The 10 Best King Arthur Movies
When it comes to the Public Domain, there are few characters more popular than King Arthur. His presence is not just in the legend, but since he's free to use, we have him all over popular culture, too.
We've seen takes on the character as a noble hero in shining armor, a gritty warlord in historical fiction, an animated teenager, and even a vehicle for some of the best British surrealist comedy ever put to film.
So, today, I want to go over my ten favorite iterations of King Arthur in movies and talk about what makes each of them special to me.
Let's dive in.
1. Excalibur (1981)
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- Director: John Boorman
- Writer: Rospo Pallenberg, John Boorman
- Cast: Nigel Terry, Helen Mirren, Nicol Williamson, Nicholas Clay, Patrick Stewart, Liam Neeson
If you want the absolute definitive, balls-to-the-wall cinematic realization of high-fantasy Arthurian legend, this is it.
And this movie rocks.
John Boorman built an operatic, hyper-stylized world drenched in green neon armor and backed by Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana to solidify that it's a grandiose epic.
The cinematography by Alex Thomson is like a deep dive into in-camera lighting filters. You have this fever-dream element and texture in every moment.
It skips the gritty realism and embraces the psychological, Freudian weirdness of the original texts. And if you look closely, the cast is an absolute goldmine of future legends like Patrick Stewart and Liam Neeson getting their start.
2. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
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- Director: Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones
- Writer: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin
- Cast: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin
It’s impossible to talk about Arthurian cinema without talking about the Python crew completely tearing it to shreds and making us laugh.
What makes Holy Grail a genuine masterpiece is that it's a comedy shot completely like so many had shot serious movies of the time.
It's got this down and dirt aesthetic that feels like the olden days.
Terry Gilliam’s background in animation and keen eye for production design meant the movie looked like a miserable, muddy, disease-ridden 14th-century nightmare.
And that made it all the more fun.
3. The Green Knight (2021)
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- Director: David Lowery
- Writer: David Lowery
- Cast: Dev Patel, Alicia Vikander, Joel Edgerton, Sarita Choudhury, Sean Harris
David Lowery’s adaptation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is one of the most visually stunning pieces of Arthurian media ever created.
It's not about King Arthur persay, but it kind of shakes you to the core.
It was shot on large-format Arri Alexa 65 cameras by DP Andrew Droz Palermo. And it might be one of the best-looking movies of all time.
Lowery strips away the traditional Hollywood action beats to deliver a slow-burning, psychological character study about the crushing weight of legacy and fear of death.
4. The Sword in the Stone (1963)
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- Director: Wolfgang Reitherman
- Writer: Bill Peet
- Cast: Sebastian Cabot, Karl Swenson, Rickie Sorensen, Junius Matthews
When I was a kid, this was one of my favorite films. And for many, this Disney classic was our introduction to Camelot.
The whole movie is about Arthur's childhood and takes us on the journey of an awkward orphan named Wart who has a bright future ahead of him.
My favorite scene is the wizard's duel between Merlin and Madame Mim.
5. First Knight (1995)
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- Director: Jerry Zucker
- Writer: William Nicholson
- Cast: Sean Connery, Richard Gere, Julia Ormond, Ben Cross
Look, some people hate this movie, but I really dig it. I think it has its heart in the right place, and while it is cheesy and a bit predictable, you get such a good and unique version of Arthur and some really fun battle scenes.
There's no magic in here, just a focus on the Lancelot-Guenevere-Arthur love triangle.
Sean Connery brings massive, weary gravitas to an older Arthur, and Adam Greenberg's vibrant cinematography makes the whole production look incredibly expensive.
It has its issues, but when I was a kid, I watched it all the time.
6. Camelot (1967)
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- Director: Joshua Logan
- Writer: Alan Jay Lerner
- Cast: Richard Harris, Vanessa Redgrave, Franco Nero, David Hemmings
This is a classic old-school Hollywood melodrama. It was on the massive Broadway musical that also tackles the tragic love triangle between Arthur, Guenevere, and Lancelot.
Now the pacing is quite slow, and the acting is very theatrical; it has that stage feel that also kind of works for the tone of the legend.
The musical numbers are fun and stick in your head.
7. Lancelot du Lac (1974)
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- Director: Robert Bresson
- Writer: Robert Bresson
- Cast: Luc Simon, Laura Duke Condominas, Humbert Balsan
If you want the exact polar opposite of old-school Hollywood melodramas, look no further than French auteur Robert Bresson.
His Lancelot du Lac picks up after the Knights have already failed to find the Holy Grail, and now return to a fractured, depressing Camelot that has lost its soul.
Bresson uses his signature minimalist style to deliver a bleak, unglamorous look at what it would be like to be a knight of the Round Table.
8. Army of Darkness (1992)
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- Director: Sam Raimi
- Writer: Sam Raimi, Ivan Raimi
- Cast: Bruce Campbell, Embeth Davidtz, Marcus Gilbert
This movie rocks, so I won't have anyone tell me; it's not really an Arthurian legend adaptation.
Sam Raimi taking Ash Williams and dropping him into ancient England with a chainsaw and a 12-gauge shotgun to fight against an army of the dead is peak cinema.
Raimi relies heavily on practical effects, stop-motion animation, and frenetic camera movements to pull off a low-budget epic that treats the Arthurian backdrop with just enough respect to make the genre-bending work perfectly.
9. King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017)
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- Director: Guy Ritchie
- Writer: Joby Harold, Guy Ritchie, Lionel Wigram
- Cast: Charlie Hunnam, Astrid Bergès-Frisbey, Jude Law, Djimon Hounsou
Look, this movie flopped hard at the box office and divided critics, but from a pure filmmaking perspective, it is a fascinating experiment.
And I will always have a soft spot for Guy Ritchie, who makes movies where his cast seem like they're having a lot of fun.
In this version, Arthur is raised in a brothel and talks like a cockney gangster. I mean, come on, that's like Guy Ritchie's auteurism on display.
The audacity of trying to turn the Round Table into a Snatch -style crime caper makes it worth the watch.
10. Knights of the Round Table (1953)
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- Director: Richard Thorpe
- Writer: Talbot Jennings, Jan Lustig, Noel Langley
- Cast: Robert Taylor, Ava Gardner, Mel Ferrer, Anne Crawford
We have to pay respect to the golden age of Technicolor; it's basically movie church. This was MGM’s first film shot in CinemaScope, and they used the anamorphic widescreen format to capture massive, sweeping English landscapes and brightly colored tournaments.
It’s the ultimate "clean armor" version of the story, full of chivalry, romance, and action.
Summing It All Up
What’s your favorite cinematic take on Camelot? Do you prefer the glittering armor of the 50s, the neon-green fever dreams of the 80s, or the mud and blood of the 21st century?
Let us know in the comments.
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