Baker Thank you for confirming my good taste in movies–greatness must run in our name (I’m a Baker when required to use my real name).
Really–this (The Sword and the Sorceror is a fun, action packed movie, with enough plot to make it watchable without being overly complicated (i.e. you won’t lose track of the movie once the adult beverages take effect). And it has plenty for a group to comment on–come to think of it, I may organize a showing at my house!
The Virgin Spring.
Alan Ladd’s Black Knight.
Knight Rider – The story of a man with a false identity who drives around in a souped-up talking car. Not really a Knight movie, but they managed to 4 TV seasons out of it. 
Oh yeah, I second Ivanhoe.
Not just Robert Taylor’s (the best) but the other two as well. James Mason makes an excellent Issac.
Or you could just see the condensed version.
In his autobiography Charlton Heston wrote about filming The Warlord . He mentioned that at one of the on location filming sites a young man kept sneaking onto the set to watch the filming process, and kept getting thrown out when found. Eventually the director let him stay, because he never got in the way or really bothered anyone. Who was it? Steven Speilberg. Who, by the way, Heston seems to admire, although he hasn’t worked with him. He compared Speilberg to Cecil B. DeMille(who Heston DID work with) saying he had his finger on the pulse of what people would really like to see.
Some good movies without (unfortunately) much bashin’:
The Advocate (aka The Day of the Pig).
The Return of Martin Guerre.
Stealing Heaven (about Heloise and Abelard).
These are all pretty good period pieces, and all based at least partly on true stories.
For some good medieval fightin’, the 1954 Prince Valiant, with a young and athletic Robert Wagner, is actually pretty entertaining.
For cheesy fun, try The Black Shield of Falworth (also 1954) with Tony Curtis and his medieval English Brooklyn accent. Some excellent fight scenes.
For a C.B. DeMille take on the Third Crusade, try and find The Crusades (1935) with Henry Wilcoxon as Richard Lionheart and a lucious Loretta Young as his wife, Berengaria. Spectacular scenes of capturing the city of Acre. Unfortunate decision to let Alan Hale sing.
“Knight Riders” is Knightriders, an offbeat George Romero movie, now available on DVD. It’s a good two and a half hours long. I find the subculture depicted therein pretty interesting, in both good and bad ways. Lot of good motorcycle stunts. (By guys apparently wearing less protection than I have to wear to fight with wooden weapons in the SCA, not to mention less than motocross riders wear.)
(Excalibur, by the way, is 140 minutes in the British release, and 119 minutes in the American version.)
Unfortunately, a lot of good movies are unavailable on DVD, and hard to find on VHS. Good luck.
Wow, I was getting nervous that I would be the first one to think of this one.
Two other possibilities:
My sister has a movie Ever After which is supposed to be based on the Cinderella story, but I haven’t seen it, so I can’t say whether it’s any good or not.
A Three Musketeers movie, but I forget which version(s) are supposed to be good.
Merlin, starring Sam Neill
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0130414
I concur with The Princess Bride and The Court Jester.
If anyone sees Restoration based on my recommendation, please report back. I think it’s a terrific movie and I have yet to run into anyone who’s seen it, or dashed out and rented it on my advice. <whine>
Robert Downey Jr. is fabulous in it, and Sam Neill (speaking of him) plays the king. It’s so tragic such a wonderful actor has been taken from us because of drug abuse. I can’t think of a single time I’ve ever seen RDJ and haven’t loved him. (Well, I never watched Allie McBeal…)
Ellen Cherry I’ve been meaning to see Restoration. If I get to the movie rental place this weekend, I’ll look for it–partially based on your recommendation, of course.
As for Ever After it is the Drew Barrymore retelling of Cinderella. I enjoyed it, but I don’t remember fighting in it. Not as fun s Princess Bride, but then, not really trying to be.
Yet another vote for Flesh+Blood. I love that movie to pieces. I’m hoping it’s out on DVD.
Beyond that, I really don’t have many suggestions. The more I got involved in fighting in the SCA, the more annoyed I got with fight scenes in Medieval Movies.
Ellen Cherry - You have good taste! Restoration is a great movie. I happen to own it. I have a weakness for costume movies, and this is a great one. However, for those who give a darn, it does not take place in the medieval period but the Restoration period. More like the 1700’s, as opposed to the 1300’s. There’s not much in the way of fighting, but it’s a great, entertaining story and is pretty accurate to the period. Rob Roy is also set in the same period. I own that one, too.
As for the OP … a lot of fun movies that are set (more or less) in the medieval period, and would probably be enjoyed by a beer-and-pizza crowd (as opposed to a crowd of historical sticklers) have been mentioned:
First Knight
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Ladyhawke
The 13th Warrior
Braveheart
Excalibur
Merlin
Willow
The Court Jester
The Princess Bride
I haven’t seen A Knight’s Tale, The Sword and The Sorceror, Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, or Jabberwocky, but they all sound like they might be good choices also.
What? No suggestions for Robin Hood: Men in Tights?
The Black Shield of Falsworth (1954), Starring Tony “yonder lies the castle of my fadda’ da’ prince.” Curtis. All teasing aside it’s a fun movie.
I watch “the Court Jester” so often I forgot to mention it earlier. Dang
Wow, I was reading through this thread thinking, “I can’t be the only one who loves that made for TV Ivanhoe with James Mason and Anthony Andrews!” (And Sam Niell.)
I heartily second the nomination. It’s got fighting too! I think it would work well, if you can find it. The James Mason one might be available for rental, and sometimes comes up on ebay–other than that, I’m not sure where to find it.
Notice how the three bad guys in the Mason version resemble the guys in the Taylor flick?
The Taylor feast at Cedric’s had them eating roasted potatoes. They re-filmed it with apples when they figured out that potatoes weren’t in Europe yet.
I recommend The Last Valley for a different look at the era. I lucked onto a TV showing of it sometime in the early '80’s and was quite impressed. How you’re going to find a copy though…
Nitpick: the Restoration is actually the 1600s not the 1700s. Still later than the medieval period, I agree, but I was pushin’ for that plague angle.
Cite: http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/R/RestorE1ng.asp"
Thanks Kallessa and Edwardina! You both made my day.
While it’s not a pizza & beer flick, Roman Pulanski’s version of MacBeth is gruesome and contains a charming amount of medieval violence.