Krull has one distinction from the other films we've discussed so far in our 'Film Club.' While our previous films are b-movies through and through... Krull is a big studio movie trying to be the next Star Wars. Everything about it is horribly dated, but the film obviously had some studio money behind it: elaborate make-up, matte paintings, an epic James Horner score, and big stars like the guy who played the teacher in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
I joke about 'big stars' but Krull actually has a couple of them: Liam Neeson and Harry Potter's Hagrid Robbie Coltrane have small roles. Both stars surely owe their current success to this film. I'm sure lead Ken Marshall was hoping Krull would elevate him to Marc Hamill levels of stardom, but it was not to be.
Its actually quite an opportune time to check in with Krull. Director David Gordon Green has cited the movie as a primary influence on his latest film, Your Highness, which opens this weekend. Its easy to see why someone would make a comedy influenced by early 80s fantasy films like Krull, Beastmaster, and Willow. There's an earnestness that comes through in these films that is missing from the snarky, 'excuse me princess' flavor of recent fantasy/adventure movies like Prince of Persia and the optical and practical special effects have a charm absent from the CGI of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Green hopefully has a similar nostalgia and reverence for this sub-genre as Edgar Wright and his collaborators have for the specific breed of action films that begot Hot Fuzz.
Krull is not a good movie- its 'hero-rescues-princess-from-evil' plot follows Joseph Campbell's hero's journey step by step without the slightest bit of reinvention and its 'love conquers all' finale is eye-rolling, but its an easy film to like- I mean, there's a cyclops and the glaive.
While its a fun movie, I find it hard while watching Krull to imagine an alternate universe where this film was successful and went on to spawn sequels, remakes, hundreds of spin-off novels, action figures, and animated series. Its mythology is too depthless and the tone too goofy to make it anything more than an drinking night curiosity.
Random notes and topics for conversation:
Krull was in the news recently because of the passing away of director Peter Yates in January. Yates also directed the Steve McQueen classic Bullitt and the goofy-title classic Mother, Jugs & Speed.
I mentioned in an earlier post that my primary memory of Krull was the Atari game. I don't remember much about it other than it involved throwing the glaive at the end. Considering most games of that era didn't have much story, let alone an ending, it was one of my favorite games to play.
Krull's score is kind of awesome.
Are there any fantasy films from the 70s-80s that aren't appreciated purely on a semi-ironic or nostalgic level? I'm hard-pressed to think of any.
Please share your favorite part of the movie in the comments section...
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I'm actually sort of torn on what the next selection should be---we have yet to have a straight-up 'bad' horror movie yet...but I also don't want us to get stuck in a strictly genre rut.
Here are two suggestions, please let me know in the comments which one we should pursue:
Alice's Restaurant
You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant, but the only thing music icon Arlo Guthrie needs is a good Thanksgiving dinner. After he gets his fill, Guthrie's run-in with the law over a trumped-up littering charge leads to a unique way of avoiding the Vietnam War draft.
or
The Video Dead
When teenagers Jeff (Rocky Duvall) and Zoe Blair (Roxanna Augesen) move into their new house before their parents arrive, they discover the television from hell: Flesh-eating zombies walk straight off the screen, looking for some tasty human dinner. Now the siblings join forces with neighbors April (Victoria Bastel) and Joshua (Sam David McClelland) -- who supply a machete, bow and arrow, and chainsaw -- in a bloody fight for their lives.
I suspect I know which way this is going to go...but feel free to prove me wrong by voting the comments section!
