Lyrics When the last eagle flies over the last crumbling mountain And the last lion roars at the last dusty fountain In the shadow of the forest though she may be old and worn They will stare unbelieving at the last unicorn When the first breath of winter through the flowers is icing And you look to the north and a pale moon is rising And it seems like all is dying and would leave the world to mourn In the distance hear the laughter of the last unicorn I'm alive, I'm alive When the last moon is cast over the last star of morning And the future has passed without even a last desperate warning Then look into the sky where through the clouds a path is torn Look and see her how she sparkles, it's the last unicorn I'm alive, I'm alive
Thank you for the lyrics.As a child it remained in my mind only this clip and this wonderful melody, cause in my country( a former communist one), that was all we saw on the tv back then.
Although the ending is generally a good one, I feel so bad and sad for the unicorn. It's a pretty deep concept for a kids' animation. Even though she found the other unicorns, she now cannot unlearn human emotions such as regret and romantic love as a unicorn who naturally cannot live with humans. It's so nostalgic to watch a film from my childhood.
My parents took me to see this movie when it came out, when I was only 6 years old. I was a very sensitive child, and I burst into tears at the end because I thought it was so sad. I remember I couldn’t stop crying even when the lights came on, and a nice older lady walked by and said something kind to me about how she thought it was sad too. I was embarrassed but also amazed at the power of a story. I still loved unicorns for years after that. Every time I found myself in a wooded area, I kept hoping I would come upon a unicorn in a clearing. I was convinced there had to be one somewhere. Funnily enough, it seemed like my wish finally came true a couple of months ago at age 46, when I suddenly came upon a beautiful albino deer in the woods. The little girl inside me felt like I’d finally found my unicorn!
Some movies from childhood are not the same when you watch them as an adult - except this one. It is just as moving. Just as melancholy. Means just as much, if not more to me than it did then. Especially since my sister, my best friend, my partner in crime, died so young. This movie was a foreshadowing of our lives and it is everything to me. Even my sister's grave has a horse rearing up engraved on her tombstone.
Great comment, I totally agree. This movie aged so well and will always be special, especially to those who remember it from their childhoods. And my condolences to your sister, I'm sure she was a wonderful person.
I’m 38 I have the DVD I recently rewatched the movie around April and the nostalgia came back to me from the first time I watched this in 1991 (I was 9 then).
Beautiful. Thank you for sharing its meaning to you. I can’t put into words what it meant to me as a child... and continues to impact me as an adult. Profound.
@@lucyhardy-styles-shield2728 That's awesome, I was 6 first time I saw it and I'm 18 now. Every 1-2 years I watch it again and it never fails to amaze me just how beautifully done the animation, storyline, and music is.
I teach "The Last Unicorn" in my middle school reading/writing class. The movie is quite faithful to the original text, which is a refreshing contrast to the way adaptations are usually handled. Peter Beagle wrote an absolute masterpiece of young people's literature with this one - you can find the full text online by adding "PDF" to the title. Every chapter is full of vivid, evocative metaphors and similes, lyrical prose and surprisingly sophisticated themes such as the loss of innocence, the nature of knowledge/understanding, the way experience educates us but also hardens our perspectives into bias and unwarranted certainty... I could go on. When I finally show the movie to let students "compare/contrast" with the text, I'm always afraid some of the older kids will make fun of the songs as too precious or earnest. It never happens. They are invariably transported and suspend any hint of disbelief. America absolutely slayed this soundtrack!
Thank you making this masterpiece be more known in today's world! As far as I know, the author wrote the screenplay for the film as well, which makes me happy. Beagle certainly made a masterpiece that'll capture any heart of anyone, no matter what age.
I tell my kids they are growing up in the 80s and one day they will appreciate the magical world they grew up in… Thanks for teleporting other young people to this beautiful nostalgia! 🕊
Kind of reminds me of the story within the Rush song Xanadu. Where after finding xanadu our storyteller eats the fruit of paradise and drinks it's milk, becoming immortal. In the end he sits in darkness under a starless sky, waiting for the world to end. Immortality must really be a curse.
My mother took me to see this in the movie theater in 1982, I was 7 years old. It haunted and saddened me then, and I quickly forgot about it and never thought of it again, until today, I'm 46. I have no idea what triggered my recall of it. I came here looking for better answers but all I find is the overwhelming sense of loss I felt then. It is the same loss I felt at age 31 when I became the oldest living male member of my immediate family. And now I'm slightly haunted by it again...
