Carol L. Robinson
June 25, 2014
Recently, I was avoiding work (yes, only recently) and surfing the web for completely useless information, when I came upon a list of Worst Medieval Movies. It listed the following, with annotations to justify each selection, listed according to IMDb ratings (best to worst):
- Braveheart (1995)
- Timeline (2003)
- Young Ivanhoe (1999)
- Black Knight (2001)
- Beyond Sherwood Forest (2009)
- Dark Knight (2000)
- The Last Legion (2007)
- King Arthur (2004)
- Beowulf (2007)
- The War Lord (1965)
This list was posted by “dizzy-b” — about whom there is apparently little to know, except that this person seems to have a strange way of defining “movie,” counting Dark Knight (2000) as a movie when, apparently, it was actually a television series. By the way, Young Ivanhoe (1999) and Beyond Sherwood Forest (2009) are both made-for-TV-movies (a slightly different genre from the made-for-the-big-screen feature movie). However, I don’t really care if “dizzy-b” wants to call a television series a “movie”. What bothers me about the list is this: these aren’t the worst medieval films out there! Indeed, I’m offended, outraged, alienated, and clinically depressed that this is the worst that “dizzy-b” could find! I mean, seriously, what about Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (1973), or its remake (by the same director), Sword of the Valiant: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (1984)? What about King Arthur, the Young Warlord (1975), Dungeons & Dragons (2000), Knights of the Round Table (1953), Camelot (1967, despite Vanessa Redgrave’s lovely song about the merry month of May), or Pier Paolo Pasolini’s I racconti di Canterbury (1972, X-rated, in the United States, but it isn’t bad because of that)? Indeed, I find it difficult to make a list of only the worst TEN. What about you?