In 1986, the film Highlander premiered, starring Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery, and featuring original songs by Queen.  The film performed rather poorly at the domestic box office, but was enough of an international hit and home video cult success to create a franchise that endures, for better or worse, to this day.

But the initial domestic failure of the film meant there would be no soundtrack album, so Queen took it upon themselves to release their songs from the film themselves.  Hence A Kind of Magic, which included most of their songs from the movie, save “Hammer to Fall” (which originally appeared on their album The Works) and a cover of “New York, New York” (which still has yet to see an official release, sadly).  The title track (written by drummer Roger Taylor) was used in the end credits, but it’s not the version that was later released on the album and subsequent compilations.

That’s a shame, because I really liked that version of the song.  Granted, I do love Freddie Mercury’s rearrangement with added lyrics, breaks, and bass line, but Roger’s version has a more ethereal sound.  It’s a better fit with the fantasy and mysticism of the film (although Freddie’s retooling fits with the whole theme of fucking dudes up and cutting off heads, and all that).

Anyway, here’s the original version of “A Kind of Magic.”

I was sort of lukewarm concerning the stories about Randy Quaid’s recent troubles.  They seemed pretty unfortunate, and not worth a terrible amount of laughter or even attention.  In case you’re unaware and too lazy to click above, Quaid and his wife Evi were arrested in Santa Barbara for squatting in a home they claimed they actually owned, out of which they say they were swindled in an elaborate “dead person scheme.”  That was just the beginning, before they feld to Canada.  Sure, the squatting defense seemed pretty crazy, but not my kind of crazy, more sad than interests me.  Or so I thought.

That was until yesterday, when Good Morning America caught up to the Quaids in Vancouver and asked them about what has become the increasing focus of the story: not their arrest for squatting or their later arrest in Canada for bail jumping, but their repeated, fervent insistence that they are political refugees, seeking asylum in Canada after escaping a murder plot formulated by “Hollywood star whackers” (their term, too good to be mine) who may have had a hand in the deaths of Heath Ledger and David Carradine, as well as the ruin of Mel Gibson.

Either this story suddenly crossed the line from pitiful to riotous, or it’s always been that funny and I’ve had my head up my ass all this time.  I’m perfectly willing to accept the latter, honestly.

Continuing the Halloween theme, today’s official song is one of the most frightening pieces of music I’ve ever heard from a band that specialized in bringing nightmares to life.

Goblin is an Italian prog rock band, but their greatest output, in terms of both quantity and quality, was their horror film scoring work.  Many of Goblin’s scores were for director Dario Argento, including Deep Red, Tenebre, and arguably Argento’s best known and loved film, Suspiria.  I present to you, Goblin’s theme for Suspiria.

Kevin McCarthy taught me about politics.

I didn’t see his signature role in Invasion of the Body Snatchers until I took Science Fiction Film Studies in college, but I’d seen him work long before then, in films such as UHF, Greedy, and one of my personal favorites, The Distinguished Gentleman.  The movie wasn’t regarded tremendously well upon initial release and sort of came and went.  I caught it on pay-per-view with my parents, a particularly rewarding experience, as my dad turned it into a lesson in congressional politics.

McCarthy was part of a rich supporting cast which included Lane Smith (Son-in-Law, Lois & Clark), Sheryl Lee Ralph (Moesha), James Garner (come on now), and Joe Don Baker (the best MST3K episodes ever).  As lobbyist Terry Corrigan, he latches onto con artist-turned-congressman Thomas Jefferson Johnson (Eddie Murphy) and gives him an education on just how things work in Washington.  I was told at the time that this wasn’t all that inaccurate.  Perhaps that’s still the case.

McCarthy held the screen with such an oily charm that it surprised me to see him years later as the increasingly frantic hero in Invasion of the Body Snatchers, one of the original paranoid blockbusters.  It speaks to his versatility that he could so well embody both good and evil, and to me, it means volumes that he could help me understand our democracy in action.

I like the idea of Michael Caine in a raw, gutsy role, but this looks like a Death Wish knockoff that’s come thirty years too late.  Still, I may give it a shot.