We all cry with that same sense. As a child we enjoyed and flourished. Magical and with promise. As an adult, all that was sacred for us is buried. until we awaken it. We can, and share the wonder once again. Have faith.
This movie was about loss. I think loss of innocence and comforting belief. It affected me strongly as a kid in the 80’s. I think you are just properly feeling this movie. Hugs to another 80’s kid!
You can say truly with Molly Grue, “How dare you…how dare you come to me now? When I am *this*?” The loss doesn’t lessen with time, but our remembrance of the loss fades. It is the last unicorn in the world that comes to us, when we are no longer young and innocent…but she DOES come.
I'm the same age as you, and I used to watch this movie over and over again on cable TV. Every single time it gave me a haunted ssd feeling as well. I'm tempted to watch it again, but I'm not sure I'm ready to have those feelings triggered again. As I was writing this The Secret of NIMH just popped into my mind out of the blue. That movie left me with a sad taste in my mouth too.
I'm turning 17 years old now, me and my father watched this movie daily when I was really young. He's missed some important years when my parents split, I can't wait for us to sit down and watch this movie again next time I visit
Rest in Peace American director, producer, composer, lyricist, and author Jules Bass (September 16, 1935 - October 25, 2022), who co-founded Rankin/Bass Productions, with his friend, Arthur Rankin Jr. (July 19, 1924 - January 30, 2014). A truly animation legends!!
I'm 40 years old. This is the first story that ever captured my heart. Before superheroes, before Star Wars, there was the Last Unicorn I lost my son when he was 3 days old. We played this song at his funeral. He would have been 10 years old this July 11th. I got to tell this to Peter S. Beagle. He is the most genuine man I've ever met, So let the pain come. I can hear the laughter of the last unicorn.
@@RA1NB0W_ECH0 It can be summed up as a condition called Potter Syndrome. During his development in-utero, he didn't produce as much amniotic fluid as needed for his lungs to develop and become functional. In examinations after he was born it was found that he had not developed kidneys at all. So he couldn't breathe on his own or process waste. Even after we agreed to have his breathing devices removed (with an increase in pain medication to keep him comfortable), he held on for a full hour before he was gone. The only time he opened his eyes was when his mother and I held him at the end. They were grey like a storm.
I loved how they maintained that style from The Hobbit, but it was even more refined. It's like the next level to that art style. This is still even great animation by today's standards. The amount of work must have been immense to pull this movie off. Animation was much more pains taking then because it was all handcrafted. This movie was quite an achievement.
When the studio who produced this movie closed down, the animation studio also went under. But the remainder of the staff, who were japanese animators, founded a new studio... Its called studio Ghibli...
There were plans to make a live action version, right around the time the lord of the rings films were on top. They were going for the same feel, I’m not sure why they didn’t go forward. I hope one day maybe.
I honestly wish that we never invented computer animation, it’s just not the same… Hand drawn animation is just so magical, idk there’s just something about it that touches the soul. And i feel bad for children being born in this generation for a lot of reasons but also because most of them won’t experience how magical movies like this are, movies nowadays just have no meaning to them or love put into them.
@@hackett152332 They're both Rankin/Bass productions. And you can see it in the art style. Except The Last Unicorn which they released considerably later than The Hobbit, had an even better production budget and they kept the same style and refined it.
I just remembered that we watched “the last unicorn” over Christmas as a family. My sister was very sick dying of cancer and passed away a week later but she was sitting/more lying on me watching the movie until the end This was over 12 years ago, my sister was 18 then. As if the movie and song isn’t emotional enough😢
My sister passed away on December 28th, 2021. Unicorns were her favorite animal as a child and this was arguably one of her favorite films. I remember enjoying it for all the fantasy but feeling a deep sense of sorrow and pain that I didn't understand until later in life. When I hear this song now I will always think of my sister and although it feels like the end of the world right now, I know that she's "alive" in the memories we created together and the lessons she taught me in life.
I was introduced to this film late in life by an elderly friend who became more like an adopted grandmother to me. Her favorite animal was unicorns and she adored this film. Sadly, she passed away yesterday. For as long as I live, I will never be able to watch this film without thinking of her.
