L E G E N D

Legend is a 1986 fantasy film directed by Ridley Scott, who also directed the sci-fi classics Alien and Bladerunner. Like those films, Legend is dark and (even more) sumptuously atmospheric. The movie stars Tom Cruise, Mia Sara, and Tim Curry. It tells a mythic tale of Departure and Return, Death and Renewel.
Tim Curry plays the Lord of Darkness, an awesome Satanic figure with lobster-hued skin, hooves, and mastodonic horns, who inhabits a darksome underworld realm. Seeking to banish light from the world, he sends his hit-goblins Blix, Pox, and Blunder (actually a fairy under enchantment) to kill the last of the unicorns, creatures that embody purity and goodness. The plot centers on Princess Lily who strays from her royal confines to visit her friend Jack O’ the Green, a youthful rustic who dwells among the animals of the forest.
Jack shows Lily to the secret glade deep in the forest where they encounter the last two unicorns.

Against Jack’s warning, Lily is irresistibly drawn to the Stallion unicorn, and he to her. As the beast approaches her in the stream, the goblin Blix shoots the animal with a poison dart. The unicorns panic and stampede, the goblin henchmen of Darkness in pursuit. Lily offers her ring as a wedding present to Jack. As a challenge she tosses it into a deep pool. As Jack dives to retrieve it, storm clouds gather overhead. The unicorn stallion weakens from the poison, and Blix cleaves the alicorn from his head. Blix, by the way, is actually played by the actractive and curvaceous Alice Playton buried beneath tons of hideous makeup.

Jack bursts through the now-frozen pool, to find himself in roaring blizzard the world frozen in ice. Lily winds up captured by the goblins along the the female unicorn, and the rest of the plot concerns Jack joining forces with a comical band of fairies in order to retrieve the alicorn and free the world from an everlasting winter. As with the case of all archetypal heroes, Jack is forced to undergo a series of tests, including a harrowing encounter with Meg Mucklebones, a hideous swamp hag, named for Jenny Greenteeth, and actual swamp hag out of Celtic folklore. Darkness attempts to seduce Lily in the underworld, and appears to succeed. But it’s Lily who eventually (and literally) saves the day by tricking the fiend and saving the unicorn. Jack seeming slays darkness after a climactic battle. The male unicorn is revived and the land is restored to Spring. Jack and Lily depart and the valiant band of fairie-folk waves them farewell. But the final image of Darkness laughing indicates that evil never truly dies.


Legend initially did poorly at the box office. It was almost universally panned by critics. Most of these critics simply didn’t like fantasy, and had nothing of merit to say. There was only one negative review that I actually thought was cleverly written, that one being by the Phantom of the Movies. But as time progressed, the film began to get a bit more respect. There were, in the mid nineties, entire webrings dedicated to the film, which by this time had attained cult status. Most of the fans were either fantasy enthusiasts, or preteen girls who enjoyed the “return of the Spring” happy ending, and/or were obsessed with unicorns. I noticed while perusing these sites (many have now fallen into oblivion), how so very many dedicated Legend fanatics have been female. Not surprising really, considering the fondness of preteen girls for unicorns and Legend has some of the most stunning photography ever, especially during the unicorn scenes. I remember in particular one girl who was absolutely obsessed with the movie, who said she'd made herself a black dress identical to the one Lily wore. I also remember finding some Legend shirts (one with the Lily and the unicorn scene) at Hot Topic, and they were all for females. How is it girls always get the cool stuff??

The other group of fans who appear to most appreciate this movie the most are scholarly sages who appreciate mythic elements of the movie. Professor Roger C. Schlobin (whom I knew personally as a student, who introduced me to Joseph Campbell, and mythic cycle of eternal return )once shed some light on this movie for me. Jack ‘O the Green, Tom Cruises’ character, is actually a figure staight out of medieval European folklore. He was green-skinned forest-dwelling semi-God of Springtime and rebirth. The Green Man features prominently in medevial art. He shares skin with other creatures of myth, such as Sasquach, the Green Knight of Arthurian myth, and even such cultural icons as the Jolly Green Giant. According to Schlobin, the fiend in Legend is related not only to the Christian Satan, but the pagan entity Herne the Hunter, an amoral, antlered being who dominated the Wild Hunt. According to Schlobin this becomes especially the case if you throw unicorns in the mix. Medieval tapestries famously depicted the hunt for the unicorn. The entire film paralels the Arthurian tale of the Fisher King (among many others) with the Land dying as a result of the Fisher King’s wound. Once the wound is healed, the Land returns to life. In the case of Legend, the unicorn is the land, just as the Fisher King, and when the unicorn dies, the Land dies as well. The only way to restore life to the Land is throough saving the unicorn.

The film release of Legend in the U. S. differs somewhat from the European/British released. With the release of the special two-disc Ultimate Edition, which includes both versions as well as tons of extras, I was finally able to see both versions in their entirety. It turns out the European version is much the better one. There is a good amount of additional Unicorn footage. Lily sings a song to the male unicorn. Gump, the boisterous leader of the band of fairies, challenges Jack with a riddle that he must solve or die, then throws a Rumplestiltskin-like tantrum when Jack solves it. The scene with the swamp hag is extended, with Jack using flattery to overcome her. There are more scenes with Darkness, and the scene where Lily dances with Black Dress is longer. Most notable of all is the sound track by Jerry Goldsmith. It is much more in keeping with the story, and has a more classical orchestra sound to it. Unlike the Tangerine Dream score for the American release, which is mostly dark and brooding, the Goldsmith soundtrack supplies some of the “plucky cheerfulness” that Roger Ebert (accurately) observed was lacking from the film. Some of humorous incidents with the fairy-folk, indeed, seemed quite out of place in contrast to the dark and dreary soundtrack. Listening to the European release, I can now understand why. In one respect, however, the Tangerine Dream score outdoes Goldsmith’s. The climactic ending where the world is returned to normal, is best complimented by Tangerine Dream’s "Loved By the Sun," which accurately conveys to cycle of death and return to life which is the soul of the entire film. Also of note about the end is that in the American version Jack and Lily run off into the sun together, while in the European, they part company, with Jack returning to his forest home, and Lily to her father’s castle, promising Jack she will return the next day.
Among the goodies on the DVD are commercial spots, the Bryon Ferry Legend music video “Is Your Love Strong Enough?”, and a formerly lost deleted opening scene with four goblins.
NOTE: I didn’t originally intend to post a page on Legend right now, but I thought it might look cool in black and red. I did the Pimpernel page that way,though unfortunately, my Oliver Twist page got done in red along with it.