Highlander is a 1986 fantasy action-adventure film and the first installment in the Highlander franchise. It follows Connor MacLeod, a Scottish Highlander who discovers he is immortal and, after centuries of clandestine duels, confronts his ultimate rival in contemporary New York. It stars Christopher Lambert as MacLeod and also features Roxanne Hart, Clancy Brown, and Sean Connery. It is directed by Russell Mulcahy from a screenplay by Gregory Widen, Peter Bellwood, and Larry Ferguson.
Highlander was a commercial failure on its initial theatrical release, grossing only a little less than $13 million worldwide against a production budget of $19 million, while receiving mixed reviews. Nevertheless, it became a cult film and inspired several film sequels and television spin-offs. British rock band Queen recorded several songs for the film's soundtrack, and those songs also appeared on their 1986 studio album, A Kind of Magic. Another Queen song, "Hammer to Fall", is also used in the film, although it was recorded for the band's previous studio album, The Works. One of the songs from A Kind of Magic, "Princes of the Universe", was also used for the title sequence in the television series. The tagline, "There can be only one", has carried on into pop culture.
Plot
In 1985 New York, Connor MacLeod encounters an old enemy, Iman Fasil, in the parking garage of Madison Square Garden. After a sword duel, Connor beheads Fasil and absorbs a powerful release of energy from his body, then hides his sword in the garage's ceiling. NYPD officers detain him on suspicion of murder but lack evidence to hold him.
Connor's history is revealed through a series of flashbacks. In the Scottish Highlands in 1536, Connor fights against the rival Fraser clan as a warrior of the MacLeod clan. The Frasers are aided by an outlander knight in exchange for his right to slay Connor. In battle, the knight fatally stabs Connor but is driven off by his clansmen. After Connor makes a complete recovery, his lover Kate and his cousin Dougal accuse him of witchcraft. The clan wants to kill him, but his other cousin, chieftain Angus, mercifully exiles him. Connor quietly settles into a new life as a blacksmith and marries a woman named Heather MacDonald.
Juan Sánchez-Villalobos Ramírez, a wandering swordsman, seeks out Connor. He explains that they and others like them are "Immortals". They possess a sixth sense known as the "quickening" and can be killed only by beheading. Each immortal must be ready to do battle with others, save on holy ground. Ramírez trains Connor in sword fighting and the two become friends. He informs Connor that as the number of immortals dwindles, they will gather in a distant land for a final confrontation until only one remains with the combined quickening of all. Immortals cannot conceive children, and Ramírez urges Connor to leave Heather so that he will be unburdened in the fight ahead. The knight that he encountered, the Kurgan, is a powerful and vicious immortal who would subject humanity to an eternity of darkness.
One night while Connor is away, the Kurgan finds Ramírez at his home with Heather and decapitates him in a duel. Connor stays with Heather until she dies of old age, leaving him heartbroken. He adopts Ramírez's katana as his own and spends the next few centuries wandering the Earth.
In 1985, the Gathering approaches, and the Kurgan comes to New York, where Connor deals antiques under the alias "Russell Nash", assisted by his confidant and adopted daughter Rachel Ellenstein. Brenda Wyatt, a metallurgy expert working for the police as a forensic scientist, finds shards of Connor's sword at Fasil's death scene and is puzzled that the sword smithing techniques do not match the age of the blade. She follows Connor for clues and witnesses the Kurgan attacking him. The police arrive, forcing them to flee. She meets with Connor twice afterward, hoping to learn about the paradoxical sword. Connor likes her but tells her to leave him alone.
The Kurgan duels and beheads Sunda Kastagir, another immortal. A witness to the fight gives the NYPD a description of him. Brenda investigates Connor and finds evidence that he has lived for centuries. On Heather's birthday, Connor lights a candle for her in a church as he has done every year. The Kurgan arrives and confirms that he and Connor are now the last remaining immortals and also reveals he raped Heather after killing Ramírez. Disgusted, but prohibited from fighting on holy ground, Connor leaves.
Brenda confronts Connor, who explains his true identity. After spending the night together, they part company, but the Kurgan finds out about their newfound intimacy and kidnaps Brenda to draw Connor out. Connor decides to leave behind the Russell Nash identity, says goodbye to Rachel, and confronts the Kurgan at Silvercup Studios in Queens, rescuing Brenda in the process. After a long duel, Connor outfights and decapitates the Kurgan, absorbing his power. Connor returns to Scotland with Brenda and reveals that he is now a mortal man who can age and have children. He is also able to read the thoughts and feelings of people all around the world, and remembering Ramírez's lessons, he hopes to encourage cooperation, understanding, and peace among humanity.
