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Legend: how the tom cruise and tim curry fantasy movie became a cult classic.

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• Legend, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Tom Cruise, is a unique cult classic fantasy film that stands out in both their filmographies.
• Despite being a box office flop, the film gained its cult status through its stunning visuals and the exceptional performance of Tim Curry as the Lord of Darkness.
• The director's cut of Legend, released in 2002, with its different ending and original score, helped solidify its cult classic status by offering a morally gray narrative and questioning the concepts of good and evil.

While a number of '80s movies have become cult classics, one of the more curious films to receive such status is the 1985 film Legend starring Tom Cruise. Directed by Ridley Scott, Legend is an epic fantasy adventure film that follows a young man named Jack (Tom Cruise) who must confront and defeat the Lord of Darkness (Tim Curry) as he plans to curse the entire world with eternal night by killing all the unicorns in this realm and taking their horns. Along the way, Jack encounters various creatures and a princess named Lili (Mia Sara).

After he made Alien , Scott wanted to make a fairytale film. He teamed up with author William Hjortsberg and the two worked closely together for five weeks on the first draft of what would become Legend . Soon after, Scott started principal photography on his iconic sci-fi film Blade Runner (via Starburst Magazine ). By the time Scott had completed Blade Runner , he and Hjortsberg went through 15 drafts before settling on what would serve as the official Legend script. And while Legend may not be nearly as popular as either Alien or Blade Runner , it had enough unique aspects that allowed the Tom Cruise fantasy adventure to become a cult classic.

Ridley Scott is one of Hollywood's most influential sci-fi directors; from Exodus to Alien, here's every one of his movies ranked from worst to best.

The Only Fantasy Film Ridley Scott and Tom Cruise Worked On

Part of why Legend became a cult classic is that it stands out in both Ridley Scott's and Tom Cruise's catalog, serving as the only fantasy film either has worked on. While some of Scott's films have fantastical elements, most notably his biblical epic Exodus: Gods and Kings , Legend is the only pure fantasy movie that Scott has directed. Considering that a lot of Scott's filmography consists of high-concept science fiction movies, big-budget historical action epics, intense crime dramas, or horror films, something like Legend completely stands out. The uniqueness of this kind of movie in a filmography like Ridley Scott's makes it worth seeking out.

Similarly, Legend is the only pure fantasy movie that Tom Cruise has starred in. While it can be argued that his reboot of The Mummy has fantastical elements in it, like Scott, he has never again worked on a pure fantasy film. Cruise's filmography primarily consists of either high-adrenaline action movies like Top Gun: Maverick or Mission: Impossible , science fiction films like Oblivion or Edge of Tomorrow , or artistic character dramas like Eyes Wide Shut or A Few Good Men . Therefore, like Scott, Tom Cruise being in a film like Legend is a reason why it is appealing.

Legend Bombed At The Box Office

Like many other movies that become cult classics, Legend was a flop — Tom Cruise's only real box office bomb . The film had a $25 million dollar budget and only made a worldwide total of about $23.5 million despite having been the number one movie at the box office for two weeks when it was released in 1985 (via The Numbers ). The fact that Legend performed so poorly at the box office could be a big reason why neither Scott nor Cruise attempted to make another fantasy movie. However, regardless of how it did financially, Legend eventually gained its cult status when it was seen on home video.

Legend Was Poorly Received Despite Some Positives Aspects

Legend received mostly negative reviews, with criticisms of it being incoherent, messy, and overall lacking a sense of identity or purpose. Roger Ebert described Legend as "... a movie that has no clear idea of its own mission and no joy in its own accomplishment ." (via RogerEbert.com ) Ebert's TV partner and fellow critic, Gene Siskel, was even harsher towards Scott's fantasy film, stating " I don't want to remember any more about Legend than to make sure I include it in my 'worst films of 1986' list and never rent it when it comes out as a video cassette ." (via Chicago Tribune )

However, even the harshest critics cannot deny some admirable aspects of Legend as many of the positive reviews praise the film for its gorgeous visuals. Through a combination of the cinematography, set pieces, and most importantly the makeup effects, Legend was dazzling to look at. Several critics stated that Legend 's visuals and makeup prosthetics alone were enough reasons to see it. A big reason why the movie had such great makeup effects is because of the involvement of makeup effects artist Rob Bottin, who is best known for his work on films like The Howling , Robocop , and The Thing .

Tim Curry Gave A Great Performance

Another aspect of Legend that even the biggest detractors praised was Tim Curry's performance as the Lord of Darkness. Despite only appearing in the last 20 minutes and heavily covered with makeup and prosthetics, Curry received much acclaim for truly embodying this evil, sadistic character and has been cited by many as the best part of the movie. While Curry has played similar types of villains and creatures before, he is completely unrecognizable as Darkness and gives a hugely entertaining yet thoroughly terrifying performance.

The Director's Cut Helped Legend Become A Cult Classic

Similar to the multiple director's cuts that Blade Runner received , a big reason why Legend became a cult classic is the unrated Director's Cut released in 2002. There are two main differences between Legend 's theatrical and director's cut, and the first is that the latter offers a more bittersweet ending in which Jack and Lili go their separate ways instead of riding off into the sunset. The other big change is that the Legend director's cut uses the original Jerry Goldsmith score that was kept in for European audiences rather than the music by Tangerine Dream, Jon Anderson, and Brian Ferry that was in the US theatrical release (via Cinefantastique ).

Overall, while the theatrical cut provides a more clear-cut, good vs. evil story, the Legend director's cut provides a more morally gray narrative. In the director's cut, the ideas about good and evil are consistently questioned as the protagonists are flawed individuals who make mistakes and may not be the pure embodiment of good, but will still rise to the occasion at the end of the day. In the same vein that Blade Runner became a cult classic when an improved version of the movie became available, Legend received a similar status and praise for doing the same.

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Film / Legend (1985)

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"I require the solace of the shadows and the dark of the night. Sunshine is my destroyer." — Darkness

Legend is a 1985 fantasy/adventure film directed by Ridley Scott and written by William Hjortsberg , starring Tom Cruise , Mia Sara , Tim Curry , and Tim Curry's massive pair of horns. It is part of The '80s fantasy boom in film, sharing many of the same elements as its contemporaries . The movie was a flop at the time, but is now a bit of a Cult Classic , mainly for its creative visuals and Rob Bottin 's masterful practical effects. Whatever other problems it has, this movie looks great .

The Lord of Darkness (Curry) plots to cover the world in eternal night. He sends his servant, the goblin Blix (Alice Playten), to kill the light-bringing unicorns and take their horns. The unicorns only appear before the pure of heart, so a lure must be used. Enter Jack (Cruise) and Princess Lili (Sara), pure denizens of the forest. When the stallion is killed, Jack and Lili are separated as snowstorms envelop the world. She and the mare are captured by the forces of Darkness, and he must band together with the woodland fairies to rescue her.

Nothing to do with the 2015 film of the same name , or the short-lived Richard Dean Anderson western fantasy dramedy also of the same name .

Legend provides examples of the following tropes:

