The Legacy (1978)

A millionaire and a million-dollar prostitute, a star-maker and a nation-killer, a woman whose lusts are as cold as graveyard snow...Five of the most powerful people in the world, gathered ... See full summary »

Director:

Richard Marquand

Writers:

Jimmy Sangster (screenplay), Patrick Tilley (screenplay),

Stars:

Katharine Ross, Sam Elliott, John Standing

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Katharine Ross	...	Margaret Walsh
Sam Elliott	...	Pete Danner
John Standing	...	Jason Mountolive
Ian Hogg	...	Harry
Margaret Tyzack	...	Nurse Adams
Charles Gray	...	Karl Liebnecht
Lee Montague	...	Jacques Grandier
Hildegard Neil	...	Barbara Kirstenburg
Marianne Broome	...	Maria Gabrieli
William Abney	...	Butler
Patsy Smart	...	Cook
Mathias Kilroy	...	Stable Lad
Reg Harding	...	Gardener
Roger Daltrey	...	Clive Jackson

Storyline

A millionaire and a million-dollar prostitute, a star-maker and a nation-killer, a woman whose lusts are as cold as graveyard snow...Five of the most powerful people in the world, gathered in an ancient mansion to inherit a Legacy of bloodsome horror. And Maggie makes six.

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Plot Keywords:

legacy | millionaire | mansion | dog | english estate | 

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Taglines:

It is a birthright of living death...

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 September 1979 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Legacy of Maggie Walsh

Filming Locations:

Loseley House, Guildford, Surrey, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$2,500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

David Foster Productions, Pethurst Ltd., Turman-Foster Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

John Coyne was asked to write a novelization in six weeks to promote the movie, and Hollywood spent a lot of money to make it 'briefly' a best seller.

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Goofs

In an establishing shot, one of the rear tires of Mountolive's limo clips one of the spherical concrete bollards, which starts rapidly rolling along the drive revealing that it is fake.

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Quotes

Clive Jackson: [in Ravenhurst's drawing room] ... I always wanted to break into the music business, myself.
Jacques Grandier: [wryly] In most of Europe, he IS the music business.

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Connections

Spoofs Red River (1948)

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Soundtracks

"Another Side of Me"
Sung by Kiki Dee
Music by Michael J. Lewis
Lyric by Gary Osborne

User Reviews

An unholy (no pun intended) mess

The Legacy suffers from a crisis of identity. On the one hand, it's a horror movie, with the requisite supernatural elements and inexplicable occurrences. On the other hand, it's a mystery in the cozy, Agatha Christie style, set in a large Victorian mansion in the English countryside, with corpses turning up left and right.

Of course, there's no law against blending genres. To do so successfully, however, takes a defter hand than is evident here. The result is an incoherent mess that leaves the viewer feeling cheated. The actors do their collective best, but this one's beyond help.