Excalibur

Plot synopsis:
In ancient England, warfare reigns between Uther Pendragon (Gabriel Byrne) and the Duke of Cornwall (Corin Redgrave). To bring peace, Merlin (Nicol Williamson) secures the mystical sword Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake (Hilary Joyalle) and gives it to Uther. Impressed by this symbol of power and Uther's promise of land, Cornwall relents and recognizes Uther as king. Cornwall hosts a celebration, where his wife, Igrayne (Katrine Boorman) dances. Uther cannot hide his lust and the fragile truce is broken.Uther besieges Cornwall's castle. He again asks Merlin to intervene. Merlin agrees to give him Igrayne but only if Merlin will receive the result of Uther's lust. That night, Uther's men draw Cornwall out of his castle and ambush him, killing him. Merlin transforms Uther to resemble Cornwall. Uther enters the castle, makes rough love to Igrayne and impregnates her as Cornwall breathes his last.Nine months later, Igrayne gives birth to a son. Upon seeing his son for the first time, Uther vows to become a peaceful king and secure his kingdom for his son. Merlin, who has not been seen since the night Cornwall died, appears and takes the child, as per their agreement. Igrayne is distraught and as Merlin disappears into the forest, Uther tries to stop him but is attacked by knights still loyal to Cornwall. Mortally wounded, Uther drives Excalibur into a stone, declaring no one will have the sword but him. Standing nearby, Merlin recites a spell that will keep the sword in the stone until Arthur is old enough to claim it.For the next sixteen years, no one is able to pull the sword from the stone. Annually a joust is held to see who will be able to try; if any man succeeds, he will be crowned king. Sir Ector (Clive Swift) brings his son, Kay (Niall O'Brien) and Kay's squire, Arthur (Nigel Terry). When Arthur forgets Kay's sword, he goes to the stone and draws Excalibur for Kay to use in the joust. Incredulous, the crowd sees that Arthur has removed the sword. Ector reveals that Arthur was brought to him as a baby by Merlin, who bid the man to raise Arthur and protect him. Many of the other knights refuse to recognize Arthur, who is not a knight, as their king. Only Leondegrance (Patrick Stewart) acknowledges Arthur as the rightful king. After a quick tutorial in the mystic arts, Merlin leads Arthur to Leondegrance's castle, which is besieged by the other knights. Arthur fights bravely but wins the day when he admits that he is not himself a knight and kneels to ask one of the rebel knights, Uryens (Keith Buckley) to remedy the situation. Uryens recognizes Uther Pendragon's courage flows through Arthur's veins and knights him. That night, Arthur begins his courtship of Guenevere (Cherie Lunghi), Leondegrance's daughter.Under Arthur, the kingdom is prosperous, the various fiefdoms are united, and many people flock to his gleaming castle, Camelot. The land's mightiest knights have joined Arthur's fellowship. These knights include Lancelot (Nicholas Clay), who had earlier taught Arthur an important lesson in humility. Lancelot, the best knight in the world, had defeated all of Arthur's knights; Arthur himself won only by calling on Excalibur's mystical powers. The sword shattered because Arthur had misused it. Recognizing his sin, Arthur repented and the Lady of the Lake returned Excalibur to Arthur, whole. Lancelot swore his allegiance to Arthur that day. However, he spends little time in Camelot because of his love for Guenevere. In order to maintain his and Guenevere's honor, Lancelot stays in self-imposed exile. Arthur marries Guenevere, establishes the Round Table and peace unites the kingdom.This fact is not lost on another of the castle's denizens, Morgana la Fey (Helen Mirren), Arthur's half-sister. As a child, she had watched Uther ravish Igrayne as her father (Cornwall) died. Now she hides a bitter plan to destroy Arthur and his kingdom. She goads Gawain (Liam Neeson) into accusing Guenevere and Lancelot of infidelity. He challenges the absent Lancelot to a joust. Lancelot's squire, Perceval (Paul Geoffrey), is knighted so he can joust in Lancelot's place but at the last minute Lancelot arrives and defeats Gawain. Then he collapses from a self-inflicted wound, incurred the night before as he wrestled with his unchaste desires for Guenevere in the forest.Merlin has grown tired from helping men forge their kingdoms and accepts that soon science and the Christian God will take the place of magic. Morgana rejects his conclusions and seduces Merlin into revealing all of his secrets, tricking him into reciting the ancient spell of "making", the very same spell Merlin had used to alter Uther's likeness to that of Cornwall. She learns the chant and uses it to imprison Merlin in his cave. Meanwhile, Guenevere has slipped into the forest to find Lancelot. They make love and fall asleep. In a scene that both Morgana and Merlin witness, Arthur finds them and, rather than kill them, drives Excalibur into the ground between them. When they awake, the two adulterers are driven