Excalibur (1981)
Directed by John Boorman
Arthur fulfills his fate by bringing together the Knights of the Round Table at Camelot and unifying the country. However, this flawed monarch faces greater tests ahead in pursuit of love, the Holy Grail, and his nation's survival.
8 connections found
View:
8 films that influenced Excalibur
What critics say influenced Excalibur
Anyone with an answer for what the good fuck is going on in John Boorman's Excalibur is the forgiving sort who already has a working conversation with the Arthur mythos--who's already read T.H. White or at the minimum watched The Sword in the Stone.
It may be a coincidence, but when Merlin makes his first appearance in the film, his image taking shape out of swirling, back-lighted mist, he looks startlingly like Max von Sydow's Jesus in George Stevens's ''The Greatest Story Ever Told.''
If Robert Bresson's “Lancelot Of The Lake” (1973) deliberately made all the knights into interchangeable, clanking clones, Boorman seems to have arrived at the same place inadvertently.
Yet some films made of them are funnier (''Monty Python and the Holy Grail'') and more stimulating (Robert Bresson's ''Lancelot of the Lake'' and Eric Rohmer's ''Perceval'') than others, including the foolish screen version of the musical ''Camelot'' and now John Boorman's big, solemn, grandiose ''Excalibur.''
Compared to John Boorman’s Excalibur, Lancelot du Lac is a relatively uneventful interpretation of Arthurian myth, told over the course of a short period of time during Lancelot and Guinevere’s love affair.
Yet some films made of them are funnier (''Monty Python and the Holy Grail'') and more stimulating (Robert Bresson's ''Lancelot of the Lake'' and Eric Rohmer's ''Perceval'') than others, including the foolish screen version of the musical ''Camelot'' and now John Boorman's big, solemn, grandiose ''Excalibur.''
Advertisement
I suppose it’s reasonable enough that Boorman and company just chose to ignore that Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) existed, but there are moments where that earlier film seems to have been parodying this one—one that hadn’t been made yet.
Yet some films made of them are funnier (''Monty Python and the Holy Grail'') and more stimulating (Robert Bresson's ''Lancelot of the Lake'' and Eric Rohmer's ''Perceval'') than others, including the foolish screen version of the musical ''Camelot'' and now John Boorman's big, solemn, grandiose ''Excalibur.''
But director Boorman ("Point Blank," "Deliverance") revived the folklore, the pageantry, the derring-do, and the magic that had worked so well for ages, and he couldn't have done it better.
And it's a film so obfuscating to Boorman's legacy that it colours appreciation of good Boorman like Deliverance and Point Blank.
Directed by John Boorman, then known for his noir masterpiece, "Point Blank," and later directed "Excalibur" and "Hope and Glory, "Deliverance" was nominated for three Oscars Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.
That Boorman, a relatively unknown director at the time, managed to do this without reducing himself or his movie to the cheap values of film exploitation is rather revealing about his skill (he would later use that chutzpah to fuel more lavish endeavors, including the magnificent “Excalibur”).
Three of Boorman's feature films, Point Blank, Leo the Last, and Deliverance, center around individuals trying to define their destiny in a wild world.
But director Boorman ("Point Blank," "Deliverance") revived the folklore, the pageantry, the derring-do, and the magic that had worked so well for ages, and he couldn't have done it better.
Mr. Boorman, the English director (''Deliverance,'' ''Zardoz''), is dauntless.
And it's a film so obfuscating to Boorman's legacy that it colours appreciation of good Boorman like Deliverance and Point Blank.
And his two later movies, Zardoz (a futuristic handling of the Arthurian legend) and Exorcist II The Heretic (with its magic and horror), each bear the imprint of Malory's thematic concerns.
The same thing happened to Boorman's sci-fi spectacle Zardoz (1974); it was intended in all seriousness, but it was so bad that it became a cult item.
Mr. Boorman, the English director (''Deliverance,'' ''Zardoz''), is dauntless.