Legend (1985 film)
A 1985 dark fantasy film that became a cult classic.
Legend is a 1985 American epic dark fantasy adventure film. Ridley Scott directed it, William Hjortsberg wrote the screenplay, and the cast includes Tom Cruise, Mia Sara, Tim Curry, David Bennent, Alice Playten, Billy Barty, Cork Hubbert, and Annabelle Lanyon. The story follows Jack, a pure-hearted character who must prevent the Lord of Darkness from plunging the world into eternal night.
The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival on August 26, 1985. It was released in France by 20th Century Fox on August 28, 1985, and in the United States by Universal Pictures on April 18, 1986. Although it performed poorly at the box office and received negative reviews from critics, cinematographer Alex Thomson won the British Society of Cinematographers Award for Best Cinematography in 1985. The film also earned several nominations: the Academy Award for Best Makeup; the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films Saturn Award for Best Makeup; BAFTA Awards for Best Costume Design, Best Makeup Artist, and Best Special Visual Effects; DVD Exclusive Awards; and Youth in Film Awards (now called Young Artist Awards). Since its release, especially after the 2002 unrated Director's Cut, the film has been regarded as a cult classic.
**Plot**
To bring eternal night to the world, the Lord of Darkness sends the goblin Blix to kill the unicorns in the forest near his castle and bring him their horns. Darkness tells Blix that Innocence is the best bait, so Blix and her fellow goblins Pox and Blunder follow Princess Lili as she visits her forest-dwelling lover, Jack O' the Green. Jack teaches Lili to speak with animals, then leads her blindfolded to a stream where the unicorns play. Despite Jack's strong warnings not to, Lili reaches out to touch the stallion. This allows Blix to shoot the stallion with a poison dart from her blowpipe, and the unicorns flee. Jack is furious, but Lili laughs off his concern and throws her ring into a pond, challenging that she will marry whoever retrieves it. While Jack dives for the ring, the goblins track down the poisoned stallion and cut off his horn, causing winter to arrive. Lili runs away in terror, and Jack barely breaks through the surface of the now-frozen pond.
Lili takes shelter in a peasant cottage, where she sees the goblins testing the horn's magic and overhears that she was used as bait to kill the stallion. She follows
- Release year
- 1985
- Director
- Ridley Scott
- Screenwriter
- William Hjortsberg
- Genre
- Epic dark fantasy adventure
- Notable cast
- Tom Cruise, Mia Sara, Tim Curry
- Award won
- British Society of Cinematographers Award for Best Cinematography (1985)
Lore & Background
The film premiered at Venice on August 26, 1985, before being released by 20th Century Fox on August 28, 1985 in France and by Universal Pictures on April 18, 1986 in the United States. The plot follows the Lord of Darkness sending the goblin Blix to kill unicorns and bring him their horns. Princess Lili is used as bait, and Jack O' the Green must recover the stallion's horn to restore light and life to the world. The film features multiple alternate endings: the American theatrical version includes Darkness laughing from the void; the European version omits that scene; the Director's Cut ends with Lili returning to her world and Jack running off into the sunset.
Reader's Guide
Legend was conceived by Ridley Scott after reading classic fairy tales, including those by the Brothers Grimm. Scott wanted an original screenplay and worked with William Hjortsberg through 15 script revisions. The look was influenced by Disney animation, but Disney declined due to the film's dark tone. The film was not a commercial success and received poor critical reception, but it won the British Society of Cinematographers Award for Best Cinematography for Alex Thomson. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Makeup, Saturn Awards, BAFTA Awards, DVD Exclusive Awards, and Youth in Film Awards. The 2002 release of the unrated Director's Cut reinforced its status as a cult classic.
Did You Know?
- The film was originally titled Legend of Darkness.
- Ridley Scott conceived Legend after another project, Tristan and Isolde, fell through temporarily.
- The film has three different versions of its conclusion: American theatrical, European theatrical, and Director's Cut.
- The swamp hag Meg Mucklebones is decapitated by Jack.
More in Films about legendary creatures 1-24
Spotted an error? Know more?
This is a living reference — every entry is fact-audited, and reader corrections feed straight into our audit queue. Suggest an edit · See this site's audit record