The Legacy

Back in the horror boom of the 70’s, the decade that gave us The Omen and The Exorcist, it seemed like everywhere you turned there was yet another new soon-to-be-classic spooky screen gem, and in 1978, there were two flicks that came out that became huge faves of mine- the excellent Anthony Hopkins ventriloquist dummy film MAGIC, and the Katharine Ross /Sam Elliot starring movie THE LEGACY. While I’d acquired Magic years and years ago, it wasn’t until only very recently that I got ahold of a copy of The Legacy, and just this past weekend I checked it out once again, and OH! How the memories came back!

Katharine Ross as Maggie Walsh in The Legacy

Amidst all these great horror flicks, there was something about The Legacy that I really took to. I hadn’t seen it in the theaters, the first time I saw it was on television- and in fact my main draw to watch it was because my favorite musical act was The Who and I’d read that lead singer Roger Daltrey was going to be a character in it! But it only took a bout 20 minutes before I fell in love with the lovely Katharine Ross, and from that point on, I made sure to watch it every time it came on!

Katharine Ross with Charles "A Criminologist" Gray

The Legacy tells the tale of a young woman named Maggie and her boyfriend Pete, who take a trip to England in prospects of a lucrative freelance architect job. But they are met with blockades on their journey, and it seems no matter what steps they take, something or someone is guiding them to the mysterious Ravenhurst Estate, where we find that others beside her have gathered. She is shocked to find that they seem like part of a cult, and even more alarmed when they inform her that perhaps she is part of their sect as well.

with Sam Elliot as Pete

Meeting the Members

Roger Daltrey as Clive

I don’t know what drew me into this film so much, perhaps the enchanting English countryside backdrop, the spooky old manor with its halls filled with renaissance paintings and rooms with secrets doors, but the visuals really knocked out the young moviewatcher in me. The intricate way that the hapless victims all get murdered was fascinating to me (especially the woman diving in the pool who gets stuck under the water)… Even the illusion of the servants who turn into cats when you look away was a novel idea for me at the time.

Awaiting their Patriarch

Spooky Nurse Adams (Margaret Tyzack)

Of all the scenes, the one that always stuck with me throughout my life was the one where Maggie and Pete have had enough and try to leave Ravenhurst. They steal some horses, go into town and get a car, but no matter WHICH road they drive down, they KEEP ENDING UP BACK AT THE ESTATE. As a youth, this was such a thrilling scene! Eventually they give up and go back into the house, where Maggie begins to piece together exactly what is going on and what the LEGACY has in store for her.

Unable to Escape

History Lessons

Meeting the Head of Ravenshurst

She Got The Power

And Katharine Ross… MAN, I know I’ve gushed about her time and time again here, but it has to be said how freaking gorgeous she is here! Arguably the queen of the late 60’s-70’s groovy girls with her starring roles in The Graduate, Butch Cassidy&The Sundance Kid and The Stepford Wives, she is one with a very distinct look of her time. So pretty and now I’m ready to dig out The Graduate again!

Side Note: in 1982, supergroup ASIA released a song called “One Step Closer” that featured a symphonic synthesizer intro which ALWAYS reminded me of The Legacy’s scene of Maggie and Pete on the horses, though I couldn’t place why. Watching the movie this weekend, I had to laugh because the musical score during the said scene sounded SO MUCH like the Asia song (with a bit of The Big Country thrown in), no WONDER I kept thinking about it!