• Friday, May 20, 1988

• Country:

  USA

• Language:

  English

• Runtime:

  126 min

1988

Goofs

• Revealing mistakes: While sliding down the hill on the shield, runners are visible from the sled that was used.
• Revealing mistakes: While sliding down the snow hill on the sled, a very modern glove can be spotted on Madmartigan's left hand.
• Revealing mistakes: You can see the wire supporting Madmartigan when he is on the catapult outside the castle.
• Continuity: During the fight in the castle at the end, Bavmorda's magic turns a clear day into an overcast storm. However, in a few brief shots of the sky during the fight between Madmartigen and General Kael, the sky is blue and clear with a few white clouds.
• Continuity: While at Tir Aslean, Elora Dannan is taken from Willow by Kael, who gallops off with the baby in his arms. Yet as we see him quickly making his way through Arik's army he is holding no baby.
• Continuity: Willow's hair is wet when he returns from the island (the result of a deleted scene where Willow was caught in a massive storm and went underwater).
• Continuity: Scratches inexplicably appear on Fin Raziel's face after the battle. (A deleted scene showed her face get scratched up in the battle with Bavmorda.)
• Continuity: Before the journey to return the Daikini baby, Willow is seen with the papoose on his back, then off, then he puts it on again.
• Continuity: Madmartigan has his legs hanging out of the cage. In the scene directly following it, he has his legs in the cage and crossed.

Taglines

• Adventure doesn't come any bigger than this.
• Forget all you know, or think you know.
• Beyond Good... Beyond Evil... Beyond your wildest imagination...

Trivias

• In between takes, Val Kilmer was getting out of the giant cage he was being filmed in, when the chain snapped and the cage came down on his foot. A limp can be seen during the scene where Madmortigan leaves Willow upon arrival in front of the island with Fin Raziel.
• The six-month-old twins playing Elora Danan were too young to have a full head of hair. They wear a wig, which was applied using syrup, as normal wig adhesive would be too harsh for the babies' skin.
• The earlier drafts of the screenplay contained more background information on the characters Madmartigan and Sorsha. Madmartigan was originally a knight of the kingdom of Galladorn (the kingdom that General Kael mentions having destroyed to Queen Bavmorda) and that the character Airk was the only real friend he had, but Madmartigan's recklessness got him into trouble, as did his love affair with an Eastern beauty that tainted the family name. Madmartigan had a chance to regain his honor in battle, but he ruined the chance by deserting; this explained some of the bitter antagonism between Madmartigan and Airk. Sorsha was originally the daughter of the king of Tir Asleen, who was a good man (he is in fact the regal old man seen at the end after the fall of Bavmorda and Tir Asleen is restored, and can be briefly seen in stone), which suggested that Sorsha had the capability to be good; during the battle at Tir Asleen between Bavmorda's troops, Madmartigan, and the monster, Sorsha encountered her father and he struggled through the stone to ask her for help, which prompted Sorsha to switch alliances from her evil mother to the good side. All of this was lost in the final film but does appear in the novelization as well as the comic book mini-series by Marvel.
• Willow originally said, "Goodbye, Elora Danan" when handing her over to Madmartigan. During editing, it was realized Willow wouldn't have known her name yet, and so it was redubbed, "Goodbye, little one."
• During the close-up shots of the scene where Madmartigan and the soldier are being dragged behind the wagon, Val Kilmer was kneeling on a pedestal behind the wagon, while his stunt double was dragged behind letting the stunt man's legs take the beating.
• The large group of pigs outside the castle continuously tried mating. Buckets of cold water were used to separate them.