Rob Roy.

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. 

 

Portrait of Rob Roy MacGregor.

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.   

 

John Hurt and Tim Roth.

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!

 

Scandal

The Poster

Released for the first time on DVD Scandal (1989) is the compelling story of the original sex scandal and the two young ladies that helped bring down Harold Macmillan’s Tory government (how badly we need another Christine Keeler at this moment?) and how it completely changed the media landscape. Based on the Profumo affair of 1963 this movie is a modern British classic, a fascinating story even today. Susie Figgis casting is absolutely spot on with John Hurt as the social climbing Stephan Ward, Joanne Whalley as the beautiful femme fatale Christine Keeler and Bridget Fonda as the gorgeously playful 16 year-old Mandy Rice-Davies. The secretary of State for War John Profumo is played by Ian McKellen, plus a great array of well known actors and actresses cast as other important characters in this absorbing true story.



Mandy and Christine

Scandal certainly lives up to its title and with its highly politicised subject matter that would have been a problem to make even today. Based at the dawn of the permissive age and at a time when the lives of politicians and celebrities first became public property the film gets behind the head lines and tells an intriguing story of modern British history. Originally to be directed by Stephan Frears it was the Scottish director Michael Caton-Jones, his debut film, who was eventually given the job by the vibrant young independent production company Palace Productions, who were also responsibility for Mona Lisa (1986) and The Crying Game (1992). Initially planned as a TV mini series but unable to raise the finance because of the pressure from the Tory party, Profumo being a good friend Margaret Thatcher, it was then decided it would be easier to fund as a feature film. A cut and paste job was done on Michael Thomas’s script to reduce it from its four hour plus running time to under two hours.



John Profumo and Christine Keeler

No one had looked at the story from Stephan Wards prospective until Michael Thomas’s script revaluated the complete affair. Even before the film commenced production the British establishment thought it ‘bad form’ to meddle with their version of history. Ward was a victim who was made a scapegoat, with the Denning report, wrongly, putting the blame squarely on Ward shoulders. Casting the part of John Profumo was a big problem as actors of the right age and stature were scared they would loose their chance of a knighthood if they accepted, finally Ian McKellen agreed to play the part, and incidentally he still received his knighthood! The casting of Ward was not a difficult choice as John Hurt was a dead ringer for the osteopath he has since said it is his favourite role. But the movie would not have been made unless Joanne Whalley could be persuaded to play the part of Christine Keeler; Hurt said that she was magnificent, easy to work with and more than capable of portraying Christine’s lack of defence and the extremes of her nature. Whalley would not appear in the nude and a body double had to be used for the famous swimming pool scene when Christine first meets Profumo.

This movie, as I said previously, is a modern British classic, brilliant acting, first class direction, and a great soundtrack including my favourite Dusty Springfield track, written by the Pet Shop Boys, playing over the closing credits. If you have never seen this film it’s now time to put that right.