Deely's no longer here.
I placed him in a large Wicker statue to the sounds of Disco Inferno.....:lol:

Amazing film, was so blown away first time i saw it. Really enjoyed the dvd extra about the making of it with Christopher Lee being interviewed. Such a great story behind the whole thing, really suprised it ever got finished.

I saw about 4 minutes of the remake with nick cage and didn't know whether to laugh or cry.. i think both would have been appropriate..

This was my reaction. :smash:

And this was mine.....:deadhorse::cuss::headbang::smash:::mad2: :brick:

The film was about as welcome as a turd in a spacesuit. :rant:

What's always surprised me is how many people side with the fanatic, murdering islanders but absolutely hate Howie simply because they see him as a Bible thumping prig (which he is) who's no fun at parties.

BUT...He's also a professional, caring, Policeman who has come to the island in all goodfaith to look for a missing child. One of their children.
In any other film he would be, rightly, seen as the hero.

It is true he is a preachy hard line puritan with an unwelcome zeal towards his religious beliefs.
But guess what? He's not so ****ing fanatical, extreme and utterly deluded in those beliefs he feels the need to murder anyone!
UNLIKE the damn islanders.

Howie's Russell Brand compared to this bloodthirsty lot.

People seem to be dragged in by the whole free living, free loving hedonism of the islanders beliefs and how they practice them and yet too often fail to see that the islanders have themselves completely twisted such ideals and attitudes by linking them into radical religious beliefs.
Just like Howie only far, far worse.

Organised religion is shown in the film, from both ends, to be the corrupting influence it is.
Whatever you may think...and yes on a basic level I relish such a lifestyle too damn it...of all the groovy nudity, erotic screwing, saucy folk ballads and snail stroking freedom of it all, this entire (otherwise welcoming) set-up is destroyed by the fanatic religious cancer (far worse than anything Howie believes in) that runs through even the most enthralling bit of sunny meadow love making.

Say what you want about Howie, but he has no desire to burn anyone alive!

There are only one set of villains in "The Wicker Man" and it's those not so gentle Johnnies with freakin' daisies in their hair.

Which is testament to how well made the film is.

"Summer is a comin' in, loudly sing cuckoo"........ :dance:

I think the lack of clear cut heroes and villains in The Wicker Man is one reason why it continues to amaze, delight and fascinate. It is a masterpiece and it is exactly that kind of unusual quirk of story that helps to make it so. An unpleasant man goes to the island and acts like a git for good reasons whilst the pleasant islanders do unpleasant things for their own good reasons...the difference in the perception of what is good or right or wrong is just glorious. The true monster in The Wicker Man is religion itself.

Have a read at this... a recipe for disaster?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wicker_Tree_%28Film%29

Interesting site here.......;)


http://www.movie-locations.com/movies/w/wickerman.html

Christ,senile dementia is setting in.... :loco: I took these pictures last October whilst on holiday in Galloway.
This is the cave and beach used in the film.

Fortunately,for the time of year,I got better weather than the cast and crew of the film got!

:cool:
how many times have you visited galloway?

Five times in the last three years mate.
Only one still to go to is Culzean Castle,which was of course,used as Lord Summerisle's pad.

Yes Movie Locations is an excellent site. I use it quite a lot. :nod:

Some other good film location sites include Reel Streets and Britmovie (for some superb work on the Theatre Of Blood locations).

It is Vince.
Think I'll look up the locations for Bloodbath at the House of Death...:happy:

Any of our newer members fans of The Wicker Man (1973)! ?

Potter's Bar in Hertfordshire from what I remember.

For the uninitiated (Can't be many!) Have a look below at one of the most original horror films ever made.:cool:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FdV-O8o7ok

Been there when I was at school.Of course,at that time I didn't know it was used for The Wicker Man.

It was also used in the equally terrifying The Queen. :lol:

I watched this on my Blu Ray player today,and with the exception of the 'spliced' footage,it looked beautiful.

Roll on October for the Blu Ray release.:woot:

Interesting to note that Ingrid Pitt thought the chopped version was okay....

She seemed a bit dismissive of the film too. Weird really. Britt Ekland doesn't mention it much in her autobiography either, but that's because she spends most if it slagging off Peter Sellers.

Here's some shots of that original shooting script I mentioned previously.
I reckon Christopher Lee is correct when he claims there is still footage missing,as there are MANY scenes in this script which don't appear in either version of the film.....:(

The location below will be familiar to you all....

