I saw this film only once the year it was released and the only thing I can actually remember about it has me chomping at the bit to see it again. It is the final scene where Allan Breck was led out into the beautiful Scotland countryside by his captors, presumably to certain execution. As he looked around at the land he loved so much in sad resignation, Mary Hopkin's sweet soprano sang "For all my days upon the earth, for mountains high and valleys green, for mist that rolls in from the sea, I thank you Lord for sharing this with me." I'm sure I've remembered only the gist of the song, but I also remember some serious goosebumps and teary eyes during that scene.

I enjoyed this movie very much. It is loosely based on two Robert Louis Stevenson novels, Kidnapped and its sequel Catriona. Those who would religiously stick to the contents of these novels will be disappointed in the adaptation. However, the film has, as it should IMHO, a world and plot of its own. Moreover, the plot is engaging and quite exciting.The film movingly portrays a culture and political cause on the verge of destruction and the politics behind it. To a certain extent, it has to modify the plot of the two novels to effectively do so. Now it might have been nice if we could have heard the Scottish language spoken amongst the Highlanders. This absence makes it harder to portray the cultural conflict which was important both in the period and in the novels. However, we can forgive the film's makers by remembering that such was rarely done in the early 1970s. The plot may not be entirely accurate in detail (the Appin murder, etc), but the portrayal of the Jacobite Rebellion is both very accurate and insightful, surprisingly so for a big-time film. The ending is a terrific and original attempt to convey the thoughts and psychology of a man through the medium of film. All that aside, it is a historical adventure. One either likes that genre or doesn't. If the former, then the chances are you will like this.

As a history lesson about the Jacobite Rebellion this fails, but as a movie for the whole family it's entertaining and a good cast makes it fun to watch.Michael Caine is Alan Breck, determined that the Stuarts should have retained the throne of England, who befriends young David Balfour (Lawrence Douglas) and sets off on a journey with him to Edinburgh, sharing a variety of adventures along the way. In a limited role, Donald Pleasance added to the fun of the movie as the curmudgeonly Ebenezer Balfour (David's uncle).It was all working together quite well, I thought, until the very end of the movie, and I thought too much was left hanging with the way it concluded. So an entertaining but historically inaccurate movie ended with a bit of a letdown. 7/10

This is certainly not the worst film in history, but also far from great cinema. Despite dating from 1971, it has the look and feel of a film from the '40s."Kidnapped" follows the story of David Balfour, an orphaned Lowland Scots boy betrayed and cheated by his drunken oaf of an uncle on the cusp of his eighteenth birthday.The British uniforms and civilian attire are done well, but the "Highland" clothing is laughably inaccurate.Michael Caine is a very good actor, though horribly miscast in the role of "Allan Breck". The idea of having an Englishman play the role only adds weight to the fiction that anything here resembles genuine Highland history. The "i" is dotted with the garish swashbuckle mustachio sported by Caine. And that hair. Why?It is also interesting that most of the characters seem to have amazing skill in keeping their hair perfectly clean, straight and shiny and if they just left a hair salon when they are yomping around the Trossachs hiding from the English!The dialogue is wrought with semi-condescending, boring statements. I can not count how many times I heard words like "heather", "bonnie", or "lassie" from people who should not even be speaking English. It is overtly evident that none of the people involved with this movie, from the caterers to the director, had ANY historical background into Highland history and no knowledge of the culture apart from stereotype and myth.It was well-intentioned and not cynical, so it does have some strengths. See Rob Roy if you want a historically accurate film on the Highland experience.5/10