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IMDbPro

Excalibur

  • 19811981
  • PGPG
  • 2h 20m
IMDb RATING
7.3/10
63K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
1,483
175
Excalibur (1981)
Home Video Trailer from Warner Home Video
Play trailer2:30
3 Videos
99+ Photos
AdventureDramaFantasy
Merlin the magician helps Arthur Pendragon unite the Britons around the Round Table of Camelot, even as dark forces conspire to tear it apart.Merlin the magician helps Arthur Pendragon unite the Britons around the Round Table of Camelot, even as dark forces conspire to tear it apart.Merlin the magician helps Arthur Pendragon unite the Britons around the Round Table of Camelot, even as dark forces conspire to tear it apart.
IMDb RATING
7.3/10
63K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
1,483
175
    • John Boorman
    • Thomas Malory(book "Le Morte d'Arthur")
    • Rospo Pallenberg(adaptation)
    • John Boorman(screenplay)
  • Stars
    • Nigel Terry
    • Helen Mirren
    • Nicholas Clay
    • John Boorman
    • Thomas Malory(book "Le Morte d'Arthur")
    • Rospo Pallenberg(adaptation)
    • John Boorman(screenplay)
  • Stars
    • Nigel Terry
    • Helen Mirren
    • Nicholas Clay
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 420User reviews
    • 117Critic reviews
    • 56Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 1 Oscar

    Videos3

    Excalibur
    Trailer 2:30
    Watch Excalibur
    Excalibur
    Trailer 2:25
    Watch Excalibur
    Sneak Previews Season 3 Episode 27
    Video 29:09
    Watch Sneak Previews Season 3 Episode 27

    Photos187

    Nigel Terry in Excalibur (1981)
    Cherie Lunghi and Nigel Terry in Excalibur (1981)
    Excalibur (1981)
    Nigel Terry in Excalibur (1981)
    Excalibur (1981)
    Cherie Lunghi, Nigel Terry, and Nicol Williamson in Excalibur (1981)
    Excalibur (1981)
    Nigel Terry in Excalibur (1981)
    Helen Mirren in Excalibur (1981)
    Cherie Lunghi and Nigel Terry in Excalibur (1981)
    Excalibur (1981)
    Nicol Williamson in Excalibur (1981)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Nigel Terry
    Nigel Terry
    • King Arthur
    Helen Mirren
    Helen Mirren
    • Morgana
    Nicholas Clay
    Nicholas Clay
    • Lancelot
    Cherie Lunghi
    Cherie Lunghi
    • Guenevere
    Paul Geoffrey
    Paul Geoffrey
    • Perceval
    Nicol Williamson
    Nicol Williamson
    • Merlin
    Robert Addie
    Robert Addie
    • Mordred
    Gabriel Byrne
    Gabriel Byrne
    • Uther Pendragon
    Keith Buckley
    Keith Buckley
    • Uryens
    Katrine Boorman
    Katrine Boorman
    • Igrayne
    Liam Neeson
    Liam Neeson
    • Gawain
    Corin Redgrave
    Corin Redgrave
    • Cornwall
    Niall O'Brien
    • Kay
    Patrick Stewart
    Patrick Stewart
    • Leondegrance
    Clive Swift
    Clive Swift
    • Ector
    Ciarán Hinds
    Ciarán Hinds
    • Lot
    • (as Ciarin Hinds)
    Liam O'Callaghan
    • Sadok
    Michael Muldoon
    • Astamor
      • John Boorman
      • Thomas Malory(book "Le Morte d'Arthur")
      • Rospo Pallenberg(adaptation) (screenplay)
      • John Boorman(screenplay)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The initial fight scene had to be filmed three times. It was filmed at night, and all of the film came out underexposed the first two times, due to a fault in the exposure meter. The cameraman had a nervous breakdown over the issue and quit.
    • Goofs
      During the final battle scene against Mordred, the background audio track of men yelling and swordplay is clearly a re-tread of the Leon De Grance castle battle. In the final battle scene, one can clearly hear the "throw the rope" line that Merlin yells to Arthur from Leon De Grance castle battle, as well as the yell from Arthur as he jumped from the castle into the moat. (00:37:02 same as 02:88:18, 00:40:12 same as 02:09:58).
    • Quotes

      Merlin: STAND BACK! Be silent! Be still!... That's it... and look upon this moment. Savor it! Rejoice with great gladness! Great gladness! Remember it always, for you are joined by it. You are One, under the stars. Remember it well, then... this night, this great victory. So that in the years ahead, you can say, 'I was there that night, with Arthur, the King!' For it is the doom of men that they forget.

