Rob Roy is the bad guy in this film, or, at least he should be seen as such. He and all the highlanders are complete idiots and deserved everything they got and more.
Stupid Stuff
1. Roy decides to go into business and borrow from a man whom he knows is a snake, but does it anyway.
2. Roy, and this is hilarious, leaves the final transaction of business to an underling! Really? The most important transaction of his life and he just leaves? That is stupid. And he signed the contract without receiving the note, or money. Just plain dumb.
3. Roy's refusal to lie. Dumb. What did he think the alternative would be? When a man saddles himself with a wife and children, his honor and dignity take a backseat to their safety and well being. Roy would rather let his children die than bend the knee, even temporarily.
4. Mary, Roys wife. Gets in Archibalds face, insults him in front of an army. Why? Archibald was probably going to rape her anyway, but she didnt know that. Why was she so stupid not to leave with her children? Because she was stupid. She was prideful, thinking her presence alone would stop the destruction of the farm. Dumb.
5. Servant girl. Thought Archibald loved her, the whine of all stupid women who get themselves pregnant. She was stupid, letting a man like that between her legs. No sympathy whatsoever.
6. Mary, letting Killearn play her like that to learn she was pregnant with Archibald's child. Oh yeah, she's real tough. Lying to her husband, how does that make her any different than Archibald?
7. Attacking Montrose's purse by stealing and robbing from him. Really? What is that going to accomplish? Rob Roy is a terrible strategist. He spreads the misery to all McGregors instead of placing the blame squarely where it belongs: himself. A few of his cows killed, buildings burned so lets antagonize Montrose even more? Stupid.
8. The McGregors. Stupid for following the lead of such an incompetent man. There was no need for him to borrow money, no need for the feud to extend to every McGregor. rob Roy was too proud to save his own children, what evidence is there he would do anything necessary to protect his clan Nothing!
9. Montrose. Stupid for showing too much restraint. He sends Archibald, rightly so, to punish Roy for his criminal behavior. Montrose was well within his rights to hold Roy until the debt was settled. After Archibald punished Roy, the highlanders go to war against Montrose, stealing and robbing. Montrose should have annihilated them. Easy to do since the highlanders had no army, good weapons, or resources.
So, Rob Roy is not a hero. He is a failure and an idiot. Too prideful to last in almost any age. He's the kind of guy who takes your money, then expects considerations when he loses it. If you press your rights under the law, well *beep* you're the bad buy cause you're mean. If Roy is the measure of highlander manhood in 1713, no wonder they were oppressed. They made it easy by being stupid. Oh, and the ending was so stupid. Roy gets out of his debt and everything is hunky-dory cause of a feud between Montrose and Argyl? He wins a sword fight? I call BS on the sword fight. Archibald carves him up like a roast. Still and entertaining bit of fiction, but Rob Roy is not the hero.
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