Excalibur (1981)

Director:

John Boorman

Writers:

Thomas Malory (book)
Rospo Pallenberg (adaptation)
(more)

Release Date:

10 April 1981 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Fantasy

Tagline:

No mortal could possess it! No kingdom could command it!

Plot:

A spirited accounting of one of the most obscure periods of the world's history. This reprisal is magical in its execution and gives its audience something to watch.

Plot Keywords:

Knight | Excalibur | Evil | King | Sword

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 2 wins & 9 nominations

Cast

Nigel Terry	...	King Arthur
Helen Mirren	...	Morgana
Nicholas Clay	...	Lancelot
Cherie Lunghi	...	Guenevere
Paul Geoffrey	...	Perceval
Nicol Williamson	...	Merlin
Robert Addie	...	Mordred
Gabriel Byrne	...	Uther Pendragon
Keith Buckley	...	Uryens
Katrine Boorman	...	Igrayne
Liam Neeson	...	Gawain
Corin Redgrave	...	Cornwall
Niall O'Brien	...	Kay
Patrick Stewart	...	Leondegrance
Clive Swift	...	Sir Hector
Ciarán Hinds	...	Lot (as Ciarin Hinds)
Liam O'Callaghan	...	Sadok
Michael Muldoon	...	Astamor
Charley Boorman	...	Boy Mordred
Gerard Mannix Flynn	...	Mordred's Lieutenant (as Mannix Flynn)
Garrett Keogh	...	Mador
Emmet Bergin	...	Ulfus
Barbara Byrne	...	Young Morgana
Brid Brennan	...	Lady in Waiting
Kay McLaren	...	Aged Morgana
Eamon A. Kelly	...	Abbot (as Eamonn Kelly)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Hilary Joyalle	...	Lady of the Lake (uncredited)
Prudence Wright Holmes	...	Sunshine (uncredited)

Directed by
John Boorman

Writing credits
Thomas Malory		(book "Le Morte d'Arthur")
Rospo Pallenberg		(adaptation)
Rospo Pallenberg		(screenplay) and
John Boorman		(screenplay)

Produced by
John Boorman	....	producer
Michael Dryhurst	....	associate producer
Robert A. Eisenstein	....	executive producer
Edgar F. Gross	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Trevor Jones

Cinematography by
Alex Thomson

Film Editing by
John Merritt
Donn Cambern		(uncredited)

Casting by
Mary Selway

Production Design by
Anthony Pratt

Art Direction by
Tim Hutchinson

Set Decoration by
Bryan Graves

Costume Design by
Bob Ringwood

Makeup Department
Anna Dryhurst	....	makeup artist
Anne Dunne	....	hair stylist
Anne McFadyen	....	hair stylist
Basil Newall	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Jack Phelan	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Barry Blackmore	....	assistant director
Robert Dwyer-Joyce	....	second assistant director
John Lawlor	....	second assistant director
Peter MacDonald	....	second unit director
Andrew Montgomery	....	second assistant director
Ted Morley	....	second assistant director
David Murphy	....	second assistant director
Martin O'Malley	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Trisha Edwards	....	production buyer
Bob Hedges	....	property master
Joe Lear	....	master plasterer
Joe Lee	....	construction manager
John Lucas	....	associate art director
Owen Murnane	....	master painter
Paddy Murray	....	property man
Mario Novelli	....	model maker (as Anthony Freeman)
David Rayner	....	property man
Mervyn Rowe	....	scenic artist
Bertram Tyrer	....	associate art director
Mark Hedges	....	trainee propman (uncredited)

Sound Department
Pat Brennan	....	assistant sound editor
Tom Curran	....	sound recordist
Ron Davis	....	sound editor
John Fortune	....	boom operator
Tony Message	....	dialogue editor
Doug E. Turner	....	sound mixer (as Doug Turner)
Lionel Strutt	....	adr mixer (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Michael Doyle	....	special effects
Peter Hutchinson	....	special effects
Gerry Johnston	....	special effects
Alan Whibley	....	special effects

Visual Effects by
Wally Veevers	....	special optical effects

Stunts
Ken Byrne	....	stunts
Dominick Hewitt	....	stunt double
Paul Kelly	....	stunts
Chris King	....	stunts
James McHale	....	stunts
Ed McShortall	....	stunts
Donal O'Farrell	....	stunts
Bernard O'Hare	....	stunts
Peter Spelman	....	stunts
Alan Walsh	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Mike Brewster	....	assistant camera
John J. Campbell	....	assistant camera (as John Campbell)
Jack Conroy	....	electrical supervisor
Louis Conroy	....	electrician
Terry Eiffe	....	electrician
Derek Hate	....	electrician
Martin Holland	....	electrician
Peter MacDonald	....	photographer: second unit
Shane O'Neill	....	assistant camera
Luke Quigley	....	camera grip
Arnaud Sélignac	....	still photographer
Bob Smith	....	camera operator
Peter Versey	....	assistant camera
Mike Fox	....	second camera operator (uncredited)
Jon Sorensen	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
Des Whelan	....	second assistant camera: second unit (uncredited)
Robert Willoughby	....	special still photographer (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Daryl Bristow	....	wardrobe master
Janet O'Leary	....	wardrobe mistress

Editorial Department
Michael Kelliher	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Trevor Jones	....	conductor: original music
Dick Lewzey	....	music recording engineer (as Richard Lewzey)
John Richards	....	music recording engineer
John A. Coleman	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Transportation Department
Arthur Dunne	....	transportation manager

