By all accounts Robert Roy MacGregor was quite a character,
born in 1671 and dying in 1734 at the grand old age of 63. During his lifetime
he was seen as an outlaw, a folk hero and a Jacobite. At the age of eighteen Rob Roy joined with his
father in support of the Stuart King, James the Second of England and fifth of
Scotland. But as history has taught us the Stuart Kings and their supporters
were not successful loosing out to the German House of Hanover. This led to Rob
Roy’s father serving two years for treason and his mother who was in bad health
not surviving to see her husband released.
Even before his death Rob Roy became a legend in his own
lifetime due to the publication in 1723 of a fictionalised account of his life
called The Highland Rogue. In 1817
the great Scottish author Sir Walter Scott published his novel Rob
Roy, although the ‘outlaw’ was not the main subject of Scoots
historical novel the book formed the loose adaptation for the 1995 movie of the
same title. The film stars Liam Neeson as Robert Roy MacGregor, Jessica Lange
as his wife Mary, Tim Roth as the evil Englishman Archibald Cunningham and John
Hurt as Montrose. Helming the movie was the Scottish born director of Scandal (1989), Michael Caton-Jones.
Our
story starts in 1713 and we are in the Highlands of Scotland. When we first
meet Rob Roy he is a well-known and respected cattleman and works for the Duke
of Montrose chasing down rustlers of his lordship cattle. With ambitions to be an entrepreneur and to
this end he arranges a loan of £1000 to buy cattle and hopefully selling them
at a good profit in the market at Carlisle. Sending a trusted friend Alan
MacDonald (Eric Stoltz) to collect the coinage but unbeknown to both Roy and
MacDonald, Montrose’s houseguest Archibald Cunningham and his Lordships Factor
Killearn (Brian Cox) have hatched a plot to steel the money on route to Roy and
make all and sundry believe that MacDonald has absconded to America with his
newfound wealth. As a result of all this and because Rob Roy has no chance in
paying back his loan he is branded an outlaw with burnings, violent death and
rape the order of the day.
Liam Neeson as the man himself. |
Once you
get the lovey dovey nonsense out of the way the movie settles down into a great
swashbuckling tale of violence and intrigue, the climactic sword scene is well
worth waiting for and certainly stirs the blood. Tim Roth stands head and shoulders above all
the other fine acting won a BAFTA for his role as Archibald Cunningham. One of the main supporting stars is the
Highland landscape that includes Glen Coe, Glen Nevis and the Loch’s Morar and
Leven and not forgetting the rain and the midges. The main music was composed by Carter Burwell
best known for his work with the Coen Brothers. We also not only get the hear her
singing but we also have the pleasure of seeing Karen Matheson whose group
Capercaille I have enjoyed in concert.
They even named a cocktail after him! |
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