25 Years of Fantasy Swords in the Movies: a Retrospective
replica has already been released and is available in currently limited quantities on the mass market.
The Highlander movies, (First installment released in 1986) are another good example of the sword as a centerpiece of the movie. The swords play a major role in the film plot in that the sword must be used to dispatch a foe, and consequently, to gain the foe’s powers. In the first film a Scottish Claymore was used and as the Highlander moves through time into the present he switches to a highly stylized version of Japanes katanas. This use of the Japanes katana is one of the earliest examples of mass marketing of Japanese swords and this has been very successfully followed in the Kill Bill movies.
Braveheart (released in 1995) is a good example of using replica swords that stay true to the flavor of the time period they portray. Mel