• Aim for the Horn : Played for Drama . Much to Jack's horror, Big Bad Darkness's goblins wound and kill a unicorn by poisoning it and cutting off its horn.
• All Just a Dream : At least, Lili thinks so when she wakes up at the end of the Director's Cut , and Jack doesn't confirm or deny it. She doesn't get to see Jack waving goodbye to the elves and unicorns after she's left. The theatrical edition changes the ending completely, and she sees them together with Jack.
• And Now You Must Marry Me : The Lord of Darkness's goblins capture the beautiful Princess Lili and take her to the dark castle, where Darkness falls in love with her and plans to marry her.
• Annoying Arrows : Darkness takes a few from Gump and Jack and he doesn't even slow down.
• The Antichrist : Darkness is effectively this, as he is ultimately in service to his unseen and unnamed father.
• As Long as There Is Evil : "Big D" tries to invoke this, presumably to convince Jack not to kill him. This is likely true, however, see The End... Or Is It? below.
• Award-Bait Song : "Is Your Love Strong Enough?" by Bryan Ferry and "Loved by the Sun" by Jon Anderson .
• Bad Is Good and Good Is Bad : The goblins feel this way. Blix compares Lili unfavorably to rotting meat (he'd prefer the latter), and the goblins also refer to the unicorns as "ugly one-horned mules."
• Bait-and-Switch : Oona seemingly abandons the quest to save Lili after Jack refuses her affections, only to unlock the door that has them trapped a moment later.
• Ball of Light Transformation : The fairy Oona can change into a small ball of light and fly around. She does so in Darkness's dungeon to escape a prison cell and obtain the key to the cell.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished : Averted, as when Lili is captured, she is a complete and total mess, resembling nothing like a princess, and looking more like a dirty waif.
• Berserk Button : Darkness has entitlement issues. When Lili tells him, "I do nothing for your pleasure!" he loses his temper.
• Big Bad : The Lord of Darkness himself, who is the main villain of the movie.
• Big Red Devil : Darkness is one of the more ambitious depictions of this trope in live action history, with red skin, hooves, and some truly gigantic horns. All he's missing is the batlike wings. There's a reason he's the most iconic visual element of the movie.
• Black-and-White Morality : The heroes are an innocent Princess Classic and a group of forest inhabitants trying to protect the sacred unicorns who make life possible . The villain Darkness is a demonic Evil Overlord who rules over an army of evil goblins and cannibalistic pig-men executioners and wants to create an eternal night to bring about the end of the world.
• Blow Gun : Blix uses one to fire a poisoned dart into a unicorn and kill it so he can cut off its horn.
• Bookends : Only in the Director's Cut . When Jack first appears at the start of the film, a myna bird flies down from the sky and lands on his shoulder. Once Darkness has been defeated and Lili returned to the castle, Jack turns away to survey the forest, and the myna bird returns, once again landing on his shoulder.
• Breakout Pop Hit : "Is Your Love Strong Enough" in the US version was high on the Billboard charts.
• Bumbling Henchman Duo : Trio, actually. The three goblins have moments of this, being much more overtly comedic in their characterization than Darkness himself, although they can also be genuinely effective henchmen.
• Card-Carrying Villain : All of them, though Darkness comprehends he's just one side of the coin. The others, though... Blix: May be innocent, may be sweet... ain't half as nice as rotting meat.
• Character Tic : Jack crouching on his heels, which emphasizes his wildness.
• Cooking the Live Meal : Darkness' castle has a hellish-looking kitchen in which boar-like cooks place live prisoners in giant pies to cook them and serve them up as lunch.
• Corrupt the Cutie : Darkness is advised to "woo" Lili, attempting this trope.
• Cross-Cast Role : The swamp hag Meg Mucklebones is played by Robert Picardo .
• Damsel in Distress : Lili, who gets kidnapped fairly early on, and whom Jack and friends must rescue.
• Dark Is Evil : The demonic villain Darkness is a personification of the concept and wants to extinguish all life so he can subsist in the dead icebound world...
• Disney Villain Death : Subverted with Blunder , who appears to fall to his death but later appears unharmed.
• Distracted by the Luxury : Whilst running around Darkness's lair in a complete panic, Lili is briefly lulled into calm by the sight of a giant diamond necklace, part of his ploy to woo her .
• Doomed Fellow Prisoner : Jack and his friends slide down the tunnel into a cell in Darkness's dungeons. They find a fellow prisoner, Blunder, a fairy who worked for Darkness but betrayed him and was punished with imprisonment. While they're talking to him, one of Darkness's minions enters his cell and takes him out to be baked in a pie (no blackbirds, though). They eventually rescue him before he meets his fate.
• Easily Forgiven : Invoked. When Gump hears that Jack led Lili to the unicorns for love, he promises to forgive Jack for his part in the unicorn's death if Jack can answer a riddle. When Jack does, Gump throws a brief tantrum over it, but then he promptly gets over it and assists Jack to rescue Lili and the unicorns.
• Eats Babies : Blunder contemplates eating a human baby in its crib. This oddly horrifies his fellow goblin, Pox. note  Considering Blunder is The Mole , he was probably overcompensating. Blunder : I simply adore milk-fed meat! Pox : What are ya, some kind of animal?
• Endless Winter : There are two unicorns that provide Light. When one is slain, winter ensues. If the second is killed, the winter will be made permanent.
• The End... Or Is It? : At the end of the U.S. version, Darkness (who was apparently destroyed earlier) is shown laughing in a dissolve shot.
• Engagement Challenge : At first not particularly difficult—dive into a small pond and find the ring the princess threw there. Becomes much harder after the death of one unicorn freezes everything over in eternal winter. Later linked, somehow , to True Love's Kiss after the horn is restored and the pond thaws.
• Evil Costume Switch : Lili in the Bride of Darkness outfit, black lipstick and stylized tear stains included.
• Evil Desires Innocence : Darkness seeks to cast the world into eternal night. But he is captivated by the purity and innocence of Lili. His father recommends he Corrupt the Cutie , and she even makes it seem like it's working when she pulls a Fake Defector .
• Evil Is Hammy : Despite his discomfort with the extensive makeup (see below under Real Life Writes the Plot ), Tim Curry still turns in a marvelously hammy performance as the wicked Darkness.
• Evil Laugh : Both Darkness and Meg Mucklebones are prone to this. Darkness's is more of a deep, gloating laugh, while Meg, being a hag, has the classic witch's cackle.
• Evil Plan : The Lord of Darkness seeks to kill all unicorns so he can plunge the world in darkness.
• Evil Sounds Deep : Tim Curry's voice is pretty deep to begin with, but here it's even deeper and more booming than usual.
• Exploring the Evil Lair : Jack and his friends enter Darkness's lair to rescue Lili and the unicorn.
• Exposition of Immortality : Darkness, during the ending fight with Jack, boasts about how he's been here since the beginning, because there's no Light without Darkness.
• Faint in Shock : When she first meets the terrifying villain Darkness, Lili faints and collapses to the ground. She wakes up a few seconds later and has a long conversation with him.
• The Fair Folk : Even when the world is in peril, Gump tests Jack with a riddle before deciding to help him, when he finds out that he took Lili to see the unicorns. In a deleted scene he even forces Jack to dance with his magic fiddle before asking the riddle.
• Fairy Sexy : Oona the Fairy Companion wears a very short dress.
• At the beginning of the movie Darkness says "I require the solace of the shadows and the dark of the night. Sunshine is my destroyer." Just in case the audience forgot, while Darkness is in the underground cave with Lili he says it again. Guess how the good guys defeat him at the climax?
• When Lili enters Nell's cottage she sees a clock on the wall. While she looks at it, it is suddenly covered with frost, a warning of the winter that will descend when one of the unicorns is killed and has its horn cut off.
• The heroes defeat Darkness by reflecting a beam of sunshine against him. This is foreshadowed early on when Lili uses the heart charm on her necklace like a laser pointer to shine a tiny beam of light in Jack's eyes.
• Friend to All Living Things : Jack.
• The Ghost : Lili's father, the king, is mentioned but never seen.
• Gluttonous Pig : The pig-like goblin Pox wants to use the unicorn's magical horn to "turn everything into garbage, a great towering mountain of slop" for him to eat.
• Go-Go Enslavement : Lili is made to wear an Evil Sorceress ensemble after being kidnapped by Darkness.
• Greater-Scope Villain : We never get any details, but Darkness calls out for his father for advice about Lili and calls out to him in desperation at the moment of his defeat.
• Hidden Depths : Lili. And yes, they are hidden pretty deep.
• Hollywood Torches : Both the goblins and Jack have one at some point.
• Horn Attack : Subverted when Darkness charges Jack with his horns foremost as though he's planning on piercing him with them, but ends up with the horns touching a wall with Jack trapped between them.
• Horns of Villainy : Darkness sports what is still probably the largest pair of horns in the history of costume design. They were so heavy that they had to be detached so Tim Curry could rest between shoots.
• I'm a Humanitarian : Not only do prisoners in Darkness's lair get cooked and eaten, we also have Meg Mucklebones who thinks Jack is a "juicy boy." Then there's the goblins. Blunder contemplates eating a baby, and then he and Pox discuss how they want to eat Lili's brains and bones.
• Karma Houdini : Blix and Pox, due to the troubled production resulting in them being cut halfway through filming. One can only hope that they both died horribly off camera.
• Large Deviled Ham: the Lord of Darkness.
• Small Elven-Ham: Gump. "Do you think you can upset the order of the universe, and not pay the PRICE?!? " In the Director's Cut Gump throws a massive hissy fit after Jack solves his riddle.
