Knightriders (1981) George A. Romero   Best known for horror films like Night of the Living Dead and Creepshow, director George Romero took a break from slasher flicks in 1981 to make this offbeat and entertaining film. Knightriders would best be described as the legend of King Arthur meets Easy Rider (with a bit of Don Quixote thrown in). The film concerns a traveling Renaissance Faire, whose centerpiece is a tournament in which armored knights compete in a joustastride motorcycles. The Faire is led by Sir William Davis (known to his friends as Billy), an idealist who lives by the Arthurian codes of chivalry. Within his troupe, Billy has fashioned his own version of Camelot, complete with knights, ladies, serfs, and even a Merlin (in the form of an ex-physician who has rejected the world to follow Billy's dream). But like Camelot before it, this kingdom is threatened with pettiness, greed, and in-fighting. Billy rejects the tawdry commercialism of a promoter who offers to remodel the troupe and take them to Las Vegas. But Billy's chief rival, a womanizing biker named Morgan, scoffs at Billy's archaic morals, and pressures the troupe to defect to the promoter. Ed Harris is wonderful in the role of the Quixotic Billy, whose commitment to chivalric ideals eventually causes even those closest to him to question his sanity. However the film is never once patronizing of the Faire culture. Despite Billy's eccentric outlook, he is an admirable, heroic character, and the film's depiction of this culture is endearing and affectionate. Knightriders also offers a glimpse of the less pleasant side of Faire lifenamely the tawdry, unkempt patrons who care nothing for history or pageantry, for whom a day at Faire is no different than one at Coney Island. (There is even a funny cameo by non other than Stephen King, playing one of these slobs.) At nearly two and a half hours, the film is perhaps overlong, and some scenes are a bit confusing and vague. But the stuntwork is magnificent, and features some of the best jousting ever put on film (even if it is performed on bikes). The DVD contains extras, such as behind-the-scenes footage and a commentary track by Romero, Savini, and others who worked on the film. —Paul Andrew MacLean

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