The Oddities: "Legend" (1985)

   

I'd argue there's two Ridley Scotts. There's the Hollywood workhorse who has delivered crowd-pleasing fare like Thelma & Louise (1991), The Martian (2015) and Gladiator (2000). And then we have the avant-garde Ridley Scott, who made The Counselor (2013) Blade Runner (1982), and the film I'll be talking about here, 1985's dark fantasy, Legend. Legend was not a box-office or critical hit but became a cult classic over time, especially with its director's cut,  which is the only version I've seen and which will be my focus for this. Legend is a flawed but beautiful film, remarkable in its imagery and visual storytelling. It represents a completely approach to today's cinematic fantasy storytelling. It's timeless but also very much of the 1980s.   

Legend originated back when Scott was directing his first film, The Duellists (1977). It was the abandoned project Tristan and Isolde which inspired Scott's interest in directing a mythological story. But Scott knew that like The Duellists the film he envisioned wouldn't attract a huge audience. So instead he decided to direct a more sure-fire box office success, Alien, which made Scott's career. Scott then returned to the idea of making a fantasy film, reading many of the classic fairy tales. 

He decided that the film needed to be a original story, saying "It was far easier to design a story to fit the medium of cinema than bend the medium for an established story" (Cinefantastique Magazine, Vol 15, No. 5). Scott then discovered the books of William Hjortsberg, Upon meeting Hjortsberg Scott  showed him Jean Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast (1946) and their shared love of the film was the foundation for their collaboration. Before filming began on Blade Runner (1982) Scott and Hjortsberg worked out what the story was going to be. When the script was finished the story had gone through 15 revisions.

Befitting its fairy-tale foundation, Legend is very minimalist in its story, characters and setting. We're never told what the setting is. This could a entirely separate world or it could ours in some distant past. The villain is simply called The Lord of Darkness (Tim Curry\) and he wants to place the world in eternal, well, darkness. Darkness sends his goblin minion Blix (Alice Playton) kill the unicorns who protect the light and bring him their horns, ensuring there will never be another dawn.

Our protagonists are Princess Lili (Mia Sara) and her friend named Jack (Tom Cruise) who lives in the forest. When Jack shows Lili the unicorns, her desire to touch them allows a distraction for Blix to shoot one with a dart. When the unicorns flee Blix is able to take one of their horns. This brings a snow storm upon the world, with Lili and Jack ending up on separate journeys to make things right.

While I understand why so much of Legend is rooted in fairy-tale archetypes  I do wish Lili and Jack's relationship hit a little deeper. I think the problem is Sara and Cruise don't have great chemistry, though I love Sara in this film- she feels like an actual fairy-tale princess. While she's most associated with Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) this was her film debut and her performance reflects she understands what kind of movie this is. This was Cruise after he became famous in Risky Business (1983) but before his onscreen persona was solidified in Top Gun (directed by Scott's brother Tony) and The Color of Money (both released in 1986.) Cruise is a little bit lost here. He's known for his intense charisma but role needed a different kind of charisma. Sara was still only 16 when filming took place and Cruise was 22. I think a teenage actor would've matched better with Sara.   

In regard to casting Tim Curry is the standout for many people. Scott cast him because he believed he could be melodramatic while still threatening. Curry crafts something ominous through his voice and I love how we don't see him through most of the film, only his voice. At the film's beginning when Darkness is talking he feels like an entity rather a physical  being. He's almost god-like, paralleling the unicorn's god-like nature. When we finally see Darkness late in to the face his appearance invokes a devil-like creature with hoofs and horns. I'll add that Rob Bottin and Peter Robb-King's Oscar-nominated make-up still holds up. Curry is unrecognizable but is able to give an genuine performance through the make-up.  

So, we have the angelic unicorns and the devil. It's not subtle but its clear visual paralleling. The unicorns represent innocence. On the commentary Scott says while Lili is innocent, she is also manipulating Jack, which leads to him showing her the unicorns. Scott says she was originally supposed to turn in to a cat creature as a result of her manipulative nature, having even tempted Darkness. She also tempts one the unicorns, which Scott likens to tempting a god. I would say by engaging in these gods' worlds hell is brought upon the world as punishment.

