Rating: 
Summary: Thought-provoking, gorgeous, and perfectly wonderful!
Review: Beautiful, erotic, and compelling, this film encourages viewers to identify and sympathize with the Pagan villagers against the rude and offensive "Christian copper" (played by Edward Woodward) until the shocking denouement makes you question your own ideas about goodness, morality, and sacrifice. I use this film as a tool in teaching teenagers about morality and its flexible nature; it is a thought-provoking work. Christopher Lee mentioned in an interview that this was his favorite film...it's my favorite, too.
Rating: 
Summary: A chilling, exciting Pagan mystery!
Review: This movie has been one of the most talked-about Pagan movies since its creation. The characters are great - Christopher Lee is such a convincing actor that you almost want him to be a real Pagan! Edward Woodward makes the quintessential "straight-laced" policeman, and the other denizens of Summerisle make me almost wish it did exist - I'd love to vacation there! I found the ending somewhat less than perfect, but all-in-all, found this movie to be one wild ride! BEWARE THE 84 MINUTE VERSION!!! This has been butchered so badly you CANNOT follow the plotline!!! Look instead for a longer version - it's truly worth it!!!
Rating:
Summary: Sleeping classic
Review: This film has been famous in Pagan circles for many...many years. The soundtrack alone is worth the price of admission. Excellent visuals highlight a very well done story. This film will make you think. It is not a horror story or fantasy, but perhaps a bit of living history. Some of the scenes are extremely erotic, and the film is highlighted by a factual rendition of some Pagan traditions, as well as a wonderful cast. It really is a film experience.
Rating:
Summary: A Must-See for Modern Pagans
Review: Ever wonder what the world would look like if the Old Religion and its philosophy saturated modern culture? The Wicker Man is the Pagan "Rocky Horror Picture Show." Edward Woodward is wonderful as the up-tight bullying "Christian copper" and Christopher Lee (yes, of Hammer Dracula fame) gives us an educated, sophisticated (and manipulative) Pagan lord of the people. However, I was disappointed in the ending -- just what is the "right kind of sacrifice?"
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully crafted film gets its well-deserved re-editing!
Review: I can't remember the first time I saw this film, but the next day I started a search for a print of it.Edward Woodward stars as the almost unsympathetic, pious, and determined officer who matches wits with Christopher Lee, in a marvelous role of the smiling, ever-reasonable villianous island cult leader. The entire community seems to be hiding the truth behind the disappearance of a young girl, even to the degree of at first denying her existence. The very conservative Christian representative of the law has walked into the middle of a very Pagan circle; this conflict has to be resolved. Initially, the audience may not be too sure who is playing with whom or why. The climax of the suspense is a twist where the hunter becomes the sacrificial hunted. Incredibly, the suspense of the plot does not wear off with repeated viewings, thanks to the production values (hats off to all those involved, shooting outdoor spring scenes in November on the coast of Scotland!) and outstanding performances of the cast. I knew, when I saw it the first time, that the version I had seen of it had been cut down; however, even at the "sliced salami" level, it was an extraordinary experience - and experience is the word. The film puts you right there in the midst of the puzzle. Over the years I found various cuts of the film, eagerly awaiting what might be reconstructed. (The only other film I can recall searching for this diligently is a "more complete" cut of Fritz Lang's "Metropolis.") This special edition of "The Wicker Man" might well be as good as it gets. Certainly, the inclusion of the backstory of the film ("The Enigma of The Wicker Man") added to both the theatrical and extended versions makes this particular release worth having. If you haven't seen the film, make the chance. It's not exactly horror, it's not exactly mystery - it's both. And then some. It's one of a kind. It's "The Wicker Man."
Rating:
Summary: SGT Howie is burned alive at the end of the movie
Review: The movie begins with police SGT Howie arriving at the Scottish island of Summerisle to investigates the disappearance of a young girl. Guess what? It's really a trap! The report of the missing girl is really a hoax to get SGT Howie to the island so they can sacrifice him at the end of the movie, in a giant wicker man! The whole town is in on it, too. Pretty cool!
