When people think of Medieval times, the first thing that pops into most people’s minds are knights. There is something compelling about a warrior completely encased in armor that is all about honor. As long as you don’t think about how knights pooped in their armor regularly, they are pretty awesome. Medieval movies offer more than just knights as well. The feudal system provides many social extremes, and movies can choose to focus on the nobility of the upper class or the harsh life faced by the peasants. Sometimes the nobility is even portrayed as corrupt! Things don’t get much more dramatic than that. Perhaps best of all, most Medieval movies feature a damsel in distress. A hot damsel in sexy distress. Good times.
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Robin Hood is one of the most iconic characters in Medieval lore. Everybody knows about Robin Hood, he stole from the rich to give to the poor! There was a great Disney movie made about him, Mel Brooks made one of the funniest movies ever in Robin Hood: Men in Tights, but Kevin Costner took the cake as Robin Hood in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. He also took money from the corrupt Sheriff of Nottingham, was fairly decent at archery, and he totally hooked up with Maid Marian. She was a Medieval fox. Oh and Morgan Freeman was in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, so it is automatically a great movie.
A Knight’s Tale
Remember when I mentioned the peasants earlier? They were basically around to grow food to give to the king or baron or whoever else outranked them. They couldn’t even be knights, as knights had to have noble blood. A Knight’s Tale is the story of a peasant who masquerades as a knight, entering a jousting tournament and picking up princesses. This is one of Heath Ledger’s best roles. In the end it is proved that his character actually does have noble blood, and that peasants will never amount to anything.
Camelot
Perhaps the most well known group of characters from Medieval times are King Arthur and the knights of Camelot. Everybody knows about King Arthur, the great knight Lancelot, and the magician Merlin. After King Arthur pulled the sword Excalibur from a stone and united all of England. Things were going well, King Arthur had his round table of knights, and Lancelot was his BFF. Then Lancelot got the hots for King Arthur’s woman, there was a falling out, and much action occurred. The rest, my friends, is history.
The Seventh Seal
The Seventh Seal has one of the most bad ass movie descriptions of all time. It is about a knight who returns from the Crusades only to find that his homeland has been wiped out by the plague. Worst of all, Death has showed up to take the knight’s life as well. Thinking fast, the knight challenges Death to a chess game. The knight spends most of his time being melancholy about all the death he has seen and dealt, but finds meaning when he befriends a group of actors. Yes, this still all as to do with the chess game, and it is one of the greatest movies of all time.
Ivanhoe
Ivanhoe is one of the greatest books of all time, and surprisingly enough it translated into a great move. Ivanhoe is a knight who discovers that King Richard the Lionheart of England has been captured and is being held for ransom. Ivanhoe tries his best to raise the 150,00 silver marks it will take to secure the release of the king, but that is a large amount of silver. Ivanhoe gets some help, raises the money, enters a jousting tournament, seduces a hottie, hangs out with Robin Hood, and just generally does more than any of us could ever hope to do ever.
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