You die twice, once when you're heart stops, and again when someone says your name for the last time. As long as you remember your sister, she'll always be there in your heart.
I came to this film relatively late. I was 22 when I saw it for the first time, never having heard of it before. But the moment the film started I was utterly enchanted; and it was so emotional and deep and melancholic it struck a chord way way down. It made me feel like that child we all once were when we all believed that such things as dragons and unicorns might be real. The scene with Molly Grue demanding where the unicorn has been all her life hit me hardest, especially as an adult. Such a great film, such a great book, and this song is just amazing.
I got to see this film in the theatre with my grandma..n I cried for I know how she feels n still do. It touched a part of me which I can't explain in words..n the animation is just brilliant n the song choices are just brilliant. Good taste my friend!!
they ARE real. just not in the way we might think. Theyre creation was based on /inspired by real animal species that exist on the planet and the symbolism of their behaviours and powers like the unicorns beauty, purity and innocence or its tendancy to run away and hide but only approach those who are pure of soul exists aplenty in nature and is what all humans aspire to emulate A deer could be a unicorn, a wise person who says very little but misses nothing could he a unicorn and those who mock him the hunters of one Just because they arent sparkly white magical horned equine creatures doesnt mean they are never present They are as real as you or I
I was 4 years old when I picked out a tape of this movie from the library one day...... It's been one of my favorite movies since then even though after we brought it back I didn't get another chance to watch it until someone gave me the DVD for my 8th birthday, it's been 11 years since I first saw it and I still love the movie just as much. I recently got the book too.
I have a Similar experience, when I was 2 my dad took me to this DVD store where you picked out the case of a movie you wanted then they would give you the DVD, I picked it out without knowing what it was at all(I thought the unicorn was pretty along with the black and blue cover) I watched it and loved it, then we moved and it got lost. So then a few months ago(I'm now 16) I found a video about it and it brought back a bunch of memories so I watched it on Amazon and still loved it but had an older person's perspective, and then I found out it was a book and now it's being shipped to me as I type this.
We had a library downstairs in the building where I grew up in Berlin. I grew up in the 90s and was like 7 or 8 when I first rented it, and rented it again and again and again, until my parents decided to just buy me a copy. I watched it again on youtube maybe a year ago, and just bawled the whole time. As a child I understood that it was sad, but mainly beautiful, as an adult I could see it from a whole deeper level. It will forever be one of my favorite movies.
You know something I noticed while watching this? The backgrounds in the movie go from simple but beautiful, abstract but understandable in her forest to the realistic paintings of the outside world. It really does hammer in the idea of the gritty, complex world out there, different from how the Unicorn lived before, and how she originally saw the world
As a proud Horse With No Name defender, it's hard to believe that the band that wrote the song with the lyric "plants and birds and rocks and things" would eventually go on to write something this lyrically solid. Like this goes way harder than it needs to for a song from a kids movie.
True. The Last Unicorn was masterpiece that still holds up today. I just wish Rankin/Bass produced a lot more animated films for theatrical release during the 80's. They traditionally focused mostly on TV shows and specials. Even Rankin/Bass' other fantasy masterpiece, Flight of Dragons was a made for TV movie.
In Remembrance to The Last Unicorn (1982) animated film.... - Alan Arkin voice role as Schmendrick (Born: March 26, 1934 - Died: June 29, 2023) - Tammy Lee Grimes voice role as Molly Grue (Born: January 30, 1934 - Died: October 30, 2016) - Angela Lansbury voice role as Mommy Fortuna (Born: October 16, 1925 - Died: October 11, 2022) - Christopher Lee voice role as King Haggard (Born: 27 May 1922 - Died: 7 June 2015) - Keenan Wynn voice role as Captain Cully (Born: July 27, 1916 - Died: October 14, 1986) - Paul Frees voice role as Mabruk (Born: June 22, 1920 - Died: November 2, 1986) - Don Messick as Additional Voices (Born: September 7, 1926 - Died: October 24, 1997) - René Auberjonois voice role as Skull (Born: June 1, 1940 - Died: December 8, 2019) - Brother Theodore voice role as Ruhk (Born: November 11, 1906 - Died: April 5, 2001) - Ed Peck voice role as Jack Jingly, Cully's Men (Born: March 26, 1917 - Died: September 12, 1992)
Reminds me of my departed mother and my lost sister. Takes me back to every Friday night when they would watch it together. Now I'm the last that remembers.