Rating:
Summary: EVERY BIT AS GOOD AS IT'S HYPED TO BE
Review: There are excellent reviews of this film, so I won't rehash. I will throw in my two cents' worth on its history: I first heard of THE WICKER MAN when it was featured in the Seventies on the cover of Cinefantastique, my fave literature of the time. Their in-depth study of the making and unmaking of this film piqued my curiosity so that a very large hunt was undertaken to try to score a copy for viewing. At the time, a friend of mine was in film distribution, and another friend had an actual 35MM projection room in his home's basement, so when we finally managed to borrow a print from Warner Brothers (as they had no intention of actually booking the thing), we were set.
This was the chopped-up 88-minute version, but as the story unfolded, we happy few were treated to a truly original tale of suspense and horror, as well as the seldom-heard singing voice of Christopher Lee (and what a voice it is! How come he's never been offered a musical?)
Fast forward to this superb two-disc set which offers the original theatrical release AND the restored full version. THIS is the one to buy! Thirty years down the line, and THE WICKER MAN is still one of the best genre films ever made, literate and well-researched. It was obviously a labor of love for all involved, which shows in every frame.
AND: Paul Giovanni's evocative songs and score are finally available on CD in a separate set!
Thanks to all who finally made this truly great film available for all to savor. Gently, Johnny. . .
Rating:
Summary: Burning Man
Review: Have you ever noticed the really funny thing about Religion? No matter where you go, no people, race, or tribe has ever selected somebody other than themselves as God's chosen people.
Every religion says "God chose *us* to rule the world!"; none says "God chose those guys in the next county to rule the World!".
The most atrocious acts of depravity in the history of mankind have been carried out by one godly set of folks against another: burnings, torture, genocide, suicide bombings, missionaries---all justified in the name of the Divine.
The Enemy, the Heretic, The Infidel: these people are all Evil because they do not recognize the One True God. They worship a fantasy, a False God, or even worse: the Devil himself.
You've probably had lots of discussions with a very religious person; I grew up among them, and I learned in my youth that having a rational argument over the existence of God with the extremely ecclesiastic is useless.
It goes something like this: God exists, He wouldn't have permitted the Bible (the means by which He is made manifest) to exist for millennia if it were false, Jesus is both Son of God and God at the same time, we accept these things-all of which contradict our five senses, the only means we have as humans to perceive the world-on Faith.
But what of Muslims, or Buddhists, or Mormons, or Animists, you might ask? What if you had been born in one of those religions-wouldn't you have been just as sure of your virtue and Rightness, just as convinced of the power of Allah or Buddha or Moroni or Dark Mother Kali, just as bound to take everything on faith, and just as determined to see Christians as the slaves of the Devil? No, says your subject---I would have seen the light and converted.
And take any of the adherents to any of the world's religions, and you'll get the same response. And you also begin to see why religion has persisted for so long: it is emotional body armor, the glue that has bound men together into rough and ready societies for millennia, the single most powerful Meme and primary organizing principle after Food, Shelter, and Sex. Religion is ultimately irrational---by that I mean incapable of being challenged by Reason---because it is founded on Dogma. And when one Dogma meets another, the results range from the Comic to the Grotesque.
With that in mind, "The Wicker Man" is a triple threat.
1) Viewed one way, "The Wicker Man" is about British Police Sergeant Neil Howie and his awful, terrible, miserable, nasty, not-so-good day, and serves as a fine object lesson in the importance of always calling for backup.
2) Viewed another way, "The Wicker Man" is a fable about the very real dangers of epistemological imperialism, in which the by-the-numbers Colonist becomes the by-the-numbers Colonized.
3) Viewed yet another way---"The Wicker Man" is a little bit of both, and a moody, delicious, haunting little creepshow in its own right---and depicts what happens when one set of True Believers slams headlong into another.
British Police Sergeant Neil Howie (played with stoic reserve by the great Edward Woodward, who puts the stiff in the British Stiff Upper Lip) travels to the remote Island of Summerisle, off the English coast, after receiving a letter from an islander alerting him to the disappearance of a village girl, the young Rowan Morrison (played fleetingly by Geraldine Cowper).
