Scene of the Week: Excalibur – The Sword in the Stone
I have had a lifelong fascination with the stories and myths of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. I can remember going to my local library and checking out countless books; everything from children’s picture books to volumes of research and historical books claiming to answer some of the questions surrounding the character. What some may have called a childhood obsession was partially started when I first saw 1981’s Excalibur.
The 80’s had some excellent medieval movies including The Beastmaster, Legend, Willow, and what I still consider the greatest Arthurian movie ever made, John Boorman’s Excalibur. By now, most have at least heard part of the story of young Arthur pulling the sword from the stone and becoming King. I was still very young as I found myself pulled towards the story and the Disney Sword and the Stone film was very popular. Feel free to think of Boorman’s Excalibur as the quasi-sequel to that one.
Boorman chooses to focus heavily on the relationship between Arthur and Merlin throughout the film but the opening act of the movie more directly connects the magician Merlin to the events of the story than any other character. I have vivid memories of seeing how difficult it was for the knights to move and fight in their heavy armor. I can’t think of any other film that matches this realism even today. The below scene isn’t the most flashy bit of action from the movie and it probably doesn’t give a non-fan the type of introduction to the movie that would drive you to buy/rent it immediately, but if you’re ever in the mood to be truly invested in a story then it’s important to start from the beginning.
