King Arthur: The Sword and the Cinema
Ranking the Best Actors to Play King Arthur On the Silver Screen!
King Arthur is quite literally the stuff of legend. He’s a benevolent monarchist that protects his kingdom from anyone who would do it harm. More importantly, he’s under public domain, and Hollywood loves it some public domain heroes. While there might be no shortage of King Arthur movies out there, there is a strange shortage of truly memorable ones. This came to my attention while working on the recent Top 10 Knight Movies list for Stars & Popcorn, which led to a rabbit hole down the internet in order to find out who the best King Arthurs have been over the years. Now, note that I’m not talking about films based on Arthurian Legends or even the best King Arthur movies out there. I’m talking about the actors beneath the crown.
After perusing plenty of films, I’ve come up with 5 actors who managed to look pretty damn good as the rulers of Camelot.
5. Charlie Hunnam in King Arthur: Legend of the Sword
Guy Richie is a director who has made a lot of really great movies over the years. Unfortunately, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword isn’t exactly one of his best. It’s not the worst movie I’ve seen based on literary legends recently, but it was never exactly at risk of winning any awards. Still, Hunnam proved to be a pretty interesting choice to play the legendary Arthur before he became King. He brought a very specific sort of swagger to the role as he made Arthur a man of the people who reluctantly become the rightful ruler of Camelot. His version of the King starts as quite a player in the kingdom’s underworld but is a far cry from wanting the power and responsibility that comes with wearing a crown. Love him or hate the film, Hunnam’s hard to forget in it.
4. Clive Owen in King Arthur
Another twist on Arthurian Legend appears in this Antoine Fuqua film. In it, Owen plays a Roman soldier who wants nothing more to return home to Rome from his station in Britain. He, along with his legion of “super knights” have spent years kicking the crap out of the Britons who rebel under the guidance of Merlin. Of course, Owen has a change of heart and decides that someone really should rule over Britain and it’s people in order to protect them and guide them into the future, and decides, who better than him? His version of the character is a badass warrior who spends most of the movie fighting off entire armies with the help of his warrior bros. This Roman version of the character might not be entirely accurate to the legends, but Owen’s King Arthur could probably mop the floor with all the others out there.
3. Graham Chapman in Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Monty Python holds a special place in my heart, which is probably why I’m so fond of Graham Chapman’s take on the legendary king. Despite the fact that he’s a bumbling doofus surrounded by hapless knights, he never backs down from the perilous quest that laid before him. Chapman is simply hilarious playing the role with a stiff upper lip and terrible aversion to any sort of silliness that might derail his search for the Holy Grail. This is quite unfortunate for him though, because he encounters all sorts of colorful characters that all threaten to drive him mad. Chapman’s version of King Arthur is a proper Englishman and seems as though he would be terribly out of place wielding the sword Excalibur on a battlefield. That doesn’t stop his performance from being one of my favorites though and Chapman is an absolute delight no matter how many times I see this film.