CAMELOT (3+ outta 5 stars) I've heard for years how bad this movie version of the hit musical was supposed to have been... so I was never really in a hurry to see it... much as I admire the work of Richard Harris, Vanessa Redgrave, Franco Nero and the rest of the cast. Finally I decided to take the plunge... and found the movie to be not too bad at all. Yes, some of the musical arrangements sound a little stale... the activity on the screen doesn't seem to expand much beyond what one would have seen on the stage... and there may be an over-reliance on extreme close-ups of the stars... but the movie still moves along at a brisk pace (even at 3 hours the movie doesn't seem overly long) and there is a lot to appreciate. The three leads have seldom looked more attractive on screen (you can see why Redgrave and Nero engaged in a torrid love affair of their own soon after filming). Richard Harris is in fine voice and form... but when he is EVER not worth watching? Franco Nero's accent is a little off-putting at first... his voice reminded me of Mandy Patinkin in "The Princess Bride", of all things! (I wonder if Patinkin modeled his vocal inflections after Nero?) The movie isn't really big on action scenes... though there is a rousing escape scene at one point... and a clamorous rescue scene. I wouldn't say every song in the score was a winner... but the clunkers seem to be over with soon enough... and the good songs more than make up for the duds. Maybe not the best version of the Arthurian saga ever... but definitely worth a look.
