Directed by: John Boorman
Starring: Helen Mirren, Cherie Lunghi, Nicholas Clay, Nigel Terry
Other mistake: When Arthur and all his knights assemble on hilltop at night and Merlin tells them all not to forget where the Round Table started, you can see the crew's spotlights reflected on the back of some of the knights' armour.
Other mistake: At the siege of Leondegrance's castle, when they show the knights on top of the siege tower moving to the wall, one knight in particular puts a cigarette in his mouth through the breathing slit in his helmet before crossing onto the wall.
Audio problem: When Uther takes the baby from Igrayne and gives it to Merlin, Igrayne's screaming and whimpering is not consistent with her mouth movements.
Arthur: I was not born to live a man's life, but to be the stuff of future memory.
Trivia: Producer/screenwriter/director John Boorman deliberately chose renowned stage actors Nicol Williamson and Helen Mirren to play the sorcerer Merlin and the sorceress Morgana, knowing very well that Williamson and Mirren hated each other in real life (because of a disastrous stage production of Macbeth they worked on, years earlier). Boorman anticipated real friction, tension and anger between the two actors, which was the effect he wanted onscreen. On the contrary, the experience of working together in "Excalibur" completely changed Nicol Williamson and Helen Mirren into the best of friends.
Question: At the very end, Arthur's body is being carried away on a barge, with three women standing above him. Are those three women the fates?
Answer: Or possibly they were attendants of Arthur, who would set the ship on fire, then have the option to die with their king, or to try to swim to shore. The Vikings did stuff like that. Why not imagine that the Brits did too?
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Answer: They were the Goddesses of Avalon. A group of women who each have a specific magical power. They were the makers of Excalibur, healed King Arthur's wounds from his first battle and took him to his final resting place, readying him for the day he would be needed again.
Most Arthurian myths attribute elves as making "Excalibur", and also "Clarent," King Arthur's other magical sword.
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