Product Description

Miles O'Keeffe (Tarzan, the Ape Man) and OscarÂ(r) winner* Sean Connery (First Knight) lead "an impressive cast" (Variety), including Peter Cushing, Trevor Howard and John Rhys-Davies, in this epic tale of swords and sorcery that will transport you and your family into realms of the fantastical and make you believe! Shrouded in magic and veiled in mystery, a phantom knight (Connery) thunders into King Arthur's fabled court. Speaking in rhymes and riddles, he goads the king's men into taking a dare. And when one of them, young and valiant Sir Gawain (O'Keeffe), bravely stands to defend the king's honor, he finds himself a pawn in the phantom knight's game a game that will lead him far beyond the kingdom of Camelot and ultimately take his life, if he cannot solve his opponent's riddle!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20895 in DVD
• Brand: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT
• Released on: 2004-04-06
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 102 minutes

Amazon.com
Fans of Sean Connery who are curious to see him explore roles outside of his usual heroic characters may enjoy his robust turn as the mythic Green Knight in this 1982 British-made fantasy. Based loosely on the classic epic poem "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight," Connery is quite a sight as the glittering green figure, who challenges young Gawain (Miles O'Keefe of Tarzan the Ape Man infamy), a squire in King Arthur's court, to solve his riddle or lose his head. O'Keefe is a stiff Gawain, and the film suffers under its low budget and awkward comic moments, but Connery and the rest of the cast (which includes Trevor Howard as Arthur, John Rhys-Davies, Lila Kedrova, and Peter Cushing) are game and provide sufficient star power to keep fantasy-adventure fans distracted from the film's shortcomings. Writer-director Weeks also directed a version of this story in 1973, with Murray Head of Jesus Christ Superstar fame as Gawain. --Paul Gaita

Customer Reviews

Good to see in DVD Finally!
I've waited for this film to come out on dvd for a long time. I remember first seeing it when I was kid on occaision when it was shown on channel 5 (Washington, DC Fox affiliate). It would be shown every year, and then it stopped airing and I had almost forgotten about it. Well anyway this film tells the tale of Sir Gwain and the Green Knight in a pretty straight forward play of events. The synthesized music was what drew me in even though it's mildly cheesy. This film was overlooked I guess by MST3K but it's really not a bad movie. It's just something to watch while doing laundry. The guy that plays Oswald looks a little too old to be the son of Baron Fortinbras, among other goofy oddities that are in this film. Peter Cushing plays some seemingly gay regent who has some of the best lines in the whole film. Pretty good for the price.

YOU WON'T RECOGNIZE THIS VERSION OF THE STORY FROM MEDIEVAL LIT
Sub-par adaptation of the immortal medieval classic, SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT. The high point of the movie comes early, when the mysterious Green Knight (essayed by Sean Connery)barges into King Arthur's court and offers a bizarre behading challenge to the astonished Knights of the Round Table. Only the young Gawain (played by Miles O'Keefe) will accept the challenge and strikes off the Green Knight's head. But to Gawain's amazement the Green Knight picks up his head and puts it back on, and Gawain is honor-bound to offer his own throat to the challenger's axe. The Green Knight gives Gawain a year to prepare and a riddle to solve, however,and for the rest of the movie we follow Gawain's adventures in love & war as he struggles to interpret the riddle and prepare for the final showdown with the Green Knight.

Unfortunately, most of the movie is unremarkable, to say the least. O'Keefe is an acceptable Gawain and you couldn't ask for a better actor to play the Green Knight than Connery, but the lackluster script and direction, combined with what must have been a sorry budget, doom their efforts and those of everyone else involved in the film. Sets and costumes are adequate, but the plot is convoluted and rather boring and not at all faithful to the great source poem. Indeed, much of the plot is apparently inspired by the tale of Gawain's cousin, Yvain, instead. The climax makes little sense and betrays the original tale, while the ending is supposed to be melancholy but just disappoints like so much of the rest of this film. Perhaps worth a look for curiosity's sake or for the very good first act if you don't expect too much.

tale of sword and sorcery
This movie is a view of the ideal medieval knight in the ideal medieval world and his adventures while out on a quest. The movie is one of the strangest to ever come out of the eighties, but also leaves an impression on you. Full of unusual and magical characters, this film is like an Odyssey of the middle ages. Without Sean Connery, I doubt this movie would have ever been viewed. He truly makes this movie as the mischevious enigmatic spirit we call the Green Knight.