Excalibur (1981 film)

Watching it now; it was the first R rated movie I saw. Some fun facts -- early film appearances of Patrick Stewart, Liam Neeson, and Gabriel Byrne. The actor who played Lancelot (Nicholas Clay) was BEAUTIFUL. A couple of scenes with his naked ass. (Too bad he passed away far too young at 53 in 2000). There were 2 actors who played Mordred (the son of Arthur and Morgana). The younger actor is Charley Boorman, the son of director John Boorman. Charley is the guy who took a motorcycle trip with Ewan McGregor in "Long Way Round." The older actor, Robert Addie, died back in 2003 at the age of 43. His beautiful blue eyes are striking! John Boorman cast Nicol Williamson and Helen Mirren opposite each other as Merlin and Morgana, knowing that the two were at the time on less than friendly terms, due to personal issues that arose during a production of Macbeth seven years earlier. Boorman felt that the tension on set would come through in the actors' performances. Plus it has Helen Mirren in a metal breast plate!!

I love Excalibur. Morgana and Arthur having sex = hot.
There''s a scene near the beginning where Gabriel Byrne has sex with some woman while he''s wearing armor that I found deeply arousing as a teenager.
he''s having sex with Igraine (who will get pregnant of Arthur)
Boorman also tried to make Charlie happen in "The Emerald Forest" but that didn''t quite work out, either.
Love that movie, but I never knew Gabriel Byrne was Uther.
Mirren is really sexy here.
An%C3%A1l nathrach,\ \ orth%E2%80%99 bh%C3%A1is%E2%80%99s bethad,\ \ do ch%C3%A9l d%C3%A9nmha
Morganna
Nicol Williamson was a troublemaker & freak. It took a white male British gamble to cast him even that early.
After college, I met a young military officer who told me that Excalibur was the film of choice among the cadets at West Point -- knights, blood, boobs, they were crazy about it.
I thought the movie opens with Nicol Williamson as Uther. I had the VHS at home when I was 11. It was the very first time I actually saw anyone have sex in a movie.%0D\ %0D\ Who was Morga Le Fey? Wasn''t Merlin somehow implicated in all theSteamy goings on? I mean, if memory serves he was the puppetmaster, wasn''t he? Didn''t Arthur''s sister hang out with him. He had to be fucking someone. Who was the mean little boy who went riding around on a horse with a gold mask?%0D\ %0D\ I''m so fuzzy on details!
Incredibly skilled filmmaking. This is my favorite take on the King Arthur legends. Boorman at his best. "Excalibur" and "Hope and Glory" make a fantastic Boorman double feature.
R11, yes! I love "Hope and Glory," one of my very favorite flicks.
I remember being gobsmacked by this movie. After the credits rolled, I just sat in the chair. I also remember the movie got a standing ovation (I went with my dad on opening weekend... I was in my early teens).%0D\ %0D\ I thought the movie was just beyond amazing.%0D\ %0D\ I''ve seen it again since, and I don''t think it holds up all that well. MOST of it does, but the older Arthur really couldn''t act. Everyone else was great.%0D\ %0D\ And oh, that music. That music was so perfect.%0D\ %0D\ And Merlin was amazing, as was Morgana.%0D\ %0D\ Indeed, even now, it is my favorite retelling of the Legend of King Arthur.%0D\ %0D
Damn you R7! I memorized words to that damn spell that Morgana says back in the 80''s and remember them to this day. \ \ I came here to gloat about it and you beat me to it. But just to bug you, this is how I say it (all words spelled phonetically, as I''m as far from medieval as you can get)\ \ "ahnal nathrack uthras bethud dothyel dyenvay"
Black woman from Flatbush 11226
Not just WP cadets, R9. I remember when this movie came out, it was a big hit in the urban areas too. A lot of my schoolmates (black, Hispanic) saw this and theaters got pretty large audiences. It was spectacle for its time, and just a damn good movie.
"A couple of scenes with his naked ass."\ \ Isn''t that kind of unusual for a King Arthur film?
Richard Wagner should take a lot of the credit.
R14, do you suppose if I look at the supermoon tonight and recite that, I''ll have all my wishes come true?
