This movie poster for Excalibur showed a striking image of Arthur's son and nemesis, Mordred, clad in his armor and helmet.

Excalibur is a 1981 film which retells the legend of King Arthur. It grossed USD$34,967,437 and was the 18th most successful film of that year. Image File history File links This is a copyrighted poster. ... Image File history File links This is a copyrighted poster. ... This entry is on the King Arthur character. ... Alternative meanings: vehicle armour, Armor (novel) A hoplite wearing a helmet, a breastplate and greaves (and nothing else). ... Pith helmet of Harry S. Truman For information about the band Helmet, see Helmet (band) Helmet of Swedish Royal Guard soldier A helmet is a form of protective clothing worn on the head and usually made of metal or some other hard substance, typically for protection of the head from... See also: 1980 in film 1981 1982 in film 1980s in film years in film film Events January 19 - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer acquires beleaguered concurrent United Artists. ... Film refers to the celluloid media on which movies are printed Film is a term that encompasses motion pictures as individual projects, as well as the field in general. ... King Arthur is an important figure in the mythology of Great Britain, where he appears as the ideal of kingship in both war and peace. ... The United States dollar, or American dollar, is the official currency of the United States. ...

Cast and crew

Excalibur was directed by John Boorman and stars Nigel Terry (King Arthur), Helen Mirren (Arthur's half-sister Morgana), Nicol Williamson (Merlin), Nicholas Clay (Lancelot) and Cherie Lunghi (Guinevere). Liam Neeson, in one of his first film roles, plays Gawain, and Patrick Stewart plays King Leodegrance. Several members of the Boorman family appeared in the picture. Igraine (Arthur's mother), the Lady of the Lake, Mordred as a boy, and the infant Arthur were played by Boorman's children. Because of the number of Boormans involved with the film, it is sometimes called "The Boorman Family Project." John Boorman (born January 18, 1933 in Shepperton, Surrey, United Kingdom), is a British filmmaker, currently based in Ireland, best known for his feature films such as Point Blank, Deliverance, Excalibur, and The General. ... Mirren aged 24 in Age of Consent (1969) Dame Helen Mirren (born Ilyena Lydia Mironoff on July 26, 1945) is a British stage, television and movie actress. ... Morgan le Fay, by Anthony Frederick Sandys (1829 - 1904), 1864 (Birmingham Art Gallery): A spell-brewing Morgaine distinctly of Tennysons generation In the mythology of King Arthur, Morgan le Fay, alternatively known as Morgaine, (Morgause , in some versions of the legends, is said to be simply Morgaine in another... Hamilton, Scotland-born actor (on September 14, 1938), Nicol Williamson was described by British playwright John Osborne as the greatest actor since Marlon Brando. Nicol was born to a struggling working-class Scottish family, but managed to attend the Birmingham School of Speech & Drama. ... Merlin Ambrosius (Welsh: Myrddin Emrys; also known as Myrddin Wyllt (Merlin the wild), Merlin Caledonensis (Scottish Merlin), Merlinus, and Merlyn) is the personage best known as the mighty wizard featured in accounts of Arthur of Britain starting with Geoffrey of Monmouths Historia Regum Britanniae. ... Nicholas Clay as Lancelot in Excalibur. ... This entry was adapted from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica. ... Cherie Lunghi (born 4 April 1952) is an actress. ... Guinevere was King Arthurs Queen. ... Liam Neeson Liam Neeson, OBE (born 7 June 1952) is a Northern Irish actor. ... In Arthurian legend, Sir Gawain (Gawan, Gauvain, Walewein etc. ... Patrick Stewart Patrick Stewart, OBE, (born July 13, 1940 in Mirfield, Yorkshire, England) is a British film, television and stage actor best known for his roles in Shakespearean productions, Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Professor Xavier in both X-Men and X2. ... King Leondegrance (sometimes Leodegrance, or some other minor variation) was, in Arthurian legend, the father of Queen Guinevere. ... In Arthurian legend, Igraine is the mother of King Arthur. ... In an Arthurian legend, the Lady of the Lake gave King Arthur the sword known as Excalibur. ... This entry is on the King Arthur character. ...

The cinematography is by Alex Thomson and emphasises the gray skies, stone and bracken, waterfalls and tarns of the film's Irish locations in Wicklow, Tipperary, and County Kerry. The armour was designed by Bob Ringwood. The screenplay is by Rospo Pallenberg with Martin Boorman. The soundtrack is by Trevor Jones, with sound bites and samples drawn from Orff's Carmina Burana and Wagnerian motifs, of fate (Ring) and fatal attraction (Tristan und Isolde). Wicklow (Cill Mhantáin in Irish) is the county town of County Wicklow in the Republic of Ireland. ... Tipperary (Irish: Tiobraid Árann) is a town in the centre of County Tipperary. ... County Kerry (Irish: Ciarraí) is a county in the southwest of Ireland, in the Munster province of the Republic of Ireland, informally referred to as The Kingdom. ... A hoplite wearing a helmet, a breastplate and greaves (and nothing else). ... A screenplay or script is a blueprint for producing a motion picture. ... Trevor Jones (born 1949 Cape Town, South Africa) is an orchestral film score composer. ... Carl Orff Carl Orff (July 10, 1895 – March 29, 1982) was a German composer born in Munich. ... The name Carmina Burana refers both to a collection of 13th-century songs and poetry, and 20th-century musical settings of texts from it. ... Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner (May 22, 1813 in Leipzig – February 13, 1883 in Venice) was an influential German composer, conductor, music theorist, and essayist, primarily known for his groundbreaking symphonic-operas (or music dramas). His compositions are notable for their continuous contrapuntal texture, rich harmonies and orchestration, and elaborate... Der Ring des Nibelungen or, translated commonly as The Ring of the Nibelungen into English but more correctly as The Nibelungs Ring, is a series of four epic operas. ... Tristan und Isolde is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner. ...

Adaptation of the legends

Nigel Terry as King Arthur.

The film is based on Malory's Morte d'Arthur. However, in order to recast the Arthurian legends as a myth of the cycle of birth, life and decay, the text was stripped of decorative or insignificant details — and also stripped of Malory's Christian piety. The resulting film is best seen through the lens of mythographic works such as Sir James Frazer's The Golden Bough and Jessie Weston's From Ritual to Romance. "The film has to do with mythical truth, not historical truth," Boorman remarked to a journalist during filming. Image File history File links Excalibur_Arthur. ... Image File history File links Excalibur_Arthur. ... King Arthur is an important figure in the mythology of Great Britain, where he appears as the ideal of kingship in both war and peace. ... Sir Thomas Malory (c. ... Le Morte dArthur (The Death of Arthur)—the title is actually spelled as Le Morte Darthur in the first printing and also in some modern editions—is Sir Thomas Malorys compilation of some French and English Arthurian romances. ... A mythographer, according to a strict dictionary definition, is a compiler of myths. ... Sir James George Frazer (January 1, 1854 - May 7, 1941), a social anthropologist influential in the early stages of the modern studies of mythology and comparative religion, was born in Glasgow, Scotland. ... The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion is a broad comparative cultural study of mythology and religion by Scottish anthropologist Sir James George Frazer (1854-1941). ... Jessie Laidlay Weston (1850-1928) was an independent scholar and folklorist, working mainly on mediaeval Arthurian texts. ... From Ritual to Romance is a 1921 book written by Jessie L. Weston. ...

Merlin states the film's central theme, reflecting an ancient Celtic belief about kingship: Merlin Ambrosius (Welsh: Myrddin Emrys; also known as Myrddin Wyllt (Merlin the wild), Merlin Caledonensis (Scottish Merlin), Merlinus, and Merlyn) is the personage best known as the mighty wizard featured in accounts of Arthur of Britain starting with Geoffrey of Monmouths Historia Regum Britanniae. ...

You will be the land,

And the land will be you.

If you fail, the land will perish;

As you thrive, the land will blossom.

Pallenberg and Boorman's screenplay touches the heroic themes with directness. As Arthur declares:

"Any man who would be a knight and follow a King, follow me! "

Reputation

Nicol Williamson as Merlin.

Excalibur received extremely divergent responses from audiences. When it was originally released, many reviewers praised its 'magical realist' tone, which combines sorcery and mysticism with gritty and violent realism. However, others lambasted it, seeing only exaggerated acting, garish colours and clumsy dialogue. Today, many of those who love the film respect it as an unusually serious, poetic and faithful adaptation of the myth. But others enjoy the heroics as a camp classic, revelling in its absurdity. Image File history File links Excalibur_Merlin. ... Image File history File links Excalibur_Merlin. ... Hamilton, Scotland-born actor (on September 14, 1938), Nicol Williamson was described by British playwright John Osborne as the greatest actor since Marlon Brando. Nicol was born to a struggling working-class Scottish family, but managed to attend the Birmingham School of Speech & Drama. ... Merlin Ambrosius (Welsh: Myrddin Emrys; also known as Myrddin Wyllt (Merlin the wild), Merlin Caledonensis (Scottish Merlin), Merlinus, and Merlyn) is the personage best known as the mighty wizard featured in accounts of Arthur of Britain starting with Geoffrey of Monmouths Historia Regum Britanniae. ... Magic realism (or magical realism) is a literary genre in which magical elements appear in an otherwise realistic setting. ... The term camp—normally used as an adjective, even though earliest recorded uses employed it mainly as a verb—refers to the deliberate and sophisticated use of kitsch, mawkish or corny themes and styles in art, clothing or conversation. ...

Excalibur's unsentimental depiction of a 'fantasy' setting was an influence on many subsequent films and television series, most recently Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy. Indeed, Excalibur grew from Boorman's attempt to film Tolkien's novel; in the mid-1970s, Boorman and Pallenberg had collaborated with film rights holder and producer Saul Zaentz on a treatment of the Tolkien epic, but the project proved too expensive to finance at that time. Peter Jackson in Wellington (New Zealand) Peter Jackson CNZM (born October 31, 1961, Pukerua Bay) is a New Zealand filmmaker currently best-known as the director of the epic film trilogy The Lord of the Rings, based on the books by J. R. R. Tolkien. ... Dust jacket of the 1968 UK edition The Lord of the Rings is an epic fantasy story by J. R. R. Tolkien, a sequel to his earlier work, The Hobbit. ... J. R. R. Tolkien in 1916, wearing his British Army uniform in a photograph from the middle years of WW1. ... This article provides extensive lists of events and significant personalities of the 1970s. ... Saul Zaentz (born February 28, 1921 in Passaic, New Jersey) was a big lover of music and movies as a child. ...

See also

• Excalibur, King Arthur's sword, the central symbol of kingship for Malory and the film.

Excalibur, as imagined in the poster art for the 1981 movie of the same name. ...

External links

• Excalibur at the Internet Movie Database
• Darren Withers, "The Quest for the Hollywood Grail" analyzes Boorman's Excalibur
• Michael Everson's analysis of Merlin's "Charm of Making"
• Excalibur - 1981: film's Fan-page. Photo gallery