What is intriguing is the way his exterior is really a disguise: In fact, he is one of the deadliest sword fighters in England, and a sexual outlaw with an insatiable appetite, who boasts, "Love is a dunghill, and I am but a cock that climbs upon it to crow." The conflict in "Rob Roy" is quickly simplified: Cunningham, who stole the money, is assigned by the Marquis to capture Rob Roy, who is blamed for its disappearance.
Resplendent in frilly court costumes, pudding-faced beneath a curly wig, he makes a foppish dandy no matter how many times you saw " Pulp Fiction," you will never recognize him as Honey Bunny's main man. Great villains make melodrama, and Tim Roth, as Cunningham, is crucial to the success of this film. Jessica Lange, as his wife, Mary, has a fierce strength of character that drives her to defend her home and children, defy her husband when she finds it necessary - and keep within her the secret that she has been raped, because she fears if Rob Roy discovers it, he will lose his life while seeking vengeance. Liam Neeson, tall and grand, makes an effortless hero as Rob Roy. ("Don't give me any more pictures where they write with feathers!" Jack Warner once pleaded with his producers.) Instead, in the hands of director Michael Caton-Jones, it produces intense character studies. This story outline could have produced yet another tired historical epic with yeomen dashing around on horses, quaffing ale and eating burnt sheep with both hands, while their betters practiced the minuet.
Rob Roy then of course becomes an outlaw, leading his clan in defiance of the English troops. He waylays Rob Roy's messenger ( Eric Stoltz), kills him, steals the money and leaves MacGregor in default of his home and lands. Cunningham, always broke, is in debt to the Marquis and needs money desperately. The Marquis grants the loan.īut the secret of the money is shared by the blubbery Killearn ( Brian Cox) with the foppish Archibald Cunningham ( Tim Roth), a prancing dandy whose effete exterior conceals a steel-trap mind and deadly swordsmanship. He plans to use to the money to buy and fatten cattle, turn a profit and repay the loan. A farmer and clan leader, Rob Roy MacGregor ( Liam Neeson) goes to the local Marquis of Montrose ( John Hurt) for a loan of 1,000 pounds. The story takes place at a time when Scots-Catholic Jacobites lived in uneasy proximity with the Protestant English land-owning aristocracy.
And the film's villains are magnificent because they are so smart, cunning and smarmy: Not content with merely being despicable, they work at it. Rob Roy is a hero not simply because he is tall, good and strong, but because he will sacrifice his life rather than compromise his word.
SOLDIER BOYZ 1995 REVIEW MOVIE
What's best about the movie is its vivid picture of the time and place (Scotland, circa 1713), and the kinds of personalities produced by a world where the simple people still believed in romantic chivalry, while the aristocracy embraced decadence and courted intrigue.
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