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Ridley Scott's Legend - 30th Anniversary

JD

JD

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This year is the 30th anniversary of Ridley Scott's 80's fantasy movie legend starring Tom Cruise, Mia Sara, and Tim Curry.
Both Io9 and The Telegraph have run stories about the movie in the last few days. The Io9 one summarizes quite a bit of the Telegraph one, with their writer throwing a few of their own thoughts in there too.
I actually just saw this for the first time a year or two ago and I absolutely loved it. I had no idea that it had been such a big flop when it came out. The version I got from Netflix was the 114 minute version and I can't imagine what it must have been like with almost half an hour cut from it. My memory of it isn't real clear, but I don't remember it feeling like it needed that much material cut from it.
For anyone who is a fan of the movie the articles, especially the Telegraph one, are definitely worth a read. I didn't know much about the movie before it, but now after reading the articles I'm tempted to watch it again.
Legend, Beastmaster, Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, The Princess Bride, and other similar movies really did make the 1980s a great era in fantasy movies. Now, thanks to the success of Game of Thrones it looks like we might be headed to a similar era for TV.
 
This was always a favorite of mine when I was a kid, though I confess that I haven't seen it in probably 20 years and I'm pretty sure I've never seen Ridley Scott's preferred cut. Tim Curry's Darkness used to scare the heck out of me.
 
There are actually two different scores for it too, both with their own charm and strengths.
 
Yeah, it had a score by Jerry Goldsmith, which was used in the longer (but not as long as the 114m version) European version, but in the US it was changed to one by Tangerine Dream. The 114m version puts back the Goldsmith score.
 
great film. i remember renting it from my library twenty years ago and immediately falling in love with it. a very overlooked film. i think i like the Tangerine Dream score just a bit better than the Goldsmith. big fan of Goldsmith though.
 
If anyone on here was interested in buying the 114m version, I think I saw on Amazon that one of the newer Blu-Ray editions has both the US theatrical version and the Director's Cut.
 
The DVD set had all that and more, so I would be surprised not to see it on the Bluray release.
 
Been looking in the Netherlands, can't find the 114min version. So I'll probably have to look abroad.
 
Great movie, i saw it in theaters when i was 4 going on 5 when it came here to the US and enjoyed it, one of my favorite fantasy movies.

I fell for Mia Sarah and Lily as she was gorgeous even as a goth vampire chick she was gorgeous.
 
One of our favorite fantasies - my wife and I still like to watch it every once in a while, along with films like Excalibur, Labyrinth and Ladyhawk.

As big a Goldsmith fan as I am, I definitely think the Tangerine Dream score fits the film much better.
 
Reverend said:
This film never did very much for me. Don't get me wrong, it's beautiful to look at and listen to, it's always fun to see Robert Picardo hamming it up in a green rubber suit (which yes, has happened more than once) and Tim Curry is always entertaining to watch, but I could never give two craps about the story or characters and it made it very difficult to pay attention.

It felt less like a film and more like a two hour cinematography demo reel.
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Holy crap, I had no idea Robert Picardo was in those movies.
 
JD said:
Reverend said:
This film never did very much for me. Don't get me wrong, it's beautiful to look at and listen to, it's always fun to see Robert Picardo hamming it up in a green rubber suit (which yes, has happened more than once) and Tim Curry is always entertaining to watch, but I could never give two craps about the story or characters and it made it very difficult to pay attention.

It felt less like a film and more like a two hour cinematography demo reel.
Click to expand...
Holy crap, I had no idea Robert Picardo was in those movies.
Click to expand...

He certainly gets around. What floored me was his turn in 'Inner Space' because 1) I watched that film to *death* as kid and 2) he's not difficult to recognise. It wasn't until I got the film on DVD some years back that I realised that he was The Cowboy!

Bonus points: 'Explorers' also featured James Cromwell (to say nothing of a *very* young Ethan Hawke, a totally against type River Phoenix, the legendary Frank Welker and of course Dick "in every 80's movie ever" Miller.) ;)
 
Wow, I knew about Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix, but I had no idea James Cromwell, and Frank Welker were in it too. Did Welker do a voice or live action role?
 
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?)
 
I heard it was hell to endure putting on and filming in, though. Like more than a few awesome makeups in cinematic history. :lol:
 
I swear sometimes, it seems like the cooler the makeup looks, the more miserable it is for the actors.
 
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