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Legend (1985)
Starring Tom Cruise, Mia Sara, Tim Curry, and Billy Barty. Cinematography by Alex Thomson. Editing by Terry Rawlings. Produced by Arnon Milchan. Written by William Hjortsberg. Directed by Ridley Scott.
In a magical land where fairies and elves are commonplace, a young peasant named Jack has promised to take his love, Princess Lili, to see unicorns; the most amazing creatures on the planet. But unbeknownst to the two young lovers, Darkness, the prince of all that is evil, is planning to use the Princess’ innocence to lure the unicorns into a trap. Darkness’ plan is a success and he captures the male unicorn’s horn. The world is launched into an immediate ice age and much of it is destroyed. Darkness then proceeds to kidnap Lili and manipulates her into becoming his bride. It is now up to Jack to save his Princess and, in the process, save the world.
After Blade Runner’s troubled production and poor theatrical run Ridley Scott once again retreated back into filming television commercials, but it wasn’t long before he started collecting ideas for his next feature film project. Even though the bottom had fallen out of his plans for a sci-fi fantasy adaptation of the ancient Celtic legend of Tristan and Isolde, he was still interested in creating a film in an exotic and romantic world. His research into the genre eventually brought him to William Hjortsberg’s novella “Symbiography”. Scott contacted Hjortsberg and soon the two artists had structured a story. Hjortsberg would spend the next two years assembling the details into fifteen different drafts of a screenplay. Even though Scott’s last picture was a disaster financially, he encountered few problems finding funding for his next one. With twenty five million dollars from Universal Pictures (who would distribute the picture in the US) and Twentieth Century Fox (who would have international rights), Legend was ready for production.
The true legend of Legend is how many cuts and revisions the film went through before its theatrical run. Scott’s first cut of the film ran one hundred and thirteen minutes. It was screened for a preview audience and reviewed horribly. Scott overreacted and trimmed more than twenty minutes off the picture, leaving US audiences a slender eighty nine minute cut and the Europeans a ninety four minute one. And that’s just the beginning. Legend was initially scored by Jerry Goldsmith but after the poor reaction at the initial screening, Scott had it entirely re-scored by the German electronic band Tangerine Dream. But that was just for the American release; the European cut retained Goldsmith’s contribution. Sadly, all of the extra nitpicking did little good. The film was a critical and box office disappointment in both the States and Europe, but as was the fate for Blade Runner it found a resurgence of interest upon its home video release. Legend has since been re-reworked by Scott for an “Ultimate” DVD edition. The DVD features the original eighty nine minute US theatrical release and a one hundred and thirteen minute “director’s cut” featuring Goldsmith’s original score.
Budget: $25,000,000
Total US Gross: $15,502,000
Genre: Fantasy
Runtime: 94 Minutes
US Release Date: 4/18/86
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Awards: Academy Awards: Nominated for best makeup.
Tagline: No Good Without Evil. No Love Without Hate. No Innocence Without Lust. I Am Darkness.
Quote: “The dreams of youth are the regrets of maturity.”
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