By skyforbes Last night purchased "Excalibur" 1981. I was 13 when I first saw it in 1981. I remember being riveted to it for some reason. Maybe it was the visuals, the music or the far away place feeling it gave me.
By the 90s, I had purchased it and VHS and watched it again. Seemed kind of over the top and slow, and confusing.
Fast forward 2025. I was sitting here on Thanksgiving even, and remembered a few scenes from it.
Started watching on Youtube.
BOOM! 10 mins later, I'm purchasing it and starting it alone on my laptop with ear buds.
Some things that stood out to me at 57 that I didn't get until now:
- Merlin – He's basically a non-human. Multiple times, referred to as such. As a kid, I thought he was just a wizard. He's a pagan. Would not have picked that up as a kid or even understood it. He's got some lines that are literally genius, and I'm not sure the movie would have worked without him.
- Sex and Violence – Wow, didn't realize how sexual it was, almost homoerotic at times.
- The use of light – Never remember noticing how they played with light and reflections to denote power and magic.
That got me thinking, what other movies could I go back and watch as an aging person from the 70s and 80s and totally see them different.
Strangely enough, "Falling Down" just hits different the past few years.