• Last of His Kind : The two unicorns. After the stallion is killed by the goblins, the mare becomes, much like in that other '80s fantasy movie, The Last Unicorn . At the end, the stallion is magically revived, however.
• Larynx Dissonance : Gump's voice is notably more restrained than his acting. See Large Ham . This is partly because he's dubbed; the producers felt that actor David Bennent sounded "too German" (technically he's Swiss), so he was dubbed over by Alice Playten (who also plays Blix).
• Light and Mirrors Puzzle : The heroes must reflect a beam of sunshine all the way down to the bottom of hell.
• Love Overrides the Law : Subverted where Jack takes Lili to see the unicorns. Lili's purity lures one of them to her and makes it vulnerable to attack, which leads to one of them being killed and one captured and the sudden onset of winter. Later on, a fairy named Honeythorn Gump confronts Jack and demands to know if he had anything to do with it. Jack admits everything, but says that he did it for love. Instead of forgiving Jack, the Gump tells him that he must answer a riddle first. If he can't, then Gump will kill him.
• Made of Evil : Darkness is literally made of darkness, portrayed as the equivalent of evil. He's a Big Red Devil who wants to bring about an eternal night (even though it means the end of the world) because he needs it to thrive. Before his ultimate defeat he also taunts the hero that darkness can't exist without him .
• Maybe Ever After : The Director's Cut leaves the door open as to the future of Jack and Lili's relationship, as she returns to the human world and he goes back to his forest and the fae, though they do kiss and she expresses a desire to visit again .
• The Mole : Blunder, one of Darkness's goblin minions ( who was a disguised elf all along ).
• Ms. Fanservice : Lili's black dress has a plunging neckline and shows her bare legs.
• Must Make Amends : Lili inadvertently lures a unicorn into position to be attacked, which leads to its death. She tracks down the other unicorn and finds Brown Tom guarding it. Brown Tom: You! You're the cause of all our sorrow. Lili: I'm — I'm so sorry. I didn't know. Please, please forgive me. Brown Tom: I'm not the one you should be askin'. Lili: Try and understand. I'm only trying to make things right. Darkness has sent the goblins back for the mare. It's not safe to stay here. You'll have to hurry! Leave now! Go!
• My God, What Have I Done? : When Lili realizes her actions have caused a unicorn to die. It gets better.
• Mythical Motifs : Meg Mucklebones is a reference to water hag characters in folklore like Jenny Greenteeth and Peg Powler.
• Nature Hero : Jack. He's not given a lot of context.
• Navel-Deep Neckline : Lili's "Bride of Darkness" outfit. It's telling that her dress is a sacrificial dress, with her belly exposed for a dagger.
• Neck Lift : Done by Darkness to Jack, but by grabbing his face .
• The Night That Never Ends : The Big Bad Lord of Darkness is attempting to bring this trope about by killing the world's unicorns (the source of the world's light.)
• Noodle Incident : How Blunder ended up with the goblins. Even in the Director's Cut, there's little more than a throwaway line. Blunder: It's a long story. Let's just say I went looking for adventure, and found more than I could handle.
• Nostalgia Filter : While there was nothing inherently wrong with the Jerry Goldsmith soundtrack, many of the fans who saw the American cut first found nothing wholly remarkable about it either. Most fans seem to appear attached to the American cut due to the Tangerine Dream soundtrack which they felt made the film memorable.
• One-Word Title : It's just called Legend .
• Pig Man : Pox is a distinctly porcine goblin. There are also some much larger pig-like ogres in the dungeons.
• Playing with Fire : Darkness has fire-based powers, and the unicorn horn can cause and throw fire.
• Princess Classic : Princess Lili starts out as a quintessential princess classic, only to go through a Break the Cutie process, accumulating in an intense case of Corrupt the Cutie , only for this to be revealed as a ruse she put on in order to trick Darkness into letting her get close enough to free a captured unicorn .
• Quirky Miniboss Squad : Blix, Blunder and Pox.
• Real Life Writes the Plot : Darkness is introduced largely in shadows because Tim Curry had injured himself while removing his make-up note  he'd suffered a panic attack and ripped off the prosthetics before the spirit gum could be softened and took off large amounts of skin in the process . Ridley Scott was so horrified at what had happened and came up with this technique so that Curry would only have to wear sections of his make-up while he healed and the make-up crew could redesign the prosthetics so that Curry would be more comfortable.
• Rebellious Princess : Lili is this to a certain extent. It's implied that she frequently sneaks off into the woods to visit friends, one of whom even comments that she should be back at the palace and not hanging out with poor folks like them.
• In English, the voice of Gump was done by the same actress who played Blix; in German, he voiced both.
• In fact, all of the forest scenes had to be dubbed over in post-production because the noise on the set was so loud, according to Mia Sara on the Ultimate Edition DVD.
• Red Right Hand : Blunder has a chicken foot for a left hand (explained in a deleted scene).
• Rhymes on a Dime : Blix. It seems that all of the goblins' dialogue (and possibly Darkness's) was originally intended to be in rhyme, but this was toned down in the finished movie.
• Riddle for the Ages : Who is the father of Darkness?
• Riddle Me This : "What is a bell that never rings, yet its knell makes the angels sing?" The answer is the Bluebell flower .
• Riding into the Sunset : Jack and Lili walk off together into the sunset in one version of the film. In the director's cut, Jack walks off by himself while Lili goes to her castle.
• Rump Roast : Blix uses the unicorn horn to set Blunder's butt on fire.
• Shapeshifting Seducer : While the protagonists are trapped in Darkness's jail, the fairy Oona tries to get Jack to kiss her by creating an illusion that she's Jack's girlfriend Lili.
• Sic 'Em : When Darkness first summons Blix, he tells him to find and destroy the unicorns.
• Slow Light : At the conclusion of the movie, the sunlight takes 20 seconds to reflect off all of the shields and reach the underground chamber where it blows away Darkness.
• Storming the Castle : Jack and his friends attack the Lord of Darkness' castle to rescue Lili and a sacred unicorn.
• Throwing Your Sword Always Works : Jack defeats Darkness with a well-thrown unicorn horn.
• The Time of Myths : Ridley Scott's goal with Legend was to create a story and setting reminiscent of fairy tales and myths.
• True Love's Kiss : Jack does this to wake Lili.
• Unicorn : Two of them are key to the plot.
• Unicorns Are Sacred : Killing the last two unicorns that guard the power of light would allow the demon lord to roam the world free in darkness. Also, Darkness shows just how evil he is by ordering a unicorn's horn to be cut off, which causes the world to freeze over.
• Unicorns Prefer Virgins : Lili's "innocence" allows her to approach the unicorns. This is taken advantage of by Darkness and the goblins to lure the unicorns into the open so that they may kill them.
• Unseen Evil : The disembodied voice that helps Darkness seduce Lili, presumably the being he calls Father .
• Villainous Crush : The Lord of Darkness has one on Lili, attempting to seduce her and intending to make her his bride.
• Weakened by the Light : "The sunshine is my destroyer!"
• The Lord of Darkness is "distracted" by the captured princess's beauty and innocence and advised by his mysterious 'father' to woo her into temptation. There follows probably the best (and most eloquently written) scene in the film, where the devil's seduction rather backfires when the newly-darkened Princess plays His Lovesick Evilness like a two string harp. note  The first draft of the screenplay was very different: his pursuit of princessly love leads him to turning her into a bestial cat-woman and the two of them having lots and lots of sweaty monster sex.
• Implied of the fair folk, who know love exists, and is powerful, but they have no idea what it is. Which may be why Gump is upset at Oona for 1) hiding her true form, and 2) being interested in seeing what love really is by taking Lili's form.
• Nell and her family. Last seen flash-frozen in their house, they're completely forgotten about at the end of the story (even in the script!). Presumably they thawed out with the rest of the world after the unicorn's horn was restored.
• They just disappear about halfway through the movie, after their encounter with Darkness, despite having had an important role until then. Reportedly, they were cut half way through filming due to budget problems following the loss of most of the sets due to a studio fire. More scenes with Nell and her family may have been cut for the same reason.
• In one version of the script, Blix and Pox are present while Jack and Darkness are fighting, and when Pox wonders if they should help, Blix proposes they stay where it's safe and they slink off into the shadows.
• What the Hell, Hero? : The forest creatures are understandably upset by Lili's actions. Gump is even more upset by Oona's "secret".
• Wicked Witch : Jack briefly scuffles with a hideous swamp hag named Meg Mucklebones.
• Woman Scorned : Oona, although she shows her quality by not allowing it to dissuade her from doing her part to stop Darkness.
• World Limited to the Plot : This film is set entirely in the magic forest and Darkness's castle with only one throwaway line to Princess Lili's King father and a search for a husband . Nor has there been, interestingly enough, any serious fan attempts at Worldbuilding probably due to observing the "if it aint broke.." rule.
• Your Heart's Desire : Jack's heart's desire is his girlfriend Lili. When the fairy Oona and Jack are trapped in the dungeon of the villain Darkness, Oona offers Jack his heart's desire by assuming Lili's appearance and trying to get him to kiss her.
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Tom Cruise and Tim Curry Starred in This Unforgettable Fantasy Cult Classic