apart by grief. That night, Morgana takes the guise of Guenevere, has sex with a delirious Arthur and begets a child by him.Without Excalibur and despondent over the treachery of his queen and best knight, Arthur is an ineffective king and the land suffers. Crops fail and pestilence spreads. Arthur sends his knights on a quest to find the Holy Grail, the cup Jesus used during the Last Supper; it will heal Arthur and the land. All of the knights search for the Grail for 10 years, and most of them die. Morgana has raised her and Arthur's son, Mordred (Charley Boorman), to hate Arthur. Together they lure Arthur's knights to their lair and hang the ones that cannot be entranced from a tree. Perceval is one of those knights. As he slowly strangles, he has a vision of the Grail. It asks him "What is the secret of the Grail? Who does it serve?" Perceval is too frightened to answer the question. However, the spurs on another hanged knight's armor gradually sever the rope hanging Perceval, and he escapes.In the countryside, Perceval encounters a group of disheveled peasants who appear to be conducting a funeral for a child. He recognizes Lancelot among them, barely recognizable with long hair, a beard and dressed in a monk's robes. Lancelot is now almost insane with disaffection over Camelot. Perceval begs Lancelot to return but instead they attack him. He barely escapes with his life but finds himself at the Grail Castle from his near-death vision. This time, Perceval understands the secret of the Grail: it is the faith that sustains Arthur, and through him the land flourishes. Perceval returns to Camelot with the Grail. Arthur drinks from it and regains his health and the land next to him blooms to life. He visits Guenevere, who retired to a convent after her infidelity. Arthur forgives her and asks her forgiveness. She returns Excalibur to him, having kept it with her through the years.Mordred has challenged Arthur to the throne and has built a massive army comprised primarily of Saxons. Morgana's enchantments protect him from any man-made weapon. They also keep her artificially youthful. On the night before the battle, Arthur prays for Merlin for help. As a wraith, Merlin appears in Morgana's tent and tricks her into undoing her spells and causing her to finally age, becoming an old hag. As she ages, smoke pours from her mouth, enough to cover the camp and the battleground. When Mordred finds his mother as an old crone he strangles her.The next morning, Arthur's forces, though vastly outnumbered, meet and vanquish Mordred's army at Camlann, having the advantage of the smoke let loose by Morgana. They are aided by the timely intervention of Lancelot, who singlehandedly kills many Saxons. Lancelot, however, succumbs to the wound he'd given himself in the forest when trying to requite his love for Guenevere, and collapses. A grateful Arthur forgives him and Lancelot dies, having found peace.Only Mordred himself remains. He impales Arthur on a spear and Arthur stabs him with Excalibur, killing him. Dying, Arthur commands Perceval to take Excalibur and throw it into the nearest body of still water. Perceval takes the sword to a nearby lake but is unable to follow the command; he returns to Arthur saying that Excalibur cannot be lost again. Arthur reassures his knight that the sword will be safe and will be presented to the next worthy king. Perceval returns to the lake and casts the sword in where it's caught by the Lady of the Lake and taken beneath the water. Perceval rides back to Camlann in time to see the Fates sailing away to Avalon with Arthur's body.

Tags: psychedelic, cult, historical, violence, historical fiction

Review:
The Best Theatrical Re-Telling of the Arthurian Legend--Largely Based on Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur (1485).
Late in the film, King Arthur is about to fight his last battle against his estranged son Mordred.
Thereafter the first, and one of the greatest, attempts to bring the stories into a novelistic form was written in the late 1400's by a knight, Sir Thomas Malory, entitled La Morte d'Arthur ("The Death of Arthur") which is probably the most famous work of English letters proceeding Chaucer but before Shakespeare.
By the 20th century, theatrical adaptations began appearing as well, including "Knights of the Round Table" (1953), Disney's "The Sword in the Stone" (1963), and the musical "Camelot" by Lerner and Lowe which was possibly the most popular rendition of the story before "Excalibur".
These last renditions, although they have their appeal, cannot measure up to the movie "Excalibur" which was largely based upon Malory's original tome.Many here have detailed very well the merits of the film, and since most people know the story, I will keep this short.
The entire look of the film, which I have not seen in a movie since, reeks of Medieval Legend.
This concept was a widely held belief in the Middle Ages: that the sovereign was essentially married to the kingdom.Another aspect that makes this film outstanding is the portrayal of Merlin by Nicol Williamson.
