WHAT: Excalibur (1981, DCP) Rated R
WHEN: April 16, 2025 1 PM & 7 PM
WHERE: Pickwick Theatre, Park Ridge, IL
HOW MUCH: $12/$10 Advance or $10 for the 1 PM matinee
Advance Tickets: Click Here and select date and time (7 PM).
“I was not born to live a man’s life… but to be the stuff of future memory. The fellowship was a brief beginning… a fair time that cannot be forgotten. And because it will not be forgotten… that fair time may come again. Now once more I must ride with my knights… to defend what was… and the dream of what could be.” ~Nigel Terry as King Arthur
Excalibur (1981), directed by John Boorman, is not only one of the best sword and sorcery films of the 1980s, it is the finest interpretation of the King Arthur legend. Over the years through home media, the film has developed a huge following. Its reputation as a great work has been well established. Excalibur is certainly one of those films we had in mind when we considered titles specifically for the Pickwick Theatre’s Mega-screen. On April 16, 2025, we’ll be presenting this magical and magisterial epic on one of the largest screens in the Chicagoland area. For those of us who feel we’re living in a cinematic wasteland now, Excalibur serves as a reminder of what once was. It’s a flickering dream that inspires the imagination and stirs the soul.
Many of us have grown up with the legend of King Arthur and know it well. Its imagery is indelible in our collective consciousness: Arthur removing the sword in the stone to show he is the rightful heir to the kingdom, the Lady of the Lake, Arthur’s love for Guenevere, Camelot and Sir Lancelot, the quest for the Holy Grail, and of course, Merlin the wizard. These legends were taken from Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur. Some of us probably even remember the illustrative plates from these editions that brought the words to life. As younger generations become less acquainted with classic literature, particularly in the Arthurian romance tradition, the memory of these tales may dim– its references not quite as evident as they once were. But to filmmaker John Boorman, who became obsessed with the legend as a child, it was a lifelong ambition to make this motion picture. Like Malory and Alfred Lord Tennyson and so many others before him, Boorman follows a long line of Arthurian storytellers.
Director John Boorman
John Boorman, who had previously directed such films as Point Blank (1967) and Deliverance (1972), had been trying to make the film for twenty years. He was finally able to get Orion Pictures onboard with a budget set at $11 million; the film would be released through Warner Brothers. Boorman needed a hit after the disaster of his previous film, Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977). A fantasy film seemed to be the right choice because it was a genre that would thrive in the 1980s. In fact, Excalibur kicked off a fantasy craze that produced such notable films as Conan The Barbarian (1982) and The Dark Crystal (1982). Some of these ’80s movies rode on the coattails of films like Star Wars (1977), but others were genuinely impressive tales of myth and magic.
John Boorman, in fact, had been in the process of developing an entirely different fantasy film in the late 1970s. He had hoped to adapt J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings into a live-action feature film. With writer Rospo Pallenberg, the two tried to condense Tolkien’s three “Middle-Earth” books into one. However, the United Artists executive who had originally green-lit the project had left, and the studio was no longer interested in the idea given the anticipated cost. Boorman shopped the screenplay around to other potential studios, including Disney, but to no avail. The film would eventually see the light of day in 1978 as an animated feature, but Boorman had nothing to do with it.
Though their version of The Lord of the Rings never materialized, Boorman and Pallenberg had laid the foundation for the Excalibur film. Since 1969, the director had worked on developing a script about the Merlin character. Besides the Thomas Malory source material, Boorman and Pallenberg included elements from The Golden Bough by Sir James George Frazer and From Ritual to Romance by Jessie Weston into the final draft of Excalibur. Boorman wanted to respect the legend but also offer his own interpretation. The result was something very much out of time. The story is set in the Dark Ages during a brutal period when man was (in the words of Boorman) “emerging from the swamp,” and yet, the characters that audiences see are wearing the armor of the 15th century. England, so pertinent within the context of the original story, is never even mentioned in the film. Instead, Excalibur exists in some undefined, mythic realm. Boorman admitted in his commentary for the film that he was not interested in specifying a particular time period. The film was essentially a metaphor for the history of man and the collapse of civilization. It was timeless.
