and croaking the lyrics to “New York, New York” was one of the great movie scenes of all time. I laugh every time.

I love the bit when the hooker walks into his room and announces “Hi. I’m Candy.” “Of course you are…”

@Dogzilla

Clancy Brown has been in a lot of movies. I can’t see him without hearing, “There can be only one.” in my head. He will always be The Krugen to me. In every movie. Forever. Until the end of time.

The Krugen? Isn’t that a pastry of some kind?

[SirGalahad]

As far as I can tell, Highlander ripped off the Casca series of novels by Barry Sadler. Scot replaces Roman, same immortality plus cheesy “quest to be the only one” thrown in. True, Casca only had one immortal, if memory serves. Still, Casca is worth reading if you like the immortal warrior plot.

The sword fighting in trenchcoats was very cool, as was the Kurgan barbarian. The “Egyptian gives the Scot a Samurai sword” got confusing and could have been left out.

I agree Lambert is a mediocre actor, but his deadpan performance sort of fits the character of a very old warrior who’s tired of living, but afraid to die. I though he projected the “I’ve seen everything … nothing impresses me” vibe well.

[silenus]

Silly but fun movie. Casey Brown makes it.

[Sister_Vigilante]

@muldoonthief

Wasn’t Ramirez originally Egyptian (as in born in Egypt 2000 years ago), but posing as a Spaniard?

Yeah, I think so. Which makes it even sillier that he’s doing a better Scottish accent than Lambert, while not bothering to blend in, in any other way.

[Meatros]

@Biggirl

Are the sequels any good. And by that I mean do they build on the first movie in any logical way? Are more Highlanders born and Tarzan is compelled through time to seek them out and kill them?

No, end it at the first one.

I wouldn’t even recommend watching the series, although it does have a fan base.

[msmith537]

@gallows_fodder

btw, no one should watch this one, either. Whoever told sting he could act should have been challenged to a duel.

I WILL kill him!!!

[Jonathan_Chance]

I’m going against the grain and say that The Highlander is one of the best fantasy movies ever made. Is it up there with The Wizard of Oz? Of course not. But it’s a solid entrant in the ranks behind it. I think a lot of the lack of respect comes not from the film but from the 80s design. And that’s not the fault of the movie. No one makes fun of It’s a Wonderful life for having that depression era feel. Or the old Superman reels for having that 50s vibe. It’s an unfair slam.

Think of the interesting sequences in it.

1. The Loooong tracking shot at the beginning in Madison Square Garden
2. The driving on the bridge sequence with the still shots of people getting hit
3. The confusing switch between time frames that left pretty much everyone going ‘wtf?’ during the first 30 minutes
4. A few truly amazing sword fighting scenes
5. Three great characters in Ramirez, McLeod and the Kurgan all of whom expressed immortality in different, but worthy, ways
6. A truly tear-jerking scene where Heather dies from old age. I once saw this at an event with a group of women, all of whom had seen it multiple times, and all of whom were in tears
7. It paints a world where reality is deeper than others in-world understand and does it well, with little more than hints
8. An astonishingly funny dueling scene in the 1700s
   It’s a great movie. And done on a the cheap.

[Red_Wiggler]

When I finally got around to watching it, I liked it way better than I thought I would.

[Maus_Magill]

@Jonathan_Chance

I’m going against the grain and say that The Highlander is one of the best fantasy movies ever made. Is it up there with The Wizard of Oz? Of course not. But it’s a solid entrant in the ranks behind it. I think a lot of the lack of respect comes not from the film but from the 80s design. And that’s not the fault of the movie. No one makes fun of It’s a Wonderful life for having that depression era feel. Or the old Superman reels for having that 50s vibe. It’s an unfair slam.

I don’t think anyone is saying Highlander was bad in this thread.

The sequels on the other hand…

[drastic_quench]

The Highlander franchise has the most squandered potential of any genre fiction I can think of. If the name weren’t so rightfully tainted, I’d love to see a series written jointly by history professors and screenwriters. It could be so much better.

[TheBoltEater]

52 replies and no one has slammed the OP for the title “There can only be one”? Straight Dope, you’ve really let me down this time.

[Snowboarder_Bo]

I’m with ya, Jonathon!

[Maus_Magill]

@TheBoltEater

52 replies and no one has slammed the OP for the title “There can only be one”? Straight Dope, you’ve really let me down this time.

Stoopid dyslexia. I didn’t even notice.

[Biggirl]

I laughed out loud when The Kurgan went to church and slapped all the candles out. He wasn’t the angry ghost who jumped in front of the train in Ghost, was he?

So sorry for fucking up the tag line.

Oh, I also wanted to ask: Why did Sean Connery’s blow take off his head?

[Apollyon]

@Biggirl

Oh, I also wanted to ask: Why did Sean Connery’s blow take off his head?

Didn’t? If you mean Ramirez’s blow then it was too shallow – slashed open the Kurgan’s throat but didn’t get to the spine.

Note on Lambert’s accent… this from watching the commentary on my version of the movie… he didn’t speak English at the time.

He was hired or a play or pay (?) contract (cannot recall the term, but it meant once hired he had to be paid anyway) on the strength of his performance in Greystoke and only upon meeting him did the producers (IIRC) realise that he didn’t speak English.

It’s an awesome commentary track… and a wonder the film got made at all.

[the_diego]

The tv series with Adrian Paul was worth looking forward to on Friday nights, until Darius died and they started butchering old premises.

[SecretaryofEvil]

@Apollyon

It’s an awesome commentary track… and a wonder the film got made at all.

It’s definitely worth listening to. Sean Connery shot all his scenes in one week, and recorded the opening narration over the phone from the bathroom in his house. The crew fondly remembers the free crate of booze they got from Hennessy for featuring their product in the film. Easily one of the best film commentaries out there.