Highlander

Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert) casts his mind back centuries to battles fought before the modern time. This first conflict was shot in Glen Coe in the Highlands of Scotland. These two peaks can been seen together from the Glencoe Viewpoint on the A82, not far from the Devil's Staircase Car Park. The River Coupall flows somewhere between the peaks.

Now we go back to the original home of MacLeod, as they leave for battle. This is Eilean Donan Castle in the Western highlands of Scotland. It is close to the village of Dornie. It has also been used in the James Bond film 'The World Is Not Enough', 'Elizabeth: The Golden Age' as well as various TV productions and some music videos.

The foreground was the castle car park. Now you’re more likely to encounter recycle bins rather than swords.

Again this is the beautiful Eilean Donan Castle in the Western highlands of Scotland. Incredibly the currently castle is not even one hundred years old. Although the site itself has a long history, the castle today was only completed in 1932.

A cloudy sky makes it easier to capture detail which a full sunny day can obscure. This was the second visit to the location and it was a benefit to have some cloud cover.

Eilean Donan Castle in the Western highlands of Scotland. Many locals were recruited to be extras in the film.

Unsurprisingly, it looks very similar to when Highlander filmed there in the mid 1980s.

The clan members proceed over their bridge and being their march to battle from Eilean Donan Castle in the Western highlands of Scotland.

Getting an exact overhead shot match would need a crane or a very long selfie-stick.

Kate (Celia Imrie) rushes to give Connor a final send off as they leave. This is currently unidentified but the hills in the background means it is close to Eilean Donan Castle. Possibly in the car park area next to the castle.

The battle. This is same area as the first capture, but a little to the right. On the left is the peak of the mountain that in Scottish Gaelic is called 'Buachaille Etive Mòr', which in English is known as 'The Buachaille'. It's actually a large ridge nearly 5 miles long and contains four main peaks. To the east we are looking down Glen Coe. These peaks can been seen together from the Glencoe Viewpoint on the A82, not far from the Devil's Staircase Car Park.

The Kurgan horse rises up. The audio commentary for the film says this peak is in Wales, but remains specifically unidentified.

In the modern era, Connor attemps to flee the car park in a sports car. He drives up onto West 33rd street in New York City, USA. The famous Madison Square Garden multi-purpose indoor area building is in front of him.

Janette Cotton took this updated shot from the ramp of the underground car park which is still there.

He gets stopped by police. In the background there is the Moynihan Train Hall building which on the corner of Eighth Avenue and West 33rd Street in New York City, USA.

Site visitor Janette Cotton took this looking across to Moynihan Train Hall, partially obscured by a new building

Looking in the opposite direction down West 33rd Street, can be seen the Empire State Building lit up at night.

Janette Cotton had perfect New York weather when she grabbed this updated shot looking at the Empire State Building from 33rd Street.

Brenda (Roxanne Hart) is trying to piece together the recent homicide puzzle. She is sitting in the Peter Mcmanus cafe which is on 152 Seventh Avenue New York, NY 10011 and so is on the corner of West 19th street and 7th Avenue. It has been used in multiple productions including 'Radio Days' (1987), 'Keeping the Faith' (2000) and 'Seinfeld, Law and Order' amongst others.

After failing to win Brenda's trust, MacLeod leaves the cafe and crosses 7th Avenue.

Back in the past, MacLeod is banished after a beating outside the grounds of their castle. Connor trudges up the hillside with Eilean Donan Castle in the background.

Back to the present day in New York. Connor walks to his antiques business. First he walks along Broome Street where it is about to cross with Wooster Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Unfortunately the nice Mona Lisa mural in the beginning of the shot is no longer there.

Once again Janette Cotton does a great job in capturing an updated location shot in New York. She notes that here on Broome St & Wooster St. The two arches on the right are visible on both her image and the original screen capture, as is the one way sign. The buildings behind Christopher Lambert are in the background with partial tree growth covering the entrance.

He then walks down Greene Street, his 'Russell Nash Antiques' shop being no. 71 Greene Street is between Broome Street and Spring Street in Manhattan, New York.

Janette Cotton snapped this excellent updated pic of 71 Greene St.

McCleod in the past is now set up with his new small dwelling, with his girl Heather (Beatie Edney). This is very close to the popular photographic spot of Glencoe Waterfall in Glen Coe. Movie magic conceals the fact that in between the tower constructed for the film and the mountains in the background there is a busy main road that runs through Glen Coe (the A82).

Heather is going about her business with the Glen Coe peaks in the background.

Although possibly needing to be taken from the other side of the road that is just below where the river is running (to match the foreground in the film), Aston Martin has managed to catch the hillside of Glen Coe in their mostly unchanged glory.

Connor MacLeod is on top of the Scottish hillside, probably Glen Coe, receiving 'the Quickening'.

Ramirez (Sean Connery) and Connor are out on the water at Loch Shiel. This is the north end of the loch. If you turned around at this location you could see the Glenfinnan Viaduct that the Hogwarts Express train travels over in the 'Harry Potter' film series.

Aston Martin provides an atmospheric shot, just like the one from the film.

After his 'swim' MacLeod is shoreside at Loch Shiel with Ramirez where he will learn about what he really is. Loch Shiel is also seen in 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'.

