Legend

Here's something I wrote last year I thought I'd share. Some thoughts on the 1985 movie Legend:

Some movies stand the test of time. Some do not. As a teenager growing up in the 80’s, one of my favorite movies was 1985’s Legend with Tom Cruise and Mia (Ferris Bueller’s girlfriend) Sara. Maybe it was the way director Ridley Scott brought his fantasy world to life with real unicorns and magical creatures. After all, I had been a fan of Scott’s since Alien, who went on to direct one of the all-time scifi classics, Blade Runner. Maybe it was seeing an unrecognizable Tim Curry as the devil-like Darkness. Or maybe it was just seeing Mia Sara grace the screen again (sigh).
So imagine my excitement when it was announced several years ago when Legend was coming to DVD. What a great way to relive a little nostalgia! So when I finally rented it, I wondered one thing: Did the movie really suck that bad when it was first released? Seriously, this movie reached such a state of suckdom that this viewer had never seen! What happened? Had my tastes changed so much? Were other movies of the 80’s that bad? Was Blade Runner not the apex of cinema I thought it was? Was Amadeus all pomp and no circumstance? What about Ferris Bueller’s Day Off? What did all of this mean?
Maybe it means that people’s tastes change. After all, the movie did not do well at the box office. But could it have changed that much? I watched the movie on VHS over and over as a teen, and never got tired of it. I watched it on DVD as an adult and couldn’t stand it. I don’t think I finished it! What happened to the great fantasy movie I loved? I understand that every fantasy movie cannot be on par with The Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter, but I would almost watch Quest of the Delta Knights without the MST3K gang before sitting through Legend again.
In case you’ve never seen it the movie is basically about who can have the longest and silkiest hair: Tom Cruise or Ms. Sara. Tom Cruise seems like he’s going to win the prize since he’s Tom Cruise (even in the 80’s), but of course, my vote is for Mia Sara since she already played the part previously in the aforementioned Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
And the versatile Tim Curry wears more makeup here than he did in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which should tell you immediately that you’re going to be in for a bumpy ride. And to make matters worse, he does not even sing. There’s also some unicorns, which will make a brief appearance a few years later in Ridley Scott’s older film Blade Runner (?). [Note: Scott added some stock footage of Legend into the “Director’s Cut” and “Final Cut” of Blade Runner because it was cheaper than taping those horns onto new horses]. There’s also some ugly dwarves running around like demented munchkins doing some… demented munchkin stuff. As a matter of fact, Billy Barty did play one of the dwarves…
The movie also had some interesting music by Tangerine Dream. Or Jerry Goldsmith. Actually, it depends on which version you see. Tangerine Dream did the score for the American version while Goldsmith did the music for the European version. They actually did the same thing with the actors. In the United States, the film Legend starred (just in case you forgot) Tom Cruise, Mia Sara and Tim Curry while in Europe the film starred Val Kilmer, Joanne Whalley Kilmer and Warwick Davis and was called Willow. And actually, it too starred Billy Barty. Really.
The DVD is billed as Legend: Ultimate Edition. What’s ultimate about it? It takes an 89 minute film and drags it out to 114 minutes (that’s 25 extra minutes!!). Recap: Good versus evil, Darkness loses, Tom Cruise is the star, Mia Sara has the hair.