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I am Connor MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod. I was born in 1518 in the village of Glenfinnan on the shores of Loch Shiel. And I am immortal.
On this week's episode of Deep Thoughts About Stupid Shit, Emily revisits one of the most unhinged pieces of Gen X pop culture: the 1986 cult classic film Highlander. Starring French-American actor Christopher Lambert (who didn't speak English prior to being cast) and noted Scot Sean Connery (who was playing an Egyptian character with a Spaniard's name), the movie's surface storytelling is about immortal beings decapitating each other over the centuries.
But director Russell Mulcahy (himself a gay man) offers some pretty unsubtle queer subtext throughout the film--including the homoeroticism of the training montages between Lambert and Connery and AIDS metaphors that would be abundantly clear to any LGBTQ audiences of 80s and 90s movies. Mulcahy created a pop culture phenomenon that deeply resonated with everybody's dad (and specifically Tracie & Emily's stepdad) in the 1980s, even though the cultural commentary about the American queer experience of living through homophobia, the AIDS epidemic, and societal indifference and hostility, all while trying to remain open to romance, sailed RIGHT OVER THEIR HEADS. Because swords are cool. And where else you gonna get your decapitation fix in the average piece of pop culture?
There can be only one...podcast episode to listen to over the next hour. So throw on your headphones and get started!
Mentioned in this episode:
Highlander: Love, Violence, and Sword Metaphors
Tags
deep thoughts about stupid sh*t, pop culture, cult classic, cultural commentary, storytelling, 80s and 90s movies, romance, analyzing film tropes, queer lens, film, film analysis, gen x childhood, gen x nostalgia, mental health, movies, nostalgia, psychology, sci fi, women, sean connery
This episode was edited by Resonate Recordings.
Our theme music is "Professor Umlaut" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Learn more about Tracie and Emily (including our other projects), join the Guy Girls' family, secure exclusive access to bonus content, live zooms with Tracie & Emily, discounts on merch, and early access to Deep Thoughts by visiting us on Patreon or find us on ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/guygirls
We are the sister podcasters Tracie Guy-Decker and Emily Guy Birken, known to our extended family as the Guy Girls.
We're hella smart and completely unashamed of our overthinking prowess. We love 80s and 90s movies and tv, science fiction, comedy, and murder mysteries, good storytelling with lots of dramatic irony, analyzing film tropes with a side of feminism, and examining the pop culture of our Gen X childhood for gender dynamics, psychology, sociology, religious allegory, and whatever else we find.
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SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
But the fact that Kurgan is a danger to everything
and everyone that Connor lovesis kind of representative to the
fears of being a gay man in the1980s, that the specter of AIDS
and sexual violence could be adanger to everyone you love.
SPEAKER_01 (00:23):
Have you ever had something you love dismissed
because it's just up culture?
What others might deem stupidshit, you know matters.
You know it's worth talking andthinking about.
And so do we.
So come overthink with us as wedelve into our deep thoughts
about stupid shit.
SPEAKER_00 (00:43):
I'm Emily Guy Birkin, and you're listening to
Deep Thoughts About Stupid Shit.
Because pop culture is stillculture, and shouldn't you know
what's in your head?
On today's episode, I'll besharing my deep thoughts about
the 1986 cult classic Highlanderwith my sister, Tracy Guy
Decker.
And with you, let's dive in.
(01:04):
Now, real quick before I turn tomy sister.
Listener, if you haven't yet,I'm going to ask you to please
take a moment to follow the showon Apple or Spotify or wherever
you get your pods.
It is a quick and free way tohelp us grow the show, and we
would really appreciate it.
Now that I've said that, Tracy,I know you have seen this film.
(01:26):
It was one of the absolutefavorites of our stepfather.
But tell me what's in your headabout Highlander.
And we're just talking about theshow.
We're not talking about thefranchise, the TV show, the just
the movie.
Just the first movie.
Yeah, just the first movie.
SPEAKER_01 (01:41):
Yeah.
Yeah, it was one of ourstepfather's favorites.
And so I remember watching itwith him.
I remember Connor McLeod of theClan McLeod.
I remember there can be onlyone.
I have so like a couple of verysort of flash vignettes in my
head, or like he dies or almostdies, and then comes back in the
(02:04):
pub the next day, like inancient times, and people are
like, he's a witch or somethinglike that.
I remember that he watches hiswife grow old and die, and how
sad that was.
That's it.
That's what I got.
Those are the things that I haveabout Highlander.
So I I know there's fighting andstuff, but I can't remember why
or with whom.
(02:26):
I know he's immortal, and Idon't remember how that
resolves.
So yeah, that's what I got.
Why are we talking about thistoday?
SPEAKER_00 (02:35):
I honestly can't remember how it ended up on the
list, what reminded me of themovie.
It's a like a bonkers conceptthat is just kind of fun and
weird and so very 80s.
And so it was on the list, and Iwas like, oh yeah, yeah, that
was cool.
And so I was like, okay, youknow, let's take a look at it.
(02:59):
Oh my goodness, this movie.
This movie is not what ourstepdad thought it was.
I'm not gonna tell him you saidthat.
Because while yes, it is a verykind of high-concept fantasy
action film, it is that.
It's also a very, very notsubtle metaphor for
(03:25):
homosexuality.
And it is not even remotelysubtle.
Longtime listeners might recallthat I'm not good with subtext
necessarily.
So watching Chasing Amy andwatching In and Out, I was
going, like, wait, thosecharacters are supposed to be
gay, because I believed themwhen they said that they weren't
(03:47):
or were, whatever it was.
So, like, I'm not good with thatkind of subtext.
I was yesterday watching this,texting Tracy, going, This is
really homoerotic, I think.
Yeah.
And I'm not looking for this.
And so I think that that puts abeast of a different color on
(04:10):
this film.
And considering the fact thatthe director, Russell McCahie,
is a gay man, I think makes itvery, very interesting.
And so that's actually probablywhat I'm going to be spending a
great deal of time on talkingabout.
And how that kind of gives adifferent flavor to what this
(04:31):
story is saying rather than thepardon the pun, straight
fantasy.
Wow, that there's layers to thatthat we thought we were
watching, even with there's avery gratuitous heterosexual sex
scene in it with like lots ofgratuitous nudity in it.
(04:54):
That's but it's still very queermovie.
So yeah, it's interesting.
So before I get into remindingyou what happens in the movie,
let me give you a couple ofpostcards from the destination.
As I said, it's a metaphor forthe queer experience and
specifically the experience ofgay men and AIDS in the 80s.
(05:17):
Uh we're gonna talk about thehomoeroticism and like the
specific, unsubtle metaphors,the subtext that's made text
within the film.
The casting's bonkers and likejust needs to be said.
So we're gonna talk about that.
Sean Connery is in it, he wasthe one big name in the in the
(05:38):
film.
Russell Mulcahy, the director,his direction, as I was watching
it originally last night,initially, I was just like, he
really thinks he's doingsomething there a couple of
times.
And then I later found out hegot his start in music videos.
I was like, oh, okay, that helpsexplain it.
And then even though there wereseveral times where I was like,
(05:58):
wow, he really feels like he'sdoing something there.
And I was just like, this feelslike a like a student director.
But then there were a couplewhere I was just like, wow, he
really did do something there.
So there's some experimentingwith the cinematography that is
kind of fascinating.
I'm gonna talk a little bitabout gender, and it doesn't
pass Bechtel.
(06:19):
There's uh aspects of New Yorkin the 1980s, which I talked
about the last time, because Iwas talking about Night Court.
So gonna get into that a littlebit.
The theatrical cut in the Europewas 116 minutes, in the United
States was 111 minutes.
And there are like, I'm not surewhich we saw as kids, because I
(06:42):
know we didn't see it in thetheater.
So the version I saw yesterdaywas the original, the director's
cut, the 116-minute version.
And there's one scene inparticular that Malcahee was
livid that they cut for the theUS version.
So I want to talk about whatthat was.
So those are some of the thingsthat I'm going to be discussing.
(07:03):
So just to kind of give youbackground, I am gonna kind of
give you characters rather thanlike beginning to end.
So we have Connor McLeod, who isplayed by Christopher Lambert,
who is a French American actor.
He was born in America, butraised in France.
(07:24):
Did not speak English.
Wait, what?
Russell Mulcahy saw a picture ofhim in a magazine.
He says, That's the look I want,and hired him.
And so he had to have a dialectcoach.
SPEAKER_01 (07:34):
To learn English with a Scottish accent.
And he didn't speak any English.
SPEAKER_00 (07:38):
Which is part of the reason why his accent is so
frickin' weird.
Okay.
So because he was hired becausehe looked the way Mulkey wanted
Connor, Connor to look.
Which I think is also why healso he was his first part, he
was in in 1984, he was inTarzan, the legend of Greystoke
(08:01):
or whatever it is.
And he was hired in part becausehe is nearsighted and didn't
have contact lenses, and so likehe would be like looking far off
in the distance because hecouldn't see.
SPEAKER_01 (08:14):
You're saying that's why he was hired for Tarzan?
unknown (08:17):
Yes.
SPEAKER_00 (08:18):
Because he had this kind of like far away look.
And he didn't have to talk forthat one.
I don't know if that was in anEnglish.
I I didn't do enough research,but which so another thing I
texted Tracy was like,Christopher Lambert's acting
choices seem to be scowling orlooking confused.
(08:41):
Befuddled is the word that youput text.
Anyway, the movie interspersesmodern day, which is 1985, New
York, with Connor's life, whichstarted in the 16th century.
He was born in 1518, in 1536 asan 18-year-old, although Lambert
(09:06):
was 29 and hard-looking 29.
He went to battle, his clan wentto battle against the Fraser
clan.
There was an outsider knightcalled the Kurgan, played by
Clancy Brown, who said, I don'twant anyone in the Fraser clan
to attack the one called Connor.
(09:26):
I will, I, he's mine.
