HIGHLANDER SCREENPLAY COMPARISON - PART 1 ========================================= ORIGINAL screenplay written by Gregory Widen in Spring, 1982 as a class project while he was a film student at UCLA, compared to the European version of the HIGHLANDER film. Major differences between Widen's screenplay and the final film: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- CHARACTERS NAMES: [FILM] [SCREENPLAY] Connor MacLeod Conor MacLeod Russell Nash Richard Taupin Brenda J. Wyatt Brenna Cartright Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez Juan Cid Romirez The Kurgan The Knight Victor Kruger Carl Smith Sunda Kastagir Ling Kahn Names that stay the same: Detective Moran & Iman Fasil ---------------------------------------------------------------------- INTERESTING POINTS ABOUT THE SCREENPLAY: - Takes place in Washington D.C. rather than New York City. - Story begins with MacLeod standing in an alley at night, where he fights and kills Iman Fasil, rather than the wrestling match and the fight with Fasil in the underground parking garage at Madison Square Garden. - MacLeod's father (named Ian MacLeod) and mother are in the first flashback, sending him off with the other clansmen to battle the Sutherlands (not the Fraziers). There's mention of a small child with the mother; possibly a sibling of Conor. - Detective Moran is more like Garfield was in the movie. He's an arrogant jerk toward MacLeod in the interrogation room, like Garfield was. - Brenna Cartright's uncle Joe is the District Attorney. She flunked out of law school and is now a historian working at the Smithsonian. Occasionally she assists the police. - Fasil's sword is a Scottish Claymore, rather than a Toledo Salamanca. It's said to be worth $2.5 million. - MacLeod's clansmen give him the cold shoulder in the tavern, but are not physically violent with him. They begin to chant religious script in Latin. He gets really pissed and storms out of there, then goes to see Mara, the girl whom he was recently engaged to marry. She tells him she doesn't want to see him anymore. Lastly, MacLeod goes to his parents hut, speaks with them and packs a satchel. Then he leaves the village forever. - Five years after MacLeod left the village, he now owns a blacksmith shop in another village. He lives alone (no wife named Heather). - Romirez is the chief surveyor and alchemist to His Majesty of Spain. - Romirez shows a scar and discolorization on his arm to MacLeod. He tells MacLeod that long ago he was crushed by a cart driven by a drunk fool. All thought he would die or be maimed for life, but he healed quickly and, like MacLeod, was also driven away from his people. - Romirez describes the Buzz/Quickening feeling to MacLeod: "Do you ever feel a flow, as if something were pushing against you?"... "Does it change with me in the room?" (Conor replies, telling him that the feeling is less when Romirez is near). - MacLeod refuses to believe Romirez when he explains their immortality, so Romirez thrusts his sword into MacLeod's chest. It takes 3 days for MacLeod to recover and wake up, and now he believes what Romirez says. - Romirez continues explaining the Quickening feeling: "It is always less with my living. Far or near. But if I were to die the push would become stronger than ever before. There is power in this. And as long as you and I live, the Knight can never have it all." - As Romirez trains MacLeod in swordplay, he further explains the Quickening: "You have a gift. One you must protect. The Fabric of life. The spark that allows the passing of one generation to another"... "All living things pay dues, Conor. They must be respected for that. As they age they contribute to a sum that is the kindling from which all future life comes. To feel it, to know it, is to be in touch with the will of every living thing"... "It does not feel nearly as frightening as it sounds. But the consequences of such feelings can be very frightening. For it gives you great strength. The strength of KNOWLEDGE. The ability to stand between the giving of what has always been to what will always be"... "You have not been fully trained. But you will learn, and you will be good, I can feel that. You have aptitude. This is why our friend is so concerned"... "This power is divided amongst you, me, and others like cuts in a pie. But the cuts are not equal. Some like you and he have more. Much more"... "I am a small player, but if by helping you I can keep that monster from being the last, then perhaps my life has meant something"... - The battle between the Knight and Romirez takes place in MacLeod's small home. The Knight cuts off Romirez leg and as Romirez attempts to crawl away, the Knight takes his head and Quickening. A few minutes later in the blacksmith barnyard where MacLeod is working, he slumps forward, as if "pushed". He runs to the hut and finds Romirez head on the floor. He begins to cry. - It's revealed in different dialogue