R17, that''s one of the things I love about Boorman, he uses music to great effect.
I loved Excalibur, and believe it''s a cult classic, but I think it''s time for an update.I really don''t think anyone has yet made a really good movie about the Arthurian Legend.%0D\ %0D\ I know there was a shiteous mess with Richard Gere as Lancelot, in First Knight, and the Clive Owen one, and the then the Vanessa Redgrave/Franco Nero one. I don''t count Camelot with Richard Burton. It was a musical.%0D\ %0D\ I wish someone who''s really competent would make an updated Excalibur. That opening scene alone would be worth it.
The green cast of light on the armour, the swords, the helmets. That''s what I remember about the film. I believe it''s coming out on blu-ray.
I liked that Guinevere was feisty and fun, not a anemic blonde ever waiting passively for the next thing.
[quote] and the then the Vanessa Redgrave/Franco Nero one. I don''t count Camelot with Richard Burton. It was a musical.\ \ So was "the Vanessa Redgrave/Franco Nero one." It was the movie version of "Camelot."
[quote]I memorized words to that damn spell that Morgana says back in the 80''s and remember them to this day.\ \ Here''s an interesting note about said spell.
http://www.maryjones.us/jce/charmmaking.html
Anyone remember Excalibur in Hoboken?
What are you talking about that the older Arthur couldn''t act, r13? it was the same actor.
Anal nitrate\ \ Up his behind\ \ Do cheat dementia
Nicolas Clay''s ass was one of the wonders of the world.
I remember seeing a lot more than just Lancelot''s ass, you could see almost everything he had, and boy did he look good.
Here''s Nicholas Clay in Lady Chatterly''s Lover
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cQpT7M648Ew/TO0kP-gAgiI/AAAAAAAAF_k/6aoHt9wcZgY/s1600/NC04d.jpg
The guy who played the elder Mordrid died? That''s so sad. I thought he was HOT AS FUCK in the movie.%0D\ %0D\ What did he die of, at such a young age?%0D\ %0D
R31- He played Lancelot. Was it cancer?
Lung cancer, according to IMDB.
R30, those hips and ass look womanly
In two weeks "Excalibur" will be thirty years old. It opened April 10, 1981. It opened at Number One at the box office followed by Sylvester Stallone in "Nighthawks" at Number Two.
I was a senior in high school and this was the ONLY time I ever played hooky (what can I say? I was a good boy). Some friends and I saw this and I too was blown away. Sexy, violent, glamourous, dramatic, what more could you want from a movie? Last summer I showed it to my class, so it''s being passed down between the generations.
It is amazing how well the film holds up. With the exception of "Lancelot Du Lac" no other film gets to the core of Arthurian legend. In grad school, I took a medieval seminar and this film was the stuff of legend. Even the professor could quote at length from it.
ranger
Most literary scholars agree the legend is fundamentally unfilmable, which gives rise to one sorry attempt after another.
Then most literary scholars haven''t seen "Excalibur." It''s perfect and can never be equalled.
When I saw it, it was playing as a double bill with "Enter the Dragon," which was the film I went to see. When "Excalibur" began (after "EtD" ended), I thought I''d check it out for a few minutes and leave if it seemed like crap. Turned out that I not only stayed to watch the whole thing, but ended up enjoying it a lot more than the Bruce Lee movie I initially came to see.
Wasn''t it unusual to have nudity in a mainstream film in those days?
I was a kid when that movie came out ... but we didn''t have a VCR yet. Kept sneaking into the theater showing EXCALIBUR after some stupid ass APPLE DUMPLIN'' GANG epic or whatever was parent approved at the time.
Love Cherie Lunghie, the beautiful actress playing Guenevire, who was superb in PBS''s The Buckaneers and is one of the (internationally) unsung gems of British acting.
i remember seeing this film as a teenager and being completely smitten with Nicholas Clay. I must have masturbated dozens of times to memories of him in and out of that armor!
[quote]Wasn''t it unusual to have nudity in a mainstream film in those days?%0D\ %0D\ No
Mr. Goodbar
It's on NOW on BBC America. Great movie.