First Knight (1995)

Director:

Jerry Zucker

Writers (WGA):

Lorne Cameron (story) &
David Hoselton (story) ...

Release Date:

7 July 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Their greatest battle would be for her love.

Plot:

Lancelot falls in love with Guinevere, who is due to be married to King Arthur. Meanwhile, a violent warlord tries to seize power from Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table.

Plot Keywords:

King Arthur | Marriage | Age Difference | Kidnapping | Box Office Flop

Cast

Sean Connery	...	King Arthur
Richard Gere	...	Lancelot
Julia Ormond	...	Guinevere
Ben Cross	...	Prince Malagant
Liam Cunningham	...	Agravaine
Christopher Villiers	...	Sir Kay
Valentine Pelka	...	Sir Patrise
Colin McCormack	...	Sir Mador
Ralph Ineson	...	Ralf
John Gielgud	...	Oswald
Stuart Bunce	...	Peter, King's Stableman
Jane Robbins	...	Elise
Jean Marie Coffey	...	Petronella
Paul Kynman	...	Mark
Tom Lucy	...	Sir Sagramore

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some brutal medieval battles.

Runtime:

134 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby SR

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Netherlands:12 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #33590) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | South Korea:12 (DVD rating) | South Korea:15 | Philippines:PG-13 | France:Unrated | Argentina:Atp | Australia:M | Finland:K-14 | Germany:12 (w) | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | Spain:T | Sweden:15 | UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Ashridge Park, Little Gaddesden, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Julia Ormond was paid $350,000 for the film. Her two male co-stars' combined fee was $14 million.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: After running the gauntlet, when Arthur brings Lancelot inside to show him the Round Table, there is what appears to be a Phillips-head screw visible on the inside of the door they walk through.

Quotes:

Arthur: [to Lancelot after being betrayed] The law will judge you!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Game K N B: (2006-11-28)" (2006)

Do you love bad movies? This is the one for you!,

How on earth did Sean Connery, Richard Gere, Julie Ormand, Ben Cross, Sir John Gielgud, and other actors of note, ever get roped into making this awful atrocious movie? The word "hokum" is undoubtedly a compliment in this case. Surely it wasn't for money? Nobody's that greedy or hard up. Or did they all think it was a good idea at the time? If so, they were badly mistaken.

The supposed Norman armour looked like something that was dreamed up for (and thrown out of) Star Trek or Flash Gordon. Actually the styles of (designer) armour on display here range from the bizarre to the unbelievable with shades of the ridiculous in between. Disregarding that they were all made out of modern material, uniforms were not worn by any military in Britain until Cromwell's New Model Army in the 17th century. Until then recognition of both friend and enemy alike was by banners etc., and was all a bit of a hit and miss affair (just like this movie in fact). On reflection I can't recall seeing a single banner in the entire film.

The fabled King Arthur wouldn't have been Norman anyway. He was supposed (debatedly) to have been a 5th or 6th century Ancient Briton, some say with Roman ancestry, and to have lived long before the Norman Conquest was even thought of. One theory even puts forward the view that he actually was a Roman who'd remained in Britain after all others had departed. Whichever of the many theories you prefer, you'd have to agree that he certainly wouldn't even have seen a Gothic building let alone lived in one.

The moralising (or should I say demoralising) script was not only absolutely dire but downright silly. Almost as silly as the gas fire in the middle of the Round Table.

I don't think that Britain was actually mentioned in the script, so perhaps if this re-telling of a powerful story had been set anywhere (a planet somewhere in the far reaches of Andromeda comes to mind) instead of in and around Camelot, and with a different set of characters, the movie might have been acceptable. As it is, it has to go down in the comedy mode. Except that it wasn't meant to be one.

Richard Gere as Lancelot has to be the one of the worst casting mistakes in movie history, that is if you discount John Wayne as Ghengis Khan (and the "Surely this must be the Son of God!" Centurian), or a 30 yr old Robert Taylor as Billy the Kid. And Sean Connery as King Arthur doesn't rate much better.

The only good comments I can make about the whole production is that there's a rather nice musical score lurking somewhere behind everything, and Adam Greenberg's cinematography is rather good. For those two points alone I've given it an extra star, but it's still an awful movie.

In conclusion, this has to be a Follywood production that cannot be missed...otherwise you'll never know how bad it is!