Arriving at the isolated island by seaplane, he proceeds with a standard inquiry into the girl's disappearance, but the rustic islanders are anything but helpful. Sergeant Howie digs in for a long investigation and sets up shop at the local inn, increasingly aware of Summerisle's strangeness, a baroque mix of the whimsical and malevolent.
His investigation is hampered by the island's passive-aggressive residents, who offer two flavors of obstruction: baffled surliness and outright derision. And as director Robin Hardy ratchets up the tension and strangeness, Howie encounters pagan rites, toad-licking, a naked and writhing Brit Ekland, and gratuitous folk-singing. No, Toto, we're not in Southeast England anymore.
Even the courtly Lord Summerisle (played by the immortal Christopher Lee, who appears to be having the time of his career) seems to be in on a joke that no one bothers to tell Sergeant Howie. Certainly he is concerned, he tells Howie; certainly he will help in any way he can---but only moments before, riding up to the brooding battlements of Summerisle's estate, Howie saw a circle of women, naked and lost in ecstatic abandon, dancing and chanting about a fire.
Director Hardy has cobbled together a spellbinder of a film, technically crude (at one point it seemed I was watching outtakes from Woodstock), superficially innocent, but all blood-stained altars and shiny bladed edges beneath the bucolic and charming surface. Edward Woodward was the ideal choice to play Sergeant Howie, a stern, stoic, disapproving Anglican who---much like Summerisle itself---is a man tortured by the undercurrents of desperate wanting beneath his shiny, steely surface. Christopher Lee is equally perfect as Woodward's genteel foil, and to be honest---you've never seen Christopher Lee until you've seen him in "The Wicker Man".
Truly creepy, lushly mysterious, supremely confident, "The Wicker Man" is an account of precisely what happens when two Dogmatic Tribe---both Chosen People, one side represented by an Island, the other by an outgunned Police constable---meet face to face. Eighties glam-New Wave group Frankie Goes to Hollywood once sang "When Two Tribes go to war, One is all that you can Score"---but I don't think that's the case in "The Wicker Man". See for yourself---but doesn't it seem both sides end up getting precisely what they want?
JSG
Rating: 
Summary: Why so much hype?
Review: I can respect everyone's opinion about this film. I may even be able to respect a film maker's artistic vision (although in this case I can't imagine any). However, I personally don't see what makes this such a "memorable" film on any level; and calling this great cinema is as appropriate as giving Rosie O'Donnell a VIP pass to Chippendales.
I mean, come on, people. Let's be honest with ourselves.
On a positive note, I will admit that a level of suspense is maintained throughout the film. You definitely want to see what mess Christopher Lee is going to uncover and also to what extent these local lunatics are willing to go in order to preserve their religious convictions.
The plot and other details are sufficiently discussed here, so I won't recycle previous information. However, I will leave this thought with anyone who is contemplating the purchase of this movie: Don't do it!
If you do, I assure you that you will be disappointed because the hype surrounding this film is unfounded and outright foolishness. However, if you're just dying of curiosity, take a pill and wait for it to run on cable again. Then you'll have a two-fold reaction: disappointment (from the film) and sheer relief (that you didn't waste your or anybody else's money on this overhyped pothole on the road to celluoid forgetfullness.)
Rating:
Summary: A Pagan Classic
Review: One of a kind, engaging masterpiece, which doesn't fall neatly into the horror category. It does represent a clash between two different worldviews, two belief systems - pagan and Christian with the focus on the lifestyle and practices of a small pagan group living on a small island west of Scotland.
The inhabitants are friedly and live their life in harmony with nature and with their own beliefs and practices, according to their own code of morals and ethics. As much as it may seem bizarre to the outsiders, it is no more bizarre than most other codes - merely different.
Among the rituals this group performs, one requires a sacrifice - yet the sacrifice has to come out of his own free will and has to fulfill three conditions: he has to be a representative of the law, he has to be a virgin and he has to prove to be a fool.
The Christian man who is intentionally tricked to come to the island is not left without a choice. He is free to leave any time he wishes. He is also given plenty of opportunity and even lead in many ways to prove to be an unsuitable sacrifice - to no avail. One could say, when in Rome, do as Romans do - or else ... dismal things may happen.
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