    • Alternate versions
      CBS edited 20 minutes from this film for its 1985 network television premiere.
    • Connections
      Edited into Wizards and Warriors: The Kidnap (1983)
    • Soundtracks
      Prelude to Parsifal
      by Richard Wagner

      Specially recorded by London Philharmonic Orchestra (as The London Philharmonic Orchestra)

      Conducted by Norman Del Mar

    User reviews420

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    7/10
    John Boorman is a crazy person.
    This is a film that needs to be watched differently from most films. It operates very differently from the more realistic bent that the vast majority of films lend themselves towards and leans very heavily into a much more formalistic approach. It's an effort to bring Romantic painting to life with an operatic feel, and if you can't get into that different style of reality, then the movie's going to just be funny. Buy into the hyper-reality, though, and you have an entertaining 140 minutes ahead of you.

    Everything about this film is big. Costumes entail men walking everywhere in full plate armor. Sets are huge and completely impractical. Performances reach for the rafters. The world is filled with magic and the implication of a huge dragon. It's very much of its own style, and the fact that Zach Snyder considers Excalibur his favorite movie makes just so much sense.

    It's the traditional Arthurian legend filtered through the crazy mind of John Boorman. It goes beyond the formalistic stylistic approach to the story, but the inclusion of every weird factor of the original myths plays into Boorman's wheelhouse. Merlin using the magic of the dragon to disguise Uther to trick Igraine is a prime example. But Boorman also includes some extra-mythical elements like having Morgana be Mordred's mother and Arthur his father, creating an incestuous relationship that was never there before. It's rather fertile feeding ground for Boorman's insanity, and I'm really glad he used it.

    It blows through the Arthurian legend, mostly propelled by Nicol Williamson's awesomely weird performance as Merlin, watching Uther father Arthur, Arthur claim the sword in the stone and rise to become king, the peace that follows, and the dissolution of that peace precipitated by the affair between Guinevere and Lancelot. Alongside is the rise of Morgana, her tutelage under Merlin, and her raising of Mordred. All of this is big and entertaining (if weird and uncomfortable at certain moments), but it's the late introduction of the Grail Quest that kind of derails the latter half of the film for me.

    The Grail isn't mentioned until about 90 minutes into the film, and it's just very suddenly dropped in as a very important thing that needs to be found right then. Arthur is sick, the country is sick, and they need something to revive the nation and its king. Suddenly, "Hey, Percival, go find the Holy Grail."

    The Grail Quest feels really tacked on. There are some striking visuals like the actual vision of the Grail that Percival has and the image of Percival hanging from the tree because of where the Quest took him, but it's a sudden late introduction that actually doesn't come to fruition. Maybe if the Grail had been introduced earlier in the film it would have worked better, but as it is, it feels like the Grail is in the film because it's a common part of the Arthurian legend and not because there was a compelling reason to include it in this telling.

    Overall, though, the film is really quite an experience. Divorced from reality and existing in its own fantasy realm, it creates its own rules of behavior and sticks to them. It's really pretty from beginning to end, well using the Irish countryside (around John Boorman's house) with mise-en-scene that really evokes Romantic paintings. The performances, especially Nicol Williamson's as Merlin, fit well with the material, and it's an entertaining look into another reality that follows different rules from our own.
    helpful•28
    1
    • davidmvining
    • Jan 13, 2020

    FAQ8

    • What is Excalibur about?
    • What are the differences between the R and PG-rated versions?
    • Is this film based on a book?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • April 10, 1981 (United States)
      • United Kingdom
      • United States
      • English
    • Also known as
    • Filming locations
      • Powerscourt Estate, Enniskerry, County Wicklow, Ireland
    • Production companies
      • Cinema '84
      • Orion Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • 2 hours 20 minutes
      • Color
      • Mono

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