Cast
Christopher Lambert as Connor MacLeod (The Highlander), a 16th-century immortal born in Glenfinnan, Scotland, near the shores of Loch Shiel. Under the alias Russell Nash, he lives and works as an antique dealer in New York in 1985. Sean Connery as Juan Sánchez-Villalobos Ramírez, an Egyptian immortal who has lived for centuries in both Japan and later Spain. A highly adept swordsman, he seeks out Connor and insists on taking him on as his pupil to defeat the Kurgan, knowing that he must not win "The Prize." Clancy Brown as The Kurgan, Connor's nemesis, said to be the last of the Kurgan tribe and a sadistic, murderously brutal barbarian. In 1985, he travels to New York under the name "Victor Kruger," intending to kill the few remaining immortals and claim "The Prize." Roxanne Hart as Brenda Wyatt, a forensic scientist and published metallurgy expert helping to investigate the string of beheadings in New York City. Beatie Edney as Heather MacLeod, Connor's first wife. After Connor is banished from his village, he starts a new life with her. She lives with the eternally youthful Connor for many years until she dies of old age. Alan North as Lt. Frank Moran, Brenda's colleague in the NYPD. Jon Polito as Det. Walter Bedsoe, an NYPD detective working alongside Moran. Sheila Gish as Rachel Ellenstein, Connor's middle-aged secretary and adopted daughter. Saved from the Nazis by Connor when she was a Jewish child during the Holocaust, Rachel is one of the few mortal people who know his true identity. Nicola Ramsey as a young Rachel. Hugh Quarshie as Sunda Kastagir, Connor's fellow immortal and friend. He is beheaded by the Kurgan during a battle in New York. Christopher Malcolm as Kirk Matunas, a Vietnam War US Marine Corps veteran who witnesses the duel between the Kurgan and Kastagir, machine guns the Kurgan, and is then impaled on the villain's sword. Peter Diamond as Iman Fasil, a French immortal. He attacks Connor before the Highlander can have a chance to draw his own sword. Despite this, Connor defeats and beheads him. Diamond was also the film's stunt co-ordinator. Celia Imrie as Kate MacLeod, Connor's lover in 1536, before he met Heather. Convinced Connor's immortality means he is "in league with Lucifer", Kate leads an unsuccessful effort to have him burned at the stake. Billy Hartman and James Cosmo as Dougal and Angus MacLeod, Connor's cousins and leaders of the MacLeod clan.
Other actors in the film include Edward Wiley as Garfield, an NYPD officer who is correct in suspecting Nash as a possible perp in the homicide of Fasil; Corinne Russell as Candy, a prostitute hired by the Kurgan; Jimmy McKenna as Father Rainey; Alistair Findlay as Murdoch of Clan Fraser; Ian Reddington as Bassett; Sion Tudor Owen as Hotchkiss; Damien Leake as Tony; Richard Bonehill as Buck the hotel clerk; and Gordon Sterne as Dr. Kenderly.
Professional wrestlers Greg Gagne, Jim Brunzell, Sam Fatu, Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy, and Buddy Roberts appear as themselves in the film's opening sequence at a tag-team match. The event in the film is supposedly held at Madison Square Garden, but was actually shot at Brendan Byrne Arena in New Jersey.
Production and development Conception Gregory Widen wrote the script for Highlander, as a class assignment while he was an undergraduate in the screenwriting program at UCLA, then under the title of Shadow Clan. Widen drew inspiration from Ridley Scott's 1977 film The Duellists, centering on the brutal decades-long feud between two swordsmen. After reading the script, Widen's instructor advised him to send it to an agent. Widen optioned the rights to Bill Panzer and Peter Davis for $1,500 in 1982 (), with continuing yearly payments to maintain the rights. It became the first draft of what would eventually be the screenplay for the film, which was eventually sold to Thorn EMI in 1984 for .
According to Widen, "The idea of the story was basically a combination of a riff on The Duellists—guy wants to finish a duel over years—and a visit I made both to Scotland and the Tower of London armour display, where I thought, 'What if you owned all this? What if you'd worn it all through history and were giving someone a tour of your life through it?' That scene is basically in the movie."
According to William Panzer, producer of Highlander: The Series, "And that's where everything fell into place—the idea that there are Immortals and they were in conflict with each other, leading secret lives that the rest of us are unaware of."Bill Panzer, at Thedigitalbits.com , last accessed September 4, 2007
In a 2006 interview with The Action Elite, Gregory Widen remarked, "I've always been amazed that a project I wrote as a UCLA student has had this kind of life. I think its appeal is the uniqueness of how the story was told and the fact it had a heart and a point of view about immortality."The Action Elite – Interview with Gregory Widen(2016).
Writing and development Widen's original draft of the script differed significantly from the film. The initial story was darker and more violent. Connor is born in 1408 rather than 1518. He lives with his mother and father and a younger brother. Heather does not exist; Connor is promised to a girl named Mara, who rejects him when she learns that he is immortal. Connor willingly leaves his village after his clan's attitude towards him changes, instead of being banished. His alias is Richard Taupin and his weapon is a custom broadsword. Ramírez is a Spaniard born in 1100, instead of an ancient Egyptian born more than two thousand years earlier. The Kurgan is known as the Knight, using the alias Carl William Smith. He is not a savage, but a cold-blooded killer. Brenda is Brenna Cartwright, a historian at the Smithsonian who sometimes helps the police.
Other elements were changed during the rewrite. Initially, immortals could have children; in the draft Connor is said to have had 37. In a flashback in the first draft, Connor attends the funeral of one of his sons. His wife (in her 70s) and his two sons, who are in their mid 50s, see him revealed as an immortal. In the early draft, there is no release of energy when an immortal kills another nor is there any mention of the Prize. Immortals can still sense each other and, when Connor finally kills the Knight, he feels a sharp burning pain. As he senses another immortal nearby, the ending implies this is simply one of many battles as the Game continues.