History Film / TheWickerMan1973

* CampStraight: The innkeeper Alder MacGregor, played by gay mime artist Lindsay Kemp. He is Willow's father.

** Paul Giovanni wrote several original songs and [[https://celluloidwickerman.com/2014/06/12/the-music-of-folk-horror-part-4-the-wicker-mans-narrative-functionality/ adapted others from actual folk songs and poems]].

* MusicalWorldHypothesis: All songs in the musical are performed diegetically, from the drinking song in the pub, to the musician teaching the children the maypole dance [[spoiler:and the villagers singing "Sumer is Icumen In" as they burn Howie to death.]] It just adds to the MaybeMagicMaybeMundane nature of the place.

-->And, when her name is mentioned...The parts of every gentleman...[[SomethingElseAlsoRises Do stand up at attention.]]

* GreyAndGrayMorality: Howie, whatever you think of his blustery self-righteousness, is genuinely trying to be a good police officer and save a child's life. The villagers [[spoiler: with the possible exception of Lord Summerisle]], however creeped out you may be by their practices, genuinely believe that they are saving their harvest.

* BetterByADifferentName: Because of Creator/ChristopherLee, Creator/IngridPitt and [[{{Fanservice}} Willow]] some like to name this "The greatest Film/HammerHorror that was not made by the Hammer Studio".

* TownWithADarkSecret: The islanders certainly aren't afraid to show their pagan beliefs... [[spoiler:but they keep quiet on the whole HumanSacrifice bit.]]

* SmugSnake: [=MacGregor=] the innkeeper. What a loathsome creature he is.

* StoutStrength: Oak is a very large fat man, but he's also the strongest man on the island, as introduced in an early scene where he carries a grown man on his shoulders.

* TakingYouWithMe: [[spoiler:Howie points out that if ''his'' sacrifice doesn't bring back the crops, only Lord Summerisle will be a suitable sacrifice next year. Summerisle's reaction shows that it briefly hits home before he declares that the crops won't fail.]]

* TargetedHumanSacrifice: [[spoiler:Sgt. Howie is slated to be the sacrifice because he's a virgin, because he's acting as a representative of the Crown, and because of his firm religious beliefs so different than the island's.]]

* SceneryPorn: There's plenty of gorgeous shots of the Scottish islands.
* TheScream: Played straight with the line "In the name of God, THINK WHAT YOU'RE DOING!" [[spoiler:Cut to the sunset, with "doing" echoing.]] And guess what? It's really creepy.

** The song sung by the villagers in the final scene is 13th century folk song celebrating the return of spring.
** Apples feature prominently in many Celtic traditions. "Avalan" from Arthurian mythology is thought to be derived from apples.
** Celtic pagans did practice human sacrifice, though many have questioned whether wicker men actually existed or it was just Roman propaganda. The film is inspired by an engraving from the 1600s.

* SameLanguageDub: Britt Ekland speaks with a Swedish accent that wouldn't have made any sense for her character. She was dubbed by Annie Ross to give her a Scottish accent, and it's extremely noticeable in several scenes.
* SchrodingersCanon: Willow and her attempt to lure Howie, which is present on the wiki too. The longer cut reveals that [[spoiler:it didn't matter whether or not Howie succumbed to her, because it only mattered that he was a virgin when he came to the island]], but as this isn't in a lot of versions, it's easy to adopt the perspective that [[spoiler:Summerisle either needed to test Howie or Willow was trying to prevent the sacrifice.]]
* SeparatedByTheWall: Willow and Howie are separated by a wall as she sings her seductive song to him. She slaps on the wall throughout her song, and he's moved to press his body against it with desire, but he ultimately restrained himself.

* RedHerring: At first Howie suspects Rowan has been murdered, but then discovers evidence that she has been kidnapped and is being held prisoner waiting to be sacrificed. [[spoiler:It's a trick for both the audience and Howie; the actual plan is to use Rowan as bait to lure Howie to be the sacrifice instead.]]

* RuleOfSymbolism: {{Lampshaded}} by Lord Summersisle, as he tells the pious Howie he should feel proud of being a Christ-like sacrifice.

