Rated or Dated: Excalibur (1981)

Standard Issue Podcast

Standard Issue

Society & Culture

4.7 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 22 April 2026

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jonathan Boorman’s epic thesp fest was a big hit at the box office and a surprise watch in the Dunleavy household. The cast list is impressive. The lighting is dark. The dialogue is as clanking as the shiny armour. And the laughs come thick, fast and mostly not on purpose. Did Mick, Hannah and Jen have a good time with all the thrusting, grunting, Arthurian legend and whole load of unexpected Geoff Tipps? And does the answer to that mean it’s a good film? Find out! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to rated or dated or dated.
0:10.7	Rejoice with great gladness.
0:15.4	Welcome to my colleagues, Jen Offord.
0:19.5	Hello, thank you.
0:20.8	Welcome.
0:21.5	And picker of this week's film, Mickey Noonan.
0:25.3	Hello.
0:26.9	I think it's going to be an adventure, but don't worry, lad.
0:29.1	Your lust will hold you up.
0:30.7	Of course.
0:32.6	So, Mickey, this week we watched Game of Thrones.
0:36.1	No, Lord of the Rings. No. Montepython and the Holy Grail. No. The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse.
0:47.6	No. What was it that we watched this week? Oh yeah, this week and it changed the advertised program. We watched
0:54.3	an epic British fest fest about epic British folklore. And fuck me, Camelot is an epically
1:01.6	silly place, but polish your special sword, lads. It's 1981's Excalibur. A dream to some,
1:09.2	a nightmare to others. Jonathan Borman's Excalibur, a dream to some, a nightmare to others.
1:12.6	Jonathan Borman's Excalibur actually arose from the ashes of his take on the Lord of the Rings,
1:18.1	which didn't make it into production, but was given a reputed $3 million kill fee.
1:23.8	That went into the $11 million it took to make Excalibur, which was a big hit, netting $35 million at the box office.
1:32.4	This was excellent news for Borman, who had for a time been a real Hollywood Dick Swinger, making his name with the stylish point blank, then solidifying his talent with the triple Oscar-nominated deliverance.
1:44.8	But then came Exorcist to The Heretic.
1:47.9	So awful, it made people's head spin.
	...

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