How can I find a good-quality release of "Highlander" with the original soundtrack?

Question

The new "Director's Cut" of Highlander (1986) apparently has a new soundtrack. The original soundtrack is supposedly only on the British release. How can identify the British release? There are many different versions of the DVD and Blu-ray, so it is hard to tell them apart.

There are many different cuts and versions of the movie.

The main issue is with the standard DVD/HD versions sold in the United States which have a remastered audio which is screwed up (typical reviewer comment):

The movie holds up just fine over time, but the audio track on this "director's cut" is unacceptable. The voices are too muffled for the dialogue to be comprehensible, unless you crank the volume so high that the fight scenes become too loud to enjoy. This mix never should have made it to retail.

My basic goal here is to find a version of the movie that is faithful to the original US theatrical release and has good quality audio and the ORIGINAL music, not the new music from the DVD versions.

Answer 1

Not sure if this is what you're looking for, but the easiest thing might be to go all the way back to VHS. As you rightly say (and to lift from Wikipedia) there are many versions of the film:

The video was a hit in the United States...Highlander was first released to DVD in the United States in 1997, in a "10th Anniversary Edition" Director's Cut that contained the international uncut version of the film. A "15th Anniversary" edition was released in Australia in 2001, which also contained the International cut of the film.

Highlander was again released in 2002 in two editions: a special "Immortal Edition" with several extra features (including several Queen music videos and a bonus CD containing three Queen songs from the film) and a standard edition, both of which contain the International uncut version. On the June 17, 2009 French distributor StudioCanal issued the film on Blu-ray with identical releases following in Germany, UK, Holland, Australia and Japan. The U.S. director's cut is currently available on DVD in North America from Lionsgate under license from the film's current owner, StudioCanal. 20th Century Fox, the theatrical distributor, remains the television rights holder.

So, certainly a lot of different releases!

Now, whilst you mention wanting the original soundtrack, it sounds from your question that you're really after the original audio.

Part of the problem here is that, whilst some reviews criticise the audio, the majority of them for the DVDs and Blu-rays talk about it being very good (or at least as good as something uplifted from a 1986 movie can be). I found the review you point to on Amazon (discussing the 10th Anniversary Edition) but I found similar reviews for the 15th Anniversary, the Immortal and standard 2002 editions, and the new Blu-Rays.

Therefore, I'd suggest checking out the original VHS release from the UK and seeing if that satisfies you. Failing that, the Blu-Rays have gotten the most positive discussion otherwise.

I do believe that, ultimately, some consideration needs to be given to the fact the film is from 1986 and, like many films from that era, doesn't have audio anywhere near the standards we expect in this day and age. I'd strongly argue many of the reviews I read haven't accounted for this fact.