The Wicker Man (1973)

Devout Christian copper Sgt. Howie (Edward Woodward) journeys to a remote island community, located off the western coast of Scotland, to investigate the reported disappearance of a twelve year old girl; on finding that the locals follow a pagan religion, and discovering that their precious fruit crops had failed the previous year, Howie begins to suspect that the missing child has been chosen as a human sacrifice to appease the gods and ensure a successful harvest..

Unjustly ignored on its original release, The Wicker Man has since been acknowledged as a true classic of horror cinema, a status it most definitely deserves: rarely has a horror film achieved such an all-pervading aura of dread and culminated in a such a thoroughly gripping climax, leaving the viewer feeling so utterly emotionally drained as the end credits roll.

Although there is very little in the film that would qualify as 'horror' in the traditional sense (no gore, no cheap scares, no supernatural occurrences), The Wicker Man is undoubtedly a frightening experience, its increasingly unsettling moments of weirdness, which include several oddball song and dance numbers, creating a palpable atmosphere of dread that really gets under the skin. Howie is clearly being led a merry dance, the bizarre pagan rituals and occult happenings witnessed during his stay, coupled with obvious subterfuge on the part of the islanders, all indicating that something terrible is afoot.

Precisely what that is only becomes apparent in the film's final few minutes, but rest assured that it is a truly hideous revelation, one that will remain in the mind long after the sun has set on this marvellous piece of macabre cinema.

Fmovies: The Wicker Man (Robin Hardy, 1973)

I have to revise my original review of this film-- though, from checking every archive I can find, I'm not sure I WROTE a review of this film after first seeing it. This could turn out to be a good thing, because my original feeling for it was "what the hell was all the fuss about," and after finding out that, yes, I had seen the original uncut version, my confusion deepened.

Well, it's been eight months or so since then, and the thing's crept into my consciousness. Repeated viewings have had exactly the same effect they had with Argento's masterpiece Suspiria, to wit:

viewing #1: what the hell was all the fuss about? viewing #2: I can see where there are some points made and subtexts in this film that would greatly appeal to the people who held this thing up in such high regard to me, and Ed Woodward and Chris Lee are very fine actors (and Britt Ekland unclothed is always worthwhile), but it's still kind of, forgive the pun, wooden. viewing #3: My god, this is a profound film. viewing #4: Why hasn't the rest of the world clued into how great this is? (Probably because it was so badly mangled in its original release that it left a bad taste in the mouths of many, from what I've been told.)

This film was the directorial debut of Robin Hardy, who has since gone on to direct only one other film and a few episodes of a TV series (read: mysterious shadowy figure). It was the brainchild of Anthony Shaffer, a name that should be well known to all film buffs (Frenzy, Sleuth, Death on the Nile, Sommersby, et al.). It stars Edward Woodward, already a veteran TV actor by the early seventies, as the uptight Sergeant Howie, a Scottish constable who decides to investigate an anonymous tip-off that a thirteen-year-old girl named Rowan Morrison has been abducted on a small island famous for its apples. Howie's nemesis, Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee looking surprisingly young, given that he was over fifty when he played this role), flits in and out of the film, dropping hints that all is not, perhaps, as it seems, but offering all the help he can given that Howie doesn't seem to understand that police procedure doesn't have to go by the book. After all, you can only offer someone so much help if he doesn't see where you're going with it.

Yes, there are a lot of things about this film, on the surface, that could have been done better. It was obviously made on a shoestring budget that didn't have room for a Steadicam or top-quality film. Unfortunately, that leads to unconscious links about other things in the film that are supposed to look primitive (the islanders' costumes for the Mayday celebration, for example), and the first-time viewer tends to knock the film for things that should be praised because of it.

