I loved this movie!

A nit:
At the end of the movie, the sword is thrown into an ocean by Percival, and Arthur is taken to heaven by Godesses. I thought that if the land did not have a king with the sword, it would fall apart (This is what caused the curse after Arthur gives it up when he finds Guenivere with Lancelot.), yet Arthur told Percival to throw it into the ocean. Shouldn't he tell Percival to keep the sword to lead the land into a new era of peace?

OK, that does not make too much sense, but I thought it was strange.

He didn't tell Percival to throw it into the ocean, he told him to throw it into a "body of water". Obviously it wasn't the ocean, since they were by the ocean at the time.

Nit. Galahad found the Grail, not Percival. Galahad was the illegitimate son of Lancelot and Elaine. Where was he in this movie, anyways?

NANJAO, the rape scene between Uther and Ygraine must have been awfully painful for Ygraine!

This movie was visually stunning. Kudos to John Boorman!

Nit. The big final battle at Camlann(?) did not go according to legend. According to legend, both sides were there to negotiate, but neither trusted the other. The signal for attack was to be the drawing of a sword. Unfortunately, a soldier on one of the sides (I forget which one) saw a snake, and drew his sword to kill it, triggering the battle.

Also, the knight who threw Excalibur into the water was Bedivere, not Percival...

Actually the rape of Ygraine was probably boring. If you look the actress has a girdle on. So where did Arthur REALLY come from?

A lot of the story has been twisted, but then it has been re-told several times. My own particular observations: the final battle did not destroy most of the army; the battle began as the result of a Peace Treaty between Arthur and Mordred that went horribly wrong (an adder appeared and tried to bite one of Arthur's men, who drew his sword to kill it and made Mordred's entourage think he was about to attack them); Excalibur was not the sword in the stone. That just appeared on Uther's death (of natural causes) and Arthur was given Excalibur by the Lady of the Lake when Merlin noted that the Sword from the Stone was too precious to be used in battle.
(BTW, Nicol Williamson played Merlin to the hilt here. He was brilliant in every way!)

Hmmmm, I wasn't so sure about Merlin - why did he keep going Jewish? I expected him to say, "My boy," at the end of every sentence.

Clever casting: the two actors who played Mordred. I had no idea that Robert Addie was going to play the adult Mordred but as soon as I saw the young version, I thought, "He looks just like Robert Addie!"

DYN the same chant Morgana makes to turn herself to evil is used in the "WWF: The Music, Volume 4" CD in "the Undertaker's" theme music?

Robert Addie went on to play the part of Guy of Gisburne in Robin of Sherwood and was just as nasty a piece of work there.

Wow -- Patrick Stewart, Colm Meaney... I kept expecting "Q" to pop out and say that humanity was back on trial again...

This was, interestingly enough, Liam Neeson's first movie. He plays Gawain (the guy who accuses Guinevere of poisoning his drink).

And Callie, how was Merlin "going Jewish"? I have no idea what that means. If you want to see an accurate representation of Jewish seniors, watch a Seinfeld episode with Jerry's parents et al. It's scary how similar they are to my grandparents' friends. They are still caricatures, of course.

I was also wondering about that, Callie, when I posted my comment yesterday. Perhaps you should explain, unless the explanation is even more offensive than the original comment.

I didn't mean that he was a caricature - after all, he wasn't meant to be Jewish at all. It's now a long time since I saw the film, but I just remember him frequently lapsing into what I considered to be a Jewish accent. Wasn't Merlin believed to be Welsh? I know there are different theories by different people - all I recall from watching the film was that I couldn't place his accent at all, and often it sounded Jewish.

There, that wasn't offensive, was it?

What is a "Jewish Accent"?? There are Jews in nearly every country of the world. I have cousins in Montevideo, Uruguay, who speak English with a pronounced Spanish accent, and I don't think they speak Spanish with a "Jewish accent." There are many Russian Jews in New York, and none of them sound anything like Merlin. As for the many Jews in the United Kingdom, well, come to think of it, they sound just like gentiles do in the United Kingdom! Imagine that!