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Legend (1985) is an overlooked yet epic dark-fantasy film that stars two unlikely legends: Tom Cruise and Tim Curry . Ridley Scott directs the film, and many of the scenes contain clear inspiration from his other popular franchise, Alien . Legend also didn't receive commercial success during its initial release, but it is a cult classic, especially after the unrated director's cut was released.

The premise features a young woman, Princess Lili (Sara), who has romantic feelings for a young forest man, Jack in the Green (Cruise). The two meet in secret; however, unbeknownst to the lovers, the Lord of Darkness (Curry) sends unicorns into the forest to cast the world into eternal night, killing anyone in the way. In the midst of this, Lili and Jack are separated, and she's taken to Darkness's dungeon, where he attempts to seduce her. Therefore, Jack bands together with unlikely friends to rescue Lili and save the world, thus delivering two stand-out characters from iconic actors in a film that deserves a re-watch.

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Did Tom Cruise's Character in Legend Inspire Zelda's Link?

Before Cruise became known as the summer action star people know him as today, he starred in this unique tale filled with faeries and unicorns. The character Jack is a symbol of purity, and Lili tempts him to want more than friendship. Dressed in a whimsical tunic and face glitter, Jack defies logic by defeating Darkness to win her back. By the Legend's end, Lili and Jack learn that their purity is worth protecting, as it keeps them safe from harm.

The impact of Cruise's innocent character may be grander than most think because there is a theory in the fantasy and gaming world that suggests Legend's Jack inspired The Legend of Zelda creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, to create The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Some claim Miyamoto mentioned this in an interview , but resurfacing the details has proven difficult. Regardless, the similarities are present, as Jack wields a bow and arrow while he travels through the dungeon to save Lili. This feels akin to Link and his video game adventures.

RELATED: Christian Bale's American Psycho Inspiration Wasn't a Slasher - It Was Tom Cruise

Tim Curry Radiates Power and Intensity as Legend's Darkness

Curry gives a fantastic performance as Lord of Darkness, and the actor even sat in makeup for eight hours to create the unforgettable look. According to Monsters of Makeup , Scott wanted Curry's character to be "very sexy," so they designed a red, devil-like appearance for the creature. Unfortunately, Curry accepted the role before the makeup design was complete, and he tried to fight against the cat-like contacts, but lost. The costume also included sharper teeth, large horns, hooves and claws.

Despite the difficulties with makeup, Curry gives an excellent performance. Darkness enters Legend with an intimidating presence, towering over Lili as he offers her eternal life with him. Curry is well-known for other tantalizing characters, including his performance as Dr. Frank N Furter in Rocky Horror Picture Show , and that carries over here as Darkness' voice radiates evil, providing an unforgettable experience for the viewer, much like Curry's performance as Pennywise in the original television film IT .

RELATED: The Best Movie Musicals for the Spooky Season

Why Legend Should Be Revisited as a Cult Classic

As mentioned above, Legend carries heavy themes about purity and carnal desires. Lili is a tool Darkness attempts to use to spread evil throughout the world. Although she bravely fights against his temptation, Jack offers assistance to help her escape the strains of the evil dungeon. In the theatrical release, Lili and Jack even end up together, but in the director's cut, they go separate ways to maintain their innocence. Either way, they learn the value of remaining pure and not giving in to instinctual impulses.

Many people might have forgotten this fantasy film, but it remains a cult classic for Scott, Cruise and Curry fans. Cruise brings a more timid performance than what audiences would continue to see from him in the future. Meanwhile, Curry carries the expertise he's learned throughout his career by taking on unique, memorable roles. Their pairing works well to tell the whimsical tale and embrace the powerful themes.

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Directed by Ridley Scott

There may never be another dawn.

Set in a timeless mythical forest inhabited by fairies, goblins, unicorns and mortals, this fantastic story follows a mystical forest dweller, chosen by fate, to undertake a heroic quest. He must save the beautiful Princess Lili and defeat the demonic Lord of Darkness, or the world will be plunged into a never-ending ice age.

Tom Cruise Mia Sara Tim Curry David Bennent Alice Playten Billy Barty Cork Hubbert Peter O'Farrell Kiran Shah Annabelle Lanyon Robert Picardo Tina Martin Ian Longmur Michael Crane Liz Gilbert Eddie Powell Mike Edmonds

Director Director

Ridley Scott

Producers Producers

Arnon Milchan Tim Hampton

Writer Writer

William Hjortsberg

Casting Casting

Mike Fenton Jane Feinberg Marci Liroff Donna Isaacson Jeremy Zimmermann Noel Davis

Editor Editor

Terry Rawlings

Cinematography Cinematography

Alex Thomson

Assistant Directors Asst. Directors

Garth Thomas Bill Westley

Executive Producer Exec. Producer

Joseph P. Grace

Production Design Production Design

Assheton Gorton

Art Direction Art Direction

Norman Dorme Leslie Dilley John Fenner Jim Morahan

Set Decoration Set Decoration

Stunts stunts.

Eddie Powell Vic Armstrong Paul Grant

Choreography Choreography

Arlene Phillips

Composers Composers

Jerry Goldsmith Johannes Schmölling Edgar Froese Christopher Franke

Sound Sound

Roy Charman Chris Greenham

Costume Design Costume Design

Charles Knode

Makeup Makeup

Rob Bottin Peter Robb-King Nick Dudman Lois Burwell Jane Royle Pauline Heys Linda DeVetta

Hairstyling Hairstyling

Barbara Ritchie Betty Glasow Eithné Fennel Joan White

Embassy International Pictures Legend Production Company Universal Pictures 20th Century Fox

Primary Language

Spoken languages.

English Italian

Releases by Date

28 aug 1985, 04 oct 1985, 07 nov 1985, 21 nov 1985, 13 dec 1985, 02 jan 1986, 20 feb 1986, 18 apr 1986, 01 jan 2013, 01 jun 1991, 03 apr 2002, 21 may 2002, 25 jan 2006, 31 may 2011, 01 feb 2012, 29 feb 2012, 11 oct 2016, 14 sep 2008, releases by country.

• Theatrical PG
• Theatrical L
• Theatrical U
• Theatrical 12
• Theatrical G

Netherlands

• Physical 12 DVD
• Physical 12 Blu-ray
• Theatrical 11
• Physical 11 DVD
• Physical 11 Blu-ray
• Physical PG MCA/Universal Home Video #80193 [VHS] 89 minutes
• Physical PG Ultimate Edition DVD
• Physical PG Ultimate Edition Blu-ray / DVD - Director's Cut
• Digital PG Digital HD
• Physical PG DVD - Pop Art Edition

94 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by matt lynch ★★★½ 1

yeah i know but just look at it.

Review by Joe ★★★½ 7

Why did Tom Cruise grab the armored top but not the pants?

Review by Ian West ★★★★½ 31

A link to the past.

Very strong chance that this may be the most visually appealing movie as far as my tastes go—beautiful on all fronts with lush scenery, hypnotic visual atmos soundwaved with euphoric tones courtesy of Tangerine Dream, the best goblins and melty faced creatures I’ve ever seen, and the single scariest image from my youth that I would eventually become obsessed with—Darkness.

A friend recently said that this will probably be the best Legend of Zelda movie that we’ll ever get and I’m inclined to agree. Hits all the beats I look for in a movie like this without being 4 hours long which almost gives the the vapors as much as that TD score. I was…

Review by sarah squirm ★★★★★ 3

don’t show me a movie unless it looks like this and is scored by tangerine dream with a credits song by BRYAN FERRY !?!

this is what we call a GLITTER MOVIE!!!!

Review by Jordan Beaumont Anderson ★★★½ 2

What else do you people want? This fucking thing has:

- Tim Curry wrapped in a thousand pounds of sexy latex. - Tom Cruise hugging a fox. - A Tangerine Dream score played with one elbow. - Lengthy unicorn pornography. - "I could eat her brains like jam." - Tom Cruise wearing a scale mail dress. - There's a fucking character named Honeythorn Gump. - Mia Sara, nailing her performance and still being the second prettiest. - A swamp witch played by Robert "Innerspace Cowboy" Picardo. - Tom Cruise squatting. A lot. - Billy Barty, being a goddamn delight. - A sex dungeon made by Disney. - An entire sequence devoted to throwing enormous frisbees. - The plot of at least three D&D campaigns I've played. - A way cooler fairy than that Julia Roberts Hook garbage.

