Support Frock Flicks with a small donation! During Snark Week and beyond, we’re grateful for your monthly pledges for exclusive content via Patreon or your one-time contributions via Ko-fi or PayPal to offset the costs of running this site. You can even buy our T-shirts and merch. Think of this like supporting public broadcasting, but with swearing and no tax deductions!
I think this is the favorite movie of every GenX guy who’s into renfaires and / or the SCA. That’s why I ended up watching it too many times because of too many dudes, and I find Excalibur (1981) to be boring, brutish, ugly, and dumb. This is the gritty reboot of Camelot (1967) that nobody asked for.
However, like those GenX boys, I too have a lingering fondness for tales of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere. Back in my childhood, these were the most common ye oldey-timey stories you’d see on TV or in movies. Plus, I’m a Tolkien nerd born and bred, which is a rehashing of Arthurian legend into pure high fantasy. So I can see the appeal of this flick, and yet, it just doesn’t do it for me.
Maybe because the story starts with a rape. Maybe because of all the daddy issues and battles. Maybe because it’s the first movie to use “O Fortuna” from Carmina Burana, thus starting a big, fat action movie cliché. It’s not a bad retelling of Le Morte d’Arthur, but rewatching it makes me wonder how this was possibly made AFTER Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), when it feels like Python is directly skewering Excalibur!
But maybe there’s something redeeming here that I’ve missed? Let’s break down what’s good and what’s bad about Excalibur and see how it sorts out…
Pro: The Cast Is Stacked!
So many excellent actors got their start or got a boost from this flick.
This was Gabriel Byrne‘s first movie, and he went on to play a wacky Lord Byron in Gothic (1986), the only Friedrich Bhaer that makes sense in Little Women (1994), and a fan-fave D’Artagnan in The Man in the Iron Mask (1998), among other roles.
He’s known as Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Professor Charles Xavier now, but Patrick Stewart went from I, Claudius (1976) to this movie to Lady Jane (1986) before helming the Enterprise.
This was also Ciarán Hinds first movie, and he went on to melt our hearts as the one true Captain Wentworth in Persuasion (1995), got it going as Rochester in Jane Eyre (1997), charmed our pants off again in Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (2008), and even suffered The Terror (2018)!
Yet another movie debut! Liam Neeson would go on to earn an Oscar nomination for his starring role in Schindler’s List (1993), then he’d battle the English in Rob Roy (1995) and again in Michael Collins (1996), plus he’s immortalized as a Jedi master in Star Wars.
Helen Mirren started her rise from Shakespearean theater to big box-office flicks with this role, working steadily in all genres, and finally revealing her queenly frock flick form in The Madness of King George (1994), Elizabeth I (2005), and Catherine the Great (2019). She even narrates the Barbie (2023) movie as essentially the voice of God!
Cherie Lunghi also had her film debut with Excalibur, and she’s been featured regularly in TV, especially historical dramas, but most of us remember her best as the thoughtful Miss Testvalley in The Buccaneers (1995).
Con: The Costumes Are Silly!
The men mostly wear armor, and y’all know we don’t have anything to say on that (though have at it in the comments and please confirm my suspicion that this movie’s armor is fantasy fest junk!). What’s especially silly is that they wear their armor ALL the time, not just for battle, which, y’know, that’s what it’s meant for. Uther rapes Igrayne, and he’s in full armor, on the bed. Arthur and his knights eat and drink while sitting wearing their armor. Lancelot sleeps in his armor (except when he sleeps totally naked).
The one time the knights are shown out of armor, it looks like they’re wearing yoga pants! C’mon, we can do better.
The women, however, get all kinds of wackadoodle garb that bears only a passing resemblance to medieval.
There’s a whole lot of sparkly shiny stuff that wouldn’t pass a burn test, such as this thing Guinevere wears to ride with Lancelot for her wedding.
Then her wedding veil glints and shimmers with the light of pure lurex!
Check out that sleeve of Guinevere’s wedding gown — gorgeous, if modern, Assuit fabric, which is an Egyptian textile. I rather doubt Dark Ages Briton had a lot of trade with Egypt, btw.
Many, many sari fabrics were harmed in the making of this film, such as this gown Guinevere wears for a feast:
See it in all it’s glory on PropStoreAuction.com:
When it’s really time to shine, Guinevere pulls out the gold sequin gown and matching wimple!
Is that supposed to be a cheap version of this:
Morgana gets a purple sari-fabric veil to skulk around in for the first part of the flick:
She does try to be demure in this furry cape, except it’s not “fur” it’s like a long eyelash fabric.
Like this:
But mostly we get BDSM Morgana. I’m not saying it’s a bad look (I enjoy Helen Mirren in fishnet, leather cutouts, or armor as much as the next human person!), but it’s not a historically accurate medieval look, now is it?
Continuing on the silly theme, she’s wearing this armor in bed to sleep. Also, the armor has nipples.
Check it out on PropStoreAuction.com:
The only guy who regularly wears something other than armor is Merlin, and he just gets a big raggedy old robe.
Seeing it on PropStoreAuction.com shows that his robe is made of patchwork. Looks more like a Victorian crazy quilt than a medieval technique…
Pro: The Peasants’ Have Historical Headgear
Color me shocked when I did NOT see a plethora of unfortunate bigginses on the grubby crowdfolk! They wear a variety of cloth and leather hats that resemble period imagery, with minimal derp.
The chaperon hat is probably a bit late for this period, but I’ll accept it. A bunch of the fellas seem to have long liripipe tails on their hoods, which is also a bit more 13th-century or later but hey, it’s still better than a bunch of bigginses!
The only biggins that’s seen is on Morgana as a child, which means, by definition, that it’s not unfortunate.
Con: The Court Are All Team Head Necklace
The higher the status, the more likely they’ve got a circlet necklace plopped on their head. I’ve mentioned Guinevere and Morgana above, they wear various head necklaces in the movie:
Igrayne wears this same one through all of her (few) scenes.
You can quibble all you want that a circle isn’t a head necklace, but I call ’em like I see ’em! Especially with all the stuff hanging off ’em, these are goddamn head necklaces.
Then the guys get their own version — butch head necklaces? These braided-leather head necklaces really don’t add to the picture here.
Seems like a pseudo-medieval version of this:
Well how does Excalibur add up to you, pro or con?
You forgot the Lady of the Lake’s sequin dress xD
I still love this movie, and no one will change my mind.
besides, it also has “Parsifal” and “Götterdammerung” music pieces in it <3, not just “Carmina Burana” (I remember a craze for “Carmina Burana” shortly before the film was released :D)
Pro. I know it’s camp and stupid and completely OTT but I loved it and still watch it when it shows up late at night on obscure TV channels.
There’s a pretty interesting making of documentary about this film out there, I recommend watching that too.
I agree with all your points on this. However England (well the different kingdoms that would one day make up England) probably was trading with Egypt during the “Dark Ages” (Early Middle ages), if not directly then certainly in directly, as there was a lot of trading to England from the Mediterranean and vice versa.
You beat me to it. There were amphorae of wine from what’s now Turkey and of olive oil from the Aegean and what’s now Tunisia being broached in the palace of Tintagel during the 5th-7th centuries, and these imported luxuries were consumed from fine Mediterranean ceramics and even finely-painted glass table wares. (All of this was probably paid for in Cornish tin – Cornwall supplied tin for making bronze to the Mediterranean since before 2000 BCE, and in the 5th-7th centuries Cornish tin was in demand by Egyptian potters for tin-glazing.) When that much exotic luxury was being routinely imported, how likely is it that the king of the Dumnonii and his court wore only homespun woollens and linen, and didn’t also put in orders for exotic textiles as well?
I have so many mixed feelings about this movie. I’ve seen it so many times (because yes, Gen X guys LOVE this film), and I love it and loathe it in equal parts. The men have ridiculous full-plate chrome armor, and the women are dressed in fantasy robes. I also remember how Camelot in put on the side of a wooded hill, which… is not very strategic.
I have often wondered– how could you adapt any King Arthur story successfully now? The story is supposed to be set in the 6th century, which is late antiquity, but most of the famous elements of the story (Lancelot, etc) come from much, much later. So either you make a Bernard Cornwall-esque story with post-Roman duces fighting against Saxon mercenaries against a background of decaying imperial Roman infrastructure, or you keep all the knights and ladies and wizards and make a fantasy hodgepodge like Excalibur. I don’t know how you could merge the two and make it work.
Have you ever read ‘The High Kings’ by Joy Chant? It’s an attempt to recreate what early versions of the Arthurian stories might have been like as told in a royal Romano-British household within a generation of the Roman withdrawal. I like it a lot.
It’s actually been recommended to me before. Thanks for mentioning it again– I should definitely read it!
Do as the Medievals did – pick your favourite character, leave shame at the door and make it up as you go! (-;
(Oh, and for pity’s sake avoid trying to stick the entire Matter of Britain into a single story – the Arthurian Legends aren’t just a myth, they’re a whole darned setting).
Well personally, when I’m not naked while I’m asleep, then I’m wearing my armour.
Same! Mosquitoes are aggressive around here.
For what it’s worth haha, there is a first-hand Medieval chronicle that mentions knights sleeping in their armour in camp, knowing their proximity to the enemy. The source may be questionable, though not necessarily wrong, but it is there at least. (Might try to cross-reference other sources on that campaign at some point.)
I saw this movie in a theater when it came out. I wondered then, and I have wondered–on and off–ever since, how one commits rape in full shiny chrome armor. I mean, I think Gabriel Byrne can do anything…but maybe not this.
While it can be icky to visualize the logistics of it, especially given the context of the scene, people, including armour experts, have debated this very point online.
Between the movable maille skirt, and what we can assume underneath is braies (in-universe anyway), it would be workable to do it. It would also help if the armoured participant were at least… decently well equipped.
What would be a worry is pinching, on any of those hinges. The armour making contact with skin might be unpleasant as well depending, since armour tends to conduct temperature (hence arming wear underneath).
I’m sure some reenactors have tried it but to my knowledge are stingy in reporting their findings.
Pro, but mostly for Helen Mirren. :)
Not a day goes by that don’t think of Helen Mirren’s wardrobe in this movie. Especially that awesome cutwork leather dress. The erstwhile goth chick in me would have loved to have worn that out to the clubs back in the day.
Pro for me.
I do get it’s divisive though, as are most Arthurian productions. The only one I can think of that isn’t generally divisive is Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), where the consensus opinion holds it in high regard. With movies like Excalibur you either hop on board with the premise or you really don’t.
The perma-armour is an interesting choice, also used in the excellent (though perhaps even more divisive) Lancelot du Lac (1974). The armour is bulky and genuine metal, though it’s aluminum. You can tell by the distinct plastic sound it makes. A friend commented on this while watching, and I told them the armour’s not plastic; that’s just the sound aluminum makes. Steel has a distinct, higher-pitched tinny sound.
It does have a special place in my heart, though. Besides being a childhood favorite, a loved one passed away recently and they spent their last hours watching this, with me right next to them. So now it’s a bittersweet association.
You’ve made me want to watch it again. Only problem is, it’s on video!
I’ve always enjoyed Excalibur. Some of the scenes just stick in my head, especially the one where the king rides forth again through the wintry landscape and the spring blossoms as he rides – the king and the land are one! (I also always laugh when people today act as if electing one or another politician will suddenly have such an effect)
A silly movie, but lots of fun, and the occasional nice magical sequence. May I please request a little love here for the great Nicol Williamson as Merlin?
Camelot is a silly place. But much love and admiration for Nicol Williamson’s Merlin
Being of a slightly older generation who imbibed the Arthurian mythos at a very early age, (thank you messers White, Disney, Lerner, Lowe, and eventually Steinbeck), I have a fondness for Excalibur as it was the first movie I saw that actually dealt with The Matter of Britain. Its not history, its myth. The music, the scenes, and even some of the costuming reinforce this. For example, the armor the knights wear only becomes really shining armor once Arthur becomes king. And yes, the scene of the Land bursting into blossom as the King rides forth to the Last Battle is indelible.
Pro, but I’m probably that guy identified in the first paragraph. It came out my senior year of HS and hit me like a brick, re-firing every synapse that loved King Arthur stories in my pre-teen years. Is the costuming bad? Yes. Is the acting of the SHOUT ALL THE THINGS ALL THE TIME fashion? sure. But the sheer ambition realized deserves all the accolades.
(I put it in the same category of “A Knight’s Tale,” movies that manage to get almost everything wrong and yet capture the essential truths of what they were getting at quite brilliantly. And it took me 20 years and a pandemic to learn to love “A Knight’s Tale.”)
Monty Python is worth a laugh or two, but watching it hasn’t really dulled my appetite for Chivalric Romance (With extra CHIVALRY) so please chalk me up as a ‘Pro’.
I’m a gen X guy, and I love this film. However, as so many have noted, it’s got no connection to any real historical period, so I think of it in the same terms as Conan the Barbarian or Xena: Warrior Princess. In addition to the amazing cast, I love Borman’s interpretation of Mallory’s Morte d’Arthur, with the theme that ‘the King and the Land are One’ carried through with sunshine and light when things are going well and rain and darkness when the land is troubled.
Setting the tales of Arthur and his kin-niggets in anything like a historical setting is doomed to fail as Arthur never existed, at least not in the form presented in the tales. For starters, he would have been either Welsh/Cymry or Romano-British, and thus the antithesis of the Angles and Saxons who later gave their name to Angle-land, so being a King of England would have been an admission that his battle to protect his land from foreign invaders had failed! So stick with the fantasy setting, and for God’s sake let us sit upon the ground and tell sad stories about the deaths of kings.
File this under “movies Frock Flicks watched so I don’t have to”
Thank you for your service
I like it. I always approached it as a young boys idea of the Christian mythology it is. It was the only Arthur film that felt like mythology to me. “The Green Knight” is also way Arthur mythology and the art direction is also delightfully out there.
Gotta say I’m Pro, for the casting and for the totally not-Dark-Ages-or-Medieval-or-anything-at-all-really costuming for its theatricality and for what it communicates about the characters. The scene with the land bursting into flower as Arthur rides out, is, as another commenter writes above, iconic. It takes the original source mythology just seriously enough.
And yes, I always snicker at the “dress chromes” as my spousal unit describes the wedding scene armor. It’s very much of its time in filmmaking, and watching the DVD directors commentary was pretty interesting. I also like “Knight’s Tale” for very similar reasons – amazing casting, hilarious references to the original Chaucer, and costuming that’s totally WTF but in a way that works for me. YMMV.
Nigel Terry as Arthur and Helen Mirren slinking around makes in all worthwhile but my personal breaking point was Igraine’s ‘dance’.
Pro. I saw this one at the local (second run) theater, multiple times. My girlfriend and I watched it enough times to learn the spell of making by heart (back in the days before VHS or the Internet made learning movies lines easy). Even back then, as a wee baby nerd I knew the costumes were ridiculous (chrome armor! Bare arms!).
I love it for the all-star cast, but especially for Helen Mirren and Nicol Williamson as Merlin, with his wonderful deep voice. There’s so much charisma in the cast, I find myself swept away, despite all the costuming issues.