The Medieval 1980s: A Filmography

Hello! I'm watching every medieval movie from the 1980s so you don't have to.

Starting next week, I’m on a mission to watch every “medieval” (or: medieval-ish) movie made during the 1980s. Here’s my list so far: all 87 of ‘em.

A quick key:

• 🚧 = I can’t find a watchable version/ with subtitles in a language I speak.

• 🔜 = I haven’t skipped it! It’s getting combined with another movie.

• ✅ = Done! Read my review.

1980

Two fake orcs and the power of friendship in The Return of the King (1980)

• Catherine de Heilbronn (TV, dir. E. Rohmer) 🚧

• Kagemusha (dir. A. Kurosawa) ✅

• Hawk the Slayer (dir. T. Marcel) ✅

• The Return of the King (TV, dir. A. Rankin/ J. Bass) ✅

• Shōgun (TV, dir. J. London) ✅

1981

Ed Harris being extra metal in Knightriders (1981)

• The Casket of Maria de’ Medici (dir. R. Fruntov) 🚧

• Excalibur (dir. J. Boorman) ✅

• Dragonslayer (dir. M. Robbins) ✅

• The Archer: Fugitive from the Empire (TV, dir. N. Corea) ✅

• Time Bandits (dir. T. Gilliam) 🔜

• Knightriders (d. G. Romero) ✅

• Aszparuh aka 681 AD: The Glory of Khan (1984) (d. L. Staikov) 🚧

• Lovespell (dir. T. Donovan) 🔜

• Grendel Grendel Grendel (dir. A. Stitt) ✅

• Outlaw: The Saga of Gísli (dir. Ágúst Guðmundsson) 🚧

• Fire and Sword (dir. Veith von Fürstenberg) 🔜

  1982

  

  Nothing says “the middle ages” like furry underwear. (Ator: The Fighting Eagle (1982))

• The Hunchback of Notre Dame (TV, dir. M. Tuchner) 🔜

• Ivanhoe (TV, dir. D. Camfield) 🔜

• Conan the Barbarian (dir. J. Milius)

• Le Retour de Martin Guerre (dir. D. Vigne)

• The Sword and the Sorcerer (dir. A. Pyun)

• Marco Polo (TV, dir. G. Montaldo) 🚧

• The Beastmaster (dir. D. Coscarelli)

• The Flight of Dragons (dir. A. Rankin/ J. Bass)

• The Mysterious Stranger (TV, dir. P. Hunt)

• Sorceress (dir. B. Stuart/ J. Hill)

• Ator, the Fighting Eagle (dir. J. D’Amato)

• The Last Unicorn (dir. A. Rankin/ J. Bass)

• The Dark Crystal (dir. J. Henson)

• Mazes and Monsters (dir. S. Stern)

1983

What medievalist hasn’t accidentally summoned a demon from time to time? (Ian McKellen in The Keep (1983))

• Thor the Conqueror (dir. T. Ricci)

• Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain (dir. T. Hark)

• The Ballad of the Valiant Knight Ivanhoe (dir. S. Tsarov)

• Krull (dir. P. Yates)

• Deathstalker (dir. J. Sbardellati)

• The Keep (dir. M. Mann)

• The Story of Voyages (dir. A. Mitta)

• Conquest (dir. L. Fulci)

• Fire and Ice (dir. R. Bakshi)

• He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (TV, L. Scheimer, 1983-1985)

• Wizards and Warriors (TV)

• Skullduggery (dir. O. Richter)

1984

Sean Connery (right), covered in body glitter and channeling the audience’s wishes in Sword of the Valiant (1984)

• Bertoldo, Bertoldino, e Cacasenno (dir. M. Monicelli)

• When the Raven Flies (dir. H. Gunlaggsson)

• The Neverending Story (dir. W. Peterson)

• Dune (dir. D. Lynch)

• Ator 2: L’Invincibile Orion/ Blademaster (dir. J. D’Amato)

• Sword of the Valiant (dir. S. Weeks)

• Ronia, the Robber’s Daughter (dir. T. Danielsson)

• The Warrior and the Sorceress (dir. J. Broderick)

• Conan the Destroyer (dir. R. Fleischer)

• Robin of Sherwood (TV, 1984-1986)

• John Wycliffe: The Morning Star (dir. T. Tew)

1985

Michelle Pfeiffer, shapeshifter, in Ladyhawke (1985)

• Barbarian Queen (dir. H. Olivera)

• The Black Cauldron (dir. T. Berman/ R. Rich)

• Dungeonmaster (Dave Allen et al., anthology film)

• Ladyhawke (dir. R. Donner)

• Flesh and Blood (dir. P. Verhoeven)

• Legend (dir. R. Scott)

• Red Sonja (dir. R. Fleischer)

• Wizards of the Lost Kingdom (dir. F. Colombo)

• She-Ra: Princess of Power (TV, 1985-1987, dir. G. Wetzler)

• Ran (dir. A. Kurosawa)

• Black Arrow: A Tale of the Two Roses (TV, dir. J. Hough)

• Christopher Columbus (TV, dir. A. Lattuada)

1986

Hellboy goes to church. (Ron Perlman in The Name of the Rose (1986))

• Highlander (dir. R. Mulchahy)

• Labyrinth (dir. J. Henson)

• Ivanhoe (animated, dir. A. Nicholas)

• The Name of the Rose (dir. J.-J. Annaud)

• The Hunchback of Notre Dame (TV, dir. G. Collins)

1987

Unlike that word you keep using, this movie does mean what you think it means. (Wallace Shawn, Robin Wright, and André the Giant in The Princess Bride (1987))

• The Princess Bride (dir. R. Reiner)

• Lionheart (dir. F. Schaffner)

• The Barbarians (dir. R. Deodato)

• Masters of the Universe (dir. G. Goddard)

• Le Moine et la Sorcière (The Sorceress) (dir. S. Schiffman)

• Pathfinder (dir. N. Gaup)

1988

Not sure what she’s doing right now, but it’s not philosophy. (Kim Thomson as Heloise in Stealing Heaven (1988))

• Ubit drakona (To Kill a Dragon) (dir. M. Zakharov)

• Willow (dir. R. Howard)

• Stealing Heaven (dir. C. Donner)

• The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey (dir. V. Ward)

• In the Shadow of the Raven (dir. H. Gunlaggsson)

1989

Knights vs. helicopter in Es nicht leicht ein Gott zu sein (1989)

• Henry V (dir. K. Branagh)

• Erik the Viking (dir. T. Jones)

• Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (dir. S. Herek)

• Es ist nicht leicht ein Gott zu sein (Hard to be a God) (dir. P. Fleischmann)

• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (dir. S. Spielberg)

• Death of A Tea Master (dir. K. Kumai)

• Francesco (dir. L. Cavani)

• Hägar the Horrible: Hägar Knows Best (TV, Hanna Barbera)

I’ll be posting a review every other week on Mondays, starting with my review of Rankin-Bass’ The Return of the King (1980) in a few days.

I welcome additions and corrections to this list! And I take requests.