Legend is best approached as a mood piece, similar to Blade Runner. Both have a dream-like, almost hypnotic quality to them, with an authentic strangeness permeating through the story. This is a film I'd argue you could watch this film on mute and still mostly understand the story. On an aesthetic level the world Legend genuinely feels like fairy tale/fantasy world. The film was all shot on soundstages, which Scott believed could end up looking fake. He hired production designer Assheton Gorton- whom he wanted to work on Alien and Blade Runner- because Gorton understood how to navigate these problems. Scott said, "We both knew that whatever we did would never look absolutely real, but would very quickly gain its own reality and dispense with any feeling of theatricality" (Cinefantastique).  

When it comes to theatricality there are certain scenes I feel have a Shakespearean quality. The opening scene, for example, with Darkness and Blix, feels reminiscent of the dynamic between a Shakespearean villain and his minion: 

Darkness: Ah, Blix come closer.

Blix: You summoned me, lordship.

Darkness: Are you not the most loathsome of my goblins?

Blix: Truly master

Darkness: And is your heart black, and full of hat

Blix: Black as midnight, black as pitch, blacker than the fouler witch."

And the first scene between Jack and the fairy creatures, led by Honeythorn Gump (David Bennent),  brings to mind something out of A Midsummer Night's Dream:

Jack: I must be dreaming.

Gump: If life is but a dream, better dread you the waking. That's Oona, she likes you.

Jack: (to Oona) Go away!

Gump: Does your blood run so cold Jack?  You'll be a corpse before your time.

Jack: How do you know my name?

Gump: How does a migrating swallow know the way south in winter. Or a falling salmon finds the very source of its birth from the cold black depths of the mysterious sea? I know everything Jack."

Scott mentions that Gump was inspired by Mickey Rooney's performance as Puck from Max Reinhardt's film version of A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935). Reinhardt's film is also akin to Legend in its striking art direction and un-Hollywood like atmosphere. Bennent is a Swiss actor and Scott really loved his accent. However, one of the executives at Universal felt Bennent sounded like a "Nazi." Bennent's voice was dubbed by Blix's actor, Alice Playton.    

Let's get  back to the film's theatrical aspects just briefly. I 'll say he dance waltz-Lili's dance with the black dress that then possesses her- is the film's most theatrical sequence. It's also It's my favourite part of the whole film. I find it truly mesmerizing and am stunned when I watch it. On the commentary Scott says it's like a ballet/opera, and it truly is. But it also feels cinematic. He wonders if the film could be put on stage and I'd say there are aspects which would work on stage, including the waltz. I also agree with Scott that the film takes on its own reality. The theatricality is an organic extension of the film's cinematic reality.  

I now want to talk about how Legend became to exist in different versions. Before Legend was released theatrically Scott cut down the film from 150 minutes to 94 due to poor test screenings with younger audiences who didn't take the film seriously. The American version was edited down even further at Universal Studio President Sid Sheinberg's request because he felt the European version wasn't appealing to younger audiences. Moreover, Jerry Goldsmith's score, which was retained for the European version, was replaced with the German new age band Tangerine Dream's synth score, another way in which to appeal to younger viewers (How the 1985 Fantasy Film 'Legend' Ended Up With 2 Soundtracks - Atlas Obscura)

The eventual DVD release of the film's director's cut (113 minutes) started with unofficial Legend historian Sean Murphy and his Legend FAQ site.  You can find plenty of information on the journey to finally getting the director's cut released here: History Of the LEGEND DVD by Sean Murphy (figmentfly.com)

I want to close this piece by saying I've come to appreciate this film more by writing about it. Despite the story and characters feeling too thin I feel there's real beauty to this film in its imagery and music. So, where does Legend rank amongst Ridley Scott's filmography for you? Which is your preferred version? Comment and let me know.