Knightriders (1981)

One might not think this would be the followup to George Romero's internationally successful genre redefining political commentary/horror flick Dawn of the Dead (1978). But in some ways it makes sense, this is Romero's most personal film. This flick follows a travelling renaissance fair troupe lead by Ed Harris (in his first lead role) that puts on dangerous stunt shows and jousts on motorcycles. Ed Harris's character has made it his life dream to make this travelling troupe based on principles similar to that of the knights of King Arthur, he and his troupe live by a code. But trouble arises when reality threatens to destroy the dream he has made in the form of corporate america destroying the little man and/or what he stands for (publicity agents want to commercialize the motor cycle shows). This is so personal for Romero because he was going through the same personal struggle when it came to film making, he had worked long and hard to make a name for himself as an independent film maker, but after the success of Dawn of the Dead he was debating whether or not to "sell out," and his decision to remain independent gave him similar results to Harris's character in the film, they both saw the people around them leave and "sell out".

All that being said this film does have some depth to it but for the majority of the film it is just plain fun. It is super laid back, you get to see all the life behind the scenes of the fair and it mostly feels like one big party, complete with a scene or two of singing around the campfire. In addition to the laid back vibe and fun feel of the film seeing a modern take on some of the legends of King Arthur are creatively re-envisioned here: Merlin is a tattooed harmonica playing wiseman/doctor, the black knight is present, what happens between Lancelot and Guinevere happens, and Harris is the well loved king. Not to mention the motorcycle jousts stunts and battles are all wonderfully choreographed and exciting (except for the final one which I actually had to fast forward through).This film has some of the most dangerous/elaborate/well performed motor cycle stunts ever filmed. Now for the negatives of the film: it did not need to be as long as it was, it's two and a half hours long, there are also some big logical fallacies/plot holes towards the second half of the movie, the ending is sad (normal for a Romero movie) but the ending could have been executed better IMO (I can't say much more about it without giving it

away). The acting is top notch though, Harris gives a wonderful performance as well as does Tom Savini the famous horror movie makeup artist (Friday the 13th series, Dawn of the Dead, and TheBurning) as Morgan the black knight. It is mentionable that Stephen King has a cameo as "hoagie man" and his real life wife plays "wife of hoagie man," you can find them in the crowd in an early scene. Cracked.com has written an article about Knightriders calling it 5 insane moments from the manliest movie ever made. It is also mentioned in a book I own called 500 Essential Cult Films: The Ultimate Guide by Jennifer Eiss. I give it a 4/5, you can view the trailer below: