The latest in our series of writers paying tribute to their favourite comfort watches is a journey back to the unusual sci-fi antics of 1986With all due respect to Flash Gordon, there is only room in my heart for one maximalist 1980s movie blending science fiction, fantasy and romance with a banging Queen soundtrack. That film is Highlander, the stylised but strangely lofty 1986 wannabe blockbuster with a premise so ridiculous – immortals tussle throughout human history in a beheading battle royale – it is often deployed as a pop culture punchline. (In the Nascar comedy Talladega Nights: the Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Will Ferrell’s blowhard racer confidently asserts that Highlander won the Academy Award for “best movie ever made”.)Even Highlander’s production history sounds like a mistranslated joke about national stereotypes walking into a bar. Australian director Russell Mulcahy chose French-American actor Christopher Lambert to embody the titular mythic Scottish hero, then cast actu...