So no one will fight Connor.
And then the Kurgan comes up tohim and stabs him in the stomach
and then goes to cut off hishead, saying there can be only
one, and then they're likerushed by the rest of the McLeod
clan.
So that is the origin story.
So the Kurgan obviously doesn'tcut his head off.
(09:49):
Not at that time.
So that is how Connor dies forthe first time.
That's that thing I remember.
He is an immortal.
Because and he doesn't knowanything about it.
All he knows is that he he isbrought back.
They pray over him.
His girlfriend, Kate, is wailingthat he's dying.
(10:12):
And then the next day he isbanished from the village
because they think he must be inleague with the devil, because
he should have died and didn't.
They wanted to burn him at thestake, but one of the clan
leaders, Angus, shows himkindness and says, get out of
here while you can.
But burning him at the stakewouldn't have done anything
anyway, because he is immortal.
Unless his head is cut off,apparently.
(10:34):
Yes.
So we see interspersed withMcLeod in the 20th century, is
going by Russell Nash, and wesee him at Madison Square Garden
watching a wrestling match, andhe goes to the parking garage
and has this epic sword fightwith a man named Imam Fasile,
(10:54):
and he cuts off Fasil's head andlike receives electricity.
SPEAKER_01 (11:00):
Oh, I do remember that.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Like the soul like comes out ofthe headless body into him.
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (11:07):
And he is arrested because he's looking pretty
shifty and trying to get out ofthe parking garage because and
because I write about money, theelectricity causes like all the
electric to short out.
The quickening is what they callit.
SPEAKER_01 (11:24):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (11:25):
So the quickening causes everything to short out
and all the glass on every carto break everywhere around him.
And so he hides his sword and istrying to get out.
And so I'm sitting there going,how would the insurance claims
handle those?
Anyway.
(11:45):
So in the past, Connor ends upmeeting a woman named Heather.
They marry.
They are together for severalyears and very happy when Juan
Ramirez, played by Sean Connery,noted Spaniard.
SPEAKER_01 (12:02):
So they're in Scotland.
This French dude is playing aScottish dude.
And then like the most famousScottish man in the world.
They cast as someone named Juanwhat?
Juan Ramirez?
SPEAKER_00 (12:18):
Juan.
It's and it's longer than that.
There's there's a bunch in themiddle, a Spanish custom.
SPEAKER_01 (12:23):
Yeah.
So Sean sort of sounds likeJuan.
Sean Connery.
Juan.
Juan.
Okay.
All right, I'm with you.
The most famous Scottish man inthe world in a film about Scots
plays a Spaniard.
And what does Juan Conry do?
SPEAKER_00 (12:47):
McLeod says, What do you want?
And Ramira says, You.
That's not hot.
Okay.
And basically he introduces himto what it means to be immortal.
And he says, You were borndifferent, and men will fear you
because of it.
SPEAKER_01 (13:06):
Huh.
Hmm.
Subtext.
Okay.
So Juan is like a mentor ofswords.
Yes.
SPEAKER_00 (13:13):
Okay.
So well, that's appropriate forSean Connery in a Scottish film.
Yes.
And he has been alive for 2,400years.
Oh.
And he's not actually aSpaniard, he's Egyptian.
He just is most recently Ramirezis his most recent name.
SPEAKER_01 (13:27):
I see.
SPEAKER_00 (13:28):
So why doesn't Juan Connery want to kill Connor?
Because there will eventually besomething called the gathering,
when all of the immortals, whenthere are a dwindling few left,
and they will all gather in afaraway land and they're kill
(13:48):
each other until there is onlyone who will receive the prize.
We never find out how JuanConnery knows this or how they
know this.
And if the Kurgan, who is thestrongest, and it is suggested
that he is the oldest of theimmortals, does this, then it
(14:10):
will be horrible for humanity.
Of course.
So Ramirez has come to trainMcLeod so that he's prepared.
So there's he stays for quitesome time.
You see him training.
He advises McCloud to leaveHeather because to save himself
heartache because he will haveto watch her die.
(14:31):
He also tells him that weimmortals cannot have children,
which breaks McLeod's heartbecause that's what he wants
most as a family.
And he knows that it will breakHeather's heart.
There is an evening when McLeodis away, it's unclear why, where
Heather and Ramirez are chattingand having wine.
(14:52):
And Ramirez says, Heather, youneed to get out because the
Kurgan has come.
There is a ridiculous fightscene where the kind of
half-castle tour thing thatthey're in is exploding as they
fight.
It's so ridiculous.
But the Kurgan and Ramirezfight, and the Kurgan kills
(15:13):
Ramirez and is left alone withHeather, and we don't see what
happens after that.
We see the Kurgan say hello,pretty, and then we go back to
the Oh, so we can assume that heraped her?
It's more than an assumption.
We go back to the current time.
In the current time, there is aforensic police officer named
(15:33):
Brenda, who also is an expert inweapons and metallurgy, like you
do.
It's a hobby.
She has a book that's threeinches thick that she has
published.
So she's a hyperfixated hobby.
Okay.
So she has been followingRussell Nash slash Connor.
(15:56):
Connor McLeod.
And she sees him be attacked bythe Kurgan, and they are
fighting.
She's kind of in the middle whena police helicopter comes by.
Another super unintentionallyfunny moment, because the police
helicopter comes by andeverybody scatters.
And the police are like, no,come back.
(16:18):
I'm like, what you expect tohappen?
And Connor says to Brenda, Youonly have one life if you value
it, go home.
We see the rest of Connor andHeather's life together.
We see her growing older whilehe stays exactly the same.
And then her death, where shesays, I don't want to die, and
(16:41):
you're still my beautifulhusband.
I don't remember all thedetails.
And will you do one thing forme?
Will you light a candle on mybirthday every year?
And he promises to do that.
Brenda does some other research.
She meets Connor's secretary.
Connor is now an antiques dealerin New York.
He meets his secretary, Rachel.
(17:03):
We see a scene from during WorldWar II.
Connor was in Nazi Germany.
He's running and he hears achild crying.
He finds the child and it'sabout a seven or eight-year-old
girl.
He asks, What's your name,Rachel?
And we just met Rachel as anadult who's like in her 40s or
so in the 80s.
(17:24):
And she says she's alone.
He's like, I'm alone too.
Why don't you come with me?
I promise I won't hurt you.
And then a Nazi comes and startsshooting, and he falls over and
protects her, but he's okay.
And she's like, How are you notdead?
And he says it's kind of a magictrick.
And he gets up and kills theNazi and then carries her off.
And so we now know that that'shis daughter, his adopted
(17:47):
daughter, who knows that he'simmortal because she's seen him
never age.
And we also see Brendaresearching the name Russell
Nash and finding out it's thename of a child who was
basically stillborn.
Oh yeah, I remember that.
Yeah.
So she confronts Connor.
(18:08):
Connor says, stab me.
Like she does.
Like you do.
She does, which leads to thegratuitous sex scene.
Oh yeah.
And then there's a friend, justto make sure make it clear that
there are more immortals in theworld, there's a friend who
comes in town who says the, youknow, the gathering's coming.
It's the only black immortal wesee.
(18:29):
And we see him fighting theKurgan, and he loses.
Oh.
And there's a former Marine, soa Vietnam vet with PTSD, who
like kind of interrupts, andbecause and he's a witness to
this.
The police are interviewing himafter this, after the Kurgan
takes the friend's head.
(18:52):
The end comes when the Kurgankidnaps Brenda, takes her to the
Silver Cup studios, and thefight occurs there.
Very cinematic, really welldone.
After a long, drawn-out swordfight, McLeod prevails, takes
(19:13):
the Kurgan's head, gains theprize, which is that he is now
mortal.
He can have children, he candie.
But he also basically can hearthe thoughts of all people in
the world.
SPEAKER_01 (19:26):
Oh, not the people he killed, but all the people?
SPEAKER_00 (19:28):
All the people.
Like he says presidents,scientists, everyone.
And like Yeah.
That's not a prize.
SPEAKER_01 (19:37):
That sounds like torture.
SPEAKER_00 (19:38):
Yeah.
And so he and Brenda returned toScotland to where he was born
and where his home was withHeather.
That's the end of the film.
SPEAKER_01 (19:47):
So you said though, I'm sorry, I'm coming back
because you said that it wasmore than implied that Heather
was raped by the Kurgan.
SPEAKER_00 (19:53):
Oh, yes.
There's a point where the Kurganmeets up with Connor at a church
because it's Heather's birthday,and Connor has lit a candle for
her in a church.
And Ramirez had told him thatholy ground is the only place
where you're safe from otherimmortals.
There is no fighting on holyground.
So the Kurgan has met him there,and they are talking about
(20:14):
Ramirez.
Ramirez told the Kurgan that'smy woman.
I suspect trying to protect her.
I don't know because the Kurganhas been kind of obsessed with
Connor.
And so the Kurgan says, like,yeah, I killed him and I raped
his woman before his blood wascold.
So we know.
SPEAKER_01 (20:32):
And then he says, Oh, but she was your woman and
she never told you.
SPEAKER_00 (20:34):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I remember that's in my head.
SPEAKER_01 (20:38):
Okay.
What do you want to talk about?
SPEAKER_00 (20:40):
Let me talk about the queerness.
So the movie starts with awrestling match.
And I'm not saying thatwrestling has to be a
homoerotic, but the way thatit's filmed, it really is.
And Connorslash Nash is sittingthere watching it by himself.
I don't know why.
I mean, maybe he didn't have aboyfriend at the time.
(21:03):
I don't like it's just reallyweird.
There's he had to like for thefilm, he had to be there for the
parking garage to have thefight.
But it's been a movie, it couldhave been anything.
Yeah, it could have beenanything.
So it could have been a concert,like it's Madison Square Garden.
Yeah.
So okay.
He's a Highlander, so he's in akilt the whole time in the past.
(21:27):
Which again.
And then the film consistentlyconnects stabbing with sex.
And like textually with when hehas Brenda stab him and then
they immediately have sex.
SPEAKER_01 (21:45):
Uh huh.
SPEAKER_00 (21:46):
So like it's not subtle.
But like she stabs him.
Yes.
So it's like penetration.
Then the film also when thepolice have arrested.
At him because there is aheadless corpse in the garage.
Parking garage.
Uh-huh.
Parking garage.
(22:06):
There is a really horribleoffensive cop that even the
other cops don't like.
His name is Garfield.
Garfield asks him, Are you aF-word slur?
SPEAKER_02 (22:16):
Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_00 (22:17):
And he says, because I think you went to the parking
garage to get a blowjob and thendidn't want to pay.
So again, like the movie'smaking it text.
SPEAKER_02 (22:29):
Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_00 (22:29):
Because that's an experience.
And to the movie maker's creditand Connor's credit, he turns to
Garfield and says, How dare yousay that to me?
He doesn't say, How dare you saythat to me, or like, he's not
offended on his own behalf.
He says, You are really sick.
SPEAKER_01 (22:48):
That sorry, you said that a c a weird way.
So Connor, Connor turns toGarfield and says, You're sick.
He doesn't say, How dare you saythat to me.
No.
He doesn't say that.
He doesn't say, How dare youthink I'm gay?
SPEAKER_00 (23:01):
He says, You are sick.
You are sick.
So the idea that I would killsomeone over that is sick, not
the idea that sex between men ishorrifying.
Got it.
Because when that happened, Iwas just like, oh God, oh dear
God, what's gonna happen?
And like I appreciated that theresponse was, you're sick.
(23:24):
Because that's a reasonableresponse to someone making such
a suggestion.
Right, right.
The other thing that that wasfascinating is the way that the
immortals interact with eachother is they take each other's
heads.
SPEAKER_01 (23:40):
Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_00 (23:42):
And all the immortals are men.
SPEAKER_01 (23:44):
And the one that loses his head then spoges a
bunch of soul ectoplasmeverywhere.
SPEAKER_00 (23:50):
Yeah.
Now, the other thing that thepoint at which I texted you,
like, this movie's kind ofhomoerotic, was during the
Ramirez training McLeod montage.
So you may remember, like,Ramirez is dressed the way a
Spaniard would have dressed inthe 16th century.
(24:13):
So he's got like peacockfeathers.
He's wearing a pearl earring.
And Connor says, you dress likea woman, calls him a peacock,
and he also calls him a haggis.
Because of the way the way he'sdressed, it's like stuffed or
something like that.
But a haggis is a kind ofsausage.
(24:34):
Right.
So and then basically Ramirez isteaching him how his body works.
And there he says things to himlike, don't overextend your
thrust.
Uh-huh.
And there's a point where theyare on the beach and there is a
(24:54):
stag nearby.
And like a deer.
Uh-huh.
Ramirez is behind Connor andsays, Close your eyes, feel the
stag.
You can feel his heartbeat.
And like they do, they both do.
And then they both start runningon sand, like joyfully.
SPEAKER_01 (25:14):
Uh-huh.
Yeah.
It's like if Yoda and Luke werelike Sean Connery and a hot
French dude.
SPEAKER_00 (25:32):
Yeah, except that Yoda and Luke were well, because
one was a puppet.
Yeah.
The other thing is when um soConnor and Heather are
canoodling when Ramirez firstarrives.
And like when you firstencounter another immortal, you
can feel that your spidey sensesgo off, but it makes you feel
(25:53):
ill.
And so Connor tells Heather togo inside, and he's on his knees
in front of Ramirez, who isstanding.
Oh, that's not subtle.
Yeah.
So like it's all there.
It's all there.
So there's all of that is inthere.
But it's not just that.
(26:14):
There's also like the sense ofwhat it was like to be a gay man
in the 80s, in that Romera says,You're born different and men
will fear you.
After your first penetration,you may be banished by your
family and the people who loveyou.
(26:34):
So there's that aspect of it.
Then there's, and it is likenotable that Connor's first
death was stabbing, like literalpenetration.
Then there's the specter of AIDSin the 80s.
So the moment where Connor'swatching Heather die is very
(26:57):
reminiscent of what it was likefor queer men to watch their
partners die and be unable to doanything and feel helpless.
Especially like if you are youngand strong and healthy and
watching someone who it feelslike you just met waste away.
(27:21):
Yeah.
So that's an aspect of it.
And then the Kurgan kind ofrepresents sexual violence and
AIDS, which is in some ways alittle problematic because in
the modern day 1985, they dressClancy Brown in like leather
(27:41):
daddy.
It's all leather.
He has a slice on his neck fromhis fight with Ramirez, where
Ramirez like got him, but didnot completely decapitate him.
And so he has safety pinsthrough it.
And he wears like all leather80s central casting for like
(28:03):
leather biker dude.
Yeah.
Also doubles as like kinky gayleather dude from the 80s.
Mm-hmm.
That sailed over my head,obviously.
I'm sure sailed over the heads.
I mean, maybe our stepfathermight have clocked that as
(28:24):
gay-coded.
I don't know.
Maybe.
But the fact that Kurgan is adanger to everything and
everyone that Connor loves iskind of representative to the
fears of being a gay man in the1980s, that the specter of AIDS
(28:45):
and sexual violence could be adanger to everyone you love in
such a dangerous time to be gay.
And I want to say I did not comeup with that.
I'm going to include a link inthe show notes to a video of a
content creator who drewtogether those dots for me.
(29:06):
Like I kind of gathered a few ofthem, but several like the
direct line this creator drewfor me.
So also the fact that they hadthe gathering happen in New York
City in the 80s, which I am notas cognizant of queer history in
(29:28):
the 1980s as I could be, butthat was important for gay men,
for what was going on with theAIDS epidemic, all of that as
well, when it could have beenanywhere.
So all that to say is this movieis not about immortal men
battling for a prize.
SPEAKER_01 (29:53):
So what about the fact that if the Kurgan wins, we
know from Juan Connery that itwill be bad for all of humanity?
What about how does that fitinto your metaphor or to this
other content creator's metaphorof the Kurgan as AIDS and sexual
violence?
SPEAKER_00 (30:10):
I think within that metaphor, I think that then is
the idea that somethingChristopher Lambert has said and
something that several reviewershave said that they appreciate
about this very weird film isthat McLeod still feels hopeful
and still allows himself tolove, even after 400 years of
(30:32):
life, when it would be verydifficult to do that.
Yeah.
And so, in some ways, he's stilllike the best of humanity, even
after having seen so muchawfulness and so much horror,
and having have having lost thisgreat love, two great loves,
because he did love Ramirez, andthen having lost Heather in two,
(30:53):
that's the other aspect of it,in two very different ways.
He lost Ramirez in a sudden actof violence, which is and then
losing Heather to slowdevastation.
And so I feel like within thismetaphor, it's saying that
(31:14):
letting the fears, like the fearof homosexuality and the fear of
love win.
It's going to be so much darkerfor the world than being open to
letting yourself connect withpeople, letting yourself be open
to new relationships and newloves, even knowing the horrors
(31:38):
that this world can perpetrateon marginalized groups.
Okay.
Which is kind of a like abeautiful metaphor.
And then the idea that then thatConnor has this connection to
people that he can kind of likelet people start to see like you
don't need to be afraid ofpeople who are different.
(31:59):
Extending that metaphor gives usa sense of like we can get to a
place where we have a boBergefel in the United States.
Oh what?
Obergefel.
SPEAKER_01 (32:11):
Oh, that's not how I pronounce that word, but oh
okay.
That name.
I don't know.
Ogrefell.
I don't know.
Not that.
SPEAKER_00 (32:20):
That's not the way that I have said it.
I might be wrong.
I probably am.
Can't remember Ravenus?
Yeah.
So I mean, you get like fromthere you get heated rivalry in
2025.
Right.
So and that, but if Kurgan hadwon, you would have like fear
(32:44):
and destruction and sexualviolence and power over and
retribution and whatever.
SPEAKER_01 (32:51):
Yeah, that's why Juan Connery didn't want the
Kurgan to know that Heather wasConnor's partner because the
Kurgan wouldn't have just rapedher, he would have killed her,
just out of cruelty.
Okay.
Let's talk about the directionand cinematography.
(33:11):
Because in your intro, you werelike, sometimes I was like, oh,
well, he's very proud of himselfon that one.
And other times you're like, oh,he should be very proud of
himself on that one.
Those weren't the way you saidit, but I'm just paraphrasing.
So talk to me about that.
What are you reacting to?
SPEAKER_00 (33:25):
So in the first fight in the parking garage,
there's a point where so thevassal who he's fighting, who
was played by the, I think, thestunt coordinator.
And another thing I think I wasI was texting, I was like, there
is a lot of gratuitous backflipsin this movie.
Right.
You did say that.
(33:45):
Like that is not the mostefficient way to get around in
the middle of a fight.
But I think that that actor wasactually doing the backflips
because he's the actual stuntcoordinator and stunt person.
But he was wearing thesemirrored sunglasses and they
fell off of him and they'resitting on the ground.
And so there's a point where thecamera is focused on the
(34:05):
glasses, and so you're seeingsomething in the reflection.
And it felt very like seniorthesis in film school.
Right, right.
You know what would be cool?
It would be cool if there werelike, yeah.
I couldn't quibble with like itwas very well set up.
All of that was well done.
(34:28):
It just was like took itself alittle too seriously.
Yeah.
But then later on, when Heatherdies, Connor's sword is the
sword that he was given when hefirst goes to battle against the
Frasers.
And it's it's a broad sword.
It says McLeod across thepommel.
(34:48):
And they show him buryingHeather, and then they show the
sword is in the foreground.
And so you can see the sword andMcLeod.
It's like very very frontforeground.
Then the midground is Connor.
And then in the background, hehas set fire to their cottage.
And so that is gorgeous.
(35:09):
I mean, it is a gorgeous shot.
And like, now part of it isbecause before I hit play
yesterday, there were like threescenes that I could tell you
about.
And one of them was his wifedying.
And with the song, I didn't evenmention the soundtrack because
Queen plays the soundtrack.
Right.
And they wrote the songspecifically, Who Wants to Live
(35:31):
Forever, for this, um, becauseof the scene with Heather dying.
So now part of it is that sceneof her dying.
I remember that.
I remember it really moving meas a kid and being so sad for
both of them.
And so some of it is the emotionof what had just come before.
And then that that that moment,it's earned.
(35:53):
The direction and the image ofthat moment is earned.
But it's also just reallybeautiful.
It could be a still image.
Like I could see someone drawingit or painting it and it working
even without the background ofthe scene that just came before.
So, and there were severalmoments like that.
(36:13):
There was also the way that theediting worked.
So we get the whole scene withthe he's watching the wrestling.
We see him remembering a littlebit in the past, but we don't
get a whole lot in the past.
Then we see the fight withFasile, and then after Fasile
dies, the camera pans up in thegarage, and then it goes up to
(36:38):
above ground, but we're inScotland in 1536.
And it's, I read someone sayingthat a low-budget film does more
creative things with that kindof transition.
Because there's anothertransition where we go into his
eye and then go somewhere else.
And I think there's that wasanother one where I was just
(36:59):
like senior in film school.
But the one where like panningup, and then we're in Scotland,
that was amazing.
That worked really well.
So some of these overall, I'mreally glad that Malkehy
experimented.
Like I think he did some really,really interesting things.
I think that they were justfascinating ways of playing with
(37:23):
the medium that you don't getwith big budget films and that
make the movie more dynamic thanit would be.
But there then there were thingslike I think I mentioned where
the it's I'm calling it a tourbecause I don't know, like I
think T-O-R, but Heather andConnor are living in this kind
(37:44):
of a ruined partial castle.
It's like a turret, and it's gotstairs going up, and that's
where they are.
That's where Ramirez and Heatherare when the Kurgan comes.
And like Ramirez and the Kurganare like hitting the stones with
their swords, and the stoneswere like exploding.
(38:06):
I was laughing my ass off, andit was not supposed to be funny.
Like this was not a scene thatwas intended to be humorous, and
I could not stop gigglingbecause why are stones like
exploding?
SPEAKER_01 (38:26):
Like they weren't just sparking from metal against
stone, they were no, they werelike they were like breaking in
like shattering.
SPEAKER_00 (38:34):
Yeah.
And like I think it was theywere trying to show like just
how powerful these two swordsmenwere.
Yeah.
But you could kind of see thatthese were foam.
And it was also just like, no,I'm sorry.
Like, I will buy that there are,you know, 2,000-year-old men
(38:55):
going around trying to cut offeach other's heads.
I'm not buying that they candestroy a tower this way with
nothing but swords.
Sorry.
Okay.
So, but that it was just, I feellike Malcahi is really, really
talented in a way that is likewould have been caged if he were
(39:19):
trying to make a film, adifferent film.
Like if he were trying to make afilm that was bigger budget,
that was less bonkers, that waslike that he didn't have as much
control over.
That had big studio execstelling him what to do.
And then these moments that I'mmentioning, like with the
sunglasses and the sword andstuff like that, I think also
(39:41):
are indicative of his start inmusic videos.
Yeah.
Because that seems like the sortof thing that you would see in
music videos because you have somuch less like and time.
SPEAKER_01 (39:53):
Yeah.
I wonder if he would havebenefited from an editor, like
if he was T.
S.
Elliott and he needed Ezra Poundto like help him get to the
actual core of the poem.
And hopefully, and hopefully hisEzra would not be a fascist.
SPEAKER_00 (40:09):
But anyway.
And actually, most film editorsare women.
SPEAKER_01 (40:12):
Interesting.
SPEAKER_00 (40:13):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (40:14):
Does not pass back, though.
You said that Rachel and Brendatalk to one another, but they
talk about Connor.
SPEAKER_00 (40:22):
The treatment of women in this movie is
interesting.
In that, so I wish there was wehad more with Rachel because
that feels like the most real,most authentic relationship
Connor has of any that we see.
And that so the scene that wascut that Mulcahy was furious
(40:44):
about was the scene where hefinds Rachel as a child.
And that's where I was like, Ihave no memory one way or the
other.
Why would they cut that forAmerican audiences?
No idea.
Huh.
So now I will say some of thelike, some of the stuff they do
of him throughout time does feellike, why are we doing this?
(41:04):
So there's a point where he andhis friend, who's killed by the
Kurgan in 1985, are reminiscingabout something that happened in
1783, and that was cut forAmerican audiences.
And I kind of understand itbecause it doesn't really add
anything to the movie.
And it also lends itself to likeI understand why they made a TV
show because it gives you moreopportunity to do these kind of
(41:26):
fun.
Like it was fun.
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (41:29):
But it doesn't advance the story.
SPEAKER_00 (41:31):
Didn't advance the story in any way.
And like I could see maybeAmerican executives saying this
doesn't advance the story in anyway, but it does.
It gives us the like we need tounderstand who Rachel is, and we
can't understand it withoutthat.
SPEAKER_01 (41:45):
Yeah, and the fact that she came from such trauma
that he rescued her from.
SPEAKER_00 (41:49):
Yeah.
And then when he leaves to goconfront the Kurgan, he makes it
clear he's never he's not comingback.
And they have this moment, andshe says, Oh, even if you kill
him, you're not coming back, areyou?
And he says, Russell Nash diestonight.
And he says to her, the lastthing he says to her is like,
it's a kind of magic trick,which was what he said to her
(42:10):
when Right, when she was achild.
So they're and it's because it'snon-romantic that their
relationship, which is it gets,I don't know, seven minutes of
runtime, their entire likeinteraction, maybe less.
Like it's very, very short theamount of time that even Rachel
is on screen.
(42:31):
I do not understand what he andBrenda have or are interested.
Like, there's nothing.
There's nothing there.
She likes weapons and he usesweapons.
But he keeps claiming he doesn'tbecause he's trying not to get
arrested.
He also, oh, this this reallypissed me off.
When she first comes to hisantique shop and is like, you
(42:54):
know, investigating him, he saysto her, Do you cook?
And she's like, Why?
And he says, Well, I wasthinking we could have dinner.
You could make me dinner?
No.
Unsubscribe?
SPEAKER_01 (43:10):
I know.
SPEAKER_00 (43:13):
Wow.
Okay.
And then when he gets there,like they end up having a fight
and he leaves.
So she cooked for the words.
SPEAKER_01 (43:20):
Wow.
We're running short on time.
So do you want to make a finalpoint and then I'll try and
reflect back to what we talkedabout?
SPEAKER_00 (43:30):
So I just I think the final point just to talking
about gender.
I feel like the way that themovie treats women is also a
little bit indicative of thetension that you sometimes see
in the way that, especially inthe 80s, the tension that gay
men might have with women, inthat there is like genuine
(43:53):
affection and love, but there'sthe like swimming in the same
sea of misogyny.
And so there's That uncheckedmisogyny within there.
So and that the most authenticrelationship is the
father-daughter relationshipthat we see.
But over like the found familyaspect of the film.
SPEAKER_01 (44:15):
Okay.
So I'm gonna reflect back to youwhat I heard about Highlander,
which is that this movie iswhich we missed completely when
we watched it and rewatched itand rewatched it when we were
young.
This movie is pretty queer,sounds it is so queer.
So our stepdad will not be happyto hear that.
(44:38):
So not just that there'shomorotic moments of watching a
wrestling scene or that mentormentee moment with a stag on the
beach, but also actually likethe structures of this film,
like how they die and the factthat they some of the beats of
the story of Connor, like thefact that he gets kicked out and
(44:59):
banished after his firstpenetration.
And I don't remember you laid itall out pretty clearly.
Yeah, and then they spoogeelectroge what's the word,
ectoplasm afterward.
Yeah, and the big bad guy is ametaphor for sexual violence and
for AIDS and fear, I think.
(45:22):
Oh, part of the queer allegoryis the way that Juan Connery
names that you're born differentand men will fear you because of
it.
So that's like a big part ofwhat we talked about.
We did also, since I'm callinghim Juan Connery, talk about the
bonkers casting here where we'vegot this movie about Scotland,
and we have the most famousScottish man maybe ever, but
(45:45):
certainly in the 20th century,playing someone who is not
Scottish.
And then we've got this Frenchdude who didn't speak English
before he got the parts tryingto speak English with a Scottish
accent.
So, huh?
SPEAKER_00 (45:59):
And I have to tell you, there were once I knew that
he was French, I could like Icould hear the accent sometimes,
like especially toward like whenhe was shouting or towards the
end, I was just like, oh, that'swhat that is.
Oh, wow.
SPEAKER_01 (46:15):
So you noted the sort of direction cinematography
where the director like hadreally interesting ideas to do
things in much cheaper ways.
Sometimes they worked, sometimesthey took themselves too
seriously, and we wondered if hewouldn't have done well for a
(46:35):
better editor, potentially.
Someone who could push backagainst him and make him kill
his darlings.
There were some things cut inthe American release that may
had us both scratching ourheads, including the fact that
his adoptive daughter was anadoptive daughter and he had
rescued her from the Nazis.
And also some stuff like abouthis like life over time that
(46:58):
maybe didn't advance the plot,but was fun.
And then we also spoke aboutsort of New York in the 1980s as
what that represented toAmerican culture and as like a
hotbed of gay culture and thefear and all of the things that
were going on in that kind ofmilieu.
(47:18):
And the what was I justthinking?
I was just thinking, oh, youwere naming, speaking of milieu
and sort of like looking at thiswith this clear, queer, queer
lens, this movie that doesn'tpass Bechtel has a comportment,
if you will, toward women thatis reminiscent of some gay men,
especially in the late 20thcentury, toward women where
(47:40):
there's genuine affection, butmaybe still casual and baked in
misogyny.
And that's all we have time forfor today.
But listeners, we will recordthe shit we forgot to say
because I know my sister hasmore to say about this film.
So if you're a patron or if youwant to listen, head on over to
our Patreon to hear that.
And stay tuned for next weekwhen I'm gonna bring my deep
(48:01):
thoughts about Underworld.
Ooh, the first one, the vampireand werewolf movie, that
includes Michael Sheen, of whomI am a fan.
This show is a labor of love,but that doesn't make it free to
produce.
If you enjoy it even half asmuch as we do, please consider
(48:22):
helping to keep us overthinking.
You can support us at ourPatreon.
There's a link in the shownotes.
Or leave a positive review soothers can find us.
And of course, share the showwith your people.
Thanks for listening.
Our theme music is ProfessorUmlaut by Kevin McLeod from
Incompitech.com.
(48:43):
Find full music credits in theshow notes.
Thank you to Resonate Recordingsfor editing today's episode.
Until next time, remember, popculture is still culture.
And shouldn't you know what's inyour head?
But the fact that Kurgan is a danger to everything
and everyone that Connor lovesis kind of representative to the
fears of being a gay man in the1980s, that the specter of AIDS
and sexual violence could be adanger to everyone you love.
SPEAKER_01 (00:23):
Have you ever had something you love dismissed
because it's just up culture?
What others might deem stupidshit, you know matters.
You know it's worth talking andthinking about.
And so do we.
So come overthink with us as wedelve into our deep thoughts
about stupid shit.
SPEAKER_00 (00:43):
I'm Emily Guy Birkin, and you're listening to
Deep Thoughts About Stupid Shit.
Because pop culture is stillculture, and shouldn't you know
what's in your head?
On today's episode, I'll besharing my deep thoughts about
the 1986 cult classic Highlanderwith my sister, Tracy Guy
Decker.
And with you, let's dive in.
(01:04):
Now, real quick before I turn tomy sister.
Listener, if you haven't yet,I'm going to ask you to please
take a moment to follow the showon Apple or Spotify or wherever
you get your pods.
It is a quick and free way tohelp us grow the show, and we
would really appreciate it.
Now that I've said that, Tracy,I know you have seen this film.
(01:26):
It was one of the absolutefavorites of our stepfather.
But tell me what's in your headabout Highlander.
And we're just talking about theshow.
We're not talking about thefranchise, the TV show, the just
the movie.
Just the first movie.
Yeah, just the first movie.
SPEAKER_01 (01:41):
Yeah.
Yeah, it was one of ourstepfather's favorites.
And so I remember watching itwith him.
I remember Connor McLeod of theClan McLeod.
I remember there can be onlyone.
I have so like a couple of verysort of flash vignettes in my
head, or like he dies or almostdies, and then comes back in the
(02:04):
pub the next day, like inancient times, and people are
like, he's a witch or somethinglike that.
I remember that he watches hiswife grow old and die, and how
sad that was.
That's it.
That's what I got.
Those are the things that I haveabout Highlander.
So I I know there's fighting andstuff, but I can't remember why
or with whom.
(02:26):
I know he's immortal, and Idon't remember how that
resolves.
So yeah, that's what I got.
Why are we talking about thistoday?
SPEAKER_00 (02:35):
I honestly can't remember how it ended up on the
list, what reminded me of themovie.
It's a like a bonkers conceptthat is just kind of fun and
weird and so very 80s.
And so it was on the list, and Iwas like, oh yeah, yeah, that
was cool.
And so I was like, okay, youknow, let's take a look at it.
(02:59):
Oh my goodness, this movie.
This movie is not what ourstepdad thought it was.
I'm not gonna tell him you saidthat.
Because while yes, it is a verykind of high-concept fantasy
action film, it is that.
It's also a very, very notsubtle metaphor for
(03:25):
homosexuality.
And it is not even remotelysubtle.
Longtime listeners might recallthat I'm not good with subtext
necessarily.
So watching Chasing Amy andwatching In and Out, I was
going, like, wait, thosecharacters are supposed to be
gay, because I believed themwhen they said that they weren't
(03:47):
or were, whatever it was.
So, like, I'm not good with thatkind of subtext.
I was yesterday watching this,texting Tracy, going, This is
really homoerotic, I think.
Yeah.
And I'm not looking for this.
And so I think that that puts abeast of a different color on
(04:10):
this film.
And considering the fact thatthe director, Russell McCahie,
is a gay man, I think makes itvery, very interesting.
And so that's actually probablywhat I'm going to be spending a
great deal of time on talkingabout.
And how that kind of gives adifferent flavor to what this
(04:31):
story is saying rather than thepardon the pun, straight
fantasy.
Wow, that there's layers to thatthat we thought we were
watching, even with there's avery gratuitous heterosexual sex
scene in it with like lots ofgratuitous nudity in it.
(04:54):
That's but it's still very queermovie.
So yeah, it's interesting.
So before I get into remindingyou what happens in the movie,
let me give you a couple ofpostcards from the destination.
As I said, it's a metaphor forthe queer experience and
specifically the experience ofgay men and AIDS in the 80s.
(05:17):
Uh we're gonna talk about thehomoeroticism and like the
specific, unsubtle metaphors,the subtext that's made text
within the film.
The casting's bonkers and likejust needs to be said.
So we're gonna talk about that.
Sean Connery is in it, he wasthe one big name in the in the
(05:38):
film.
Russell Mulcahy, the director,his direction, as I was watching
it originally last night,initially, I was just like, he
really thinks he's doingsomething there a couple of
times.
And then I later found out hegot his start in music videos.
I was like, oh, okay, that helpsexplain it.
And then even though there wereseveral times where I was like,
(05:58):
wow, he really feels like he'sdoing something there.
And I was just like, this feelslike a like a student director.
But then there were a couplewhere I was just like, wow, he
really did do something there.
So there's some experimentingwith the cinematography that is
kind of fascinating.
I'm gonna talk a little bitabout gender, and it doesn't
pass Bechtel.
(06:19):
There's uh aspects of New Yorkin the 1980s, which I talked
about the last time, because Iwas talking about Night Court.
So gonna get into that a littlebit.
The theatrical cut in the Europewas 116 minutes, in the United
States was 111 minutes.
And there are like, I'm not surewhich we saw as kids, because I
(06:42):
know we didn't see it in thetheater.
So the version I saw yesterdaywas the original, the director's
cut, the 116-minute version.
And there's one scene inparticular that Malcahee was
livid that they cut for the theUS version.
So I want to talk about whatthat was.
So those are some of the thingsthat I'm going to be discussing.
(07:03):
So just to kind of give youbackground, I am gonna kind of
give you characters rather thanlike beginning to end.
So we have Connor McLeod, who isplayed by Christopher Lambert,
who is a French American actor.
He was born in America, butraised in France.
(07:24):
Did not speak English.
Wait, what?
Russell Mulcahy saw a picture ofhim in a magazine.
He says, That's the look I want,and hired him.
And so he had to have a dialectcoach.
SPEAKER_01 (07:34):
To learn English with a Scottish accent.
And he didn't speak any English.
SPEAKER_00 (07:38):
Which is part of the reason why his accent is so
frickin' weird.
Okay.
So because he was hired becausehe looked the way Mulkey wanted
Connor, Connor to look.
Which I think is also why healso he was his first part, he
was in in 1984, he was inTarzan, the legend of Greystoke
(08:01):
or whatever it is.
And he was hired in part becausehe is nearsighted and didn't
have contact lenses, and so likehe would be like looking far off
in the distance because hecouldn't see.
SPEAKER_01 (08:14):
You're saying that's why he was hired for Tarzan?
unknown (08:17):
Yes.
SPEAKER_00 (08:18):
Because he had this kind of like far away look.
And he didn't have to talk forthat one.
I don't know if that was in anEnglish.
I I didn't do enough research,but which so another thing I
texted Tracy was like,Christopher Lambert's acting
choices seem to be scowling orlooking confused.
(08:41):
Befuddled is the word that youput text.
Anyway, the movie interspersesmodern day, which is 1985, New
York, with Connor's life, whichstarted in the 16th century.
He was born in 1518, in 1536 asan 18-year-old, although Lambert
(09:06):
was 29 and hard-looking 29.
He went to battle, his clan wentto battle against the Fraser
clan.
There was an outsider knightcalled the Kurgan, played by
Clancy Brown, who said, I don'twant anyone in the Fraser clan
to attack the one called Connor.
(09:26):
I will, I, he's mine.
So no one will fight Connor.
And then the Kurgan comes up tohim and stabs him in the stomach
and then goes to cut off hishead, saying there can be only
one, and then they're likerushed by the rest of the McLeod
clan.
So that is the origin story.
So the Kurgan obviously doesn'tcut his head off.
(09:49):
Not at that time.
So that is how Connor dies forthe first time.
That's that thing I remember.
He is an immortal.
Because and he doesn't knowanything about it.
All he knows is that he he isbrought back.
They pray over him.
His girlfriend, Kate, is wailingthat he's dying.
(10:12):
And then the next day he isbanished from the village
because they think he must be inleague with the devil, because
he should have died and didn't.
They wanted to burn him at thestake, but one of the clan
leaders, Angus, shows himkindness and says, get out of
here while you can.
But burning him at the stakewouldn't have done anything
anyway, because he is immortal.
Unless his head is cut off,apparently.
(10:34):
Yes.
So we see interspersed withMcLeod in the 20th century, is
going by Russell Nash, and wesee him at Madison Square Garden
watching a wrestling match, andhe goes to the parking garage
and has this epic sword fightwith a man named Imam Fasile,
(10:54):
and he cuts off Fasil's head andlike receives electricity.
SPEAKER_01 (11:00):
Oh, I do remember that.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Like the soul like comes out ofthe headless body into him.
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (11:07):
And he is arrested because he's looking pretty
shifty and trying to get out ofthe parking garage because and
because I write about money, theelectricity causes like all the
electric to short out.
The quickening is what they callit.
SPEAKER_01 (11:24):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (11:25):
So the quickening causes everything to short out
and all the glass on every carto break everywhere around him.
And so he hides his sword and istrying to get out.
And so I'm sitting there going,how would the insurance claims
handle those?
Anyway.
(11:45):
So in the past, Connor ends upmeeting a woman named Heather.
They marry.
They are together for severalyears and very happy when Juan
Ramirez, played by Sean Connery,noted Spaniard.
SPEAKER_01 (12:02):
So they're in Scotland.
This French dude is playing aScottish dude.
And then like the most famousScottish man in the world.
They cast as someone named Juanwhat?
Juan Ramirez?
SPEAKER_00 (12:18):
Juan.
It's and it's longer than that.
There's there's a bunch in themiddle, a Spanish custom.
SPEAKER_01 (12:23):
Yeah.
So Sean sort of sounds likeJuan.
Sean Connery.
Juan.
Juan.
Okay.
All right, I'm with you.
The most famous Scottish man inthe world in a film about Scots
plays a Spaniard.
And what does Juan Conry do?
SPEAKER_00 (12:47):
McLeod says, What do you want?
And Ramira says, You.
That's not hot.
Okay.
And basically he introduces himto what it means to be immortal.
And he says, You were borndifferent, and men will fear you
because of it.
SPEAKER_01 (13:06):
Huh.
Hmm.
Subtext.
Okay.
So Juan is like a mentor ofswords.
Yes.
SPEAKER_00 (13:13):
Okay.
So well, that's appropriate forSean Connery in a Scottish film.
Yes.
And he has been alive for 2,400years.
Oh.
And he's not actually aSpaniard, he's Egyptian.
He just is most recently Ramirezis his most recent name.
SPEAKER_01 (13:27):
I see.
SPEAKER_00 (13:28):
So why doesn't Juan Connery want to kill Connor?
Because there will eventually besomething called the gathering,
when all of the immortals, whenthere are a dwindling few left,
and they will all gather in afaraway land and they're kill
(13:48):
each other until there is onlyone who will receive the prize.
We never find out how JuanConnery knows this or how they
know this.
And if the Kurgan, who is thestrongest, and it is suggested
that he is the oldest of theimmortals, does this, then it
(14:10):
will be horrible for humanity.
Of course.
So Ramirez has come to trainMcLeod so that he's prepared.
So there's he stays for quitesome time.
You see him training.
He advises McCloud to leaveHeather because to save himself
heartache because he will haveto watch her die.
(14:31):
He also tells him that weimmortals cannot have children,
which breaks McLeod's heartbecause that's what he wants
most as a family.
And he knows that it will breakHeather's heart.
There is an evening when McLeodis away, it's unclear why, where
Heather and Ramirez are chattingand having wine.
(14:52):
And Ramirez says, Heather, youneed to get out because the
Kurgan has come.
There is a ridiculous fightscene where the kind of
half-castle tour thing thatthey're in is exploding as they
fight.
It's so ridiculous.
But the Kurgan and Ramirezfight, and the Kurgan kills
(15:13):
Ramirez and is left alone withHeather, and we don't see what
happens after that.
We see the Kurgan say hello,pretty, and then we go back to
the Oh, so we can assume that heraped her?
It's more than an assumption.
We go back to the current time.
In the current time, there is aforensic police officer named
(15:33):
Brenda, who also is an expert inweapons and metallurgy, like you
do.
It's a hobby.
She has a book that's threeinches thick that she has
published.
So she's a hyperfixated hobby.
Okay.
So she has been followingRussell Nash slash Connor.
(15:56):
Connor McLeod.
And she sees him be attacked bythe Kurgan, and they are
fighting.
She's kind of in the middle whena police helicopter comes by.
Another super unintentionallyfunny moment, because the police
helicopter comes by andeverybody scatters.
And the police are like, no,come back.
(16:18):
I'm like, what you expect tohappen?
And Connor says to Brenda, Youonly have one life if you value
it, go home.
We see the rest of Connor andHeather's life together.
We see her growing older whilehe stays exactly the same.
And then her death, where shesays, I don't want to die, and
(16:41):
you're still my beautifulhusband.
I don't remember all thedetails.
And will you do one thing forme?
Will you light a candle on mybirthday every year?
And he promises to do that.
Brenda does some other research.
She meets Connor's secretary.
Connor is now an antiques dealerin New York.
He meets his secretary, Rachel.
(17:03):
We see a scene from during WorldWar II.
Connor was in Nazi Germany.
He's running and he hears achild crying.
He finds the child and it'sabout a seven or eight-year-old
girl.
He asks, What's your name,Rachel?
And we just met Rachel as anadult who's like in her 40s or
so in the 80s.
(17:24):
And she says she's alone.
He's like, I'm alone too.
Why don't you come with me?
I promise I won't hurt you.
And then a Nazi comes and startsshooting, and he falls over and
protects her, but he's okay.
And she's like, How are you notdead?
And he says it's kind of a magictrick.
And he gets up and kills theNazi and then carries her off.
And so we now know that that'shis daughter, his adopted
(17:47):
daughter, who knows that he'simmortal because she's seen him
never age.
And we also see Brendaresearching the name Russell
Nash and finding out it's thename of a child who was
basically stillborn.
Oh yeah, I remember that.
Yeah.
So she confronts Connor.
(18:08):
Connor says, stab me.
Like she does.
Like you do.
She does, which leads to thegratuitous sex scene.
Oh yeah.
And then there's a friend, justto make sure make it clear that
there are more immortals in theworld, there's a friend who
comes in town who says the, youknow, the gathering's coming.
It's the only black immortal wesee.
(18:29):
And we see him fighting theKurgan, and he loses.
Oh.
And there's a former Marine, soa Vietnam vet with PTSD, who
like kind of interrupts, andbecause and he's a witness to
this.
The police are interviewing himafter this, after the Kurgan
takes the friend's head.
(18:52):
The end comes when the Kurgankidnaps Brenda, takes her to the
Silver Cup studios, and thefight occurs there.
Very cinematic, really welldone.
After a long, drawn-out swordfight, McLeod prevails, takes
(19:13):
the Kurgan's head, gains theprize, which is that he is now
mortal.
He can have children, he candie.
But he also basically can hearthe thoughts of all people in
the world.
SPEAKER_01 (19:26):
Oh, not the people he killed, but all the people?
SPEAKER_00 (19:28):
All the people.
Like he says presidents,scientists, everyone.
And like Yeah.
That's not a prize.
SPEAKER_01 (19:37):
That sounds like torture.
SPEAKER_00 (19:38):
Yeah.
And so he and Brenda returned toScotland to where he was born
and where his home was withHeather.
That's the end of the film.
SPEAKER_01 (19:47):
So you said though, I'm sorry, I'm coming back
because you said that it wasmore than implied that Heather
was raped by the Kurgan.
SPEAKER_00 (19:53):
Oh, yes.
There's a point where the Kurganmeets up with Connor at a church
because it's Heather's birthday,and Connor has lit a candle for
her in a church.
And Ramirez had told him thatholy ground is the only place
where you're safe from otherimmortals.
There is no fighting on holyground.
So the Kurgan has met him there,and they are talking about
(20:14):
Ramirez.
Ramirez told the Kurgan that'smy woman.
I suspect trying to protect her.
I don't know because the Kurganhas been kind of obsessed with
Connor.
And so the Kurgan says, like,yeah, I killed him and I raped
his woman before his blood wascold.
So we know.
SPEAKER_01 (20:32):
And then he says, Oh, but she was your woman and
she never told you.
SPEAKER_00 (20:34):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I remember that's in my head.
SPEAKER_01 (20:38):
Okay.
What do you want to talk about?
SPEAKER_00 (20:40):
Let me talk about the queerness.
So the movie starts with awrestling match.
And I'm not saying thatwrestling has to be a
homoerotic, but the way thatit's filmed, it really is.
And Connorslash Nash is sittingthere watching it by himself.
I don't know why.
I mean, maybe he didn't have aboyfriend at the time.
(21:03):
I don't like it's just reallyweird.
There's he had to like for thefilm, he had to be there for the
parking garage to have thefight.
But it's been a movie, it couldhave been anything.
Yeah, it could have beenanything.
So it could have been a concert,like it's Madison Square Garden.
Yeah.
So okay.
He's a Highlander, so he's in akilt the whole time in the past.
(21:27):
Which again.
And then the film consistentlyconnects stabbing with sex.
And like textually with when hehas Brenda stab him and then
they immediately have sex.
SPEAKER_01 (21:45):
Uh huh.
SPEAKER_00 (21:46):
So like it's not subtle.
But like she stabs him.
Yes.
So it's like penetration.
Then the film also when thepolice have arrested.
At him because there is aheadless corpse in the garage.
Parking garage.
Uh-huh.
Parking garage.
(22:06):
There is a really horribleoffensive cop that even the
other cops don't like.
His name is Garfield.
Garfield asks him, Are you aF-word slur?
SPEAKER_02 (22:16):
Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_00 (22:17):
And he says, because I think you went to the parking
garage to get a blowjob and thendidn't want to pay.
So again, like the movie'smaking it text.
SPEAKER_02 (22:29):
Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_00 (22:29):
Because that's an experience.
And to the movie maker's creditand Connor's credit, he turns to
Garfield and says, How dare yousay that to me?
He doesn't say, How dare you saythat to me, or like, he's not
offended on his own behalf.
He says, You are really sick.
SPEAKER_01 (22:48):
That sorry, you said that a c a weird way.
So Connor, Connor turns toGarfield and says, You're sick.
He doesn't say, How dare you saythat to me.
No.
He doesn't say that.
He doesn't say, How dare youthink I'm gay?
SPEAKER_00 (23:01):
He says, You are sick.
You are sick.
So the idea that I would killsomeone over that is sick, not
the idea that sex between men ishorrifying.
Got it.
Because when that happened, Iwas just like, oh God, oh dear
God, what's gonna happen?
And like I appreciated that theresponse was, you're sick.
(23:24):
Because that's a reasonableresponse to someone making such
a suggestion.
Right, right.
The other thing that that wasfascinating is the way that the
immortals interact with eachother is they take each other's
heads.
SPEAKER_01 (23:40):
Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_00 (23:42):
And all the immortals are men.
SPEAKER_01 (23:44):
And the one that loses his head then spoges a
bunch of soul ectoplasmeverywhere.
SPEAKER_00 (23:50):
Yeah.
Now, the other thing that thepoint at which I texted you,
like, this movie's kind ofhomoerotic, was during the
Ramirez training McLeod montage.
So you may remember, like,Ramirez is dressed the way a
Spaniard would have dressed inthe 16th century.
(24:13):
So he's got like peacockfeathers.
He's wearing a pearl earring.
And Connor says, you dress likea woman, calls him a peacock,
and he also calls him a haggis.
Because of the way the way he'sdressed, it's like stuffed or
something like that.
But a haggis is a kind ofsausage.
(24:34):
Right.
So and then basically Ramirez isteaching him how his body works.
And there he says things to himlike, don't overextend your
thrust.
Uh-huh.
And there's a point where theyare on the beach and there is a
(24:54):
stag nearby.
And like a deer.
Uh-huh.
Ramirez is behind Connor andsays, Close your eyes, feel the
stag.
You can feel his heartbeat.
And like they do, they both do.
And then they both start runningon sand, like joyfully.
SPEAKER_01 (25:14):
Uh-huh.
Yeah.
It's like if Yoda and Luke werelike Sean Connery and a hot
French dude.
SPEAKER_00 (25:32):
Yeah, except that Yoda and Luke were well, because
one was a puppet.
Yeah.
The other thing is when um soConnor and Heather are
canoodling when Ramirez firstarrives.
And like when you firstencounter another immortal, you
can feel that your spidey sensesgo off, but it makes you feel
(25:53):
ill.
And so Connor tells Heather togo inside, and he's on his knees
in front of Ramirez, who isstanding.
Oh, that's not subtle.
Yeah.
So like it's all there.
It's all there.
So there's all of that is inthere.
But it's not just that.
(26:14):
There's also like the sense ofwhat it was like to be a gay man
in the 80s, in that Romera says,You're born different and men
will fear you.
After your first penetration,you may be banished by your
family and the people who loveyou.
(26:34):
So there's that aspect of it.
Then there's, and it is likenotable that Connor's first
death was stabbing, like literalpenetration.
Then there's the specter of AIDSin the 80s.
So the moment where Connor'swatching Heather die is very
(26:57):
reminiscent of what it was likefor queer men to watch their
partners die and be unable to doanything and feel helpless.
Especially like if you are youngand strong and healthy and
watching someone who it feelslike you just met waste away.
(27:21):
Yeah.
So that's an aspect of it.
And then the Kurgan kind ofrepresents sexual violence and
AIDS, which is in some ways alittle problematic because in
the modern day 1985, they dressClancy Brown in like leather
(27:41):
daddy.
It's all leather.
He has a slice on his neck fromhis fight with Ramirez, where
Ramirez like got him, but didnot completely decapitate him.
And so he has safety pinsthrough it.
And he wears like all leather80s central casting for like
(28:03):
leather biker dude.
Yeah.
Also doubles as like kinky gayleather dude from the 80s.
Mm-hmm.
That sailed over my head,obviously.
I'm sure sailed over the heads.
I mean, maybe our stepfathermight have clocked that as
(28:24):
gay-coded.
I don't know.
Maybe.
But the fact that Kurgan is adanger to everything and
everyone that Connor loves iskind of representative to the
fears of being a gay man in the1980s, that the specter of AIDS
(28:45):
and sexual violence could be adanger to everyone you love in
such a dangerous time to be gay.
And I want to say I did not comeup with that.
I'm going to include a link inthe show notes to a video of a
content creator who drewtogether those dots for me.
(29:06):
Like I kind of gathered a few ofthem, but several like the
direct line this creator drewfor me.
So also the fact that they hadthe gathering happen in New York
City in the 80s, which I am notas cognizant of queer history in
(29:28):
the 1980s as I could be, butthat was important for gay men,
for what was going on with theAIDS epidemic, all of that as
well, when it could have beenanywhere.
So all that to say is this movieis not about immortal men
battling for a prize.
SPEAKER_01 (29:53):
So what about the fact that if the Kurgan wins, we
know from Juan Connery that itwill be bad for all of humanity?
What about how does that fitinto your metaphor or to this
other content creator's metaphorof the Kurgan as AIDS and sexual
violence?
SPEAKER_00 (30:10):
I think within that metaphor, I think that then is
the idea that somethingChristopher Lambert has said and
something that several reviewershave said that they appreciate
about this very weird film isthat McLeod still feels hopeful
and still allows himself tolove, even after 400 years of
(30:32):
life, when it would be verydifficult to do that.
Yeah.
And so, in some ways, he's stilllike the best of humanity, even
after having seen so muchawfulness and so much horror,
and having have having lost thisgreat love, two great loves,
because he did love Ramirez, andthen having lost Heather in two,
(30:53):
that's the other aspect of it,in two very different ways.
He lost Ramirez in a sudden actof violence, which is and then
losing Heather to slowdevastation.
And so I feel like within thismetaphor, it's saying that
(31:14):
letting the fears, like the fearof homosexuality and the fear of
love win.
It's going to be so much darkerfor the world than being open to
letting yourself connect withpeople, letting yourself be open
to new relationships and newloves, even knowing the horrors
(31:38):
that this world can perpetrateon marginalized groups.
Okay.
Which is kind of a like abeautiful metaphor.
And then the idea that then thatConnor has this connection to
people that he can kind of likelet people start to see like you
don't need to be afraid ofpeople who are different.
(31:59):
Extending that metaphor gives usa sense of like we can get to a
place where we have a boBergefel in the United States.
Oh what?
Obergefel.
SPEAKER_01 (32:11):
Oh, that's not how I pronounce that word, but oh
okay.
That name.
I don't know.
Ogrefell.
I don't know.
Not that.
SPEAKER_00 (32:20):
That's not the way that I have said it.
I might be wrong.
I probably am.
Can't remember Ravenus?
Yeah.
So I mean, you get like fromthere you get heated rivalry in
2025.
Right.
So and that, but if Kurgan hadwon, you would have like fear
(32:44):
and destruction and sexualviolence and power over and
retribution and whatever.
SPEAKER_01 (32:51):
Yeah, that's why Juan Connery didn't want the
Kurgan to know that Heather wasConnor's partner because the
Kurgan wouldn't have just rapedher, he would have killed her,
just out of cruelty.
Okay.
Let's talk about the directionand cinematography.
(33:11):
Because in your intro, you werelike, sometimes I was like, oh,
well, he's very proud of himselfon that one.
And other times you're like, oh,he should be very proud of
himself on that one.
Those weren't the way you saidit, but I'm just paraphrasing.
So talk to me about that.
What are you reacting to?
SPEAKER_00 (33:25):
So in the first fight in the parking garage,
there's a point where so thevassal who he's fighting, who
was played by the, I think, thestunt coordinator.
And another thing I think I wasI was texting, I was like, there
is a lot of gratuitous backflipsin this movie.
Right.
You did say that.
(33:45):
Like that is not the mostefficient way to get around in
the middle of a fight.
But I think that that actor wasactually doing the backflips
because he's the actual stuntcoordinator and stunt person.
But he was wearing thesemirrored sunglasses and they
fell off of him and they'resitting on the ground.
And so there's a point where thecamera is focused on the
(34:05):
glasses, and so you're seeingsomething in the reflection.
And it felt very like seniorthesis in film school.
Right, right.
You know what would be cool?
It would be cool if there werelike, yeah.
I couldn't quibble with like itwas very well set up.
All of that was well done.
(34:28):
It just was like took itself alittle too seriously.
Yeah.
But then later on, when Heatherdies, Connor's sword is the
sword that he was given when hefirst goes to battle against the
Frasers.
And it's it's a broad sword.
It says McLeod across thepommel.
(34:48):
And they show him buryingHeather, and then they show the
sword is in the foreground.
And so you can see the sword andMcLeod.
It's like very very frontforeground.
Then the midground is Connor.
And then in the background, hehas set fire to their cottage.
And so that is gorgeous.
(35:09):
I mean, it is a gorgeous shot.
And like, now part of it isbecause before I hit play
yesterday, there were like threescenes that I could tell you
about.
And one of them was his wifedying.
And with the song, I didn't evenmention the soundtrack because
Queen plays the soundtrack.
Right.
And they wrote the songspecifically, Who Wants to Live
(35:31):
Forever, for this, um, becauseof the scene with Heather dying.
So now part of it is that sceneof her dying.
I remember that.
I remember it really moving meas a kid and being so sad for
both of them.
And so some of it is the emotionof what had just come before.
And then that that that moment,it's earned.
(35:53):
The direction and the image ofthat moment is earned.
But it's also just reallybeautiful.
It could be a still image.
Like I could see someone drawingit or painting it and it working
even without the background ofthe scene that just came before.
So, and there were severalmoments like that.
(36:13):
There was also the way that theediting worked.
So we get the whole scene withthe he's watching the wrestling.
We see him remembering a littlebit in the past, but we don't
get a whole lot in the past.
Then we see the fight withFasile, and then after Fasile
dies, the camera pans up in thegarage, and then it goes up to
(36:38):
above ground, but we're inScotland in 1536.
And it's, I read someone sayingthat a low-budget film does more
creative things with that kindof transition.
Because there's anothertransition where we go into his
eye and then go somewhere else.
And I think there's that wasanother one where I was just
(36:59):
like senior in film school.
But the one where like panningup, and then we're in Scotland,
that was amazing.
That worked really well.
So some of these overall, I'mreally glad that Malkehy
experimented.
Like I think he did some really,really interesting things.
I think that they were justfascinating ways of playing with
(37:23):
the medium that you don't getwith big budget films and that
make the movie more dynamic thanit would be.
But there then there were thingslike I think I mentioned where
the it's I'm calling it a tourbecause I don't know, like I
think T-O-R, but Heather andConnor are living in this kind
(37:44):
of a ruined partial castle.
It's like a turret, and it's gotstairs going up, and that's
where they are.
That's where Ramirez and Heatherare when the Kurgan comes.
And like Ramirez and the Kurganare like hitting the stones with
their swords, and the stoneswere like exploding.
(38:06):
I was laughing my ass off, andit was not supposed to be funny.
Like this was not a scene thatwas intended to be humorous, and
I could not stop gigglingbecause why are stones like
exploding?
SPEAKER_01 (38:26):
Like they weren't just sparking from metal against
stone, they were no, they werelike they were like breaking in
like shattering.
SPEAKER_00 (38:34):
Yeah.
And like I think it was theywere trying to show like just
how powerful these two swordsmenwere.
Yeah.
But you could kind of see thatthese were foam.
And it was also just like, no,I'm sorry.
Like, I will buy that there are,you know, 2,000-year-old men
(38:55):
going around trying to cut offeach other's heads.
I'm not buying that they candestroy a tower this way with
nothing but swords.
Sorry.
Okay.
So, but that it was just, I feellike Malcahi is really, really
talented in a way that is likewould have been caged if he were
(39:19):
trying to make a film, adifferent film.
Like if he were trying to make afilm that was bigger budget,
that was less bonkers, that waslike that he didn't have as much
control over.
That had big studio execstelling him what to do.
And then these moments that I'mmentioning, like with the
sunglasses and the sword andstuff like that, I think also
(39:41):
are indicative of his start inmusic videos.
Yeah.
Because that seems like the sortof thing that you would see in
music videos because you have somuch less like and time.
SPEAKER_01 (39:53):
Yeah.
I wonder if he would havebenefited from an editor, like
if he was T.
S.
Elliott and he needed Ezra Poundto like help him get to the
actual core of the poem.
And hopefully, and hopefully hisEzra would not be a fascist.
SPEAKER_00 (40:09):
But anyway.
And actually, most film editorsare women.
SPEAKER_01 (40:12):
Interesting.
SPEAKER_00 (40:13):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (40:14):
Does not pass back, though.
You said that Rachel and Brendatalk to one another, but they
talk about Connor.
SPEAKER_00 (40:22):
The treatment of women in this movie is
interesting.
In that, so I wish there was wehad more with Rachel because
that feels like the most real,most authentic relationship
Connor has of any that we see.
And that so the scene that wascut that Mulcahy was furious
(40:44):
about was the scene where hefinds Rachel as a child.
And that's where I was like, Ihave no memory one way or the
other.
Why would they cut that forAmerican audiences?
No idea.
Huh.
So now I will say some of thelike, some of the stuff they do
of him throughout time does feellike, why are we doing this?
(41:04):
So there's a point where he andhis friend, who's killed by the
Kurgan in 1985, are reminiscingabout something that happened in
1783, and that was cut forAmerican audiences.
And I kind of understand itbecause it doesn't really add
anything to the movie.
And it also lends itself to likeI understand why they made a TV
show because it gives you moreopportunity to do these kind of
(41:26):
fun.
Like it was fun.
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (41:29):
But it doesn't advance the story.
SPEAKER_00 (41:31):
Didn't advance the story in any way.
And like I could see maybeAmerican executives saying this
doesn't advance the story in anyway, but it does.
It gives us the like we need tounderstand who Rachel is, and we
can't understand it withoutthat.
SPEAKER_01 (41:45):
Yeah, and the fact that she came from such trauma
that he rescued her from.
SPEAKER_00 (41:49):
Yeah.
And then when he leaves to goconfront the Kurgan, he makes it
clear he's never he's not comingback.
And they have this moment, andshe says, Oh, even if you kill
him, you're not coming back, areyou?
And he says, Russell Nash diestonight.
And he says to her, the lastthing he says to her is like,
it's a kind of magic trick,which was what he said to her
(42:10):
when Right, when she was achild.
So they're and it's because it'snon-romantic that their
relationship, which is it gets,I don't know, seven minutes of
runtime, their entire likeinteraction, maybe less.
Like it's very, very short theamount of time that even Rachel
is on screen.
(42:31):
I do not understand what he andBrenda have or are interested.
Like, there's nothing.
There's nothing there.
She likes weapons and he usesweapons.
But he keeps claiming he doesn'tbecause he's trying not to get
arrested.
He also, oh, this this reallypissed me off.
When she first comes to hisantique shop and is like, you
(42:54):
know, investigating him, he saysto her, Do you cook?
And she's like, Why?
And he says, Well, I wasthinking we could have dinner.
You could make me dinner?
No.
Unsubscribe?
SPEAKER_01 (43:10):
I know.
SPEAKER_00 (43:13):
Wow.
Okay.
And then when he gets there,like they end up having a fight
and he leaves.
So she cooked for the words.
SPEAKER_01 (43:20):
Wow.
We're running short on time.
So do you want to make a finalpoint and then I'll try and
reflect back to what we talkedabout?
SPEAKER_00 (43:30):
So I just I think the final point just to talking
about gender.
I feel like the way that themovie treats women is also a
little bit indicative of thetension that you sometimes see
in the way that, especially inthe 80s, the tension that gay
men might have with women, inthat there is like genuine
(43:53):
affection and love, but there'sthe like swimming in the same
sea of misogyny.
And so there's That uncheckedmisogyny within there.
So and that the most authenticrelationship is the
father-daughter relationshipthat we see.
But over like the found familyaspect of the film.
SPEAKER_01 (44:15):
Okay.
So I'm gonna reflect back to youwhat I heard about Highlander,
which is that this movie iswhich we missed completely when
we watched it and rewatched itand rewatched it when we were
young.
This movie is pretty queer,sounds it is so queer.
So our stepdad will not be happyto hear that.
(44:38):
So not just that there'shomorotic moments of watching a
wrestling scene or that mentormentee moment with a stag on the
beach, but also actually likethe structures of this film,
like how they die and the factthat they some of the beats of
the story of Connor, like thefact that he gets kicked out and
(44:59):
banished after his firstpenetration.
And I don't remember you laid itall out pretty clearly.
Yeah, and then they spoogeelectroge what's the word,
ectoplasm afterward.
Yeah, and the big bad guy is ametaphor for sexual violence and
for AIDS and fear, I think.
(45:22):
Oh, part of the queer allegoryis the way that Juan Connery
names that you're born differentand men will fear you because of
it.
So that's like a big part ofwhat we talked about.
We did also, since I'm callinghim Juan Connery, talk about the
bonkers casting here where we'vegot this movie about Scotland,
and we have the most famousScottish man maybe ever, but
(45:45):
certainly in the 20th century,playing someone who is not
Scottish.
And then we've got this Frenchdude who didn't speak English
before he got the parts tryingto speak English with a Scottish
accent.
So, huh?
SPEAKER_00 (45:59):
And I have to tell you, there were once I knew that
he was French, I could like Icould hear the accent sometimes,
like especially toward like whenhe was shouting or towards the
end, I was just like, oh, that'swhat that is.
Oh, wow.
SPEAKER_01 (46:15):
So you noted the sort of direction cinematography
where the director like hadreally interesting ideas to do
things in much cheaper ways.
Sometimes they worked, sometimesthey took themselves too
seriously, and we wondered if hewouldn't have done well for a
(46:35):
better editor, potentially.
Someone who could push backagainst him and make him kill
his darlings.
There were some things cut inthe American release that may
had us both scratching ourheads, including the fact that
his adoptive daughter was anadoptive daughter and he had
rescued her from the Nazis.
And also some stuff like abouthis like life over time that
(46:58):
maybe didn't advance the plot,but was fun.
And then we also spoke aboutsort of New York in the 1980s as
what that represented toAmerican culture and as like a
hotbed of gay culture and thefear and all of the things that
were going on in that kind ofmilieu.
(47:18):
And the what was I justthinking?
I was just thinking, oh, youwere naming, speaking of milieu
and sort of like looking at thiswith this clear, queer, queer
lens, this movie that doesn'tpass Bechtel has a comportment,
if you will, toward women thatis reminiscent of some gay men,
especially in the late 20thcentury, toward women where
(47:40):
there's genuine affection, butmaybe still casual and baked in
misogyny.
And that's all we have time forfor today.
But listeners, we will recordthe shit we forgot to say
because I know my sister hasmore to say about this film.
So if you're a patron or if youwant to listen, head on over to
our Patreon to hear that.
And stay tuned for next weekwhen I'm gonna bring my deep
(48:01):
thoughts about Underworld.
Ooh, the first one, the vampireand werewolf movie, that
includes Michael Sheen, of whomI am a fan.
This show is a labor of love,but that doesn't make it free to
produce.
If you enjoy it even half asmuch as we do, please consider
(48:22):
helping to keep us overthinking.
You can support us at ourPatreon.
There's a link in the shownotes.
Or leave a positive review soothers can find us.
And of course, share the showwith your people.
Thanks for listening.
Our theme music is ProfessorUmlaut by Kevin McLeod from
Incompitech.com.
(48:43):
Find full music credits in theshow notes.
Thank you to Resonate Recordingsfor editing today's episode.
Until next time, remember, popculture is still culture.
And shouldn't you know what's inyour head?
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