throughout that apparently Immortals in Widen's Highlander universe *can* have children. - MacLeod goes to a farmhouse that he owns in Worstick, Pennsylvania. It was a home that he lived in around 1928 as the alias "William Taupin". When he faked his death, he left the deed to his "son" Richard and the home has been taken care of by a man named Mr. North for many years now. When MacLeod returns to the home, the man comments on the amazing resemblence between Taupin and his "father". MacLeod cleans up the place and then heads back into D.C. - MacLeod orders a glass of lager and lime rather than a glenmorangie when he goes to a small pub in D.C. - The African named Sunda Kastagir in the film is an Asian named Ling Kahn in the script. He meets MacLeod in the small pub and after having a few drinks among chit-chat, then they leave. Later, Kahn and MacLeod sit on the steps of a government building at the Washington Mall at night talking about old times. After awhile, they sneak into the Washington Zoo. While walking around and looking at the animals, they begin to seriously discuss the Gathering and the importance of life. - Brenna gets a message on her answering machine from the Knight, requesting to meet with her in a bar that night (the same night Mac and Kahn get together). She waits for him at the bar, but he never shows up. When she leaves the bar she runs into the Knight on the street and he begins chasing her on foot down the street, through an auction house, and into the subway where she finally loses him as she hops on the subway. She goes to MacLeod's apartment for help. Everything in the apartment is ransacked and the place has been trashed by the Knight. She finds an old photo of MacLeod standing in front of a farmhouse with "Worstick, 1928" written on it. Brenna tracks down the farmhouse with the help of a researcher at the museum. She goes to find MacLeod. - MacLeod has a long flashback of when he was Major Dupont of the French infantry in 18th century Europe. He meets an Immortal named Mulet who is part of a new regiment under his command. During the night, they talk and MacLeod offers to help the young Immortal (as Romirez did for him) but the Immortal is stubborn and refuses his help. They begin to fight. MacLeod draws his cutlass and Mulet swings his battle axe. MacLeod quickly cuts off both of Mulet's arms and takes his head. - MacLeod drags Mulet's corpse into a swamp, hiding the headless body. - Later in the flashback, MacLeod sits in a cathedral at night. The Knight, dressed in uniform like MacLeod, sits behind him. The Knight talks about MacLeod killing Mulet and how he has become ambitious like the Knight. The Knight acts as if he is proud of MacLeod, stating that they are very much alike. When MacLeod thinks that The Knight might try to take his head, the Knight tells him there is nothing to worry about here: CONOR: "Tradition." KNIGHT: "It's all we have." - In present-day, MacLeod sits on the porch of the farmhouse with Mr. North and North's grandson. North talks to MacLeod about growing old and the importance of simple things in life. Brenna arrives and stays with him in the farmhouse for a few days. One night, Brenna convinces him to go to a costume party in the small town in which they're required to dress up in 19th century clothing. MacLeod pulls some old clothes out of a trunk in his cellar. This rolls into a flashback... - MacLeod sits with a woman named Katherine on the porch of a colonial style home in the 1800's. They are confronted by a young man who had been courting Katherine until MacLeod showed up. The man challenges him to fight for the woman and starts rambling about MacLeod meeting his "friends" in the town square and about the swords MacLeod keeps under his bed. MacLeod hits the man in the stomach and the guy stumbles off down the road shouting "He's not what you think!" several times. MacLeod and Katherine embrace as the flashback ends. - Present-day, at the small town costume party, an elderly woman thinks she recognizes William Taupin dressed in 18th century period clothing. It is revealed by Mr. North when he talks to Brenna that in 1931 a family down the road from the Taupin farmhouse was murdered, all cut up. Two strangers were also found there. William wasn't accused, but because of his reputation as a loner and the rumors of him running around with some of the wives in town, the people never forgot. Now at the party, several elderly ladies stare at the man that says he's Richard Taupin, William's son, as Taupin dances with Brenna and talks about his life. He finally decides to reveal his identity to her and takes her back to his farmhouse. - When MacLeod reveals his true identity to Brenna, he tells her: "I was born Conor MacLeod in the village of Ardvrek on the Highland plain of Strathnaver in the clan of MacLeod under the King of Scotland. On the eleventh of December, 1408"... "I have served in the armies of twelve