This movie has brought tears to my eyes ever since the first time I watched it. The beauty is immeasurable. And now, at my factory job, I replay the songs of America and scenes in this movie through my head to get me through the monotonous day.
As I stare deeply into my reflection, projected by a curbside puddle, the memory of the last unicorn emerged once again in my mimd. I felt a deep sorrow, only comparable to the loss of my dear Dobby. From walks in the woods, to being sick in car journeys, or even bringing me random artifacts from the woods. Pain is the great reminder of a love once shared between man and dog. Today would be his 56th birthday.
As a Molly this movie is life. I came here after my husband let me know they are doing a live action remake of this movie. I am a 33yr old woman but my husband knows how much this movie means to me. I remember asking to watch it everytime I stayed with my maw maw's. To this day it is one I can watch over and over again. I was a book nerd as a kid and only have two movies that i truly love. This one and Anne of Green Gables. The fact they are willing to mess with perfection after messing up so many mediocre films makes me want to cry. There are to many people who do not know this amazing movie that will learn to associate it with whatever live action trash they create.
They can make a live action but it will never catch the emotional connection we have to this movie. It is beautiful as it is, no matter how many times we watch it.
@@KaylaCherrieim33 yr old man the secret if you have children is teach to boycott modern movies and watch old originals. I watched this movie for first time few days ago. I dont watch modern movies cause they are gey. If everyone did that they would stop it but most people are probably very stupld.
They aren't going to "mess with it", they're going to make a separate movie (first I heard of it) and you don't have to watch the live action if you don't want to. One of the best remakes I've seen was actually The Princess Bride At Home movie, shot during quarantine by A-List actors using cell phone cameras and whatever they could find around the house as props. It was hilarious and very respectful to the original film and well-edited.
I was never brought up with this movie... or song... However, I met the love of my life and she showed me this film and song, and with all of its meaning... I will never be able to listen to this piece of music without seeing her smile.
This really was art. Others have said it here and I cannot agree more. I MADE my husband and 12 yr old son watch this when it was my turn to pick something for family movie night. So far this is now one of their absolute favorite movies. It only comes behind a select few Marvel movies.
I remember renting this from the library at the age of 4. I cried in sympathy for the unicorn losing the hope of true love. I immediately went and cast my dinosaur collection in all the roles, using a triceratops as the Red Bull. A powerful story worth sharing with your own children. (But shame on them for the animation on the harpy. We did not need to see three of those!)
I just watched this last night and finally understand why this movie is so special to many. You rarely see family films this well written and this music is beautiful…
I’ve watched this movie several times in my life. And it always leaves me with this melancholy sense of “What if?..” and “I miss this magic..” I.. I like to think that if there really are Unicorns out there somewhere, watching us.. I’d like to think if I ever saw one… I would still know it for what it was. At least.. I really hope so.
I had a dream about a white unicorn about two months ago, was on the phone talking to my younger sister about it today and she led me to this movie. She told me how much she liked it and how I should watch it and that maybe I'd receive some insight into my dream. I believe that they do exist and you get what you believe. Keep believing, never doubt, peace, peace, peace unto you!
I`m 42 years old normaly, a Badass. But this Movie and Soundtrack gives me goosepumps. I saw this Movie sure 10 times. And everytime i cried. I don`t shame or blame about my tears. It`s all about this Movie, just timeless.
Loved this as a child in the early 80s. Still do as an adult. It's nice to switch off once in a while and enter a fantasy world because sometimes it's more preferable than reality.
Magic, excitement, music, action, fantasy, thrills, romance, and adventure. Beautiful song for the old movie, The Last Unicorn (1982). It was released eight years before I was born. I never knew it existed until I found out for myself. Unicorns are legendary and most beautiful of all creatures that walk the land. They have the body of a horse, the tail of a lion, the legs of an antelope, and a single horn in their foreheads. Their horns are magical to heal the sick and wounded, stop an ambush, and purify toxic water. The unicorns may be old and worn, but they look young, feisty, playful, and strong. As long as they have magic in their horns, they will never die and go extinct like the dinosaurs did. I love unicorns and I do believe they are real. Understand this, just because you can't see something, doesn't mean they don't exist. I never gave up believing in fairies and magic with all my heart because I still refuse to wake up, grow up, and forget all about the precious things I knew, especially those from my childhood. I am a child within. I am strong, childlike, young, and beautiful. Believe in magic and never grow up.