Review by Tears_in_Rain ★★★★★ 57

Anyone who has more than a passing familiarity with my reviews, should be aware of the fact that I don't believe in objective film analysis. My reviews and ratings are an expression of my subjective feelings on a film at that particular moment in time. But, even if I did review films objectively, this is one of those films where I would find such a task impossible. This was one of those defining films for me. As with Alien and Blade Runner , there's just something about the aesthetic of Ridley Scott's early output that resonated with me in my formative years. It's one of those films I can watch endlessly and, every time I do, for 89 minutes, I feel…

Review by FilmApe ★★★★ 6

There are whale noises playing over slow-mo shots of unicorns in a forest...how could this be any less than a four star movie?

Review by Sydney🚀 ★★★★★ 14

This movie just makes so much sense to me. Everyone say thank you Rob Bottin

Review by comrade_yui ★★★★★ 7

a rare ornate gem of a film, easily among the best of ridley scott's work, back when his visuals were lush & overwhelming in detail instead of stringent and aseptic. legend coasts along on intuitive ethereal vibes, a tactile set-bound fantasia of slime-slick goblins, capricious fairy glamour and deliriously fervid colors, all sweetly wrapped within the buttery-smooth synths of tangerine dream's perfect score. the kind of movie where no one wears pants and tom cruise's face is constantly smothered in a thick sheen of glitter. a pure sensory experience.

Review by emma ★★★★★

glitter budget off the shits

Review by Rafael "Parker!!" Jovine ★★★½ 11

Action!: The Scott Brothers – How To Get Screwed By Spielberg Twice W/ Ridley Scott

The movie that feels like a slap in the face and a “fuck you” to everyone who told Ridley he shouldn't use the unicorn in Blade Runner.

After having this movie on Prime for almost a year now, and hearing about the movie for quite some time, I finally decided to watch this somewhat bizarre fantasy movie that followed the iconic "Blade Runner". In a sense, it feels like a radical departure from the film noir, but then you realize that's not entirely the case. The film's cinematography and camera work share a lot in common with his previous project. With his display of creativity…

Review by Patrick Pryor ★★★★★ 6

The best drippy goblin I've ever seen in my life. More fantasy movies with gross drippy goblins and nightmare facial prostheses and elaborate lush otherworld sets and Tangerine Dream synth scores, please.

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Beautiful, interesting, incredible cinema.

In a fantastical forest, the pure-hearted Jack takes Princess Lili to watch the unicorns. But the Lord of Darkness captures the Princess and the unicorns, plunging the world into everlasting night. Jack must descend into the devilish creature’s underground lair to save the kingdom and his true love.

Three years after his iconic Blade Runner , prolific British filmmaker Ridley Scott directed this high-budget, special-effects extravaganza starring acting duo Tom Cruise and Mia Sara. A cherished cult movie, Legend is a gorgeously designed adventure into the most fantastical of universes.

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Tom Cruise Before He Was Famous: His First 5 Films

Jessica kiang.

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From tiny, acne-ridden, squeaky-voiced acorns, massive oaks of megastardom can grow. Not literally, of course, in Tom Cruise ‘s case (obligatory height reference), but in every figurative way possible, he is an enormous presence in Hollywood, as a producer, as a celebrity and most importantly as a greenlight-giving, budget-busting, bona fide movie star. For better or worse, we’ve few enough left of those. For anyone who grew up watching movies any time in the eighties, nineties or even noughties, Tom Cruise is simply a fact of life: an immovable object; a mathematical constant like Pi, that we’ll never quite get to the end of defining. His movies succeed, his movies fail (all judged on the warped power-of-n matrix of the tentpole), but Tom Cruise TM endures, and will be jumping out of a building on a movie screen near you very soon, if he isn’t doing just that, right now.

But the ubiquity of his brand has its downside. Familiarity can breed contempt, and in between films, the rumor mill that surrounds Cruise — his family life, his Scientology, his dating practices, the fact that there was a guy wheeling a heater along the red carpet behind him at a recent Dublin premiere — gets on our nerves as much as anybody’s. But a funny thing happens: as much as we may be irritated by Cruise’s persona outside his films, between that Cruise/Wagner logo flashing up and the end credits rolling, for maybe just that 120 minutes, he almost always manages to remind us once again just why he’s the biggest star in the world. Almost always.

A little in contrast to our fairly positive review , for this writer’s money, this weekend’s “ Oblivion ” is not the best showcase of Cruise’s tentpole talents (we’re excluding things like his highly atypical but totally brilliant turn in “ Magnolia ” for the purposes of this conversation). Even in poor films like “ Knight and Day ” we’ve found ourselves liking and rooting for the Cruise character because as self-serious and self-absorbed as he may seem to be in real life, Cruise can deliver charm onscreen like no one else. And aside from being a star, he’s actually a good actor , so if he’s given a character who’s a gruff, sarcastic but noble loner (“ Jack Reacher “) or a serious but dedicated master-of-disguise superspy (“ Mission: Impossible “), and a director engaged enough, that’s exactly what you get. But in “Oblivion” he’s given very little character, and what quirks he’s allowed fall rather flat under Kosinski’s direction (it’s not so much that he has a directorial tin ear for these things as he seems simply uninterested — he’s more likely off with the production designer arguing over which white swatch is whiter).

Which is all our long way of saying that, noticing how “Oblivion” didn’t work that Cruise juju on us, we started to think about the films that did, and about where it all started. So to mark the release of this $120 million sci-fi spectacular (that would never have gone ahead were it not for the star’s heft behind it), here’s our rundown of the paltry five films that Tom Cruise, seemingly destined like a rocket for the stars, made when he was a nobody.

“ Endless Love ” (1981) Cruise has one scene in this mindblowingly mawkish, and actually super skeezy teen melodrama from Franco Zeffirelli , and it’s notable for him already being shirtless (and otherwise only wearing sports shorts) and for his speaking, or should we say squeaking, voice. Complete with goofy high-pitched giggle, it is a voice that, while recognizably his, you can literally never imagine delivering “I want the TRUTH!” or “I feel the need…” or “You’ve never seen me very upset,” let alone “Respect the cock. Tame the cunt” for anything but comic effect. Over the course of his next movies, he’s clearly training his voice  never to do this again and he totally retires that snicker, so we’re glad this scene still exists, if only to provide hope for awkward adolescents everywhere. The film, oy vey, stars an unbelievably gorgeous, angel-faced Brooke Shields (her first role after “ Blue Lagoon ” which seriously rewired the prepubescent hormones of an entire generation) and Martin Hewitt (nope, no idea) as a sexually active 15- and 17-year old couple who are just super duper in love. So much so that when nooky is suspended due to parental interference he just can’t take it and resolves to impress his way back into her bed by saving the family home from a fire that he himself has set. This is an idea he gets from a story told by the Tom Cruise character, incidentally. This foolproof plan goes wrong and he goes to prison for arson. When he gets out he is still super duper in love with Shields, but unfortunately kind of a little bit sorta also causes the death of her father and gets sent down again. News was it was going to be remade with Alex Pettyfer and Gabriella Wilde . Yay. 

“ Taps ” (1981) The same year as his “ Endless Love ” cameo, Cruise got a much more substantial role, and the first of many, many uniforms, in “ Taps ,” a Harold Becker movie (“ Sea of Love ,” “ Malice “) that’s stood the test of time quite well. It makes a great study of the randomness of nascent stardom too, as Cruise is actually the second or third lead to equally early-days Timothy Hutton and Sean Penn , with Giancarlo Esposito in support. The story is rather ploddingly told, but it’s a compelling tale of young men being taught militaristic ideals without having the wisdom to apply them properly, with tragic consequences. When their Academy is threatened with closure, and their Commanding Officer ( George C Scott ) hospital-bound after a shooting accident brings on a heart attack, the cadets, led by their newly-promoted Cadet Major (Hutton) decide to resist the authorities trying to shut them down, eventually taking up arms. Cruise’s character is the hothead, while Penn’s is the more thoughtful, but the film is really Hutton’s, and watching it, then crawling under a rock for 30 years, you’d be sure that he would be the one with the bigger career right now. But if Hutton is subtle, delivering a very mature portrayal of misplaced honor and thwarted loyalty, Cruise is impressive even if his character is more one-note. And he does get to go briefly berserk at the climax, reminding us of those performances of his later career in which bloodlust or outright insanity lurk just below the surface. It’s a “ Lord of the Flies “-style allegory, so it’s not exactly believable, and it takes too long to get where it’s going, but in “Taps,” we get the first glimpse of the Cruise of the future. And it’s only his second film.