( Indeed, the sound track makes frequent use of Wagner.)Some have criticized Boorman for making the story of King Arthur too sexy and violent.
Boorman also looks at the Druidic and pagan roots of the arthur story, (" The Land is the King."), and examines the inner conflict between Paganism and Christianity that gave the myth its original power.
I have not seen Robert Bresson's version of the Arthur myth, Lancelot Du Lac, but I suspect that it may be the only other one by a major film-maker that comes close to the eerie, mythic, glorious heart of Arthurian legend..
It is an expert distillation of the essential Arthurian legend (this from someone who has read and re-read Malory's original work, Le Morte D'Arthur, on which the movie was based, as well as Tennyson, White, Steinbeck, and many of the other modern fictional treatments, as well as a lot of the secondary literature on the history and meaning of the Arthur myth).
The film is wonderful on many, many levels, from Boorman's masterful direction and writing (along with Pallenberg, his screenwriter), to the cinematography, the armor and costumes, the sets and production design, and the acting (with a great cast too numerous to mention).
The film probably works best if you already have some sort of sense of the Arthur legends, but I would recommend it to anyone.
As a result, I have developed an intense dislike for most pathetic attempts to put this story on film.Excalibur is the first, and so far, the only film, in my opinion, to come very close to the brass ring.First some ranting.The early film with Cornel Wilde was a swashbuckling story, no more.The Disney cartoon "sword in the stone" was one of the first in a long series of extremely offensive attempts to take inspirational and tragic stories and turn them into something  banal.(Anastasia, The hunch Back of Notre Dame to name a couple)First knight was perfect for displaying Richard Geere's lack of talent, and wasting a perfectly good actor (Connery).
Many people say that it was cheezy looking (Yes, Excalibur the sword does get a tad flexible at points.)  However, was not The Day the Earth Stood Still cheezy too, yet it is one of the greatest movies of all times, most people agree.
Not like in many modern movies, I believe Nicol Williamson, Helen Mirren, all the actors from the round table, and Mrs. Boorman did excellant jobs.
The Best Version of the Legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table ever Made.
"Excalibur" is the best version of the Legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table ever made by the cinema industry.
This is the only movie I know of to make the attempt to take the events of the Arthurian legend as seriously as possible, portraying them as realistically as possible, thereby making this the best film version of the legend to date.
This could make a good film but it should be called King Arthur, not Excalibur; and it was not Boorman's film.
This film has some wonderful things going for it: Some brilliant casting (Nicol Williamson is incredible--Helen Mirren terrific), great use of music (I don't care for Wagner, but his bombast is perfect for this movie.
Carl Orff was a good choice as well), some beautiful cinematography and sets (some scenes almost take my breath away, like when The Sword is thrown into the water), imagination (I've never seen intercourse in full armor before), and a great story.Unfortunately, it also has some bad casting (who in the world picked Cherie Lunghi to play Guenevere?--flower child as mythological queen?
It should have been extended by at least an hour, giving us more time to appreciate all the beauty, all the personalities (Merlin could have used more screen time, and some of the Knights could have stood further development), all the carnage, all the story in this film.
Some early and even a few debut performances grace the film, such as Liam Neeson, Gabriel Byrne, and Helen Mirren.Some have argued that the full plate armor donned by the knights is not "historically accurate." Seeing as King Arthur is a legendary and/or mythical figure who may not have existed at all, this is not a terribly valid criticism.
Movie that succeeds to be at the same time bad movie and the best adaptation of legend of King Arthur and Knights of the Round Table.
Excalibur is probably the King Arthur film that most ambitiously tackles the in-depth mythology and legend of the medieval warrior, which is both a good and bad thing.Let's start with the good.
This film is a fascinating dive into the ins and outs of Arthurian Legend, starting with the mystical sword, Excalibur.
At the same time, the sword is easily the films coolest asset.For the first hour or so, it gets increasingly harder to root for Arthur as a character.
It is then that the film takes off to an exciting, but equally strange place.This version of the King Arthur story isn't afraid of embracing the fantasy elements and downright weirdness of the source material.
Not only do you have Merlin, the great wizard, manipulating certain situations in the background, but you have plenty of other mystical elements enhanced to fit the story that director John Boorman was trying to tell.
Few film versions of the Arthur legend capture the "Once Upon a Time" feeling of Excalibur, but director John Boorman bathes his mythic vision in blood and grime.
No other "King Arthur" movie has moved me as much as Excalibur.
If you like the legend of King Arthur, this is BY FAR, the BEST screen adaptation I have EVER seen.
