Bust out the arts and crafts kits and lose your pants, Tor.com, for the Movie Rewatch of Great Nostalgia is back!
Today’s entry is that fount of restraint and realism: 1985’s Legend. Ooooh yeah.
Previous entries can be found here. Please note that as with all films covered on the Nostalgia Rewatch, this post will be rife with spoilers for the film.
And now, the post!
ME: So, what do we remember about this movie?
LIZ: Glitter.
KATE: GLITTER.
ME: SO MUCH GLITTER.
LIZ: GLITTERSNOW.
KATE: GLITTERSWEAT.
LIZ: GLITTERTEARS.
ME: GLITTER WITH GLITTER ON IT. WITH A SIDE OF GLITTER.
LIZ: There are people who worked on this movie who are still finding glitter in their stuff today.
ME: I believe it.
Let’s just say, there is a metric fuckton of glitter in Legend. If you have ever wondered what constitutes a metric fuckton, observe the amount of glitter in this movie, and wonder no more.
Although, to be fair, the makers of Legend hardly confined themselves to glitter. There is also a metric fuckton of snow, smoke, fog, wind, ash, flower petals, and bubbles in this movie. Yes, bubbles.
(ALL THREE OF US: BUBBLES!!!! Wlnelrkgneofihkfjvlkcjwolnkdwp;rgpernvlk)
Also, pollen.
I need a Claritin just looking at that. Eesh.
Basically the set designers on this film were not content unless there was a bazillion bits of something being dumped all over and/or buffeting everything on screen at all times. I pity the fool who was hired to be the janitor on these sets.
Ridiculous? Absolutely. But it was also weirdly awe-inspiring, and contributed greatly to the dreamlike feel of the entire thing. Liz comments that it meant there was not a single scene in this movie where most of the frame was not in motion. As a unifying aesthetic it might be strange, but since “strange” was pretty much exactly what Legend was going for overall, as far as I can tell, I can only congratulate them on their consistency.
Our glittery mockery notwithstanding, Liz remembers, as do I, being utterly astounded by the sets, makeup, and costuming on Legend, and we were both excited to see if it held up to our memories of it. (It did.) But before we talk about that, we have to talk about How Netflix and Ridley Scott Conspired To Ruin My Childhood. Or at least, conspired to ruin my evening of being nostalgic about it.
You see, Bob, for this viewing, I had rented Legend on Netflix as a DVD, since naturally it was not available for streaming. When it got to me, however, I was surprised to discover that they had sent me the director’s cut instead of the theatrical version. I hadn’t even known there was a director’s cut before this. I was sort of dubious, but figured it would be interesting to see if I liked the director’s cut better than what I remembered of the theatrical version.
(I should mention as an aside that Sister Kate was appalled to discover that neither Liz nor I had seen Legend in at least a decade or longer, when this was going to be the fourth time she’d seen it this year. There was a subsequent discussion about whether that made us weird or that made her weird, which as you can imagine did not lead anywhere productive.)
But anyway, point being, it was the director’s cut that we all sat down to watch instead of the version that we were all familiar with (some of us to greater degrees than others, wow).
And. Well. Let’s see if I can put this diplomatically: the director’s cut of Legend?
BLOWS.
(I guess that’s a “no” on diplomacy, eh.)
Sorry to any fans of it out there, but no, really, as far as we were concerned it sucked. I was so disappointed, you guys.
And why did it blow and/or suck, you ask? (Like a bellows!) Well, there were lots of little things I didn’t like, like the weird jump cuts and strange (well, stranger) editing choices, or the decision to add back in a lot of footage that more often than not really should have been left on the cutting room floor where it belonged. Also, as a point of interest you should know that Mia Sara sings in the director’s cut. A lot.
But the real sin of the director’s cut of Legend, for my money, was the decision to take out the Tangerine Dream score, and replace it with the orchestral score originally written for the film by Jerry Goldsmith. In my opinion, this basically ruined the movie.
Now, normally I like Goldsmith’s work just fine, and I am aware (now) that in fact everyone outside of the U.S. saw the movie with Goldsmith’s score when it was released, and mostly seemed to have liked it just fine. And I would even agree that Goldsmith’s score was mature, classic and period-appropriate, whereas Tangerine Dream’s synthesizer-and pan-flute-addled score pretty much instantly dates the movie, and is occasionally unintentionally hilarious to boot.
The thing is, though, that I don’t care. I don’t care if the Goldsmith score is objectively better than the Tangerine Dream score, because subjectively, the movie is just all wrong to me without it. Legend is a trippy, wacky, over-the-top, sublimely absurd movie, and sedate, classic, safe music has no business being anywhere near it. I really did not realize just how integral the Tangerine Dream score was to my nostalgic love of Legend until I listened to two hours of boring orchestral whatever in its stead. It was genuinely upsetting, y’all.
The straw that really broke the camel’s back, though, was how the lack of Tangerine Dream ruined my absolute favorite scene in the entire movie.
