Directed by Jerry Zucker; Screenplay by Lorne Cameron, David Hoselton, and William Nicholson; Featuring Richard Gere (Lancelot), Sean Connery (King Arthur), Julia Ormond (Guenever), and Ben Cross (Prince Malagant).
While other film versions of the Arthurian saga attempt to reshape parts of the myth to further the issues explored by their directors, First Knight is different in its drastic alteration of several main parts of the plot. Mordred, for example, never appears (or even exists) and his father is killed in a battle with Prince Malagant (the film's land-grabbing villain) instead by his evil son. Arthur is an old, lonely man when he meets and weds Guenever — who herself has a degree of political power as the Lady of Lionesse. First Knight's greatest departure from the myth, however, is its portrayal of Lancelot — instead of the conscience-stricken and suffering "ill-made knight" of both Malory and White's books, he behaves like a very cynical and modern man, pursuing Guenever without any initial cares about breaking his allegiances to Arthur or the Round Table. (He is not even French.) This is not to say that First Knight is a bad film, but simply that Jerry Zucker (its director) was interested in presenting a new, modern "spin" on the Arthurian love triangle.
