The Wicker Man - 1973
Flesh to touch...Flesh to burn! Don't keep the Wicker Man waiting!
Director(s)
Robin Hardy
Writer(s)
Anthony Shaffer (screenplay)
Producer(s)
Peter Snell producer
Cast
Edward Woodward - Sergeant Neil Howie
Christopher Lee - Lord Summerisle
Diane Cilento - Miss Rose
Britt Ekland - Willow
Ingrid Pitt - Librarian
Lindsay Kemp - Alder MacGregor
Russell Waters - Harbor Master
Aubrey Morris - Old Gardener/Gravedigger
Irene Sunters - May Morrison (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)
Juliet Cadzow - Villager on Summerisle
Ross Campbell - Communicant
Penny Cluer - Callie
Michael Coles - Musician
Kevin Collins - Old Fisherman
Geraldine Cowper - Rowan Morrison
Ian Cutler - Musician
Donald Eccles - T.H. Lennox
Myra Forsyth - Mrs. Grimmond
John Hallam - P.C. McTaggert
Alison Hughes - Mary Bannock, Fiancee to Howie
Charles Kearney - Butcher
Fiona Kennedy - Holly
John MacGregor - Baker
Jimmy MacKenzie - Briar
Lesley Mackie - Daisey (as Leslie Mackie)
Jennifer Martin - Myrtle Morrison
Bernard Murray - Musician
Helen Norman - Villager on Summerisle
Lorraine Peters - Girl on Grave
Tony Roper - Postman
John Sharp - Doctor Ewan
Elizabeth Sinclair - Villager on Summerisle
Andrew Tompkins - Musician
Ian Wilson - Communicant
Richard Wren - Ash Buchanan
John Young - Fishmonger
S. Newton Anderson - Landers (uncredited)
Paul Giovanni - Musician (uncredited)
Robin Hardy - Minister (uncredited)
Plot:
· Sgt. Howie travels to Summerisle to investigate the disappearance of a young girl. He discovers that the locals are weird and unhelpful, and becomes determined to get to the bottom of the disappearance.
Review by Noel Bailey
As the sun goes down on sanity, the sky glows bright from madness!,
The only reason I have long held THE INNOCENTS to be the greatest horror film ever made is on account of THE WICKER MAN not being a true candidate for this category, rather, a bizarre thriller or suspense generating movie. It remains however well within the top 40 films of all time!
So much has been written about the film, both here and in many learned places, I do not propose to re-hash the plot, merely to add my own viewpoint. Some years back CINEFANTASTIQUE devoted an entire publication to this genuinely awesome film, probably the most authoritative work ever compiled on the subject. Those amongst you who share the fascination of this one-off classic should try to locate a copy of this magazine.
Christopher Lee once commented that this was the role of his life and he is correct. He IS Lord Summerisle! For his part, Edward Woodward as the pure and innocent Sergeant Howie, so far out of his depth and yet so rigidly determined to see justice done, must strike a heartfelt chord for anyone who cherishes Christian values (and who would be prepared to back them no matter the odds).
Something happened with this film that is curiously indefinable. Perhaps the paganistic May-time songs, the extraordinary images such as the beetle inexorably circling the pin to which it is tethered. The incredible script from Anthony Schaffer, the maypole dance. There are just too many to mention - all part of the larger mosaic. The scene which sears more than any however, is that when Howie crests the hill and confronts the Wicker Man. His look of abject horror as he cries out in fear and desperation, is like nothing I have seen in any other film. You share his mortal terror and funk as surely as if you were in his place. The final scene of the collapsing Wicker Man to the back-drop of the setting sun while the villager chant in that dreadful circle is not something you can forget either.
Having your dinner straight after this film would really not sit well would it?
The greatness of this uniquely filmed masterpiece is beyond words. You can either SEE it or you can't!
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