Excalibur (141 minutes; 1981)

Written by Rospo Pallenberg and John Boorman. Directed by John Boorman.

Loosely based on Le Morte d’Arthur by Thomas Malory.

What is it?

A classic telling of the story of King Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table, the quest for the Holy Grail, and the magical sword Excalibur.

Many filmed adaptations of that story have followed. This one, however, with its heightened sense of wonder and layers of magic woven throughout, probably remains the best-loved, most visually stunning, and most talked-about of them all.

Noteworthy

The story goes that Boorman, legendary director of films as lofty as Hope and Glory (1987) and as derided as Zardoz (1974), brought the idea of a film about King Arthur to United Artists in 1969. The studio rejected his original script, which ran three hours, on the grounds of its enormous expected cost to produce. They suggested he make an adaptation of The Lord of the Rings instead. Because that would’ve been shorter and cost less money–?!

Boorman briefly went along with the Rings idea, at least long enough that costume and set designs for Middle-Earth were drafted. Some of these would later be recycled for use on Excalibur.

It took him the entire decade of the Seventies to do it, but eventually he raised enough funds and support to begin work on the movie he’d wanted to make all along.

Boorman couldn’t afford the top actors of the day, so instead he did a remarkable job of finding the top actors of tomorrow, and fitting them into his budget. We therefore get the likes of Liam Neeson, Gabriel Byrne, Ciaran Hinds and Patrick Stewart, all in minor supporting roles. The film’s actual leads include Nigel Terry as Arthur (from teen to aged), Helen Mirren as Morgana, Nicholas Clay as Lancelot, Cherie Lunghi as Guenevere, Paul Geoffrey as Perceval and Nicol Williamson as Merlin.

On a budget of $11 million ($41 million in 2026), Excalibur brought in $35 million ($131 million today) at the North American box office. And of course it went on to become a staple on cable TV.

At Cannes in 1981, it won for “Best Artistic Contribution.” It received an Oscar nomination for “Best Cinematography” and a BAFTA nomination for “Best Costume Design.”

Appropriately enough, Boorman was himself knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 2022.

Quick and Dirty Summary

The wizard Merlin receives the magical sword Excalibur from the mystical force known as the Lady of the Lake and gives it to Arthur’s future father, Uther Pendragon. Uther uses it to conquer and unify the kingdom. Through Merlin’s magic, Uther seduces a rival’s queen and she gives birth to Arthur. Merlin takes young Arthur away to be raised by another nobleman. Uther implants Excalibur into a stone, and only the future king can draw it out. (Though, like folks lining up to try to lift Thor’s hammer, everyone takes a shot at it.)

A young Arthur draws the sword from the stone, becomes king, unifies the kingdom and creates the Round Table for his knights.

Conflict arises from various quarters. There’s a quest for the Holy Grail, more great battles and more sorcery.

Eventually most of the main characters square off against one another, in clashes of swords and magic. Merlin overcomes the sorceress Morgana’s spells, Arthur’s son Mordred kills his mother (it’s complicated), and then he and his father slay one another in battle. Before he dies, Arthur orders the sword Excalibur returned to the Lady of the Lake, where it will await the next time England finds itself in need of its power.

In addition to being an awesome saga of knights and wizards and battles, the story reflects a deeper idea about the relationship between the people, the land and the king. Here, King Arthur, the sword Excalibur, and the land of England are all tied together in mystical fashion, such that harm to one harms the others, and jealousy and bad actions by the king result in misery and unhappiness for the people and the land. Only by redeeming himself can Arthur restore the land and people to health and prosperity.

Fantasy/SF/Sword & Sorcery Elements

The most obvious examples are Merlin and Morgana and their use of magical powers. The fact that everyone else takes completely for granted the fact that magic is real and is being used around them constantly, including on the battlefield, only reinforces the sense that this is a different England from the one we know. Sorcery is rather commonplace and expected in and around Camelot.

