Highlander (film)

:For other uses of the word Highlander, please see: Highlander

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Highlander is a 1986 fantasy movie starring Christopher Lambert, who plays Connor MacLeod, the Highlander of the title. Born in Glenfinnan, in the Scottish Highlands in the 16th century, MacLeod is an Immortal. The original movie spawned three subsequent theatrical releases and a television series of relative success.

Related Topics:
1986 - Fantasy - Movie - Christopher Lambert - Connor MacLeod - Glenfinnan - Scottish Highlands - 16th century - Immortal

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As the basic premise, an Immortal cannot die unless decapitated — the original movie made no peremptory reference as to whether this would have to be done by another immortal in order to work; the television show extrapolated on this, by affirming that any decapitation would suffice to kill an Immortal, even if performed by a mortal or as a result of an accident. All Immortals are engaged in an ancient dispute, at the end of which only one Immortal will be left (thus the movie's catch phrase: "There can be only one") and gain "The Prize". The original movie left many details to the imagination, some of them were extrapolated upon by the later movies and tv series: in the original movie, there is no direct reference as to the fact that an Immortal stops aging when he is fatally wounded for the first time and "dies", something that was established only in the tv show; The original movie explicitly says that no one knows exactly what "The Prize" is, although it is established that if an evil Immortal gets it, Humankind would suffer "an eternity of darkness" — at the end of the original movie, when Connor McLeod wins the Prize (according to that storyline), it is hinted that the prize may consist of infinite knowledge.

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Among the clearly established facts, Immortals cannot have children and they cannot fight on "holy ground" (the concept of which was not clearly established by the original movie, but later agreed to be any place held holy by any human creed). Amidst the rules that were expanded or retconned by the tv show and the other movies are: the nature of "The Quickening", which in the original movie appears to be the "proximity premonition" between Immortals and a supernatural connection that each Immortal has to the very world, but is later said to be a transference of power and knowledge from a defeated Immortal to the victor of a battle (although this is indicated in the original movie, where the phenomenon resembles closely a transference of power of some kind); Another key change made after the original movie was the existence of female Immortals: the original movie makes no reference to it, but it only shows male Immortals, the idea that women could also be Immortals came from the television series; Yet another aspect of the rules that was never touched originally, but was elaborated by the tv show is the "no interference" rule, according to which once two immortals engage in mortal combat, no other Immortal may interfere in it at any point.

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The main difference is that the original movie depicts the end of the battle between the Immortals (later dubbed "The Game"), showing Connor McLeod as the last remaining Immortal and winner of The Prize. Later movies and the tv show proposed a retcon according to which the 1985 final battle between McLeod and the Kurgan in New York did take place, but it would not have been the actual final battle; The Gathering had not happened (or at least, had not concluded) and The Game continues. In the original movie, The Gathering (described by Ramirez as follows: "when only a few of us are left, we will feel an irresistible pull towards a far away land, to fight for The Prize") had taken place in 1985, when about five Immortals were left alive, in New York City, which can be considered to have been the "distant land", since the east coast of the American continent would have been rather distant from the rest of the world up until relatively recent times.

Related Topics:
1985 - New York - New York City - American continent

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The Highlander films and the television series that was spun off from it have attracted a devoted following and led to the creation of a great deal of fan fiction, much of it available on the Internet.

Related Topics:
Television series - Fan fiction - Internet

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Typical of the series is the use of flashbacks from previous events in the Highlander's long life.

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The phrase "There can be only one!" is used frequently in promoting the movies, resulting in "highlander" also being a generic phrase for computer programming solutions that involve exclusive access to a resource.

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