Other crew
Terry Baker	....	stand-by crew
Philip Bernon	....	rider
Telsche Boorman	....	general assistant
Richard Collins	....	rider
Seamus Collins	....	rider
Con Cremins	....	assistant accountant
Joe Cullen	....	rider
Barry Cunningham	....	stand-by crew
Daithi Curren	....	rider
Tony Doyle	....	rider
Terry English	....	armorer
Nick Fitzpatrick	....	armorer
Martin Forrestal	....	stand-by crew
Donal Fortune	....	rider
David Gavaghan	....	rider
Beryl Harvey	....	production assistant
William Hobbs	....	fight arranger
Neil Jordan	....	creative associate
Eddie Kennedy	....	rider
Peter Leicht	....	armorer
Tom Lundy	....	stand-by crew
Marie McFerran	....	production assistant
Bronco McLoughlin	....	rider (as Bronco McLaughlin)
Kevin Moriarty	....	location manager
Michael O'Farrell	....	rider
Ray O'Toole	....	rider
Michael Rowland	....	horse master
Jean Skinner	....	continuity
Artur Tarry	....	production accountant (as Arthur Tarry)
Steve Tidiman	....	armorer
Anthony Van Laast	....	choreographer
Christy Yourell	....	stand-by crew
Wayne Docksey	....	animal wrangler (uncredited)
Craig Miller	....	marketing consultant (uncredited)
Philip Sharpe	....	technician (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Orion Pictures Corporation

Distributors

• Orion Pictures Corporation (1981) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. Pictures (1981) (USA) (theatrical) (through)
• Warner-Columbia Film (1981) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Neue Constantin Film (1981) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1985) (USA) (TV) (broadcast premiere)
• Warner Home Video (1993) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Warner Home Video (1998) (Sweden) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (1999) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Vídeo (2000) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2001) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2008) (Germany) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (1991) (Germany) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Vídeo (Brazil) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Irish Film Stunt Squad  stunts
• Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus  orchestra
• London Philharmonic Orchestra  orchestra
• The National Film Studios  studio

Also Known As:

The Knights (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

140 min | USA:119 min (edited version)

Country:

USA | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:R (Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Iceland:12 | Sweden:15 | Germany:12 (DVD rating) | South Korea:15 (cable rating) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Chile:14 | Finland:K-16 | Ireland:15 | Singapore:M18 | UK:15 | USA:PG (cut) | USA:R | West Germany:12 (f)

Filming Locations:

County Kerry, Ireland

Company:

Orion Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Most of the forest scenes and Excalibur (the sword) were back lit by green lights, giving it a magical quality.

Goofs:

Continuity: After killing Mordred, the spear in Arthur's chest disappears.

Quotes:

Merlin: What are you afraid of?
Arthur: I don't know.
Merlin: Shall I tell you what's out there?
Arthur: Yes, please.
Merlin: The dragon. A beast of such power that if you were to see it whole and complete in a single glance, it would burn you to cinders.
Arthur: Where is it?
Merlin: It is everywhere. It is everything. Its scales glisten in the bark of trees. Its roar is heard in the wind. And its forked tongue strikes like...
[lightning strikes]
Merlin: Like lightning, yes that's it.
Arthur: How can I...? What shall I...? Must I...?
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Throg (2004)

Soundtrack:

Prelude to Tristan and Isolde

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. His kingdom of Camelot is falling. The knights of the Round Table are disbanding. Guinevere has entered a convent. In short, Arthur's world is collapsing. He rides to the nunnery to see Guinevere for the last time. And there, she produces the ancient timeless object hidden beneath some linen: the sword Excalibur, still gleaming, still magical, still potent to fight in the battle that Arthur cannot win. He sheathes Excalibur, and, in full knightly regalia rides with his remaining loyal knights through the English countryside, their pennants and banners flying in the wind. The fortissimo chorus of Carmina Burana accompanies their ride in perfect harmony, chanting the lyrics from the medieval poem "O Fortuna". This is the stuff of legend...

Artistic treatments of the Arthurian legends date back to illuminated codices from the Middle Ages. 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. Even later renditions include T.H. White's "The Once and Future King". 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 reason why this is the best of the Arthurian-based films is its imagery and its dedication to the original Arthurian myths. The entire look of the film, which I have not seen in a movie since, reeks of Medieval Legend. The lush forests, the huge castles, and the glittering swords give a visual and dream-like reality. This is NOT how it was in the Middle Ages. This is how people in the Middle Ages would have liked it to have been, which is the entire point of the Arthurian myths. The filmmakers of Excalibur understood that myth is about dreams.

Several moments in the film are inspired directly from Malory and earlier Medieval codices. For example, several Medieval illuminated manuscripts feature the hand of the Lady of the Lake bestowing the sword Excalibur to Arthur. Strangely this episode, which becomes an important theme throughout Excalibur, is lacking from other theatrical versions and yet it is central to the original myth. Another is the strange rhetoric that Arthur and the land are one, and when Arthur becomes ill, the land of his kingdom becomes barren. 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. This was possibly the best Merlin ever to come to the large screen. Some of the most humorous moments of the film occur with Merlin. Instead of being the absent-minded wizard of "The Sword in the Stone", he is the last of the Druids, a race giving way to Medieval Christians. Worth the price of admission. It is sad that he obtained very little recognition for this portrayal.

The fact is, a viewer either experiences "aesthetic arrest" with Excalibur, or he or she doesn't. If the scenes when the knights go riding through countryside with their pennants flying behind them doesn't give you the shivers, this is not and will never be your kind of movie. If Malory had lived to see this film, he would have been awed and proud. Malory gave Arthur to the world, and Excalibur gave Arthur back to Malory.