The Wicker Man (1973)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Robin Hardy

Writer:

Anthony Shaffer (screenplay)

Release Date:

June 1975 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

From the writer of 'Frenzy & Sleuth' Anthony Shaffer's incredible occult thriller

Plot:

A police sergeant is called to an island village in search of a missing girl whom the locals claim never existed. Stranger still, however, are the rituals that take place there.

Plot Keywords:

Sergeant | Island | Ritual | Disappearance | Scottish Island

Awards:

1 win & 5 nominations

Cast

Edward Woodward	...	Sergeant Howie
Christopher Lee	...	Lord Summerisle
Diane Cilento	...	Miss Rose
Britt Ekland	...	Willow
Ingrid Pitt	...	Librarian
Lindsay Kemp	...	Alder MacGreagor
Russell Waters	...	Harbour Master
Aubrey Morris	...	Old Gardener / Gravedigger
Irene Sunters	...	May Morrison (also as Irene Sunter)
Walter Carr	...	School Master
Ian Campbell	...	Oak
Leslie Blackater	...	Hairdresser
Roy Boyd	...	Broome
Peter Brewis	...	Musician
Barbara Rafferty	...	Woman with Baby (as Barbara Ann Brown)

Also Known As:

Anthony Shaffer's The Wicker Man (UK) (complete title)
The Wickerman (Europe: English title) (alternative spelling)

Runtime:

88 min | 100 min (2001 director's cut) (25 fps)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | South Africa:(Banned) | Finland:K-18 (2006) (DVD) | Finland:K-16 (1983) (self applied) (video) | Germany:16 | Australia:M (DVD rating) | Australia:R (original rating) | Ireland:15 (re-rating) (2002) | Ireland:18 (original rating) | Norway:16 (1974) | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | UK:15 (video re-rating) (2002) | UK:18 (video rating) (1990) | UK:X (original rating) | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Burrow Head, Isle of Whithorn, Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland, UK

Company:

British Lion Film Corporation

Trivia:

The film gives it's name to a music and arts festival (The Wickerman Festival) which has been held annually in the area where the film was shot (Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland) since 2004. At the end of the festival a giant Wicker Man sculpture is burned as a 'sacrifice to the festival gods'.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In the scene where Sgt Howie hits McGregor (who is dressed as Punch) with a candlestick, watch closely and you can see that the blow from Howie is aimed into the padded section on the back of the punch costume, rather than at the back of McGregor's head.

Quotes:

Lord Summerisle: I think I could turn and live with animals. They are so placid and self-contained. They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins. They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God. Not one of them kneels to another or to his own kind that lived thousands of years ago. Not one of them is respectable or unhappy, all over the earth.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Iron Maiden: Visions of the Beast (2003) (V)

Soundtrack:

Corn Rigs

Chilling insight into ancient paganistic rituals, slightly chipped

The bizarre and chilling tale of a fool chosen to be king for a day.

The shocking denouement of this film has stayed with me for many years, far longer than scenes or images from more famous films. A classic of its kind, it deserves the re-release it will probably never get.

Superficially a mystery thriller, this intelligent and well researched story delves into the beliefs and rituals of Ancient Britain, its folk mythologies and music, and reveals some of the un-settling fears that lie at their root. Set on a remote Scottish Island and giving the appearance of being a Whisky Galore, Local Hero type community, there is yet something off-centre about the townspeople that Edward Woodward, as Sergeant Howie, has come to investigate. The presence of Christopher Lee as the eloquent, commanding Lord of the Isle, gives the film an insidiously creepy edge suggesting a Hammer Horror lurks around the next wee wall. He is perfect in the role.

The story un-folds like a cross between Chinatown and Rosemary's Baby, as the dogged Howie gets led all over town, up one blind alley and down another. Clues are dropped all the way about what is really going on, but we don't heed them. Until it's too late. Too late to walk away.

The standard video version runs for 85 minutes, cuts many important scenes and shows others out of sequence. A BBC version shown in 1998 ran around 95 minutes. The full version ran 102 minutes but I have never found it.

However, whilst uneven in parts and certainly flawed this is one of the most intelligent and interesting stories I have ever seen on film. See it yourself and you too will have many meetings with 'The Wicker Man', in your dreams, in the dark, where you cannot escape.