During the training montage, they are outside MacLeod's castle situated across the road from the Glen Coe waterfall and also not far from the 'Meeting of the Three Waters' photography spot.

The wide shot of the stunning landscape is in the Trotternish Ridge area on the Isle of Skye, Western Scotland. It seems to facing in the direction of the Bioda Buidhe.

The training montage continues at the hiking area called Coire Mhic Fhearchair. This is north east of Torridon village and next to the peak of Beinn Eighe.

Another shot from the Coire Mhic Fhearchair spot. Just behind the stunt actors is a small body of water, the other side of which is a memorial and remains of an aircraft which crashed there in 1951 (a Lancaster TX264).

The beach location where Connor attempts to feel the stag's heartbeat is at Refuge Bay, near Morar in Western Scotland. This is one beach over from the location of Camusdarach Beach, which featured in 'Local Hero'. This beach is one of a group of beaches called Silver Sands of Morar that lie between Morar and Arisaig villages.

The final training swordfight is on a piece of rock near the peak of Sgurr Alasdair in the Cullin Hills on the Isle of Skye. The body of water in the middle ground is Loch Brittle. It is a sea loch, rather than a fresh water loch.

They then spar in the woods in a currently unidentified location.

Ramirez and Connor walk through a local village where Heather is buying dinner. This was shot just south down the road from the Glen Nevis Holiday Park, next to the River Nevis. There is a large flat field area that has a short track for cars to enter. The peak in the centre background is Sgurr a' Mhaim (Scottish Gaelic for 'rocky peak of the rounded hill), one of the higher Munro peaks on the Mamores.

Martin Skipper matches the view at Glen Nevis.

Ramirez and Connor are on horseback as Connor learns about his most fearsome apponent. They are again back in Glen Coe.

Heather and MacLeod gaze upon their damaged home in Glen Coe.

They now rest a bit more easily with their new cottage in the beautiful Glen Coe.

MacLeod watches from the wall with part of Aonach Eagach in the background. It is a large mountain ridge in the Scottish Highlands, marking the northern edge of Glen Coe.

Although a little further back from the spot in the film, visitor Aston Martin grabbed this updated image. Funny thing that you can’t see in the photo is there is a main road running through the centre of the picture, just down in the ‘dip’ out of sight. Yet from this view the place seems untouched.

Heather walks up from the Glencoe Waterfall (on the left) with a lamb. Almost hard to believe there is a busy main road (A82) just out of view in the middle of the shot!

Many of the landscape's foreground features are visible in Martin Skipper's comparison.

With his wife deceased and their house now on fire, MacLeod prepares to leave the area of Glen Coe behind.

MacLeod meets Sunda (Hugh Quarshie) in New York. This is Bow Bridge in Central Park, New York city. The double-towered building in the background is The Majestic (also known as the Majestic Apartments), a cooperative apartment building at 115 Central Park West, between 71st and 72nd Streets, adjacent to Central Park on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

Site visitor Janette Cotton snapped this nice seasonal shot of the Bow Bridge location in New York and noted that the exact angle in the film was difficult as the area is overgrown, but this isn’t far off.

They recount the duelling event in past...this was filmed in the grounds of Brocket Hall, neo-classical country house set in a large park at the western side of the urban area of Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire, England. You can see the Palladian Bridge in the middle ground.

A local vigilante is driving around New York at night. This is Canal Street in Manhattan.

Site visitor Janette Cotton provides this updated shot (well taken in the road!) and also points out the lift shaft sticking out of the top of the building on right side matches up with the original screen capture.

He turns onto a side street and then movie magic suddenly transports him to a British location. He comes across Kurgan and Sunda battling each other. This is the Shad Thames area of London SE1.

Following his victory, Kurgan prepares to receive Sunda's essence. Around Shad Thames SE1.

A wider shot of the same area. This location in the Shad Thames area of London has undergone extensive changes since the mid 1980s.

Kurgan steals a car with an unhappy passenger and speeds out of the alleyway and back onto the real streets of New York City. He comes out of Cortlandt Alley and onto Canal Street in Manhattan.

Janette Cotton got this really good updated shot of Cortland Alley from Canal Street in New York.

Hotdog vendor Tony (Damien Leake) berates Lt Frank Moran (Alan North) over the current crime situation in the New York Post. They are standing on 1 East 55th Street in New York. As of August 2024, the St Regis hotel in the background is still open.

Visitor Janette Cotton shows that the hotel looks fairly similar, complete with usual heavy NY traffic.

In the reverse angle, we are seeing down 5th Avenue.

Janette Cotton snaps another well balanced shot looking down 5th Avenue.

An updated front page adorns a new issue of the New York Post, which is for sale on 7th Avenue.

Another great colour balanced shot from Janette Cotton showing the Sheraton Centre with a sign change (now called 'Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel').

MacLeod and Brenda are doing a walk and talk at the zoo. This seems to be the Prospect Park Zoo in Brooklyn, New York City.

The final battle over, MacLeod and Brenda go to the highlands. This was actually filmed in North Wales. The hillside location is approximately in the mid distance between the towns of Dwygyfylchi and Conwy in Gwynedd. It's in the area called the Sychnant Pass (in the Welsh language 'Bwlch Sychnant' "Dry-stream Pass").

Looking down the pass. Isle Of Anglesey at the horizon. NW