There's a certain lack of original music in this movie. Near the end, when Arthur visits Guinevere in the convent and she brings out Excalibur, the music switched to Wagner. Was I the only person who was moved to crack "Hey, it's Nothung!"?

Nit: During one of the battle scenes, as a knight runs over a wall, you can see a cigarette sticking out of his helmet visor.

Spoiler Warning
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Nit:At the end of the movie Arthur and Mordred fight. Mordred runs Arthur through with a spear/pike. With the spear/pike still in him he stabs Mordred. Mordred falls to the ground and Percival eases Arthur to the ground. The camera goes to a closeup of Arthur and Percival's faces. Arthur tells Percival what to do with the sword. As Percival stands to leave the shot changes to a full length one of both men. The spear/pike is now missing.

Where is Colm Meaney in this? I didn't spot him.

On the topic of Galahad and Bedevere, obviously the makers of the movie folded several Arthurian characters together so as not to have as huge a cast. The Grail Quest portion of the movie seems based on the German version of that story, in which te fool knight Parzifal finds the Grail and heals the Fisher King, here folded into Arthur. Besides, they made the Sword in the Stone (and Anvil) and Excalibur one and the same, when in the story, Arthur got Excalibur later. They also folded Pellinore the Sable Knight and Lancelot together into one character (Arthur got Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake after Pellinore beat him in single combat). If one wanted to complain about missing Arthurian tales, where were the Green Knight, Tristan and Isolde, Gawain's several brothers (Gareth, Agrivaine, Gaheris, etc.) and Pellinore's many relatives, other than Percival (who was born after they all died)? It would have been cool if these all had been put in, since this could have produced an entire series of movies, the Lord of the Rings of its generation. Of course, it would probably have been quite expensive, and I doubt the studio would have gone for the Peter Jackson treatment in the early 80's. Speaking of Lord of the Rings, doesn't the knights riding to battle with their restored king sort of resemble the Last March of Rohan in The Two Towers?
I would like to address the question, "why did Percival not take Excalibur and use it to rule the Britons?" I have at least 3 reasons.
1. He is not the king. Just having Excalibur in his hand does not make him the rightful king any more than it did Kay back in the beginning. Might doesn't make Right in this story. Sure, Arthur could make him his heir, but I'm not sue how if that would make a difference to the sord or what powers made it.
2. It's not really Arthur's sword to give away. It is something given to him for a time, not his permanent property. It belongs ultimately to God/ The Dragon/ The Lady of the Lake/ The Land (to which Arthur was joined as King). Had he borne the heir he hoped for (other than the inbred monster he did get), and had Merlin still been around to intercede as he did when Uther died, that one could possibly have inherited Excalibur, the land and the burden. Alas, it was not to be.
3. Arthur had to return the sword or have it returned for him, before he could go to Avalon to be healed. Remember, Arthur is called the Once and Future King, and he told Percival it would return when needed.
4. Percival did not seem to want to rule anything. Really, neither did Arthur, from his speech to Guinevere. Indeed, Percival argued against throwing the sword away, possibly hoping to save Arthur so he can continue his reign. I know it doesn't count, but in the original script Percival had the Grail in his saddlebag, and could have considered using it to restore Arthur. The poet was right about "what could have been."
Finally, not a nit, just a neat moment. As Sir Kay calls for the soldiers in the castle to assemble for battle, we see a knight walking up the hall past him. When he says "Prepare for battle," that knight turns around on a dime. It was such a perfect little moment.

Butch, IMDB doesn't list Excalibur as one of Colm Meaney's credits.

I think it did at one time or it was listed somewhere else. Probably been corrected if it was there.

This movie makes the same mistake as many movies about King Arthur does.

Namely, the knights we see here are about 600 years too soon.