Title Directed by
Rating
Times Seen
Rob Roy Caton-Jones, Michael 9 6
   I saw Rob Roy in the theaters when it was first released back in 1995, at a time when it was fashionable to be into "all things Celtic". It was the same year Braveheart was released, the same year I read Morgan Llewellyn's "Finn MacCool" and Stephen R. Lawhead's "The Paradise War." It was a time when I lived in a house just down the road from my future wife, Jenica. While Braveheart would capture the hearts of many, Rob Roy would capture the hearts of a few, and among them were Jenica and I.
   Upon first viewing, I commented how excellent I saw the relationship between Robert Roy MacGregor as played by Liam Neeson and his wife Mary, played by Jessica Lange. It is one of my favorite screen romances and was likely very formative in my own relationship with Jenica. The phrase "do you know how fine you are to me?" was incorporated into a song I would record only a month or so after seeing the film. Neeson and Lange are the anti-Hollywood couple; no teenage beauties here, no older man with a younger woman. Just two people in their late 30's or early 40's, loving each other unabashedly. I would love this movie for that reason, if for no other.
    From a more practical standpoint, I think it's a great piece of film art. The story is superbly acted, with both heroes and villains matched in their complexity and subtle nuances. Tim Roth was the villain you loved to hate, while Rob and his company of highlanders are the underdogs we love to cheer for. The DVD notes to the film explain that the script was written on the template of the American Western, substituting highlanders for cowboys, nobility for cattle barons and swords for six guns. Knowing that helps me understand why Jenica and I love the film as much as we do, and why my parents' share that sentiment.
    It is this template of the American Western that allows the film to pace itself in a way many period pieces do not, and yet for all of it's action sequences, the movie has an inner integrity, never resorting to modern colloquialisms. In truth, the lack thereof may account for it's lack of popularity next to Braveheart, which mixed modern values and speech into its Medieval setting. Rob Roy maintains a poker face throughout, with William Hurt and Tim Roth delivering their foppish speeches impeccably, and Eric Stoltz and Lange holding their accents amidst genuine Scottish actors. Most writers would stray from such lines as "do you take me for a whig, sir?" or "my factor will call upon your factor", dumbing down the dialogue to the level the average movie goer needs it to be.
    Of course, a film is only ever as good as its' musical score in my esteem. Ladyhawke is my proof of this. Rob Roy's soundtrack is one of my favorites; Carter Burwell has created a sonic tapestry as rich and beautiful as the images in the film. Building upon traditional Irish elements, the leitmotif of the Rob Roy theme is one I have never tired of hearing, and it immediately evokes the grandeur of the Scottish highlands as captured in the movie.
    Rob Roy is a film is about one man standing against an injustice, standing for what is right in the face of wrongs done to him and his family. In a society where people bicker over the scraps of their parents' wills, where lawsuits are levelled out of spite and reality shows trade dignity for dollars, the values of Rob Roy are grossly anachronistic, and therefore all the more damning. It is for times such as these that Rob Roy is a balm for my spirit, a reminder to maintain integrity when it would be all to easy to throw values such as honor to the wind.
    "Honor is what no man can give you, nor any man take away," Rob says to his boys. In times when it's hard to hold your head high, these are good words to remember.
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Movie Reviews - Rob Roy

Legend
10
 This movie is in my "top 10 films" list.
9
 I laughed, I cried, I peed my pants because there was no good time to leave the theater.
8
 The kind of movie you see twice and tell all your friends about.
7
 Worth paying full admission for.
6
 Worth seeing.
5
 Could have waited for DVD.
4
 Should have waited for DVD.
3
 Even if I'd waited for the DVD I'd still feel cheated out of the rental price.
2
 If someone ever gives me this movie I'll use the DVD as a coaster.
1
 Kept watching because my arms were pinned and I couldn't claw my eyes out.
0
 Piece of crap.
WO
Walked out.