Wow! Such a good movie.

This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

I'm not the best screenwriter in the world, and I've often wondered what the criteria is to get something financed and shot from a major studio. And even though I'm not the best writer, I think the concepts I have are solid. So, imagine my surprise when late night on HBO I see some film about a "bike gang" (of sorts) going around doing Chaucer. The thing is meant to mimic and otherwise mirror social groups that have a leader. It's more social psychology, only dressed up with motorcycles and high middle ages armor and costume.Me, personally, I could take it or leave it ... I chose to leave it. It's not a bad film, and in fact is quite professional looking. It's just an oddball film, probably based on some dude who had read Mallory or some such and, in fact, was the leader of a bike gang.If nothing else it'll kill an hour and a half, but there are better films out there.

OK, besides Ed Harris and Tom Savini, who else is in this amazing biker film from the early 80s? Well, it doesn't really matter because sometimes things just come together in a way that transcends what the likely original intent was, to patch together a biker movie about jousting knights who engage in feudal combat from motorcycles instead of horses. Yep. The costumes are a bit cheesy, the acting is a bit raw and amateurish and the story..., ah, the story: The story is the Arthurian tragedy of innocence, self sacrifice, honor and unfaithfulness. The tale works around the triad of the King, the very young Ed Harris, the villain, the wonderful Tom Savini and the knight protector, Lancelot, Gary Lahti. Each of these figures represents an archetype which very likely unbeknown to the film makers and they come through wonderfully in the way in which this tale is patched together. Billy,as the King Arthur prototype is idealistic, uncompromising loyal to his own mythology and like the legendary Arthur, ego-less. His loyal knight retainer, Alan, is Lancelot in his nobility and loyalty to his sovereign while coveting his wife all the time. Savini is purely delightful as the Modred counterpart, even taking Morgan le Fay's name as a pun. Morgan covets the crown and tries to usurp it by going off only to discover his new realm is a forest of paper tigers. The final scene and resolution of the tragedy works wonderfully, giving a the only glimpse of the famous story-teller and raconteur, Brother Blue as the wizard, Merlin.As an anthropologist and mythologist, I saw this tale back in the early 80s and was impressed how the underlying mythology of an essentially low budget film held together in such a wonderful way in spite of a few flaws. I consider it a cult classic.

I'm going to give this a 5 because it's so freakin' twisted.(spoiler alerts ahead....)I'm also going to be honest and admit that I've always thought Romero was incredibly overrated. His early zombie flicks are interesting to a point, but that's it. His later films,especially that godawful last one about the video cameras, are flat out terrible. But this movie is just a big laughathon. I found this videotape in a $3 bin in some hole in the wall video store in Sacramento about 12 years ago.I still have it, and have even won a couple bets with it because no one can believe George made it. The acting is terrible, the subject matter is hilarious, and it looks like it was shot by my little brother. If you like to watch incredibly ill advised movies, I say seek it out. It's a rockin good time. But in all sincerity, if you take it at face value, you need to to be evaluated. Put it this way: it's like "Fame," but with bikers with Camelot fixations. Too funny.(spoiler alert) It totally made sense to me when Billy committed suicide at the end.I fully realize I sound like a snob, but frankly I could care less. This is the kind of crap that self important and delusional filmmakers like Romero make after taking their own press too seriously.

When a troupe of Motorcyclists, who are members of a traveling renaissance fair. They move town to town with great audiences each time. They are the perfect medieval jousting tournament group. The rule of the game, if someone of the opposite team lead by Arthur (Tom Savini). If his team wins, Arthur will become the new King of Camelot. If Arthur doesn't win, Billy (Ed Harris) will always stay King of Camelot. But Billy almost believe too much about the real world of today society of Camelot is being renewed. While they are getting national attention much to the dismay of the current King of this Camelot. The members of this medieval jousting tournament group asked themselves, why they are here doing and what they loved being in the first place.Written and Directed by George A. Romero (Creepshow, The Dark Half, Monkey Shines) shows a unique style and flair to the extremely well made unusual film. It was a flop in theaters but the film received an cult following on video. Harris gives an terrific performance in his first lead role. The film has an nice supporting performances by Amy Ingersoll, Gary Lahti, Patricia Tallman, Christine Forrest Romero (The filmmaker's wife), Warner Shook, Brother Blue, Martin Ferrero, Ken Foree and Scott Reiniger.DVD has an fine anamorphic Widescreen (1.78:1) transfer and an clear Dolby 2.0 Mono Sound. DVD has an entertaining commentary track by Writer/Director:Romero, Make-Up Artist/Actor:Savini, Film Historian:Chris Stavrakis, Brief Comments by the director's wife and a few comments by actor:John Amplas. DVD also gas a silent behind the scenes featurette, theatrical trailer and a collector's booklet. While this film is not for all tastes but it is still an interesting film. Great music score by Donald Rubinstein (Bruiser, Martin). Watch for Novelist:Stephen King and his wife:Tabitha King in Cameos. (****/*****).