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DVD REVIEW ARCHIVE
KNIGHTRIDERS (1981)
Anchor Bay DVD (region 1)
d. George A. Romero; pr. Richard P. Rubinstein; scr. George A. Romero; ph. Michael Gornick; m. Donald Rubinstein; ed. Pasquale Buba, George A. Romero; cast. Ed Harris, Gary Lahti, Amy Ingersoll, Tom Savini, Patricia Tallman, Christine Forrest, Brother Blue (145 mins)

ANCHOR BAY DVD COVER ART

DVD COVER

Zombie Movie Master turns to Arthurian Counter Culture to Prove Himself a Romantic at Heart

After the surprising box-office and critical success of Dawn of the Dead, director George Romero was in a position to break out of what many felt to be the horror genre’s confines. So it was that his next film, his most ambitious to date, sought to use his momentary standing to bring to the screen an astonishing dissection of American counter-culture mysticism.

THEATRICAL TRAILER

OPENING SCENES

The idea originated when Romero wanted to do a film about Arthurian legend. Unable to find a backer, he joked that if he put the knights on motorcycles he could easily find sponsors. The notion stayed with him and when he discovered the phenomenon of the Renaissance Fair – rather hippie-inspired self-contained traveling troupes dedicated to reviving, celebrating and living medieval and Arthurian culture – he developed the premise for what would become Knightriders. After a tight production schedule, uniting the director with his usual close circle of actors and collaborators, the final film was released into cinemas at around the same time that director John Boorman released his Arthurian fable Excalibur. Although there were some critics (Newsweek) who found more of interest in Romero’s film, it flopped disastrously at the box-office and soon vanished. On his part, Romero would return to horror, teaming next with Stephen King for the box-office hit Creepshow. That Knightriders has languished for so long is a shame for it is truly unique amongst modern American cinema.

Knightriders tells the story of a traveling group / fair, led by idealistic visionary Ed Harris, who have developed a society modeled along Arthurian lines, with Harris beside a Queen (Amy Ingersol), a mystical Merlin figure (the fascinating Brother Blue) and a rival Black Knight (Tom Savini).

The knights in this society dress in makeshift armor and hold ritual jousts on motorcycles as a means of testing and upholding their honor. Their anachronistic existence is sustained by the joust shows they thus put on for the small towns they pass through as they travel nomadically across America. At one such town they encounter a corrupt deputy sheriff who forces Harris to make a decisive but possibly divisive stand, and a young soon-to-be runaway (Patricia Tallman) who joins their clique. The group’s lawyer advises them that they are in financial trouble but Harris refuses to compromise his idealized lifestyle. Inevitably, opportunistic promoters and magazines show an interest in the cultish group, hoping to turn them into an upscale touring attraction / freak show. The promise of fame and money is too tempting for many of the knights and as others attendant to them leave, this counter-culture community is in danger of succumbing to the divisive lure of the material world that Harris has made a stand against. The knights must thus re-assess their allegiance to Harris and what their lifestyle really means to them.

The film is full of the joy and sense of belonging in a counter-cultural lifestyle so proudly independent and resistant to materialist pressures.

However, these pressures do complicate any idealistic integrity, and the film is genuinely sorrowful when disillusionment threatens an idyll: in this way Romero once again essays a society in collapse whilst exploring the function of the so-called alternative lifestyle within a corrosive and ideologically corrupt America (as represented by the fat oaf of a policeman). What Harris is able to instill in those who journey with him is a belief in mythical Romanticism as a valid, necessary stand against what he sees as contemporary moral compromise. Romero captures the self-imposed alienation of this community but with such sympathy for them as if to suggest that in them he has finally found a beautiful, alternative world. To that end he stresses the communal celebration without ever suggesting that they are ignorant to the repercussions of their choice to go with the single-minded and driven visionary Harris. Thus, Harris states that he is aware that outsiders cannot tell the difference between him and such cult leaders as Jim Jones or Charles Manson but is also so obsessed with his private, dreamily portentous mysticism that he verges on the psychotic. In that respect, the film’s tagline is an appropriate distillation of the movie’s thesis – Camelot is state of mind.

Ed Harris as the King, with his Queen and Knights

Romero depicts modernity as a failure to live up to the private world of a true Romantic visionary.