You probably can guess which scene I’m talking about, but just in case you haven’t: the ONE scene I most distinctly remembered from the film (and the one I was most excited to see again) was what I always thought of as the “evil temptation dancing scene”, where Lily gets a new look, to say the least, going from “escapee from a Waterhouse painting” to “regular at Bar Sinister”:
I remember thinking that if I had ever been the kind of person who could remotely pull off that look, I so would have tried to rock it. Meanwhile Mia Sara pulls off both looks like a champ, and also medals in graceful flailing, fleeing, flouncing, and fluttering while she’s at it. Her transformation is, in my opinion, just the absolute best scene of the whole shebang.
It turns out, though, that without the music from the Tangerine Dream score, the entire scene felt flat, boring and weird instead of awesome – at least as far as I am concerned. Goldsmith’s ballet-like theme was pretty, but it didn’t generate anything near the tension and dread of TD’s creepy, macabre, wonderfully demented music box theme. After having waited so gleefully for it, our disappointment at seeing the director’s cut version of Lily’s dance was palpable. I was so pissed, in fact, that I made us pause the DVD so we could look up the proper version of it on YouTube:
I was almost ready at that point to turn the DVD off entirely, in fact, but was convinced to stick it out to the end. But Liz, at least, shoulda oughta known betta, because she was infuriated in turn to discover that the director’s cut had left out her favorite moment: when the Gump reattaches the male unicorn’s horn, amid an insane flower blizzard and the most awesomely awful 80s-tastic pop song ever:
I mean, c’mon, that is gold. How can you not love that?
In the end, Kate came off the best with the director’s cut, because her favorite part was the scene with Meg the Swamp Monster, and that was one of the few places where I thought the extended dialogue and longer scene actually worked better than the theatrical version.
So, so pretty.
The reason I know all this, by the way, is because I was so thoroughly disgruntled by the mangling the director’s cut had given one of my beloved childhood movies, that I later went and rented the theatrical cut on my own, just so I could compare the two versions fairly, and make sure I wasn’t talking out of my ass. For the record, I wasn’t: I enjoyed the theatrical cut way more than I did the director’s version. Sorry, Ridley, if you ask me you shoulda left well enough alone.
Granted, there were a couple of things the theatrical release did which I could have done without. Like, I seriously don’t know what was up with the bizarre blacklight version of the Lord of Darkness we see at the beginning, like he’s ten minutes from heading to a rave. (He would have been the most popular rave attendee EVER, true, but that’s beside the point.) Also, I’m not sure if an overwrought overlong written prologue is actually worse than an overwrought overlong introductory speech by the Lord of Darkness, but at least with the latter you get to enjoy more of Tim Curry oh-so-mellifluously chewing every piece of scenery he can get his meaty red hands on.
The “Jack meets the fair folk scene”, though, most definitely benefits from the pruning it received for the theatrical cut. Even though you can tell from watching the theatrical version that there was a lot of missing footage being edited around, having seen what they did cut, I think they were right to do it.
(Also, cutting a lot of this scene meant less bubbles. I feel like this was a good thing.)
Although I still don’t understand why in neither version did anything come of the fact that Jack was stupid enough to accept a drink from a fairy.
That’s one of the most basic fairy tale no-nos in the book, and the scene certainly seemed to play up an underlying menace when the Gump offers Jack wine, but then Jack drinks it and… nothing happens. And they go to find the unicorns and get Jack his glitter armor and so on. Soooo I guess Legend’s fairies are different?
Though honestly, the film was pretty slapdash in its application of fairy tale tropes overall. Like, I also don’t understand why the Lord of Darkness is supposed to reside in a giant tree (a tree with a portal to outer space, evidently), or why the inside of said giant tree looks a hell of a lot more like a stone cavern than anything organic. Why not have him live in a volcano lair like a normal evil overlord, sheesh.
One thing Legend absolutely did get right, though, in both versions, was the unicorns.
Their horns are a weensy bit wobbly when they run, true, but even so, I feel like Legend’s unicorns are still the best (live action) unicorns in cinema. I just adore them.
Liz adds that this movie was almost certainly the beginning of her youthful obsession with unicorns, which I can attest was pretty darn obsessive. And then Kate and I made fun of her for being foolish enough to tell everyone about that obsession back in the day, which meant that every Christmas and birthday gift she received for the next ten years was unicorn-themed. Hahaha.
Also:
ME: Why is there whale song in all the unicorn scenes?
LIZ: Because they’re talking. DUH.
ME: …Unicorns speak in whale song?
LIZ: Of course, how else would they talk?
KATE: Yeah, don’t you know nuthin?
ME: …
Of course, bringing up the unicorns means bringing up one of the more problematic issues with Legend, namely, what exactly is all this hoohah meant to be symbolizing, anyway?
I’ve read theories that the entire thing is a covert PSA advocating abstinence, and there’s certainly some validity to that train of thought, but personally I always assumed that it was much more a retelling of the Fall of Adam and Eve in fairy-tale sheep’s clothing than it was anything else.
And of course, as usual, it’s all the girl’s fault.
(Though you know, just to be pedantic, it seems to me that it was not made clear that Lily touching the unicorn was actually what made everything go pear-shaped; it seemed more like, you know, the evil poisoned goblin dart was the cause of that? Unless we were supposed to understand that it was only her touch that let the dart land, or something. Whatever.)
In any case, it’s amazing how easy the film makes it to seriously loathe Lily if one so chooses, mostly because her brand of “innocence” seems to be such a bizarre and vaguely distasteful one. Apparently “innocent”, when you’re a girl, means being capricious, willful, heedless, reckless, and a tease. Or maybe that’s just how all girls are in Legend-land, whether they’re innocent or not, since the fairy Oona displays pretty much the exact same traits.
(Meanwhile, “innocent”, when you’re a boy, apparently means having the ability to talk to animals and a terminal allergy to walking upright. Also to pants.)
Anyway, naturally this all more or less flew over my head as a kid, but adult-me can’t help but find the implications offensive. But the inherent sexism of “loss of innocence” tropes are so deeply baked into them that it basically just makes me tired to think of even trying to untangle them. So in the spirit of picking my battles, sometimes I just decide to concentrate on gorgeous cinematography and unicorns and badass production design and give the rest of it a miss.
Speaking of badass design, I would be seriously remiss were I to let an article about Legend pass without pointing out the intense awesomeness of the makeup job on Tim Curry’s Lord of Darkness (once it gets past its rave phase):
I used to wonder as a kid how the weight of those horns didn’t make him topple over every time he moved. In fact I still sort of wonder that now, truth be told.
But regardless, the get-up, plus Curry’s extraordinarily convincing physicality in the role (I especially liked how he imitated an actual bull when enraged, right down to the arrogant horn toss of I’mmabout to Gore You So Hard, Boi-yyyyy), has made the Lord of Darkness into one of my favorite fantasy villains of all time. His sheer cool factor neatly eclipses how vague his origins and goals are.
Though I do remember being struck as a kid by his line to Jack just before he goes on a space trip dies:
“You think you have won! What is light without dark? What are you without me? I am a part of you all. You can never defeat me. We are brothers eternal!”
I’m pretty sure that’s the first time I ever really gave that much thought to that particular aspect of the concept of good versus evil. I mean, I’d certainly thought about the subject before, but this may have been the first time I’d come across the suggestion that evil is actually fundamentally unvanquishable – that “all good” might be just as unacceptable as “all bad”. Other stories have explored the theme with far greater depth and complexity, of course, but Legend has the honor of being the story that first put a light bulb over my head about it.
Much more frivolously, though, this is by far my favorite LoD moment:
ME: Wow, didja… have a little accident in your pants there, chum?
Priceless.
I spent some time being startled at how young Tom Cruise is in this movie, but more at how different he looked before he got his teeth capped.
It was also interesting to watch him act before the hyper-polished and secretly crazy A-list movie star that he later became existed. Movie Star Tom Cruise has a calculated and blindingly shiny sheen to his acting (to his everything, really) that I have always found vaguely off-putting, even back when I really liked him. Young Ingenue Tom Cruise, on the other hand, had a genuineness and, yes, innocence (appropriately enough) to his performance that I found myself sad to realize had soon disappeared after Legend. Shame.
I never knew what had happened to Mia Sara after she did Legend and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off until I looked her up for this post. I had assumed that she’d stopped acting, but in fact it turns out that she’d worked steadily all the way through to 2013 – just in a bunch of things I’d never heard of or never watched. But hey, she played two characters in two movies most of us who were around for the 80s (and quite a few who weren’t) adore and are never going to forget, so that’s more than most people. Here’s to steady employment, girl. Good on you.
And, um. I’m sure there’s more I could comment on, but I’m pretty well spent by this point, so I leave the rest of the discussion to you guys. What do you think about Legend? Am I right about the blowage of the director’s cut and the awesomeness of Tangerine Dream, or do I need to lay off the fairy wine? Tell me your thoughts!
And until then, I close as always with my Nostalgia Love to Reality Love 1-10 Scale of Awesomeness!
For the director’s cut:
Nostalgia: 0
Reality: 4
For the theatrical cut:
Nostalgia: 8
Reality: 8
And that’s the show for now, kids! There’s a possibility that the next MRGN post may be pushed back owing to the Labor Day weekend, but that ain’t for sure yet, so watch out for my updates in the comments below! Cheers!
Wow, we came at this movie from pretty much opposite directions. Reposting the review I’ve posted elsewhere (since I’ve only seen it once and need to refresh my memory, plus I’m lazy):
I resisted seeing Legend for a long time, despite my adoration for Mia Sara. I wasn’t at all interested in Tom Cruise at the time (the first Cruise movie I actually saw was either Mission: Impossible or Minority Report), and I was offended that Jerry Goldsmith’s score had been abandoned, so I refused to see it until I could see it with the Goldsmith score intact. That conviction held for nearly two decades, until a day in 2004 when I found the director’s edition at the library, along with the theatrical cut on disc 2 of the set.
My reaction: a okay film, but not wonderful. Certainly from a visual standpoint it’s a stunning film, but the writing has its weak points. Mainly, its attempts at humor are awkward, with the comic-relief characters spouting anachronistic modern catchphrases and even venturing into Spanish once or twice. But I thought the plotting overall had its weaknesses. And I couldn’t help thinking that the villain should’ve known better than to blab about his fatal weakness to whoever happened to be present. The music was good, though. And Mia Sara was pretty good for a teenager in her first film — though I’m inclined to be forgiving, since, well, Mia Sara.
Anyway, after watching the DVD’s documentary feature and hearing about the differences between the versions, I decided to go ahead and watch the theatrical version, something I hadn’t originally planned on doing. And after watching it, I could see why the film didn’t do that well in its original release. The theatrical cut is a lot weaker than the director’s cut. The storytelling is superficial, the editing is jerky, and it makes a big mistake by revealing Darkness’ face at the beginning, rather than leaving us in suspense as the director’s cut does. It really diminishes the impact of the big reveal scene. And most of all, the Tangerine Dream score was lame. It had its moments here and there, but mostly it sounded like a cheap, cheesy ’80s synth score, the sort of thing you’d hear in a no-budget B-movie on MST3K. It totally failed to convey the emotional depth of Goldsmith’s score, and to give this film the impact it needed.
(What I want to know is, do tangerines dream of electric juicers?)
Perhaps the most noteworthy thing about Mia Sara’s later career is that she was the first actress to play Harley Quinn in live action, in the short-lived and ill-conceived 2002 Birds of Prey TV series, thus beating Margot Robbie to the punch by 14 years. That show was sort of a sequel to the standard Batman narrative, so it featured a more mature, somewhat more high-functioning Harley who was the evil mastermind of the series.
I’ve had the two-disc DVD for over a decade, and have only ever watched the Director’s Cut. I totally need to watch the theatrical cut one of these days. I think I avoided it due to some latent Criterion-flavored snobbery from college.
Also, anybody else think Gump looks like Frankie Muniz (Malcolm in the Middle)? It’s interesting to note that Muniz was born 7 days before the movie came out in theaters.
My introduction to this film was back in the 80’s when it came to a local TV station in NYC.
I distinctly remember the scenes where Jack meets the fairy folk and his confrontation with Meg as they are now attributed to the Directors cut.
BUT, the funny thing is I have never seen the Directors cut. The versions that were always on TV and that I’m familiar with have the Tangerine Dream soundtrack. Which I love.
I know the version mentioned here , but I believe years of editing (for broadcast TV) have made the version everyone is more familiar with today.
I’ve always hated seeing the edited TV version of this movie as I know I’ve seen those scenes in their entirety.
Can anyone out there confirm this?
She was also in Timecop with Jean-Claude VanDamme… which, could actually be on this rewatch, almost. Maybe its not old enough, though.
I only ever saw Legend on over-the-air TV. So, I really can’t comment on much, other than it was gorgeous. The pacing was so horrible (what with commercials and edits for TV) that the whole movie felt, just, off.
Ahh… The movie that, not unlike Liz, gave me my obsession. The unicorns made me fall in love with that particular breed of horses. To this day, Andalusians (PRE & Lusitanos) are my thing. I’ve owned bred and loved them for years and years. Unicorns FTW!
I still watch this every year, and I like the theatrical version much better, because of the saving the unicorn scene. But I do love the Goldsmith score on uts own.
#1 @@@@@ChristopherLBennett – “since, well, Mia Sara”. Exactly so.
“capricious, willful, heedless, reckless, and a tease” – Funny, that seems to describe quite well how I perceived most of the girls I knew in the ’80s. Of course they would have probably said I was juvenile, obnoxious, hyperactive, insecure, and sophomoric. Just like all teenage boys who found girls to be the most confusing attractions ever. :)
If you are obsessed with unicorns, and Legend-style unicorns in particular, your life is not complete until you get your hands on a copy of Robert Vavra’s Unicorns I Have Known. I found it in my local library in middle school and spent years checking it out and staring at it trying to convince myself it was real. Now that I own a copy, the photography is a little bit dated, but still magic.
@@.-@ Timecop totally qualifies. It premiered in 1994 (and is one of Van Damme’s better movies).
I’ve never actually scene this movie, although I’ve meant to for years. I’ll have to check out both versions when I do.
Always thought this was a great flick. And yeah the part with the moat witch is epic.
Is it just me, or could all of Tim Curry’s dialogue have been additional verses from KISS’ song God of Thunder?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hPuLyZkzeg
Edited to add: I don’t think I saw this one in the theater? Probably rented on VHS a few times, but any actual memories would be based on DVD or Blu-ray viewings, probably of the director’s cut. Lovely, lovely visuals, even if parts of it seemed like a bit of a mess.
Leigh, I’m totally with you on Tim Curry’s devil essentially helping to define my understanding of the dichotomy (or lack thereof) between Good and Evil as a child.
Of course, Tim Curry is also behind my understanding of how no whodunnit is ever straightforward (Clue), and how sexuality is not so dichotomous either (Rocky Horror Picture Show). The bottom line is, the world could do with more Tim Curry. He’s edumacational.
I am glad to say that I have never seen the Director’s Cut, so my memories of this film (I last saw it on TV maybe 5 or 6 years ago) remain untarnished.
NOONE IS ALLOW TO DISS THE THEATRICAL VERSION!
Ehem..whatever can be said objectively about this film, its still one of my favourites. I remember being blown away by it as a child, teenager and still as an adult. Like you said – its the music and the amazing set and the sheer weird, eerie beauty that is so archetypal and fairytale for me. They actually filmed it on a massive studio set at Elstree and it caught fire so the crew had a crazy time trying to film parts of it. They even had living trees there too. I think the fact it was physical really helped, although some elements date it (not that that has to be a bad thing), the tangible quality is so much better to me that the plastic shiny quality of CGI (not that CGI doesnt have its place of course.)
I know what you mean about Lily and loss of innocence, however actually I think they do make a point of saying they are going to use her innocence to lure the unicorn so its not really the act of touching it that causes all the mess, its the goblins, although she does get blamed initially. I like that she actually gets a fairly strong role, holding her own against the Lord of Darkness himself and holding her nerve to free the Unicorn.
The balance of light and dark you mentioned Leigh, is another thing that always brings me back to Legend. The words in the ‘overly long written prologue’ and this general concept have been a major inspiration for the fantasy book Ive been writing. Im unashamed to say I love it and the music gives it that special edge for me, but then by now you’d all have gathered Im biased!
So in general; all women aren’t capricious, willful, heedless, reckless, and a tease? Wow learn something new everyday.
Just kidding. Sorry that’s a bad, bad joke.
I’ve never seen the director’s cut and am not particularly interested in doing so (though I think I at least read about what the longer uncut scenes entailed), because I saw it first with Tangerine Dream and I adore it that way and always shall. (Yes even with Rod Stewart popping up at the end. Nostalgia is a funny thing.) The only thing which I kind of miss is the voiceover narration (which sounds like Oona?) from the soundtrack version of “Loved by the Sun”, which didn’t make it into the movie, but that wasn’t even part of the director’s cut anyway. :P
This movie will always have a special place in my heart for a lot of reasons. Mostly for the unicorns (their theme can still make me choke up today), but also for the interesting plot variations, such as: innocent princess who is actually rather unlikable in her willful capriciousness, but who becomes much more real and likable once she realizes what she’s done and works to amend it; the dress scene; the Lord of Darkness possessing the depth of having another weakness beyond light, namely the ability to fall in love; Lily’s very convincing act as a dark consort that allows her to free the unicorn; the jilted fairy Oona who yet proves heroic by helping them win the day even though her heart was broken; and of course the “good and evil must always coexist” conceit.
Also, I was shocked but oddly tickled to learn it was Robert Picardo under the Meg makeup and prosthetics! :D
@@.-@, Ahhh Timecop…such a great movie to come out while in my teen years. I had a huge crush on Mia Sara since Legend and my teenage self was delighted to see…more…of Mia in Timecop :)
@11, don’t forget that Tim Curry also taught us that clowns are ridiculously creepy and should not be trusted.
@16 Absolutely, but I didn’t see It as a kid, just an adult. (Perhaps disturbingly to some, I did in fact see Rocky Horror Picture Show as a kid, at 12 or 13 the first time).
@16 I was scared so badly seeing half of IT as an impressionable youngster I’ve never tried looking again. Jesus that film left scars. Tim Curry is the man though.
Never actually seen Legend, though I recognise the Devil costume. Guess I should rectify that, I have plenty of cheesy trash in the collection anyway.
@16 My first memory of Tim Curry was his role as Rooster in Annie.
My latest was his theatrical performance as King Arthur in Spamalot. That… was not his best performance… He could have been replaced by a block of wood. Though I saw it in 2004, so I don’t know if he got less wooden as time approached infinity. Don’t get me wrong, though, I love the guy.
@19, Weirdly, I think my first memory of him in a movie was Cardinal Richelieu in the 1993 version of The Three Musketeers. I didn’t see It or Rocky Horror Picture Show until later. Again, not his best work.
Hey, I just realized… Mia Sara played Harley Quinn, and Tim Curry was the original choice to play the Joker on Batman: The Animated Series (where Harley debuted), before they decided to go in a different direction and cast Mark Hamill in the role of his career. (Luke who?) And Robert Picardo played Amazo in Justice League, as well as a minor character in B:TAS. I don’t think Tom Cruise has ever had a DC role, though.
Meanwhile, between this and the recent Innerspace review, Tor.com seems to be on an “early Robert Picardo” kick.
I am coming from the oposite direction. I first saw this movie in the cinema over here in the Netherlands (English with Dutch subs), and I liked it a lot. Later on, I saw it on TV, and it was … off. And after that, I saw it on German TV, dubbed, and I liked that quite a bit as well.
Only then did I discover the soundtrack (on CD) by Jerry Goldsmith, and discovered that the original release (in Europe) had that, and it was remade for the US with a Tangerine Dream soundtrack. Turns out I dislike that version (and that was the one that was on TV in English), while both the original and the German version had the original cut and the Jerry Goldsmith music.
Shows how tastes can differ :)
“I’ve never seen the director’s cut and am not particularly interested in doing so (though I think I at least read about what the longer uncut scenes entailed), because I saw it first with Tangerine Dream and I adore it that way and always shall. (Yes even with Rod Stewart popping up at the end. Nostalgia is a funny thing.) The only thing which I kind of miss is the voiceover narration (which sounds like Oona?) from the soundtrack version of “Loved by the Sun”, which didn’t make it into the movie, but that wasn’t even part of the director’s cut anyway. :P”
Rod Stewart? Do you mean Jon Anderson, of Yes? (His vocals were on “Loved By The Sun.”)
Anyway, glad to see Tangerine Dream get some love, especially now, with the STRANGER THINGS soundtrack showing their influence.
“The only thing which I kind of miss is the voiceover narration (which sounds like Oona?) from the soundtrack version of ‘Loved by the Sun’, which didn’t make it into the movie, but that wasn’t even part of the director’s cut anyway.”
Wasn’t it in the credits of the theatrical release?
I tried to watch the director’s cut once–couldn’t get bast Lily’s singing. I keep meaning to retry but just can’t quite bring myself to put that disc in when I could watch the original.
Whoa there is a version of this where Lily sings? I’ve never seen it and am a little afraid too. The best part of the story is when they heal the unicorn. I’ve only seen this movie about one and half times. I remember unicorns, glitter and pollen. I always wondered why Darkness didn’t tilt over with those horns but Tim Curry remains awesome. I’ll have to dig through my dvds and see which version I have.
I saw Legend once on TV, decades ago, and what I remember at once was dissappointment about those unicorns. To younger me, they were just horses with a fake horn, and the female unicorn was even played by a male horse, if I saw that correctly. Younger me was convinced only unicorns that looked like the traditional description, like the one in The Last Unicorn, were unicorns, anything else was just horses in costumes.
I recently found out that Mia Sara is married to Brian Henson and this fact delights me ridiculously.
Saw Legend repeatedly on TV as a kid, which meant Tim Curry has always been cemented as terrifying in my head, lol. I too enjoyed the costuming, set design, makeup, etc. I hated Lily because she was portrayed like a lot of 80s fantasy princesses/heroines…as stupid and blundering and vapid. I liked Jack well enough, even if he really did need to pluck his eyebrows. I think I was drawn to the fact that as they were making him somewhat fairy-like he was a hero that didn’t get portrayed as the upright (literally), muscled, over-confident hero. That was super refreshing.
I own the movie, but I haven’t watched it in over a decade, and when I did watch it, I only got halfway through. I do also own the CD though, and I listen to it a couple times a year. Yes, it is sooo apologetically 80s synth and that’s totally okay. Sometimes it’s the right thing for a mood, and yep I know the lyrics and Lily’s dance song by heart, lol.
There are much better fantasy films out there, but I’m glad Legend exists in all it’s crazy because it explored new things and really went all in for the dream like, nutty fantasy side. There’s some great stuff in there. Not every fantasy flick needs to be super realistic LotR.
My first introduction to Tim Curry was an animated Creation story video. He was the serpent (of course). But also Rooster in Annie :)
A friend of mine in high school and college was really into this movie, so she is the one who introduced me to it. I remember giggling over the glitter, and also being kind of jealous of the seductive dance outfit, lol. Kudos to anybody who can pull off both types of persona (implications aside, but sexy doesn’t necessarily HAVE to be evil, anyway). I mean – I get that it’s also kind of tropey (the captive princess consort for the evil villain) but, ah well.
I don’t think it was the director’s cut – I think we got the Tangerine Dream music. And I agree with you that it sounds much more fitting. I like things that are kind of offbeat and weird anyway :)
It’s been so long since I saw it, so I don’t remember what my thoughts about Lily were or if I viewed the proceedings as her fault, or if I simply saw her as a flawed human being like the rest of us. That said, my reaction to the ‘evil is a part of life, you need me’ types is generally, ‘well, he’s lying, obviously’. But the dualist/WoT view isn’t my worldview.
Hey guys,
I still don’t know whether the next post will be up next week or pushed back – I’ll let y’all know as soon as I do – but I DO know what the next post’s movie is going to be: Flight of the Navigator! AWESOME.
Watch this space for scheduling news!
Now you got me. I have not seen this movie. Need to look for it somehow. I want to watch it – theatrical and director’s cut version.
The first impression I remember from seeing this in the theatre was ‘holy sneezes batman!!!’
I’m afraid that i’m a Tangerine Dream girl and theatrical cut ALL the WAY. Cheesy 80’s synth music for the win!
(sorry Jerry…I love your work really, just not here…)
Another classic 80’s synth pop sensation…Allan Parsons score for Ladyhawke!
@33/mirth513: The cheesy synth score for Ladyhawke was one of the two things that badly damaged it for me, the other being Matthew Broderick. I used to think I disliked the score just because it clashed so much with the period setting, but on rewatching the movie a couple of years ago (in response to a Tor.com review of it), I found that it wasn’t just that — it was also a bad score because it didn’t fit the action, just kept droning on in a single tone without modulating to reflect the story. So it was doubly intrusive and distracting.
So my brother, sister and I first saw this on Christmas Day 2001. I remember because this went down as the “80’s Fantasy Christmas” when we watched Ladyhawk, Willow and Legend all in the same afternoon (while waiting for dinner to get done) and all for the first time. It was, and remains, one of my best memories. That said I haven’t rewatched Legend since then (theatrical or director’s cut), I saw Ladyhawk recently and despaired of the cinematography (loved the music tho, so 80s and great) and Willow I think mostly my nostalgia filters are on for because I forget anything but how cute I find Val Kilmer in it.
As a kid the BBC versions of Narnia, Neverending Story and Flight of the Navigator were all the science fiction/fantasy live action I needed in my life. Plus…I really hated Tom Cruise (his smile. Its his smile that does it.) and still balk at watching him (Edge of Tomorrow withstanding, I love Emily Blunt more then I dislike Cruise).
I do remember being slightly uncomfortable while watching…I was in my late teens I could have been picking up on the implied sexuality and unconsciously realizing watching it with my 16 year old brother and 8 year old sister was discomforting…
Wow, from the look of him, Gump “was obviously channeling Mickey Rooney’s Puck” — which we caught on a classic movie program of some sort, within the last couple of months! the 1932 or thereabouts version. (which is also shimmery-shiny up the Eye-Wop to indicated the faerie parts!) Which, by the way was also weird and fantastic!
Jimmy Cagney in an ass’s head!! etc etc etc. It was amazing playing “who’s that” with so many familiar faces, so much earlier than either of us had EVER seen any of them!
oh goody, we do have the “complete” DVD edition, but haven’t watched it yet…
I completely disagree with this whole article (and its disrespectful attitude). The Director’s Cut is superior, and which of the two soundtracks is used doesn’t make any difference. Zrrbt!
I have to admit, I saw Legend because I was – and am – a fan of Tangerine Dream, and, in particular, of Jon Anderson, who penned the song, “Loved by the Sun”. The only band who could have done a better job with the dreamy, other world musical evocations would have been another prog band, possibly Anderson’s band, Yes, — or maybe in collaboration with Renaissance or Fripp — . It was a visually lovely film and, while, not particularly good or ground breaking fantasy, I still listen to the soundtrack and share the film with the younger – under 15 – set in our circle of friends. Of course, I was not a child when I saw it, but a young mother with many years understanding of literary tropes and reading the masters of mythopoetics under my belt. Simple plots of “good and innocent” vs. “evil and corrupt” no longer held my attention. Particularly, in the 80’s, those that said nothing interesting or original about gender roles. Unlike Ridley Scott’s gritty SF entries of his early career: neither Lilly or any of the female fae say anything new regarding gender. *This* in an era when women – and mothers of daughters in particular – searched for images of women who did not fit into old ideas of what a women is or could strive to become. (My daughter was very young, but enjoyed the unicorns and went to sleep before Tim Curry’s masterful portrayal of evil arrived to scare the living daylights out of a toddler.) For me: unlike Richard Donner‘s Ladyhawke or the other fantasies filmed in the era, Legend was made for a prog score and – IMHO – the orchestral score is neither pseudo-medieval “period” (what “period” was that again?) or particularly evocative of the fantastic. As an aside, I disliked then, and still dislike the deep synth score composed by Powell & Parsons for Ladyhawke. It was a cognitive dissonance with the era evoked and the mood of the film then and it neither has it stood up to the judgement of time.
i couldn’t agree with this review more and thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Legend is my all time favourite move for all the reasons stated above. I remember going in the hunt for the soundtrack (back when internet buying wasn’t a thing) and being outraged at having accidentally bought the theatrical cut version when I really wanted the tangerine dream version which still is one of my favorite soundtracks. Love love love this movie! Thanks for the awesome review!
@39/Jennifer: The theatrical cut (in the US) is the Tangerine Dream version. It’s the director’s cut and the European cut that have the Goldsmith score.
I have to agree with pretty much this whole article! I think that I first saw this sometime when I was in middle school, and have loved it ever since. I have never seen the director’s cut, but now feel like that is not needed.
I have always believed that this is the closest thing that we will ever get to a live action The Legend of Zelda movie.
You know, I think I may have only seen this movie once all the way through, and even then I think I missed the very beginning. I’m not sure how old I was at the time, but I think my younger brother’s friend brought it over for us all to watch, since we were all fantasy fans. And I feel like I didn’t really know what to think of it. I think I liked it, maybe? I was probably confused by it more than anything. So, yeah, I don’t really have the super strong nostalgia for this one. The next movie in line, Flight of the Navigator, is another matter, though.
This was actually the first thing I saw Tim Curry in, and the next was Clue. But I’ve loved him in everything I saw him in, including of course the 1993 Three Musketeers!
@23 spaceplayer: Huh, I could have sworn it was Rod Stewart. Either I misremembered, or it was misstated on TV Tropes (where I was getting my information). If the latter, just goes to show you can’t always trust online sources!
And @24: Was it? I know I saw the movie in the theaters, but it was so long ago and I was so young I don’t recall if that was there. I am fairly positive it isn’t on the VHS/DVD release…looks like I’ll have to crack it open to find out!
@28 Lizzibabe: Really? That’s awesome!
I am a bit too old for most of these to be truly Of Great Nostalgia for me. But I’ll offer a few random comments:
– You were really unlucky to have come across the ONE edition of this movie, out of at least 4 US releases on DVD and Blu-Ray, to have only the directors’ cut (all the other DVD releases contained both versions on two discs, and all the Blu-Ray releases have both versions on one disc). At the time the 2002 “Ultimate Edition” came out (2 discs, both versions) there was a lot of geek discussion comparing the two versions. From a technical perspective Ridley Scott claimed that the footage used in the Directors’ cut was from an intermediate print, as the original print was apparently lost or destroyed when the film was first edited down for theatrical release, and therefore might not look as good as the restored original version.
– Can we resurrect Jerry Goldsmith to write orchestral scores for all the Ridley Scott and Michael Mann ’80s movies?
– About the weight of those horns: we all know how Big Red solved that problem:
It was a bit different for me as I had watched the Director’s Cut first. It was what I had received from Netflix, so I didn’t know any better. I liked the movie, but didn’t love it. Listening to Lily singing got on my nerves. I found the Jerry Goldsmith score to be a bit boring. The movie reminded me so much of The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time which is one of my favorite video games and that was the only reason as to why I kind of liked the movie. It wasn’t until years later when I came across the Blu-Ray Ultimate Edition that I got to watch the theatrical version and I truly fell in love with the movie. The Tangerine Dream soundtrack was better and Lily wasn’t singing. I enjoyed the story a lot more. The US theatrical version to me is the better version.
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WHOA. Wait a second! Are you sure that is Jack and not the kid from Malcolm in the Middle?
As far as I’m concerned they should have lost Jack and his cutesy allies and made the movie totally about Lily, a beautiful innocent princess captured and corrupted by the Darkness… Who totally plays him and rescues herself and her fellow captive!
YES YES YES about the Tangerine Dream score and Lily’s dress dance! Best scene in the movie, completely lost in the Goldsmith score. We saw this movie when it first came out in the theaters. Six years later I developed a *slight* Tim Curry obsession and sought out the European version of the movie as I heard it was longer. But longer meant more boring, and there was actually less Tim in it. So phhhhht to that! Thanks for an excellent review.
These are my feelings exactly on this movie. This post sums it up perfectly. Thank you. Thank you. Ridely Scott needs to be edited. He needs a “no” person.
Interesting that this movie is still being discussed so many years later. I first saw it when it made it’s way to Blockbuster video in the 1980’s. I instantly wished I’d seen it at the cinema. One day It’ll be screened. I’m still waiting. I remember seeing a Ridley Scott documentary, and legend was completely omitted, as if it had never happened. Shame as its Ridley’s finest moment.
I first saw the theatrical version with the Tangerine Dream score. I love that soundtrack. However, the director’s cut with the Jerry Goldsmith music is even better. Jerry utilized synthesizers as well as an orchestra, he gave it a wide range of assorted sound that is quite magnificent. The additional footage, especially the extended meg scene is a significant improvement in my opinion, as is the removal of the glowing Darkness scene at the beginning.
I like the Lilly singing parts, it gives the movie an operatic air which I feel is a theme of the whole thing, – lavish to the point of melodrama. Like a stage production, but on film.
I recently watched the blu ray using high frame rate on my TV. It looked even better than ever. Sharper and clearer, a piece of cinematic art.
I suspect this will remain my favourite movie. I haven’t seen anything to match it.
I was always a fan of the theatrical version. As you had not seen it in over a decade in it’s entirety, so had I. I purchased the Director’s Cut, because I had loved the original and thought, “Hey! More of this nostalgia trip to love?!” Then I watched it… and it was so far off to me. I didn’t remember what it was I loved from the theatrical cut anymore. I thought I was crazy, but then I go on inquisitive searches to see if someone else felt the same way I did upon viewing the Director’s Cut. Glad I’m not alone in thinking it sucks. I was quite young the last time I had laid eyes upon the original cut. I do need to rewatch it now and do my own comparison. I think I turned off the DC before the end of it too. That has been a few years, so it’ll be interesting going back to see both and pleasing the nostalgia, despite having to stomach the cut. It would have been nice if there was a cut with the TD score with extended scenes, recut to match. Maybe some super fan somewhere has made the definitive version that blends both together. I don’t think we’ll ever get a remake as aesthetically pleasing as the original. It’ll be another sad day when that happens. This cast could never be outdone, nor could the look be replicated or advanced upon. I feel the same about The Princess Bride.
“Legend” was one of the first DVDs I bought back in 2002, and the first commentary track I heard, so I was well-aware of the so-called director’s cut, also called the European release. The Tangerine Dream score is the definitive characteristic of the movie (along with all that stuff floating in the air) and I can’t think about the movie without hearing it, however I like the additional footage of the Director’s Cut and wish there was a way to combine the two. It really makes some of the theatrical version’s scenes look choppy. There was only that one scene in Darkness’s lair with all the creature jumping out to scare the heroes missing from the Director’s Cut version entirely. No matter how many times I watch the latter version, I can’t recall how Jerry Goldsmith’s score sounds.
Now, my annoyance with this movie is in a woodwind music note inexplicably removed from the theatrical version of the Blu Ray disc. It was in one of the first scenes of the movie right after Darkness says “something troubles me.”
This. Entire. Article! 100% correct. Without the TD score there seems zero depth to the entire film. You don’t give a shit about any of them. The score totally distracts you from what is going on as it just doesn’t fit and loses how sinister and dark this film is. It turns a magical film into a shit one. Amazing how important music is. I can’t find a TD copy anywhere!
Anthony Hopkins was Gump as a child.