Artù, Lancillotto, Ivanhoe e dintorni

Sword of the Valiant: The Legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

1982, regia di Stephen Weeks

Scheda: Nazione: GB - Produzione: Yoram Globus, Menahem Golan - Distribuzione: Cannon Film Distributors - Soggetto: Philip M. Breen, Howard C. Penn, Stephen Weeks - Sceneggiatura: Philip M. Breen, Howard C. Penn, Stephen Weeks - Fotografia: Freddie Young - Montaggio: Richard Marden, Barry Peters - Costumi: Shuna Harwood - Musiche: Ron Geesin - Effetti speciali: Cliff Culley - Formato: Color - Durata: 102'.

Cast: Thomas Heathcote, Miles O'Keeffe, Leigh Lawson, Trevor Howard, Sean Connery, Emma Sutton, Douglas Wilmer, Cyrielle Claire, Lila Kedrova, John Serret, Brian Coburn, Mike Edmonds, David Rappaport, Ronald Lacey, Peter Cushing, John Pierce Jones.

Trama e commenti: film.tv.it: «In un fantastico Medioevo uno dei cavalieri della Tavola rotonda, il giovane sir Gawain, parte per una nobile missione. Intercettato dal magico Cavaliere Verde, deve accettare la sua curiosa sfida mortale. Remake più ricco ma non più inventivo di Gawain and the Green Knight, girato qualche anno prima dallo stesso regista, è un fantasy da pomeriggio prenatalizio».

Plot Summary, Synopsis, Review: IMDb - allmovie.com - moria.co.nz - wherehouse.com - alibris.co.uk - ovguide.com - dvdverdict.com - qwipster.net - moviegoods.com - filmfreakcentral.net: «A film that is actually exactly bad enough to be uproariously funny, Stephen Weeks' Sword of the Valiant: The Legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (hereafter Sword of the Valiant)--peculiarly, Weeks' second adaptation (after 1973's Gawain and the Green Knight) of The Rose Poet's fourteenth century Arthurian epic "Gawain and the Green Knight"--is one of those Golan-Globus productions that helped redefine the bottom of the barrel in the early eighties. It gives Miles O'Keefe of Tarzan the Ape Man fame a short-lived and wholly unjust stay of career execution (decking him out in a Prince Valiant wig that makes him look suspiciously like Mary Worth with abs), and it furthers my contention that Sean Connery is pretty much just the Scottish Burt Reynolds. I'm not sure what Weeks and company had in mind when embarking on this project, but the result is something so deeply stupid as to inspire hopefulness and hopelessness in equal draughts: anyone can do it, apparently--but is it worth doing if it turns out to be Sword of the Valiant? Squire Gawain (O'Keefe) is the only man brave enough in King Arthur's (Trevor Howard) moribund Camelot to accept the challenge of mysterious drag queen the Green Knight (Connery): take one swipe at his neck with his mighty axe and, should the knight be capable thereafter, allow him to take one swipe at yours. A classic call to action for Joseph Campbell's hero's journey is then promptly perverted in Sword of the Valiant into a sword-and-sorcery cheese factory that reminds of nothing more than Clash of the Titans without Ray Harryhausen--let's face it, without Harry Hamlin. Because Gawain is such a strapping young moron, the Green Knight gives him one year to try to decipher a ridiculous riddle to save his life; thus Gawain sets out with his faithful squire (he's been knighted by Arthur for stepping up to the plate); promptly tries to kill a unicorn for food ("It's magic! So it must taste good!"); falls in love with a leading lady (Cyrielle Claire) who almost makes O'Keefe appear sentient; banters wittily with a bawdy friar (Brian Coburn); and strong arms a dwarf sage (David Rappaport). The sword-fighting choreography resembles stuff my little sister and I worked out with cardboard tubes on Christmas morning (it's not a stretch to imagine the actors providing their own clanging and clashing noises), while the special effects are a notch above scratching the negative and pretending...».

Approfondimenti: Movie Review

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