“ The Outsiders ” (1983) If “ Taps ” gave Cruise a taste of what it would be like to be part of a generation of upcoming actors, he hit the motherload by getting cast in Francis Ford Coppola ‘s “ The Outsiders ,” alongside Matt Dillon, C. Thomas Howell, Ralph Macchio, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez and Diane Lane . Based on S.E. Hinton ‘s novel of the same name, the film is certainly beautiful to look at, and wants to be epic in scope and sweep, but somehow the story doesn’t quite have the grand heft and thematic resonance it really needs. But does it really matter when the cast is this pretty? Again, Cruise takes a less central role than those actors he would soon and forever eclipse in terms of star power, but it is notable from his point of view, because here, despite some spitty, snarly play-acting, greasy hair and snaggly teeth, we discern for the first time Cruise’s heartthrob potential, even in amongst so many heartthrobs. They play a gang of underprivileged kids who are involved in a rivalry with a wealthier gang that spirals out of control when one of the richer kids is killed in a brawl, and as such this also marks a rare time that Cruise would play a true outcast, a reject (as opposed to a principled loner) — future roles may have given him a blue-collar background, but defining Cruise characters are almost always successful in adapting to, and ultimately winning within whatever social circle they aspire to. But while Cruise may be overshadowed in terms of screen time and performance this time out by the likes of Macchio and Howell, especially, according to Lowe, already back then, he was displaying the “traits that would make him famous. He’s zeroed in like a laser.” Lowe also recounts how even this early on, his agent and future production partner Paula Wagner was a hugely important figure in Cruise’s life. Retrospectively it’s tempting to ascribe a good deal of the efficient upward trajectory of his early career to her guiding intelligence — sheer luck and raw talent can’t wholly account for zero-to-hero in just five films, after all.

“ Losin’ It ” (1983) But if with ‘ Outsiders ‘ and “ Taps ” Cruise might have been in danger of being pigeonholed into the “volatile friend” supporting role, his next two films would be in one of the defining genres of the era — the teen sex comedy — and would put paid to any such notions. “ Risky Business ” would of course be his breakout, before “ Top Gun ” three years later would rocket, or fighter jet him to superstardom, but prior to that came “ Losin’ It ,” the justly overlooked “one crazy night”-style story of a bunch of high school kids heading to Tijuana for an evening of debauchery. No prizes for guessing what the “it” is that these boys are hoping to lose. Really, in tracing the evolution of Cruise into the star we know today, “Losin It” is most notable for being the first time he really had the lead role, even if that doesn’t clearly emerge until a little later in the film. So of the three friends who go on the trip, Dave ( Jackie Earle Haley — apparently born looking about 35) is the wildcard motormouth who can’t keep it in his pants, Spider ( John Stockwell ) is the goodlooking jock who gets into fights and tries to bribe policemen while Woody (Cruise) is the sweet, slightly nebbish friend who chickens out of losing his virginity to a prostitute and is instead deflowered in a much more romantic manner by the young housewife ( Shelley Long ) to whom they gave a lift to TJ for a quickie divorce. So it’s a romantic lead of sorts, inasmuch as this sort of film ever provided one of those, but it’s Haley’s wired, twitchy, OTT performance that steals what little there is to take here. A sort of interesting moment happens at the end when Long’s husband reappears, but it’s way too little too late in what is otherwise a tiresome palaver of a film, featuring a neat line in casual racism and a pretty revolting sexist streak that may have been par for the course at the time, but dates the film badly now. The real surprise here is that Curtis Hanson is the director. So it’s not only an early low point for Cruise, then.

“ Risky Business ” (1983) And so we come to the end of our journey, with a little film you may have heard of: “ Risky Business ” — only the third of four films that Cruise would release in 1983 (the last being “ All The Right Moves “). The story of a privileged, Princeton-bound teen who gets into trouble while his parents are away and, with the help of the call girl he falls for ( Rebecca de Mornay ) hits on the wizard scheme of running a one-night brothel to pay off his various debts, on paper it’s not the most promising of star-making vehicles. But Cruise really goes for it, and somewhere around the time he slides into the living room sporting nothing but socks, a pink shirt and a candlestick/microphone, it appears the world woke up to Tom Cruise TM. It helps that the film, though it roughly shares a genre with the same year’s vastly inferior “ Losin’ It ,” is an altogether sharper, tighter, better-written affair (writer/director Paul Brickman seldom gets enough props for that), so that it comes across more as satire than slapstick, spicing it’s caper-ish antics with some fairly pointed commentary. And Cruise is really very good in it, navigating the trickier aspects of his character’s moral ambivalence with ease, and turning in a confident performance that would set up the cocksure but charming persona he would default to time and again in the coming years, most notably with “ Top Gun .” In fact, it’s the first evidence we really have of the central conundrum of Cruise’s star image: in anyone else, that air of smugness — the expectation that the world will give him what he wants because it owes him — would be totally off-putting. But maybe Cruise’s greatest talent is knowing just when to pull back from the brink of all-out arrogance and show us something real, or goofy, or awkward underneath the bravado. It’s those moments, which catch the light like the flaws in a diamond, that stop us from despising his character here and in future incarnations. And that’s maybe as close as we’re going to get to explaining his long-lasting appeal: Cruise can behave like an asshole, he can win the way assholes win, but he gives us just bare-minimum-enough of a glimpse inside to let us believe he’s not, in fact, an asshole. Cue Moms wanting to rescue him; cue teenage girls sighing over the tenderness they spy within; cue teenage boys furiously taking notes. Cue stardom .

The rest is, of course, movie history. Next up, in 2014, Cruise will be jumping out of buildings in 3D in service of yet another sci-fi epic in Doug Liman ‘s “ All You Need Is Kill ,” which sounds kinda like “ Groundhog Day ” with warring aliens ( proper synopsis here ), potentially to be followed by Rupert Sanders ‘ “ Van Helsing ,” and/or Guy Ritchie ‘s “ The Man From UNCLE ” before the probably Christopher McQuarrie -directed “ Mission Impossible 5 “ arrives in 2015. Nope, Cruise ain’t going nowhere. Except maybe out the window of that skyscraper one more time.

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Legend (1986)

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Product Description

• Feature Commentary with Ridley Scott
• Lost Scenes
• Bryan Ferry "Is Your Love Strong Enough" Music Video
• Photo Galleries

Product details

• Aspect Ratio ‏ : ‎ 2.35:1
• Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
• MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ NR (Not Rated)
• Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.5 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches; 3.2 ounces
• Director ‏ : ‎ Ridley Scott
• Media Format ‏ : ‎ Director's Cut, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Run time ‏ : ‎ 1 hour and 53 minutes
• Release date ‏ : ‎ May 31, 2005
• Actors ‏ : ‎ Tom Cruise, Mia Sara, Tim Curry, David Bennent, Alice Playten
• Subtitles: ‏ : ‎ English, French, Spanish
• Producers ‏ : ‎ Arnon Milchan
• Language ‏ : ‎ English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), English (DTS 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Studio ‏ : ‎ Universal Studios Home Entertainment
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0007PLLQ0
• Writers ‏ : ‎ William Hjortsberg
• Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
• #18,657 in DVD

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Tom Cruise Movies List

1. Endless Love

3. The Outsiders

4. Losin' It

5. All the Right Moves

6. Risky Business

9. The Color of Money

10. Cocktail

11. Rain Man

12. Born on the Fourth of July

13. Days of Thunder

14. A Few Good Men

15. The Firm

16. Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles

17. Mission: Impossible

18. Jerry Maguire

19. Eyes Wide Shut

20. Magnolia

21. Mission: Impossible II

22. Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures

23. Vanilla Sky

24. Space Station 3D

25. Minority Report

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35 Best 1980s Fantasy Movies Ranked

Star Wars didn’t just open the floodgates for science fiction and space operas. Fantasy movies also erupted in Skywalker’s wake, offering an arena of dreamy imagination for audiences seeking worlds beyond our own. 1980s fantasies have a distinct feel to them, with their classical and romantic storytelling, top puppetry and makeup, and some early (and dodgy) computer graphics. The Princess Bride is arguably the ultimate ’80s fantasy movie, a postmodern yet timeless tale of true love, piracy, and rodents of unusual size.