Nigel Terry, whose film acting is so bad he doesn't even have a photo on IMDb, can't deliver one single line right in the entire film - he blabbers through them all, and when he's required to put some bravado into a line he screams it at the top of his lungs like Arthur was on fire.All the scenes are so unintentionally funny - through terrible acting, ridiculous staging, Merlin (Merlin!), and verbal bastardization of what is actually a quality script.
Add to this the psychosexual elements, incest, homosexuality (I am convinced Arthur, Guenevere and Lancelot were a menage a trois, although not at the same time) the economic and moral crisis of a system that had played itself out, an almost Christ-like feeling of betrayal, death and resurrection, and you have a story as compelling as anything told by Homer..
Sometimes, as in Point Blank, this produces a film which is austere yet impressive and resonant; at other times, like Zardoz, the result is unintentionally hilarious and leaves the viewer clueless as to the director's intentions.Excalibur falls in the middle.
Even the story itself is poor, demonstrating that the legend of Arthur is less a coherent narrative and more a string of sometimes contradictory events conflating numerous historical figures and folk tales.The film has no discernible intellectual, social or political message, and though it promises the chance to see a record of some good stage actors, the expected performances never materialise through the darkness and mud.
Here the love story is portrayed but so is Merlin and the mythical elements with Morgan and the sword, Excalibur itself.I really liked the visuals in the film.
While this retelling of King Arthur's legend remains popular with many, this bloody tale of dark sorcery and sex is definitely not for me.
The viewer would do well to brush up on the myths BEFORE seeing this picture to avoid being confused as to the unfolding events.The movie reveals the travels of Arthur's mystical sword, Excalibur.
Years later Arthur, Uther's now adult bastard son, draws the sword out of the stone and becomes the new king, setting up his court at Camelot with his Knights of the Round Table.
This malevolent son, Mordred, arrives on the scene, claiming his father's throne for himself and ultimately causing Arthur's downfall.In terms of the acting, I don't wish to disparage any of the cast, as it's been some years since I saw this film.
Even in a fantasy, if the characters fail to capture your interest, it really doesn't matter much what magic or other drama befalls.Admittedly, there are serious time constraints and the movie is intended to focus on Arthur & his sword.
This truly is hands down the greatest version of King Arthur and the Knights of the round table i have ever seen.
I loved everything about this film, the costumes, the cinematography, the story arch, the settings, the lighting, the colors, the mood, the violence, the sex, and most of all the music is the most epic of all time.
The more i watch this film over the years, the more i wish i felt more movies were like it.
The magic involved is cool and not geeky, the violence is gruesome, as is many of the characters, the sex is sexy, and story is one of the greatest of all time and told in the best way imaginable.
The script is fantastic, the actors are wonderful and overall it just makes for one extremely well made film.I have seen other versions of the King Arthur legend but none come even close to this version.
Even the music is hauntingly beautiful.The ending of the film with King Arthur on his way to Valhalla left me in tears..
Greatest King Arthur Movie of All Time!.
If you like the Arthurian legend, are into the Holy Grail, or Dungeon and Dragons, this is the film for you.
Merlin, towards the end of the film, even says the line "Your love brought me back to where you are: in the land of dreams."  If anything, this makes the film even more tragic, because all of Arthur's sufferings have been not for his world, but for ours.The Arthurian legend is probably the world's best legend.
The visual imagination and daring to have Camelot as a castle literally made from silver, and to have Arthur's final battle fought in fog with a huge blood red sunset behind it, makes this a feast for the eye.I am writing about one of my all-time favourite films.
Love seems to be a destructive force, lyrically beautiful and bravely realistic...The film brings to life the fateful story of a solitary hero, his ascension to the throne, the love triangle of Camelot, the quest for the Holy Grail, the decline and eventual fall of Arthur and Camelot...
Love seems to be a destructive force, lyrically beautiful and bravely realistic...The film brings to life the fateful story of a solitary hero, his ascension to the throne, the love triangle of Camelot, the quest for the Holy Grail, the decline and eventual fall of Arthur and Camelot...
Along for the ride are his indispensable Knights of the Round Table, particularly Sir Lancelot...The characters in Boorman's "Excalibur" are extremely well developed...
Along for the ride are his indispensable Knights of the Round Table, particularly Sir Lancelot...The characters in Boorman's "Excalibur" are extremely well developed...
Arthur tries to use Might for the establishment of Right, and according to his own laws, he puts reason over love...A prominent figure in the film is Merlin...
Arthur tries to use Might for the establishment of Right, and according to his own laws, he puts reason over love...A prominent figure in the film is Merlin...