He mentions it again in his updated memoirs......

The characters you've mentioned there Vince,all have rather considerably larger parts than seen.

So Lord Summerisle may not be potty after all.

If I remember correctly the doctor was John Sharp (originally intended for Patrick Newell aka 'Mother' in The Avengers), and even in the Director's Cut he's seen for barely a minute.

For example THE BAKER....

INT:BAKER'S SHOP DAY

The baker's shop is piled high with newly baked,flat loaves impressed with the face of the Sun God.
Howie is searching the shop,watched laconically by the baker,who is one of the six swordsmen we have previously seen in the courtyard of the inn.
Howie moves to the back of the shop and stops behind a huge iron door set in the wall.

HOWIE
What's in here?

BAKER
That's my oven.Would you be thinking I've toasted the little girl up in it?

HOWIE
Open it.

BAKER
I don't like opening my oven when she's cooling.

He moves to bar the way to his oven but Howie thrusts him aside and opens the oven.
Insert oven.Inside the oven is a long coffin shaped baking tin about seven feet in length.Howie stares at it for a long moment before reaching to remove it.
He burns his hands and is forced to look around for,find,and put on a pair of oven gloves.With their help he takes out the huge baking tin and lays it on a table.He removes the top to reveal the figure of John Barleycorn (a symbolical corn figure usually made from plaited sheaves)baked in bread and filling the tin.
The baker laughs.

HOWIE
What's this?

BAKER
The life of the fields--John Barleycorn.

HOWIE
(Furious)
I've warned you baker.If this girl is harmed,I'll have the lot of you.

We stay on the thoughtful face as Howie leaves the shop.


Now although we DO see the baker in the film and some of the above dialogue IS spoken.It would appear these scenes have been shortened,further adding credence to Lee's claims.

I don't doubt him for a minute.The Wicker Man was one of his favourite films and he's highly unlikely to forget or imagine these things.....

I'd have to check but that seems to have been reduced to basically the 'John Barleycorn' line. :ohwell:

Britt Ekland said that Dumfries & Galloway was 'the most dismal place on creation', and British Lion director Michael Deeley said the film was 'one of the ten worst I've ever seen'.

And we thought there were only three stooges.... :crazy:

The BBFC had no problems with it. They also mention a longer print in the case study here.

"Inhabitants, even of spoof islands, in the United Kingdom are not really given to burning constables and cattle". :pound: :pound:

Another scene,after Howie accepts the cup of tea from May Morrison,the camera fades with her stating
It must be thirsty work,asking all those questions.

The screenplay continues with....

HOWIE
Mrs.Morrison,perhaps if you wouldn't mind-- I mean just to complete my report--may I take a look around the house?

MRS.MORRISON
Of course you can.Only I don't suppose it's very tidy.My husband,like most of you men,leaves evrytjing to be cleared up after him

He goes through the door and ascends some steep stairs which lead him to the bedrooms.Mrs Morrison watches him with thoughtful amusement for a moment,then moves to the stove to put the kettle on.

INT;LANDING ABOVE SWEET SHOP-DAY

Howie reaches the top of the stairs and is confronted with two ddors one on each side of the landing.He opens the one on his left side first and enters.

INT:MR AND MRS MORRISON'S BEDROOM-DAY

Howie inspects the room which contains a wardrobe,a double bed and a chest of drawers.He glances briefly round it,noting the cluster of personal adult possessions which are strewn about but which tell him nothing.He leaves the room.

INT:LANDING-DAY

Howie closes the bedroom door and crosses the landing.
Carefully he opens the door of Myrtle's bedroom.

INT:MYRTLE'S BEDROOM-DAY

Howie enters the room.It is very tidy and neat,and quite obviously the room of a little girl.Myrtle's own paintings adorn the walls,and some toys lie in the corner.There is one bed in the centre of the room,and in the far corner a double-doored clothes cupboard.He crosses to it and opens one of the doors.Clothes for a six year old girl hang on the rack an,and similarly shoes on the floor.He half turns away,closing the door,when something catches his eye.It is a shoe belonging to a girl of thirteen poking out of the door on the other side of the cupboard.He wrestles it open with sudden galvanic energy and we see it belongs to a pair of such shoes lying on the floor of the cupboard next to half a dozen similarly sized boots and shoes.The camera pans up violently to see a rack of thirteen year old girl's clothes.

INT:PARLOUR OF SWEET SHOP-DAY

The tea things have been laid out and Mrs.Morrison is already pouring when the door is thrown open and we see Howie standing in the doorway holding out one of the thirteen year old dresses accusingly in front of him.He walks over to Myrtle and measures it against her.It is obviously too large for her.

HOWIE
(grimly)
You haven't been straight with me,Mrs.Morrison.

Mrs.Morrison turns at the tone of his voice and sees the dress.

MRS.MORRISON
Why,you've found one of Holly's dresses and you thought it was.....

She dissolves in giggles.

MRS MORRISON
Why it's just like a detective story.

HOWIE
Holly?

MRS.MORRISON
Yes.Mrs.gRIMMOND'S DAUGHTER.
She came to stay with us last
week when her mum was ill.She's
a widow you see and can't really
cope,poor old soul.Here's your
tea.Now drink it up while it's
hot.

Howie takes the cup and automatically starts drinking.

HOWIE
But why should she leave her
clothes here?

MRS.MORRISON
Oh you know how girls are--
scatterbrained.Holly's always
forgetting things.

Howie regards her plump figure calmly
buttering scones,with irritation.

HOWIE
You mean she forgot all her
clothes?...Where does she live?

MRS.MORRISON
Holly?Oh I'm afraid it's quite
a long way.Mind you I could
lend you my bicycle if you like.
You go up the hill past the old
church,then turn left by Serpent's
Egg Hill......

Mix through to the next scene.

EXT:HILL RD ON SUMMER ISLE-LATE AFTERNOON

What follows is shots of Howie cycling up a hill on an old bike past a statue of a druid God half buried in the spring flowers to the house of Mrs Grimmond.
And what takes place is Howie interrogating Grimmond and her daughter Holly,knowing fine well that they are mocking him.

HOWIE
I see.Well thank you again,
and good evening to you.

Abruptly Howieturns away,face taut,aware of the
subtle mockery of the two females.Clumsily he mounts
his bicycle and pedals away down the path followe by
their faint laughter.The camera tracks with him down the path
and turns the corner into the main road.

EXT:ROAD ON SUMMER ISLE-EVENING

Howie swings out into the road on his bicycle and is
confronted with the gigantic shadow of a strangely malformed
water bird (or boobrie in Druid myth),with
webbed feet,tremendous claws and monstrous beak,
lying across his path in the road.He brakes sharply
and looks fearfully up.Above his head he sees that the
huge bird has been cut in topiary and is free-
standing amongst the apple trees.Pulling himself
together,he pedals on uncertainly into the gloaming.

EXT: MAY MORRISON'S SWEET SHOP-NIGHT

Howie is carefully placing Mrs.Morrison's bicycle in
a small shed in the garden of her house.Quietly he
leaves the garden and stands looking across the street
at the Green Man Inn.He starts to walk towards it.


These are the screenplay scenes from the initial Morrison visit,to Howie's arrival at the Green Man Inn.

The plot thickens......:eyebrows:

Spot on Vince it was.;)

Primadonna crackpots both of them

Although I see Ekland turned up (paid obviously) to participate in the documentary eh?

It merits barely a few lines in her (dull as dishwater) autobiography and considerably less mention than Rod Stewart. :ack:

In the Burnt Offerings documentary Michael Deeley calls Christopher Lee 'paranoid' and refers to Wicker Man fans as 'loonies'. Well Mr Deeley, I can't see as many 'loonies' mourning you as they will Christopher Lee when his time comes. Most of them will wonder who you were. :mmph:

Epitaph will read.....

'The man who ravaged and wrecked a cult classic.':nod:

That's brilliant. Might have to have a pop up there myself.

Is it easy to find?

Where you going from mate?

It's a fair old trek down to that cave.....

If you find Britt Ekland can you tell her that I miss her and want her back? In fact I'd like the rest of her too. :D

Give me Ingrid any day.
For her comments on the area,people and film,she was put in a huge sacraficial statue along with Rod Stewart and 20 pairs of leopard-print lycra breeks.:lol:

I'll make her see the error of her ways. Shouldn't take long. Maybe a week or so. :heh:

For some reason I have a pic disc 45 of Britt singing Do It To Me (With Feeling). Incidentally I didn't buy it for the music. Wonder why I have it? :D