As for the content of the film itself, the acting is, as one would expect from names like Woodward, Lee, and Ekland, easily above average. The plot moves along quite effortlessly, and the underlying subtext, while strongly presented, never gets in the way of a bang-up mystery (and while the ending becomes somewhat obvious about two-thirds of the way through the film, by then you've realized that the resolution to the mystery isn't what this film is about at all, and you-- or at least I-- become willing to cut Shaffer and Hardy a lot of slack). The scenery-- and no, you dirty-minded little nappers, I'm not talking about Britt Ekland's infamous naked dance-- is breathtaking, f

Many people have never seen or heard of this movie. The sad thing is that most young people now wouldn't appreciate its method of madness. The Wicker Man is almost like Psycho in the sense that it plays with the audiences' minds as well as the central character of the film. Its portrayal of the "pagan" religion is very impressive. Not some outrageous Hollywood devil-demon-blood-cult. The Wicker Man is a powerful, disturbing film and is one of the greatest films of the modern era. Christopher Lee is superb as well as Edward Woodward and the beautiful Britt Ekland. This movie is a true classic.

The Wicker Man fmovies. Years before Edward Woodward gained a measure of fame in the States as TV's Equalizer, he portrayed a dogged police detective poking around a remote Scottish island in search of the truth about a missing girl in Robin Hardy's The Wicker Man. His performance here is easily one of his best -- in order for the unbelievable and unthinkable story to succeed, Woodward must convince us that all of the unnerving events that take place throughout the movie are entirely plausible. He certainly convinced me, and I have never been able to forget the traumatic, harrowing conclusion of the film. Christopher Lee, Britt Ekland, Ingrid Pitt and the rest of the cast provide perfect counterpoint to Woodward's analytical outsider.

I've been fascinated by 'The Wicker Man' ever since I first saw it on TV in the late 1970s. I was very young then and probably didn't completely understand it, but I knew immediately that it was a very special movie, unlike anything I'd ever seen before. Twenty five years, and literally thousands of movies later, I think even more highly of it, especially now that I'm able to see the cut available on the 30th Anniversary DVD, which is over fifteen minutes longer than the version I already own on video. And, yes, 'The Wicker Man' is still unlike any other movie I've ever seen. I think this is mainly down to the brilliant script by Anthony Shaffer, who also wrote 'Sleuth' and Hitchcock's 'Frenzy'. There hasn't been anything made remotely like it since. I think it's the greatest British horror movie ever made, but the description "horror" only gives you half the story. It's also a thriller, a mystery, a Christian morality tale, and in a weird way, a musical. Christopher Lee regards it as the best movie he's ever been involved with, and describes it as one of the three or four greatest movies ever made in Britain, and I agree with him. Lee is very good in the movie as the enigmatic Lord Summerisle, but Edward Woodward is the real star. Woodward is best know for his TV work, as either 'Callan' or 'The Equalizer', depending what generation you're from, but he's superb as the deeply religious Sgt. Howie. Apparently Peter Cushing was initially suggested for the role, as was Michael York, but I really can't imagine either of then being half as good as Woodward is. The supporting cast are all superb - Diane Cilento as the school teacher, famous mime Lindsay Kemp as the publican, and especially Britt Ekland as the publican's daughter Willow. Ekland's seduction dance scene is the second most famous scene in the movie. She claims her speaking voice was dubbed throughout , director Robin Hardy disputes this, though her singing voice certainly was, and she used a (ahem) butt double. I also get a kick out of Aubrey Morris' graveyard scene. Morris is a great Brit character actor and was also in 'A Clockwork Orange', Hammer's 'Blood From The Mummy's Tomb' and sci fi trash classic 'Lifeforce'. Another Hammer alumni Ingrid Pitt ('The Vampire Lovers', 'Countess Dracula', etc.) is also in the cast as a librarian, but sadly in underused. Still, I'm glad she was involved. Inexplicably some people seem to hate this movie. I can't for the life of me understand why. It's utterly brilliant, utterly unique, and I never tire of watching it. If you've never seen it before I envy you! It's a cliche, but believe me, you have never seen anything like it before!

There is an enormous amount of interest in this film, and rightly so.

It defies a low budget production to deliver that rarest of things in film - atmosphere.

The apparently simple plot-line belies a truly astonishing climax. I have seen this film reduce an entire cinema audience to stunned silence on several occasions.

Edward Woodward gives a performance of such understated power it is difficult to envisage anyone else in the role of Sgt. Howie.

The whole production just weaves its magic spell - music - location - cinematography and direction all combine into a masterpiece.