** Lord Summerisle has a nicely subtle one when [[spoiler:Howie desperately points out that if his own death doesn't help the next harvest, the villagers will likely conclude that only Summerisle himself will be a large enough sacrifice to satisfy their gods. Summerisle's smirk fades for a moment before it returns, and he insists that the sacrifice ''will'' work]].

* PoliteVillainsRudeHeroes: The islanders are incredibly MinnesotaNice to Howie, smiling to his face and pretending to be helping him, while all the while passive-aggressively making fun of him and obstructing his every move. As a reaction, Howie grows increasingly blunt and rude and becomes much freer with his religious condemnations of the islanders' rituals.
* PragmaticAdaptation: Anthony Shaffer started out trying to adapt David Pinner's 1967 novel ''Ritual'' but decided it wouldn't work as a film. He took the basic concept (a puritanical police officer investigates a crime in a isolated community with a thriving pagan religion) and a few specific points (most notably a woman who attempts to seduce the cop) and built a new story around them. There's been some sniping between Pinner, Shaffer and Hardy over exactly how much ''The Wicker Man'' borrowed from ''Ritual''. [[http://strange-complex.livejournal.com/523368.html?s2id=16289359 This is a good summary]] of the relation between the two works.

* NoAnimalsWereHarmed: Britt Ekland claimed that some of the animals inside the wicker man died when it was burned. Robin Hardy has repeatedly assured that the animals were in no danger; the wicker man was completely empty when it was set on fire, and fires were built in front of the animals to make sure they weren't hurt. He also said the animals were repeatedly placed in and taken out of the structure.

** There's no given reason why the Librarian speaks with a faint Polish accent, other than that she's played by Ingrid Pitt.

* MyCarHatesMe: Howie's hydroplane breaks down, aborting his attempt to go back and get more officers. It's ''heavily'' implied that [[spoiler:the villagers sabotaged it.]]
* MyGirlIsASlut: When Alder [=MacGregor=] introduces his daughter Willow, the bar patrons break into a BawdySong about her promiscuity, which delights her and doesn't faze her father.
* TheNamesake: The titular object isn't shown or mentioned until the very end of the movie.
* NecessarilyEvil: The villagers believe that [[spoiler:human sacrifice is necessary to restore their crops. They don't seem very broken up about it, and spend the film gleefully mocking and manipulating Howie]].

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Howie. He’s intolerant of the islanders’ beliefs, but he makes an effort to be polite to them at first, only acting like an asshole after having to deal with them constantly obstructing his investigation and generally behaving like passive aggressive asses who press all of his [[BerserkButton Berserk Buttons]] at once, and he never stops trying to do the right thing.

* MatingDance: Willow's naked dance. The man she's dancing for is in the next room and can't see her, but that's hardly necessary to get his attention.
* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: It's not said whether the pagan beliefs are actually true or [[spoiler: Howie's sacrifice will bring back their apples]]. Also Willow's song is shot in a very ethereal way, suggesting there could be some magic to her.

* IWantSong: Quite a few of the songs are combinations of this and the VillainSong, and all of them are about sex in some way or another. Interestingly, Howie's only song is definitely not an example, because it's a musical version of the 23rd Psalm, and starts with "The Lord is my shepherd \ I shall not want".
* {{Infodump}}: Lord Summerisle explaining to Howie how the island converted to paganism. But it's written in a way that reveals a lot about who he is, and introduces some important themes into the story.

* IntimateOpenShirt: It's no coincidence that Howie's pajamas are like this during Willow's attempted seduction via song.

* HolierThanThou: Sgt. Howie's behavior is, depending on interpretation, either that of a sanctimonious prude, that of a deeply honorable and upright officer motivated by his faith or both.

* GodGuise: Lord Summerisle describes how his grandfather introduced new crops and farming methods, as well as his Pagan faith. When the crops were incredibly successful, he had no difficulty convincing the locals that there was a connection between their survival and the appeasing Celtic deities.

* HandOfGlory: A Hand of Glory is placed next to Howie's bedside whilst he sleeps in an effort to make him sleep through the May Day celebrations. [[spoiler:Or at least that's what they ''want'' him to think.]]

* HillbillyHorrors: A pagan cult believes that the only way to ensure that its next apple harvests succeeds is through a human sacrifice.