nations, married nine women, fathered thirty-eight children and buried them all"... (he walks along the cases of his room of ancient artifacts and collections) "I carried that rifle in World War I. This book is a 16th Century policy report for the King of Austria. The diploma is my conference of degree in Latin from Trinity College. Class of 1672.... It goes on." - When Brenna asks MacLeod what could possibly be worth killing for (as in Immortals beheading each other and occasionally slaying innocents) he says: "Sometimes I think it's just for something to do. A conquest to be the last. Something to hold onto while everything else around you withers and blows away. Something to replace the love that can never work"... "..There is something more. An inheritance." - In another flashback to the late 1800's, Katherine, now an elderly woman, stands by her two middle-aged sons as her third son is lowered into a grave in a cemetary. MacLeod watches the funeral from a distance. Katherine sees him and hobbles over to him. Her two sons, old enough to be Conor's father, soon join her. Katherine introduces them to their father and the flashback ends. - As Brenna and MacLeod lie in bed, she looks at all the faint scars from bullet and sword wounds. She asks him what it's like being Immortal: "Empty. And fear. Fear of those that would kill you. It can never last, and in the end you always end up destroying both." - Brenna is chased and captured by the Knight at the small town's County Records Office, similar to the chase in her apartment before the chicken race in the film. The Knight calls MacLeod at the farmhouse (not Mac's answering machine) and tells him it's time to meet and finish business. - The final battle between Conor and the Knight takes place outside the Jefferson Memorial, at the entrance by the bronze statue of Thomas Jefferson. - "Kahn sends his best," says the Knight as MacLeod sees the Asian's head on the ground by the statue with a horrific expression frozen on it's face. - They fight for awhile and the Knight runs his sword through MacLeod's chest. Just as he's about to take Mac's head, the police show up and several officers run up the steps and find Brenna crying as she holds the wounded MacLeod in her arms. The Knight has dissappeared. He runs up from behind and hacks the officers to pieces. Then he looks down at the wounded MacLeod: KNIGHT: "This isn't done. Get up." CONOR: "What's the point! You have me, finish it!" KNIGHT: "I have waited forever for this. You will not cheapen it, little boy." CONOR: "Tradition." KNIGHT: "It's all we have." CONOR: "Go to hell." Eventually MacLeod gets up to resume the fight when the Knight threatens Brenna. The Knight tears open MacLeod's chest with his sword and Mac falls to his knees. Moran arrives at the scene and raises his pistol to the Knight. When the Knight walks toward him, he shoots the Knight in the heart. The Knight recovers and thrusts his sword into Moran who dies instantly. At this time, MacLeod is back on his feet and stabs the Knight in the stomach. The Knight stands there in pain as MacLeod begins to chant the same Latin words his clansmen spoke. Then he beheads the Knight. - Shortly after the Knight is beheaded, it's headless body stands and grabs Brenna's shoulders from behind. The head, on the floor, smiles and says "And now you know". Then the body falls to the ground and the head loses it's expression. - The Prize is referred to as "the inheritance". Some of MacLeod's dialogue when recieving the "inheritance" as Brenna watches: "I can't stand it. Oh God, I can't stand it!"... "The scream of your blood. The shriek of trees. Stop it! Stop it!"... "I'm the last. Oh Christ, I'm the *last one*!"... "Get out! I'll destroy you. I've destroyed everything I've ever touched! Oh God..." - And later, when he discusses it with Brenna: "The emptyness. The years and years of void. Nothingness. Bordered only by the quest for ultimate nothingness. Who would have guessed?"... "Not power. Not control"... "Life. It is the gift and the understanding of life"... "Life is only life when it is bounded by death. The inheritance is death. The gift is the finality of life. To be part of the fabric. The inside"... "It will be horrible. The future. I may die tomorrow or 10,000 tomorrows. I can promise you nothing. Nothing but a moment of love, is that not worth a lifetime?" ---------------------------------------------------------------------- COMMENTS: This is an interesting screenplay that portrays a darker image of Connor MacLeod. It goes more in depth in explaining the Quickening, the spiritual essance of the Immortal. Even if many parts of this script were changed in the revisions for the final film, it is still a good reference to help understand Widen's original vision of the Highlander Universe. ====================================================================== Please send your comments or questions to: HADEN@OKSTATE.EDU