Rob Roy

It's 1718 in the Scottish highlands. Rob Roy MacGregor (Liam Neeson) is a honorable man who tries to lead his village and extended family. The society is changing as honor loses its meaning. He borrows money from Lord Montrose (John Hurt) to buy cattle, but his man McDonald (Eric Stoltz) is ambushed by Montrose's evil henchman Cunningham (Tim Roth) with the help of scheming Killearn (Brian Cox). Cunningham has debts to pay. Rob Roy is given all the blame as McDonald is assumed to have run away with the money to America. Montrose offers consideration if Roy Roy bares false witness against Duke Argyll. He refuses and Montrose hunts him down. He must battle to keep his honor, avenge his wife Mary (Jessica Lange) and save his people.

The legendary Rob Roy is brought to the big screen. I don't really care about accuracy. It's simply a great epic about honor, love, and family. Liam Neeson is dripping with stoic goodness. Jessica Lange is nobility and dignity. Tim Roth is wonderfully villainous in his controversial performance. All of it leads to one of the most compelling duel ever seen on film. The meaning and its effects goes beyond a simple action scene.

From the excellent acting of an extremely impressive cast, to the intelligently written (and very quotable) script, from the lavish cinematography to the beautiful music score by Carter Burwell, Rob Roy offers a rarity in movie going experiences: one that is nigh impossible to find fault with in any area.

There have been several comparisons made with Braveheart, which came out the same year. With all due credit to Mel Gibson, Braveheart struck me as too much of a self-conscious and preachy epic to rival Rob Roy as the kind of movie I would care to see more than once. While Braveheart works hard to be a serious epic, Rob Roy just grabs you and absorbs you into its tightly edited storytelling. Not a single scene is wasted.

Rob Roy contains the perfect balance of dramatic tension, action and even occasional humor. The characters are well fleshed-out, perfectly conveying vernacular and mannerisms that anchor them in their authentic period setting.

Further, they are not caricatures of good and evil as we all too often observe in even modern film.

For example, while we hope the heroic Rob Roy prevails, we realize his predicaments are products of his own pride and sense of honor. Tim Roth plays one of the most hateful bad guys in the history of cinema, yet there are moments when we can understand how the events of his life have shaped him into becoming what he is. Rob Roy employs a level of character development that makes its story even more believable and gripping.

Rob Roy is a delightful treasure, featuring one of the greatest sword fights ever choreographed and a climatic ending worthy of all the tense anticipation.

What can one say about a film that has one of the blackest, most nihilistic, and occasionally most weirdly -I wont say 'sympathetic'..I will say 'charismatic' villains in the history of the Cinema, and the best sword fight since Flynn and Fairbanks were in their heyday? This is an epic about a stubborn, sometimes foolish, incredibly courageous and honest mans fight for his honor and freedom against tyranny. I loved it. John Hurt and Tim Roth were great villains. Jessica Lange was very moving, tender, and sensual.

"Rob Roy" was made at a time when the success of "Dances with Wolves" and "Unforgiven" had revived interest in the traditional Western, and director Michael Caton-Jones, himself a Scot, has admitted that the film is essentially a disguised Western. It transfers what could be a classic Western plot from 19thcentury America to early 18th century Scotland, with claymores standing in for six-shooters. The hero is even a cattle drover or, as Americans would put it, a cowboy. That hero, Robert Roy MacGregor, was a real historical figure who also features in Walter Scott's novel of the same name. ("Roy" in this context was a nickname, derived from Gaelic, meaning "red-haired", but here it is treated as a second Christian name; Liam Neeson does not play the part in a red wig).

The film does not follow Scott's plot but is loosely based on the facts of the real MacGregor's life. In 1713 Rob Roy, a clan chief in the Scottish Highlands, is financially ruined by the machinations of the unscrupulous Marquess of Montrose and his villainous protégé Archibald Cunningham. (Cunningham is fictitious but Montrose was another real person). Cunningham has been described as an "aristocrat", but this is not really accurate because, for all his dandyish appearance and foppish mannerisms, he is really the illegitimate son of a prostitute and does not know who his real father is. Montrose has probably taken him under his wing because he recognises in him a kindred spirit, equally unscrupulous and even more ruthless.

When Rob Roy is unable to repay the money he owes, Montrose has him declared an outlaw, seizes his land and slaughters his cattle; Cunningham brutally rapes his wife Mary. Rob Roy and his followers, who have fled into hiding in the mountains, wage a guerrilla campaign of revenge against Montrose, stealing his cattle and other property.

This was one of two historical films with a Scottish setting made in 1995, the other being the Oscar-winning "Braveheart". The two films share one feature, namely a somewhat disapproving attitude towards homosexuality, which today makes them look rather old-fashioned, even though they were only made around twenty years ago. In "Braveheart" the future King Edward II is portrayed as stereotypically weak and effeminate, whereas here the treacherous Cunningham is gratuitously made bisexual, a lover of boys as well as women, a piece of characterisation which the scriptwriter presumably thought would make him seem all the nastier.

That said, I must say that I found "Rob Roy" a considerably better film than the much-hyped "Braveheart". Mel Gibson's epic is a reasonably entertaining adventure story, but it does have its faults, quite apart from its many historical inaccuracies. It is overlong by at least half an hour, and the acting is of a variable standard. In "Rob Roy" Caton-Jones paces the action in a more satisfactory way than does Gibson, and the acting is also a lot better. I was not too keen on Tim Roth's performance, as I felt that he made Cunningham a bit too much of a one-dimensional pantomime villain, but there are three outstanding contributions from Neeson, Jessica Lange and John Hurt.

Despite his status as Chief of Clan MacGregor, Rob Roy lives simply in a modest house which contrasts sharply with Montrose's elaborate palace. The code by which he lives is equally simple- honesty, loyalty and honour; when Montrose offers to forgive Rob's debt if Rob will testify falsely against one of Montrose's enemies, Rob indignantly refuses. Hurt's Montrose appears to be an elegant, courtly gentleman, but his surface sophistication hides a ruthless opportunist who will use other people in any way he can, provided it is to his advantage. Mary MacGregor could simply have come across as a hapless victim and little else, but Lange (who copes well with the Scottish accent) instead plays her as a tough, independent-minded woman who frequently disagrees with her husband even though she loves him dearly.

The sword-fighting scenes, particularly the climactic duel between Rob Roy and Cunningham, were well handled; the film-makers clearly realised that the Scottish claymore was a heavier weapon than the duelling rapiers more commonly seen on screen and called for a different fighting style. Overall this is a splendid, stirring historical yarn on the themes of honour, love and loyalty. 8/10

This is one of my favorite movies of all time -- it far outshines Braveheart which made more money and got more attention. Liam Neeson is just exudes manliness in this movie, and if I was Jessica Lange I'd have been liftin' me skirts all the time too. Her portrayal of Mary McGregor is just beautiful -- turns out Mary is just as strong as the man she married. Tim Roth is a little exaggerated as the evil Archie Cunningham but still manages to be believable. I think the two most underrated actors in this film were Eric Stoltz as McDonald and Brian Macardie as Rob Roy's younger brother. The scene in the woods where Cunningham is pursuing MacDonald is simply agonizing to watch, and brilliantly filmed. MacArdie's compassion for Mary McGregor when he learns her secret is so moving, you just want to cuddle the guy and pat him on the head. The final swordfight between Rob and Archibald is amazing, one of the best movie fights I've ever seen -- yes, it's bloody, but death tends to be. Rent this! If you are a Brian Macardie fan, check out Kidnapped.