For our guide to the best 1980s fantasy movies, we’ve collected practically every movie of the genre with a Tomatometer and ranked them by score, with Certified Fresh films first. Industry originals like Don Bluth ( The Secret of NIMH ), Terry Gilliam ( Time Bandits , The Adventures of Baron Munchausen ), and Jim Henson ( The Dark Crystal ) were at their creative height. But even established directors made uncharted moves, like Ridley Scott and Tom Cruise in Legend . The Neverending Story (directed by Wolfgang Petersen ) has stuck around because of its featured creatures and heavy emotional beats, while the physically charged fairy tale Labyrinth was a revelation for young women and older children.

Disney turned to the dark side, with the surprisingly violent Dragonslayer and the moody Black Cauldron , a box office bomb that got the studio to lighten up with The Little Mermaid , kicking off their late ’80s and ’90s renaissance. Independent animation took big swings ( Heavy Metal , The Last Unicorn) , Arnold Schwarzenegger got his break as Conan the Barbarian , and Willow is now summoned back to the Daikini world with a Disney+ series.

The Princess Bride (1987) 96%

The Little Mermaid (1989) 91%

The Secret of NIMH (1982) 93%

Time Bandits (1981) 91%

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1989) 90%

Flash Gordon (1980) 83%

The Neverending Story (1984) 83%

The Dark Crystal (1982) 78%

Labyrinth (1986) 77%

Excalibur (1981) 72%

Quest for Fire (1981) 88%

Dragonslayer (1981) 84%

The Last Unicorn (1982) 77%

Highlander (1986) 71%

The return of the king (1980) 67%.

The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982) 67%

Heavy Metal (1981) 66%

Conan the Barbarian (1982) 67%

Ladyhawke (1985) 67%

Clash of the Titans (1981) 64%

Fire and Ice (1983) 63%

Return to Oz (1985) 58%

The Black Cauldron (1985) 54%

Willow (1988) 53%

Erik the Viking (1989) 50%

The BeastMaster (1982) 50%

Legend (1985) 41%

Happily Ever After (1993) 40%

Krull (1983) 35%

Conan the Destroyer (1984) 26%

Sheena (1984) 11%

Masters of the Universe (1987) 21%

Hercules (1983) 22%

Red Sonja (1985) 21%

Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure (1984) 23%

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Tom Cruise's Best 80s Movie Roles, Ranked

Tom Cruise's career in the 1980s was nothing short of spectacular. He starred in 12 feature films during the decade, showcasing his dynamic range and ability to play various characters. His early career began with small parts in Endless Love (1981) and Taps (1981) before landing his breakout role in The Outsiders (1983) as part of the ensemble cast. He continued to gain momentum with his roles in All the Right Moves (1983) and Risky Business (1983). Cruise's portrayal of Maverick in Top Gun (1986) truly earned his status as a leading man. 

Cruise's versatility, dedication, and talent were displayed in the 1980s, and he quickly established himself as one of Hollywood's most prominent and sought-after actors. Cruise's films have earned over $4 billion in North America alone, so it's not surprising he's considered not only one of the best actors of the '80s but also one of the greatest actors of all time.

Below is a list of all 12 Tom Cruise movies from the '80s, ranked best to worst. Which do you think are the most iconic?

• Paramount Pictures

In Top Gun, Tom Cruise plays Pete "Maverick" Mitchell. In this breakout role, Cruise is a young and reckless pilot who competes to become the best at the Top Gun naval flying school and falls in love with his instructor.

Tom Cruise stars in Rain Man as Charlie Babbitt, a selfish yuppie who discovers that his estranged brother Raymond (Dustin Hoffman) has autism and inherits a large sum of money and learns to connect with him.

• Universal Pictures

Born on the Fourth of July

Born on the Fourth of July stars Tom Cruise as Ron Kovic, in a leading role as a Vietnam War veteran who becomes an anti-war activist after being paralyzed in combat and struggles with PTSD and identity.

• Warner Bros.

Risky Business

As Joel Goodsen in Risky Business, Tom Cruise plays the leading role of a high school student who starts a prostitution business to pay for damages he caused while throwing a party and gets caught up in a wild adventure.

The Color of Money

The Color of Money features Tom Cruise as Vincent Lauria, a leading role as a young pool shark who becomes a protege of legendary pool player "Fast" Eddie Felson (Paul Newman).

All the Right Moves

All the Right Moves features Tom Cruise as Stefen Djordjevic, a high school football player who clashes with his coach while trying to win a scholarship and navigate the pressure and expectations of small-town life.

Taps features Tom Cruise as David Shawn, in a prominent role as a cadet who leads a group of military academy students to take over the school when it is scheduled to be closed and faces the moral dilemmas of rebellion.

The Outsiders

In The Outsiders, Tom Cruise plays Steve Randle, a member of a gang of "greasers" growing up in Oklahoma during the 1960s and facing the harsh realities of poverty and violence.

Cocktail stars Tom Cruise as Brian Flanagan, a young man who becomes a bartender and learns the secrets of the trade while pursuing a woman and finding success but also losing sight of what's truly important.

Legend stars Tom Cruise as Jack, a simple forest dweller who must rescue a kidnapped princess from the Lord of Darkness and battle mythical creatures in a fantastical world.

• uploaded by Bojangles

Losin' It

Losin' It features Tom Cruise as Woody, a high school student who travels to Tijuana with friends for a wild spring break and gets into trouble with a local gang.

Endless Love

Endless Love was Tom Cruise's first movie appearance. He's credited with a single scene, playing a shirtless teenager playing soccer. 

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Tom Cruise Remembers Edge Of Tomorrow, But When Is That Sequel Happening?

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10 years ago today, you would have been able to buy a ticket to one of the best action movies we’ve ever seen, Edge of Tomorrow . Although the movie never took up the No. 1 spot at the box office during its time in theaters, it remains a top-tier thrilling science fiction film starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt in many cinephile’s hearts. With it’s recent anniversary in mind, Cruise has remembered the epic action flick.

Tom Cruise isn’t one to spam on social media. He chooses his moments, so on Thursday afternoon, he decided to pay tribute to Edge of Tomorrow with thoughtful words about the movie. He said:

It’s been 10 years since Edge of Tomorrow first hit theaters! I want to take the opportunity to thank Emily Blunt once again for being such a great friend and brilliant actress. I love her performance in this film. Her dedication. Her humor. Her vulnerability and power. She brought it all.

I can’t help but wonder if this tribute means we’ll be getting the Edge of Tomorrow sequel many have been hoping for! The comment section was, of course, riddled with calls from fans for another movie from the established world, but we don’t know if it’s happening yet.

The latest update we’ve heard about Edge of Tomorrow 2 was when Emily Blunt stated that she knew Cruise was interested in making a sequel, but she shared feelings that it might be too late to do so now . Blunt has previously been vocal about the continued back pain the movie caused her , but one would imagine she might change her mind if Cruise and the filmmakers had a really good idea for it. As the star continued in his Instagram post:

This anniversary brings back incredible memories. My first collaboration with Doug Liman. Rejoining the indomitable Brendan Gleeson. And my first time working alongside the great Bill Paxton. His performance and the character he created left an indelible mark on this film. Hitting this kind of tone was no easy task. The writing and storytelling of Christopher McQuarrie made the movie work. Along with the dedication of our entire team who helped bring it to the screen—it was an absolute joy creating it with you all.

Tom Cruise kept his working relationships with many of his Edge of Tomorrow collaborators. As he shared, it was the first time he got to be directed by Doug Liman, whom he later worked with on 2017’s American Made . It’s also a part of his ongoing partnership with Christopher McQuarrie, who had written and directed him in Jack Reacher prior to writing the script for Edge of Tomorrow .

After the 2014 movie, the pair made a Reacher sequel, The Mummy , four Mission: Impossible movies and Top Gun: Maverick together, with McQuarrie often changing between directing, writing and producing roles from one collaboration to the other. Here’s how Tom Cruise ended the tribute:

To everyone who has enjoyed this film over the years, thank you for being a fan. And thank you to Warner Bros. for making this film. I can’t wait to share more about the great movies we’re working on.

What do those comments mean? Is he hinting at “working on” another Edge of Tomorrow or just getting nostalgic on the movie’s 10th anniversary? We don’t know, but his comments only make us want a sequel more!

While we wonder about that, you can see Tom Cruise next on the big screen for Mission: Impossible 8 , which is among the upcoming 2025 movies . Ethan Hunt will return, surely for more breathtaking action, just under a year from now, on May 23, 2025.

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Tom Cruise Celebrates the 10-Year Anniversary of 'Edge of Tomorrow'

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The Big Picture

• Ten years after its release, Edge of Tomorrow remains a fan favorite for its performances and sci-fi concepts.
• Tom Cruise reflects on the film's creation, praising co-stars and crew for their dedication and hard work.
• Talks of an Edge of Tomorrow sequel may be closer to reality, with Cruise's recent deal with Warner Brothers.

It's been ten years since Edge of Tomorrow , starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt , was released in theaters. Releasing in a summer crowded with other blockbusters, the film fell short of studio expectations at the box office. However, it was largely praised by both critics and audiences for its performances, well-executed action sequences, and the way the film handled its sci-fi concepts. Cruise recently took to Instagram to reflect on the making of the film and the ten years since its release, as well as to tease his future projects with Warners Brothers.

The film is based on a Japanese light novel titled All You Need Is Kill , written by Hiroshi Sakurazaka . Cruise portrays Major William Cage, a solider who, despite his attempts to avoid combat, is forced to join a landing operation in an ongoing war against an invading alien force known as Mimics. After being covered in alien blood and dying in an explosion, Cage becomes trapped in a time loop that resets every time he dies and begins a quest to defeat the alien invaders. On Instagram, Cruise praised the performances of his fellow cast, as well as the work by those behind the camera, writing:

"It’s been 10 years since Edge of Tomorrow first hit theaters! I want to take the opportunity to thank Emily Blunt once again for being such a great friend and brilliant actress. I love her performance in this film. Her dedication. Her humor. Her vulnerability and power. She brought it all. This anniversary brings back incredible memories. My first collaboration with Doug Liman. Rejoining the indomitable Brendan Gleeson. And my first time working alongside the great Bill Paxton...Hitting this kind of tone was no easy task. The writing and storytelling of Christopher McQuarrie made the movie work. Along with the dedication of our entire team who helped bring it to the screen - it was an absolute joy creating it with you all."

An 'Edge of Tomorrow' Sequel Could Be Closer Than Ever

Despite the box office performance, there has long been talk of a sequel to Edge of Tomorrow , with both writer Christopher McQuarrie and director Doug Liman giving small updates and expressing excitement, but a sequel still hasn't happened. It could be much closer to happening now, however, as Cruise recently signed a deal with Warner Brothers to develop and produce various projects.

Cruise concluded his Instagram post with: "To everyone who has enjoyed this film over the years, thank you for being a fan. And thank you to Warner Bros. for making this film. I can’t wait to share more about the great movies we’re working on." Let's all hope this small tease of future projects could be a hint that a sequel to Edge of Tomorrow will finally be happening in the near future.

Stay tuned at Collider for updates on upcoming films, including the Edge of Tomorrow sequel.

Edge of Tomorrow

A soldier fighting aliens gets to relive the same day over and over again, the day restarting every time he dies.

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Tom Cruise Marks 10 Years Since Edge of Tomorrow with 'Great Friend' Emily Blunt: 'Incredible Memories'

"I love her performance in this film. Her dedication. Her humor. Her vulnerability and power. She brought it all," he said

Charlotte Phillipp is a Weekend Writer-Reporter at PEOPLE. She has been working at PEOPLE since 2024, and was previously an entertainment reporter at The Messenger.

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty

Tom Cruise is marking a decade since the release of Edge of Tomorrow and praising costar Emily Blunt .

On June 6, the actor, 61, shared a post on Instagram reflecting on the production and release of 2014's Edge of Tomorrow, including his fellow cast and crew, especially Blunt, 41.

"It's been 10 years since Edge of Tomorrow first hit theaters!" Cruise wrote. "I want to take the opportunity to thank Emily Blunt once again for being such a great friend and brilliant actress . I love her performance in this film. Her dedication. Her humor. Her vulnerability and power. She brought it all."

"This anniversary brings back incredible memories," he continued, before thanking the film's director, more of his costars, including late actor Bill Paxton.

Kobal/Shutterstock

"My first collaboration with Doug Liman. Rejoining the indomitable Brendan Gleeson. And my first time working alongside the great [Paxton]. His performance and the character he created left an indelible mark on this film."

Led by Cruise as a military public relations officer with little combat experience, Edge of Tomorrow is an apocalyptic sci-fi film that takes place after Europe has been occupied by aliens. Cruise's character is forced into combat against his will, and finds himself stuck in a time loop, fighting the same battles over and over again as Blunt trains him as a fighter.

"Hitting this kind of tone was no easy task," Cruise continued in his caption. "The writing and storytelling of Christopher McQuarrie made the movie work. Along with the dedication of our entire team who helped bring it to the screen — it was an absolute joy creating it with you all."

"To everyone who has enjoyed this film over the years, thank you for being a fan. And thank you to Warner Bros. for making this film," he added. "I can't wait to share more about the great movies we’re working on."

Blunt has also been candid about her time on the film, opening up in a 2022 interview on the  SmartLess  podcast, hosted by  Jason Bateman ,  Will Arnett  and  Sean Hayes , about the physical difficulties she had on the set.

"We had to wear these enormous suits, which I think would've been great if we had CGI'd them, but we wanted to do it in a tactile way," Blunt said during the podcast, noting "there was nothing cozy" about these 85-lb. suits.

"I was like, 'Tom, I'm not sure how I'm going to get through this shoot,' and just started to cry," Blunt continued, before revealing how Cruise got her to laugh and power through the production.

"I was like, 'I'm feeling a bit panicky about the whole shoot,' and he literally goes — he just stared at me for a long time, not knowing what to do, and he goes, ' Come on, stop being such a p----, okay ?'"

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now !

"And I did laugh, and then we got through it," Blunt added, though she noted that she ultimately did injure her ribs and collarbone during the shoot. "But the training was intense. It was like twice a day we trained for it."

While appearing at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles for a  moderated conversation  with filmmaker Rob Marshall last year, Blunt also spoke about working with Cruise on Edge of Tomorrow, sharing that he helps to "tighten the screws on everyone when it comes to what you think you're capable of."

"Because he can do everything and wants to do everything, it makes you want to meet him where he is at," she saide, adding, "He's so inspiring. Such a doll to me."

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House of the Dragon's Olivia Cooke ‘Blacked Out' Meeting Tom Cruise: ‘I Bowed Like a Servant'

It turns out that even queens are nervous around Tom Cruise .

House of the Dragon star Olivia Cooke , who plays Queen Alicent Hightower in the hit HBO fantasy drama, recalled the time she "blacked out" meeting Cruise, 61, on the set of her film, Ready Player One .

On the Tuesday, June 4, episode of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert , Cooke said the movie's director, Steven Spielberg , often had his A-list friends drop by the set - including George Lucas and Tom Cruise.

"There was a celebrity guest every single day. You've got Steven Spielberg, who I've got to interact with every single day - again, mortified, because I'm like, ‘Oh god, don't look at me,'" the actress explained.

Wigs Off! What the 'House of the Dragon' Cast Looks Like Off Screen

One day, Cooke, 30, said she heard "whispers around the cast" that Cruise - who Spielberg directed in Minority Report and War of the Worlds - was to visit the set.

Cooke said she was wearing a velour "tight tracksuit that was all velcro" and had various cameras and lights attached to her.

"I was talking to my friend and I see Tom Cruise just walk across the stage, and I was like [trying to hide]," she said. "And then I hear Steven go, ‘Olivia, come meet my good friend, Tom Cruise.'"

"I blacked out," she continued. "I completely blacked out. But apparently, my friend ran to the top of the stage to watch this interaction. Apparently, I bowed like a servant. Like, boobs to knee. And then [I] shook his hand and came to."

Everything to Know About 'House of the Dragon' Season 2 Before June Return

Host Stephen Colbert asked Cooke if there was chemistry between them, to which she quipped, "I think it was void of chemistry."

Cooke reprises her role as Alicent Hightower in season 2 of House of the Dragon , which premieres Sunday, June 16, on HBO.

As the fight for the Iron Throne between Alicent's son, King Aegon II (played by Tom Glynn-Carney ), and her former BFF, Rhanerya Targaryen ( Emma D'Arcy ) heats up, Cooke teased that viewers can expect "bloodshed, legacy, power, sexuality, and dragons, obviously" this season.

Speaking to Us Weekly at the House of the Dragon season 2 New York City premiere on Monday, June 3, Cooke's fellow castmembers revealed whether they are Team Green (representative of Aegon and House Hightower) or Team Black (the colors of the Targaryen clan).

"Well, I'm a feminist, so I'd quite like to see a woman in power, so I think the Blacks," said Tom Glynn-Carney, going against his character's family. "However, that's not the film that we're playing right now. We're playing against Black."

Meanwhile, Ewan Mitchell , who plays Alicent's other son, Prince Aemond Targaryen, said, "I'm Team Green through and through."