One such deviation from tradition was Boorman’s depiction of Merlin, whose appearance in the film is much different than the white-bearded wizard in the conical hat that readers recall from storybooks. Nicol Williamson, who perhaps gives the finest performance in the film, plays Merlin. Interestingly, Orion Pictures originally wanted someone else due to Williamson’s previous box office failures. However, Williamson proved to be an excellent choice. He played the character, as Boorman had designed, as a sexless figure who is quite eccentric and very much connected to the natural world around him. Merlin is a man whose time is passing. He has no place in an age that anticipates the coming of Christianity. “That’s what my story is about,” Boorman explained. “The coming of Christian man and the disappearance of the old religions which are represented by Merlin. The forces of superstition and magic are swallowed up into the unconscious.”
Merlin’s rival in the film, sorceress Morgan le Fay, is played by Helen Mirren, who had clashed with Nicholson in real life after starring with him onstage in a production of MacBeth. Boorman believed their off-stage animosity would translate well to the screen and help with their performances. Perhaps as a result of this personal conflict, some reviewers have noted that the strongest relationship in the movie is the one between Merlin and Morgana. In Excalibur, Morgana attempts to avenge the death of her father by taking the throne away from Arthur through sorcery– the Charm of Making.
Nigel Terry, who played Arthur, came from the theatre and was initially reluctant to take on the part. Terry had the challenge of convincingly playing a character from the age of 16– he was in his thirties– until old age. Boorman has called Terry an actor of conviction. The role of King Arthur would be Terry’s best-known for movie audiences. The rest of the cast included Nicholas Clay (who portrayed Sir Lancelot), Cherie Lunghi (Guenevere), Paul Geoffrey (Perceval), and Patrick Stewart as King Leodegrance. Additionally, this was the first film for Gabriel Byrne, who played King Uther Pendragon. Liam Neeson had been performing onstage in a production of Of Mice and Men when Boorman discovered him and cast him as Gawain, one of the knights of the Round Table.
Nigel Terry as King Arthur
Igrayne, the mother of Arthur, was played by John Boorman’s own daughter, Katrine. Though she filmed a sex scene under her father’s direction, both father and daughter approached this challenge in a strictly professional sense, irrespective of inhibitions or protocols. They were both just doing a job. Katrine told her father she didn’t mind doing this scene. There were other family connections in the making of the film. Boorman’s son, Charley, played the young Mordred, and another daughter supposedly played the unseen version of the Lady of the Lake. She had to rest submerged in the water and then raise her arms up while holding the Excalibur sword. All the film’s effects were done practically with old-fashioned ingenuity in place of today’s digital convenience.
While the film was being cast, it took three months for master armorer Terry English to design all the armor used in the film. The other costume designs were created by Bob Ringwood. Production officially started in March of 1980 in Ireland. The film was shot on location in County Wicklow, County Tipperary and County Kerry. Interior scenes were shot at the Ardmore Studios, which is Ireland’s oldest movie studio. Excalibur takes full advantage of these locations, such as old forests covered in bluebells and apple blossoms. Boorman knew these locales quite well since, at the time, he lived not far away from them.
The film was shot in the Academy flat ratio or standard ratio (as opposed to CinemaScope) because Boorman believed that this would be easier for the special effects. There were still a number of technical challenges though. The original cameraman who was hired left the shoot early in production after problems developed involving the film’s exposure. In fact, it led to a nervous breakdown. Boorman originally wanted the great Geoffrey Unsworth as his cinematographer. Sadly, Unsworth had passed away shortly after the filming of Superman: The Movie (1978). Alex Thomson was then brought in. Thomson would later shoot Labyrinth (1986) for Jim Henson.
One of the distinctive features of Thomson’s cinematography is his use of green filters, particularly in the lighting of Excalibur. Boorman wanted a luminous quality– a magical luminosity, as he called it. During production, the film crew often had to work around the rain, which fell throughout the five-month shoot. The rain, ironically, would help contribute to the film’s vibrant color palette. Thomson’s use of browns and greens, in particular, would make the film absolutely stunning to look at. And in some later scenes, one can see how it influenced the design of Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), which was a satirical take on the Arthurian legend. Excalibur reflects the change of seasons, and this was by intent. In depicting the wasteland seen later in the film, the visual design conveys another meaning: the demise of the king. As a result, there are no more lush greens in the frame. Alex Thomson’s cinematography would later be nominated for an Academy Award.
Despite the carnage and mayhem depicted in the movie– some of which was improvised– no actors were seriously hurt. This was a point Boorman seemed proud of in his recollections. One way he alleviated the possibility for injury was in his selection of animals. Boorman decided to use polo ponies for some of the scenes, such as in the jousting, because these types of horses don’t shy away from each other. There was less chance a rider would be injured by a skittish horse.
Helen Mirren and Nicol Williamson square off in Excalibur.
Besides the colors, the tone of the film also changes. There are darker passages where the film veers into the horror genre, particularly in the scenes in the third act depicting a knight in search of the Holy Grail. These scenes involving Paul Geoffrey’s Perceval are actually some of the most powerful in the entire film. When hope seems lost, he doesn’t abandon the quest despite the hardships he faces. He resists Morgana in the service of his king. From a Christian perspective, Perceval’s determination, sacrifice and unwavering commitment to the quest is satisfying because it’s so deeply felt. Boorman takes the viewer on the hero’s journey in a way that doesn’t feel one-dimensional.
Excalibur was scored by Trevor Jones, whose work on this film brought him to the attention of Jim Henson; Jones would score The Dark Crystal. Rather than being an original composition throughout, Jones’ music complements other musical cues. Excalibur‘s primary influence is the haunting music of Richard Wagner. One of the film’s main themes is “Siegfried’s Funeral” from Wagner’s Die Gotterdammerung. It was felt these classical selections would be more in keeping with the mythic quality of the picture.
Excalibur offers many stirring moments, such as Arthur being knighted by his enemy in the moat (which was actually shot outside Cahir Castle in Ireland). Another memorable sequence comes when Arthur challenges Sir Lancelot at the bridge by the waterfall. This scene pits Arthur’s anger against the call of the spirit; his anger in turn destroys Excalibur. And finally, the climactic battle between Arthur and Prince Mordred offers compositions of battle and landscape that compare favorably to those of masters like Akira Kurosawa.
In his excellent article, “‘The Past, Present and Future of Humanity’: John Boorman’s Excalibur,” author Tim Pelan brings the film full circle back to Lord of the Rings: “Whilst Excalibur‘s closing scenes are mostly wordless, the visual imagery of King Arthur being borne away by maidens to distant shores echoes thematically Boorman and Pallenberg’s scripted Rings ending, as Bilbo and company leave the shores of Middle-Earth forever. Legolas, watching from the land, remarks upon seeing a rainbow, ‘Look– only seven colors. Indeed the world is falling.’ Pallenberg said, ‘From a physics standpoint it’s incorrect to say that there could be more than seven colors, but what he’s saying is ‘We live in a diminished world.’ With Arthur also gone, the age of myth and magic in his land has finally passed too.”
Excalibur was originally about three hours in running time, but it was cut down significantly. The finished film was released in April of 1981. The film grossed $35 million at the box office. Most critics praised the look of the film but found fault elsewhere. Roger Ebert, for instance, called it both a “wondrous vision” and “a mess.” (Compare Siskel & Ebert’s original broadcast review of the film with the current comments below it. It’s quite a discrepancy between what these two mainstream critics saw then and what most others see now. Click Here!)
Every frame of Excalibur reveals John Boorman’s passion for the material. It’s an entrancing, ethereal movie with what one online commentator called a “poignant sense of foretold doom.” The value of these ancient legends is that they help engender in our youth a sense of honesty, fair play and decency that we hope will stay with us all our lives. When those values are eroded, we have what amounts to a wasteland. I believe that in our own modern civilization, a “dragon’s breath” of sorts now obscures some people’s perceptions of reality. Too bad truth couldn’t be discerned through jousts (as when Perceval volunteers to defend Guenevere when no one else believes her). And wouldn’t it be wonderful if the leaders of today were defined by heroic deeds with their authority–symbolized by the sword– determined by a mysterious lady in a lake.
~MCH
An approximation of what Excalibur would have looked like in 1981 vs. what it will look like on April 16 in the Pickwick’s Mega-theatre.
