1995’s Rob Roy cast Liam Neeson as the 18th century Scottish folk hero Rob Roy MacGregor. Set in the Highlands, the film’s storyline sees MacGregor borrow money from the somewhat unpleasant Marquis of Montrose in order to invest in cattle to help his community. However the Marquis’ even nastier nephew Archibald Cunningham steals the money and frames Rob Roy’s closest friend for the theft, setting in motion a series of bloody encounters as the Marquis sets out to recover the debt and McGregor seeks justice and the vengeance of his persecuted family and community.
A glance at the history books indicates that the movie is not entirely faithful to the documented history of McGregor – rather than presenting a cradle to grave biography of the man it focuses on a specific episode in his life and in doing so employs a significant amount of artistic licence in its retelling of that time.
Historical accuracy aside however, Rob Roy is a fine film. Historical epics cannot always keep my attention, but the cast, scenery and grand scale of this production managed to satisfy me. Neeson is on good form and ably accompanied by Jessica Lange as McGregor’s wife Mary, while Eric Stoltz, Brian Cox and Brian McCardie are among the names in a strong supporting cast. Special mention must go to John Hurt as the Marquis and Tim Roth as Cunningham though. Hurt, as always, delivers a commanding performance as one of the bad guys; and Roth’s character is so obnoxious, so diabolical, that it is little wonder he received a nomination for Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
None of Rob Roy is set in Glasgow, nor was it filmed there, however there is a brief mention of the city. Pulling Cunningham up for some of his more wayward behaviour, the Marquis of Montrose raises the matter of “This tailor in Glasgow to whom you owe 87 pounds”.
Glasgow on Film 