The film endures and inspires because it embodies mankind's deepest yearnings...Among the many elements that make the movie work is the cast: Nigel Terry, the rightful King who, accidentally, removes the sword of power easily, not once, but twice; Helen Mirren, the enchantress Morgana, Merlin's nemesis and Arthur's treacherous half-sister, who seduces Merlin, and then encircles him in a stream of vengeance; Nicholas Clay, persuasively ardent and athletic as the First Knight; Cherie Lunghi, the damsel in distress who loves her husband with her mind and Lancelot with her heart; Nicol Williamson, the wily Merlin who would see that the young Arthur receive the necessary training and guidance to fulfill his unlikely destiny; Gabriel Byrne, the hot-blooded Uther Pendragon, who plunges 'Excalibur' deep into a stone rock in one last act of defiance; Katrine Boorman, the woman taken as by a fully armored King; Liam Neeson, the knight who dares to accuse the Queen; and Robert Addie, the 'unholy child' who comes to Camelot to demand the throne of his father...One of the more fascinating aspects of the film (and there are many...) are the differences between Uther and Arthur...
The film endures and inspires because it embodies mankind's deepest yearnings...Among the many elements that make the movie work is the cast: Nigel Terry, the rightful King who, accidentally, removes the sword of power easily, not once, but twice; Helen Mirren, the enchantress Morgana, Merlin's nemesis and Arthur's treacherous half-sister, who seduces Merlin, and then encircles him in a stream of vengeance; Nicholas Clay, persuasively ardent and athletic as the First Knight; Cherie Lunghi, the damsel in distress who loves her husband with her mind and Lancelot with her heart; Nicol Williamson, the wily Merlin who would see that the young Arthur receive the necessary training and guidance to fulfill his unlikely destiny; Gabriel Byrne, the hot-blooded Uther Pendragon, who plunges 'Excalibur' deep into a stone rock in one last act of defiance; Katrine Boorman, the woman taken as by a fully armored King; Liam Neeson, the knight who dares to accuse the Queen; and Robert Addie, the 'unholy child' who comes to Camelot to demand the throne of his father...One of the more fascinating aspects of the film (and there are many...) are the differences between Uther and Arthur...
When he sees Guinevere in the arms of Lancelot, he stuck 'Excalibur' between them loosing his connection to the extraordinary powers of Merlin and the Lady of the Lake...John Boorman's films frequently concern contradictions and polarities, tensions between nature and civilization, dream and reality...
When he sees Guinevere in the arms of Lancelot, he stuck 'Excalibur' between them loosing his connection to the extraordinary powers of Merlin and the Lady of the Lake...John Boorman's films frequently concern contradictions and polarities, tensions between nature and civilization, dream and reality...
Excalibur, Starring Nigel Terry, Nicol Williamson, Helen Mirren, Cheri Lunghi, Nicholas Clay, Liam Neeson, Patrick Stewart, Gabriel Byrne, Robert Addie, Katrine Boorman, Paul Geoffrey, Clive Swift Director John Boorman, 1981 Director John Boorman and screenwriter Rospo Pallenberg worked on adapting the centuries old Thomas Malory epic "Le Morte D'Arthur" into a stunning, intensely dramatic movie masterpiece the likes of which had never been seen before.
First of all, we must look beyond the fantasy elements and the special effects which everyone enjoys - the magic sword Excalibur, itself a symbol of strength and kingship (in the film the Lady of the Lake who gives the sword to Arthur and who receives it again in the finale is played by one of Boorman's daughter Telsche Boorman), the elaborate details of the medieval, Celtic-Christian England from the clothing, to the fortresses, to the armor and weapons, and we must see into the heart of the long epic.
First off, Nigel Terry and Nicol Williamson as Arthur and Merlin carry the movie.
Have seen this film quite a few times and never tire of it as it is a brilliant depiction of the Arthurian legend and Camelot.
I've seen a lot of films that involve knights on horseback and guys fighting each other with swords dressed in armor but this is the only one with hugely over the top acting and way too out of this world grossly exaggerated dialog.
It also covered the story of King Arthur better than any other film before or since..
I don't know much about the King Arthur legend, but I can say that this film is brilliant.
As Arthur puts it, "We'll use the old ways."Excalibur is a dense, bombastic, aural, noble and spectacular telling of the Arthurian legend.
It is the best film ever made about The Arthurian Legend and is likely to remain so.
The late Nigel Terry is great as King Arthur, I also loved him in Caravaggio, a shame that he was so little known as an actor.
The Best of all King Arthur Movies.
No other King Arthur movie has made an impression on me like Excalibur has.
As much as I like "knights-in-shining-armor" movies and fantasy films, there has to be a certain narrative logic to the stories and a certain reality to the characters.