* {{Fanservice}}: Would you like to watch Creator/BrittEkland [[http://vimeo.com/30010266 dance naked?]] Don't get too excited, since the butt shots are a body double. To Ekland's disgust, people are forever asking her to autograph stills of that one particular scene. She has to patiently explain to them that it isn't actually her.
* AFeteWorseThanDeath: The climax occurs during the May Day celebrations.

* GenreBusting: Is it a crime movie? A horror movie? A mystery? A [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane fantasy]] movie? You can even argue that it's a Musical, if you're so inclined...

* DyingMomentOfAwesome: [[spoiler: The movie has Howie [[FaceDeathWithDignity die with dignity]]. The novelization by [[WordOfGod the director and writer of the original film]] takes it even further by having him free a flock of birds from the Wicker Man's arm ''as it's burning'', believing that as long as he saves ''some'' sort of life, his police mission will have not been completely in vain.]]

* EnfantTerrible: [[spoiler:Rowan, the young innocent girl whom Howie is trying to rescue, was in on it all along, and helps seal his fate to be sacrificed]].
* EnthrallingSiren: A case of MaybeMagicMaybeMundane, Willow sings a seductive song and dances naked in the room next to Howie's. The staunchly Christian Howie is literally trembling with desire, but he doesn't succumb.

* EveryoneLovesBlondes: Blonde hair certainly seems to be a requirement for a female leadership role on Summerisle. The island's best seductress is Willow, and she's got golden blonde hair. In the extended cut, Lord Summerisle compares her to the Greek LoveGoddess Aphrodite, who is commonly depicted with blonde hair. Ms. Rose and the Librarian are also beautiful blonde women.

* DoomedMoralVictor: [[spoiler:Howie of course.]]

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: It's revealed that Howie has spent the entire film being manipulated by the entire island so that he can be sacrificed by being horribly burned alive. To make things worse, it's implied that his sacrifice is all for nothing, and the islanders will eventually descend into anarchy in a futile attempt to restore their crops]].
* DressingAsTheEnemy: Howie disguises himself as Punch for the May Day festival.

* DarkReprise: [[spoiler:Howie's reprise of the 23rd Psalm]] as counterpoint to the townsfolk's "Sumer is Icumen In" at the film's climax.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: The film relies heavily on this, first for humor, as Howie's staunch Christianity means he is horrified and baffled by the devoted Paganism of the village inhabitants and what this leads them to do — who are equally horrified and baffled by his religious beliefs and behaviors — and then for horror, when their beliefs incite the villagers to capture him and burn him to death in a wicker man as a HumanSacrifice so that their crops will grow.

* CreepyCrossdresser: Lord Summerisle dresses as a woman for the May Day parade.
* CruelTwistEnding: An incredibly famous one; see also ItWasHisSled.

* CorruptionOfAMinor: The deeply Christian Sgt Howie accuses the pagan schoolteacher of "corruption of the young" when she teaches her early-pubescent class about the dominants of phallic symbolism in the Celtic religion.
* CrapsaccharineWorld: Summerisle may count as this, as it is not as peaceful and joyous as it seems to be.

** The film's music composer, New Yorker Paul Giovanni, and musical director, Gary Carpenter, make several appearances throughout the film, playing instruments along with the other members of the band formed specifically for this movie, Magnet. Carpenter is the one playing the lyre during the climax, when Howie is stripped and anointed by Willow and the Librarian. Carpenter says during filming one day, Giovanni suggested the band try marijuana. The band were so high, they couldn't play their instruments.

* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Lord Summerisle.

* CorruptHick: Almost everyone on Summerisle.
* CorruptChurch: "Since it is no longer used for Christian worship, whether it is still a church is debatable."

* CelibateHero: Howie, as a conservative Christian and bachelor who doesn't believe in sex outside marriage. He's sorely tempted during the film however.
* CentralTheme: The power of belief, for both good and bad.

* CoolOldGuy: How Lord Summerisle presents himself.
* CreepyChild: All of them, really, but Daisy Pringle in particular.

* CampbellCountry: The has an interesting way of giving its setting physical isolation - it's set on the (fictional) remote Scottish island of Summerisle.
* CampStraight: The innkeeper, played by gay mime artist Lindsay Kemp.
* CaptainObvious: During the scene where Howie is in a classroom: