Russell Mulcahy Movies
Director Russell Mulcahy was born in Melbourne, Australia, and got his start making music videos. He made his feature-film directorial debut in 1980 with the British film Derek and Clive Get the Horn starring Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. In 1986, Mulcahy directed the successful Highlander. He also scored well in the stylish 1994 film The Shadow. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Released in the US on cable television, Blue Ice stars Michael Caine as an older, tireder version of his 1960s "Harry Palmer" character (his name, in fact, is Harry Anders). An M16 agent-turned-nightclub owner, Caine is a man of steadfast loyalties. Thus he takes it personally when several friends from his espionage days are mysteriously killed. Caine investigates on his own, which brings him in very close proximity with enigmatic consul's wife Sean Young. Befitting the fact that Caine's character is a jazz fancier, Blue Ice boasts an evocative musical score by Michael Kamen, of Lethal Weapon and Die Hard fame. Watch for jazz great Bobby Short and an unbilled Bob Hoskins. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Caine, Sean Young, (more)
Kim Basinger plays a burglar ex-con who's just been released from a 10-year stint and intends to go straight, when a big-time Atlanta crime boss kidnaps her six-year-old son and forces her to pull one last heist. She concocts an elaborate bank job but goes one step further and outwits both the bank and the mobster. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kim Basinger, Val Kilmer, (more)
Ricochet, a suspenseful, exciting police thriller that loses its way at the end, is the story of a good cop whose life is destroyed by an obsessed psychotic criminal whom he sent to prison years before. Nick (Denzel Washington) is a successful happily married police officer with a distinguished record. He is drugged, kidnapped and framed by Blake (John Lithgow) who has never forgiven him for arresting him years before. Nick must redeem himself both to the police force, his family and the public who had come to love and respect him. Denzel Washington is excellent in his role of the good man in an impossible situation. John Lithgow, while always interesting, is completely over-the-top as the psychotic criminal, and the film looses plausibility during an extended and highly improbable and unbelievable final chase sequence around the Watts Towers. Despite these flaws, Ricochet is an exiting suspense film with a fine performance by Washington and worth watching despite its disappointing conclusion. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Denzel Washington, John Lithgow, (more)
At the end of Highlander, Juan Ramirez (Sean Connery) died and Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert) was rendered mortal. "Highlander 2: The Quickening begins in 1999 when Connor solves the problem of an ever-depleting ozone layer on the earth by devising a giant shield around the entire planet. The earth is saved, except for the fact that it is now a continual 99 degrees, and the earth is plunged into 24 hours of darkness. 40 years later, Connor is an elderly man with liver spots, heading out for the opera. Then there is a flashback of Connor recalling his halcyon days on the planet Zeist hundreds of years earlier. Back on Zeist, Connor and Ramirez led a futile coup against the ruling dictator, Katana (Michael Ironside), that caused them to be banished to Earth. Back in the future, Katana sends a pair of wacky goons to kill Connor. When Connor lops off their heads, he is now young again...and immortal. Just the right time to meet the attractive scientist Louise Marcus (Virginia Madsen), who has discovered that the shield around the earth is no longer needed since the ozone layer has repaired itself. But, unfortunately, the shield is in the clutches of an evil cartel who wants to control the earth's resources. Connor and Louise team up to battle the cartel while Katana sends out more emissaries to get Connor. Ramirez, although supposedly dead, also makes an appearance in the 21st century -- garbed in full Scottish regalia. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Lambert, Sean Connery, (more)
With the ultimate throw-down, "There can be only one," Highlander captured the imaginations of fantasy fans seeking a well-executed swordplay epic, becoming a cult classic in the process. Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert) is one of a waning few survivors of a clan of immortals. The breed have been dueling each other for centuries in the quest to be the last one remaining, and hence achieve a supreme enlightenment that would be dangerous in the wrong hands. The immortals can only die by decapitation, so they hunt each other through time and across continents to meet for each decisive duel, which will bring one of them a step closer to ultimate power. In present-day America, the troubled hero MacLeod lives a brooding and lonely existence, having lost his true love centuries ago. The evil Kurgan (Clancy Brown), an immortal who plans to use his power toward unspeakable ends, has fought MacLeod before but is still trying to finish him off. After emerging victorious from a parking garage skirmish with the third-to-last immortal, MacLeod knows that only Kurgan is left, and the two are on a collision path toward the inevitable. In the film's numerous flashbacks to the past, Sean Connery plays Ramirez, the immortal who first tutors MacLeod after the hero survives a mortal battle wound, prompting his fearful village to banish him. Roxanne Hart plays MacLeod's modern-day love interest, who tries to help him while struggling to believe his incredible story. The director's cut runs four minutes shorter. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Lambert, Roxanne Hart, (more)
- 1984
Before he directed the cult classic Highlander (1986), music video creator Russell Mulcahy adapted this stylish, tongue-in-cheek horror film from the novel by Peter Brennan. Gregory Harrison stars as Carl Winters, a grief-stricken American husband who has come to a remote corner of Australia to seek answers in the death of his wife, a TV journalist who was investigating a story on kangaroo poaching. Carl meets Jake Cullen (Bill Kerr), a man obsessed with hunting down what he says is an enormous razorback boar that consumed his grandson. Although he was acquitted, most of the locals believe that Jake murdered the boy himself and invented the crazy story about a giant pig. Jake tells Carl that he believes the razorback is also responsible for his wife's death. At first skeptical, Carl becomes a believer when he encounters the beast. He and Jake track it to a dog food processing plant, where the owners are illegally butchering kangaroos for industrial use. The factory operators are also feeding the dog food to the gigantic razorback, increasing its size and carnivorous appetite. Joined by farmer Sarah Cameron (Arkie Whiteley), Carl and Jake set out to kill the powerful mutant. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gregory Harrison, Arkie Whiteley, (more)
- 1980
A comedy performance by one of England's favorite comedy duos, replete with expletives undeleted. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, (more)