I'm a guy love this movie , I'm 45 mom n dad took me and my older sister to see this when it came, out I didn't rent it online I got it from the , library today it's sad that the live action movie never came to be would have loved to see it , I'm a hard ass lol but get sentimental when I remember my childhood , can't wait to watch this again tonight
As a kid I wasn’t able to appreciate how beautiful these older movies were. I am now able to admire the animation and artstyle as well as the songs. Is this what it feels like to have matured?
I saw this in the theater with two of my 9th grade friends. We can still recite it all lol We can grow up, but some part of being young is always there.My brother looks just like Schmendrick! Lol, I still call him that.
This movie is a work of art. No matter how many times I see it or hear the soundtrack I feel so moved. It just connects to something in me and my heart. I feel so melancholy and yet warm...
Never been a fan of the modern "magical princess and her pet unicorn" themes you see today. Not gonna lie, I'm a 20 year old straight male, the last person you may expect to make this comment. But my 8 year old cousin is obsessed with the above mentioned stuff. She went on about this film and I said I'd watch it with her (planning to put it on and watch my phone instead). But the themes within the film surprised me. It's connotations playing on the standard fairytale and most chatacters being driven towards immortality who are basically all voiced by big names! It actually made me interested to listen to an audiobook version which further invested me into the book. I'm not an Literacy student by any means but the book constantly made me think of my mortality and whether its truly worth pursuing immortality in the ways the chatacters did or whether I'd want what the unicorns have got. I later found out that one of my mums art pieces on the wall was of the red bull and the unicorn so now everytime I walk across our landing I now know what that picture represents. Anyone who's reading this that hasn't watched it- please watch it. This book asks questions that anyone can pick up and said questions have deep, philosophical and multi-layered answers.
I've been in love with this story since i was 6. Born in 77, Still in love 💕 i still cry watching this movie, reading the book and hearing this song. Best soul food ever.
Excellent work. I love the book and this cartoon. Thanks to group America I became a music lover. I first saw him on TV when I was seven years old. It was back in 1997. I did not fully understand all the events, but I could not tear myself away from watching. My childish mind and heart were filled with an incomprehensible feeling of sadness, although everything ended well in cartoon.
I know how you feel. I loved this movie when I was 5-6, and I loved this music. I didn't get the chance to see it again for a long time. When I started playing the movie on my laptop when I was 18, the nostalgia, beauty of this song, and the feelings of sadness were overwhelming, I just started to sob.
I was 6 and a half months old when i first discovered the VHS tape of this film in my uncle franks attic. It was New Years Eve, and the sky was thick with mist (or it may have been fog). My family had just been through a very traumatic event (I wont go into it here, as that would be oversharing). I remember crawling into the living room and beginning to watch, transfixed, when my mother came into the room and announced that this was her favourite movie as a young girl. I was deeply saddened, pained, moved, touched, elbowed, caressed, and flabbergasted by the moral story of this film. my mother was hit by an eddie stobart lorry 3 days laters, and this memory will always live with me in my heart. its been 34 years. I miss you, mum.
I watched this movie over and over again when my sisters and I were kids. We still love this movie, and I can honesty say (without asking any of them), that we'd pick this movie to watch over any repackaged Disney Princess.
I loved this movie since I was a kid, but this year I finally discovered the book on which it is based. I must say, it is just as enchanting as the film. Check it out!
I will be 50 this year and me too, I will never forget this movie I saw as I was very young. The first and may be the last time I flet like a unicorne 😄. Thanks to America for the sound track 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
this movie was a change to my life. It was beautiful, she was beautiful, and this song is so heavy. I absolutely adore her, So much that my parents got matching tattoos of her,
It really hurts, when you hear this wonderful song in another version for the first time. Best rendition of the song, together with the orchestra it is really beautiful.
I remember this movie when I was young . In the early 80's . I was in early elementary school. Well we flip around the bars and call it playing The Last Unicorn 🦄 with my friend, a girl about my age . Also , group of us would pretend the wood chips are hot lava, we'd stay on tires and side. Love this movie, it's a classic. ,🤙👍🦄😎💜
