Directed by Stephen Weeks. Starring Miles O'Keefe, Cyrielle Clair, Leigh Lawson, Sean Connery, Ronald Lacey, Brian Coburn, Trevor Howard, Peter Cushing, John Rhys-Davies, Lila Kedrova, Emma Sutton. (PG)
Cheap, inept adaptation of the medieval story varies greatly from the source (and borrows from other legends), but fidelity is the least of its problems. Beholden to the look and feel of John Boorman's "Excalibur," but production values are far closer to the level of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail." As in "Highlander," Connery appears in a few scenes alongside a leading man devoid of charisma (in this case, the wooden O'Keefe, he of the perpetual thousand-yard stare); Connery provides a scintilla of vigor, but looks ridiculous trying to do so. Lacks the camp value to become a so-bad-it's-fun engagement, though O'Keefe's wig never fails to make one smile. Director Weeks previously helmed a version of the story from 1973 as "Gawain and the Green Knight"; doesn't seem like any lessons were learned in the interim.
22/100
Cheap, inept adaptation of the medieval story varies greatly from the source (and borrows from other legends), but fidelity is the least of its problems. Beholden to the look and feel of John Boorman's "Excalibur," but production values are far closer to the level of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail." As in "Highlander," Connery appears in a few scenes alongside a leading man devoid of charisma (in this case, the wooden O'Keefe, he of the perpetual thousand-yard stare); Connery provides a scintilla of vigor, but looks ridiculous trying to do so. Lacks the camp value to become a so-bad-it's-fun engagement, though O'Keefe's wig never fails to make one smile. Director Weeks previously helmed a version of the story from 1973 as "Gawain and the Green Knight"; doesn't seem like any lessons were learned in the interim.
22/100