This stress on a figure who refuses to compromise his dreams and attains them even if this may mean delusion and death (which, with madness, have always been idealized by the Romantic poets), has been interpreted by some as Romero’s comment on his own career pressures. Hence, Knightriders is tellingly full of revulsion for money and fame as another trap, far from the real freedom, honor and mythic grandeur offered by vision. But Harris has his own private fatalism and his personality finally extends towards a kind of self-imposed martyrdom, as if his life has been spent obsessed with metaphysical becoming. Threatened with disintegration, the counter-culture is the only sanctuary from modernity, courageously withdrawing into deliberately anachronistic idealism to defy the corruptors, time and progress. The fair’s spectators are mostly crass Americans, reveling in the motorcycle show but oblivious to the ideals ritually enacted in what they watch: they like spectacle and stunts without meaning or context. But it is the elusive presence of the transcendent in the spectacle that fascinates Romero: like in his horror films, he searches for an ideal social alternative. At this point in his career Romero was one of the last contemporary American Romantics, making Knightriders a film to be treasured.

ORIGINAL AUST MOVIE POSTER

AUSTRALIAN MOVIE POSTER

The visual transfer, in 16:9 enhanced widescreen, captures a stunning achievement and is always respectful from the mystical forest scenes that begin the film to the brilliantly edited motorcycle-joust spectacles.

Production design is constantly unusual, capturing the nuances and details of a nomadic existence, adding considerable authenticity to so contextualize Romero’s assessment of the Romantic in a modern world. As a visualization of a counter-culture lifestyle in all its richness and with all its challenges, Knightriders is unequalled. It often has a yellow-green warmth to complement the skin tones and has a natural, earthen look with deep blacks at night and only minimal frame edge problems. Costumes are well used to emphasize the clash of old and new sensibilities, culminating in the cynical promoter’s callous, gimmicky attempts to modernize the bikes and armor. Romero also stresses a truck on which is painted the motto “fight or yield”, the uncompromising belief that Harris espouses throughout. It is a film full of distinctive imagery (blood trickling down a sword in one shot is an emotional high-point), its remarkable joust scenes each with their own uniqueness and sense of progression (from showmanship to anger to a form of intimacy) – by the time of the final joust, the viewer can truly share in this unique honor code. Romero here builds more sympathy for his characters than he ever has before or since.

RARE SOUNDTRACK CD COVER
COLLECTOR'S EDITION

SOUNDTRACK CD COVER

The sound transfer is adequate in Dolby Digital mono, although reveals the limitations of the original source material: much of the final sound mix was rushed to meet deadlines and Romero has since expressed a wish to re-mix the film for a future release.

As is, the transfer and sound design are fine, clear and clean. Its muted tones, however, cannot be overcome all of the time. Nevertheless, what is distinctive in ambience about the film is preserved. Of special note is the astonishing score by Donald Rubinstein, a true emotional journey which balances the sound of actual Renaissance fairs and period instruments with a kind of Grateful Dead like psychedelia – the result is continually inventive and invigorating. Folk songs are well integrated into the film, and the fairground presence is well sustained. The opening segue from natural forest noises to score and engine is a wonderful introduction. Likewise, Romero nicely contrasts the vivid, busy fairground scenes with the easy, relaxed atmosphere of the camp at night, free from the prying eyes of crass, gawking and curious America. Of course, the sounds of motorcycles in combat adds a most unusual texture – also making this perhaps the most distinctive of biker movies. However, the mono sound on offer here works against this being the true aural spectacle it could be on a more enhanced home theatre re-mix. Until such a future re-mix, this will suffice.

Special features include an original trailer and two television spots which all stress the “Camelot is a state of mind” catch-phrase and the notion that a legend will never die as long as someone believes in it.

There is a short behind-the-scenes featurette consisting mainly of home-movie type footage of the shoot, but without sound. There is a commentary track by George Romero, Tom Savini, John Amplas, Christine Forrest and historian Chris Stavrakis. They talk of the exceptional score, the numerous production difficulties, the Renaissance Fair movement, how Brother Blue came to the production and of how Knightriders is one of the director’s favored projects. Romero talks about the importance of the family atmosphere on set and his tendency towards lengthy first cuts. Mentioned also is the film’s poor box-office reception as well as the set design and the intricacies of staging the motorcycle scenes. It is an amiable, anecdotal commentary between friends obviously comfortable with one another and looking back on a cathartic experience in their lives. However, the commentary avoids any real discussion of the film’s themes. The DVD also comes with a collector’s booklet of written information about how the film fits into Romero’s overall body of work, countering the still common misconception that this film is uncharacteristic for a moviemaker known almost entirely for his zombie movies.