Excalibur itself is a magical weapon. Other supernatural elements include Mordred’s golden armor that cannot be harmed by any weapon forged by Man; the Lady of the Lake distributing magical swords from her watery confines; and the fact that the land suffers when Arthur is low and prospers when he is redeemed.

High Point

There are many to choose from, but my favorite has always been the moment when a young Arthur is part of an army besieging a castle commanded by a rival nobleman. Arthur, at this point still in the simple garb of a squire, confronts one of the enemy’s vassal knights. Arthur demands the knight swear fealty to him, but the knight scoffs that he couldn’t even if he desired to, because Arthur is but a squire.

This represents no real hurdle for Arthur. He simply hands Excalibur to the knight and commands his enemy to knight him, there on the battlefield. Arthur has thus rendered himself unarmed and defenseless, and has given over the great sword of kings to his enemy.

The battle comes to a very abrupt halt as knights and soldiers all around look on in astonishment. Everyone clearly expects the knight to strike foolish Arthur down with Excalibur and claim the sword as his own. The knight even appears resolved to follow that course of action.

He raises Excalibur to deliver the killing stroke. But then, whether from the compulsion of some magical force or out of simple respect for Arthur’s bravery, he finds he cannot do so. Instead he brings the sword down on Arthur’s shoulders and speaks the words, knighting him. Arthur, for his part, takes this all in stride, reclaims Excalibur from the bewildered knight, and declares victory.

Low Point

If there is a low point, perhaps it is in how Gabriel Byrne’s Uther reacts upon first laying eyes upon Igrayne, the queen whom he will later trick into sleeping with him. Uther loses his fool mind, declares that he will move heaven and earth to have one night with the lass, and demands that Merlin use his spells to make it happen.

This question arises: Why does Merlin not only go along with this foul act but actually enable what is without question rape? If Merlin knew that Igrayne bearing Uther’s child was vital to the future of the realm, it seems there are many other ways that such a thing could’ve been arranged, none of which need include outright deception and violation in this manner. Indeed, Merlin behaves as if it is all quite unexpected and he wants nothing to do with it, yet he actually facilitates it.

Standout Performance

In a movie that includes the likes of Neeson, Stewart and Mirren, can there be any question that Nicol Williamson absolutely dominates the screen any time he appears? What he achieves here places Merlin on par with such legendary and movie-stealing supporting performances as Val Kilmer’s “Doc Holliday” in Tombstone and Alan Rickman’s “Hans Gruber” in Die Hard.

Williamson is by turns menacing, silly, vulnerable, outraged, commanding, and hilarious. He spends most of the movie warning Arthur about the dangers of various women, then falls into the trap of one himself.

That relationship – Merlin and Morgana, played by Helen Mirren – was fiery off-screen as well as on. Boorman intentionally cast Mirren in the role because he knew she and Williamson couldn’t stand one another. He anticipated fireworks as a result, and he got them.

Overall Evaluation as a Movie and as Fantasy/SF/Sword & Sorcery

Excalibur exists in a strange in-between realm. On the one hand, it very much looks like a product of the early Eighties; in places, almost like a glorified stage play. On the other, the performances by a cadre of legendary actors still jump off the screen, and the cinematography and visuals (with no CGI!) remain radiant and lush to this day.

It’s a timeless tale, well-told by Boorman and company. Watching it again in 2026, the armor still gleams, Excalibur’s magic yet flashes, and the Williamson-Mirren sparks continue to fly.

All told, it’s for the best Boorman chose the sword over the ring.

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Van Allen Plexico is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), a Grand Master of Pulp Literature (2025 class) and a multiple-award-winning author of more than two dozen novels and anthologies, ranging from space opera to Kaiju to crime fiction to superheroes to military SF. He notably edited, co-created and co-wrote the Sword and Sorcery anthology GIDEON CAIN: DEMON HUNTER. Find all of his works on Amazon and at Plexico.net.