I havn't seen it yet, but I want to.

I haven't seen either of those.

Knightriders is GREAT, if you give it a chance. It has a real indie-low budget feel. And the story and structure unfold slowly, but its great.

The movie takes you in slowly, with a 'show' which sets up the rest of the movie. The rivalries, conflicts with 'townie' authorities, the a behind the scene look at a 'travellign act'.

The real question, set up in the very beginning, is 'how much of the 'show' is 'real' to the characters.

And the jousting on motorcylces is cool.

I don't think it's a movie for everyone, but it really is a rare treasure.

the DVD is great - too bad the audio is mono, but the movie wasn't filmed in stereo - that's the kind of budget it had. I don't remember it even being in the theaters, I found it, liek a lot of people, playing almost endlessly on pay tc in the 80's - usually Cinemax.

Okay, here goes:

I saw this first late on a Sunday night on Cinemax. I was a senior in college, drinking my way out of a hangover, and my teams had all lost that weekend. I knew Ed Harris from "The Right Stuff", one of my favorite movies.

It is an incredible movie. Looking at it now, it's dated (people "slapping five", some of the "lingo", clothing, etc.). It can move a little slow, at times, but I never find myself saying, "Okay, fast-forward past this."

The struggles within "the troupe", between characters, couples and within each character are interesting, intriguing, funny and heart-breaking. And what takes place is very "real", in that you could very easily visualize this "in real life."

The scenery is great, and the settings (county fairs, cheap motels, not-quite-big-time photography studios, "wannabe" opulence at a promoter's residence) fit so well with the story and situations within it.

Several warnings:
1) Keep an open mind; just because it "seems" dated, it is STILL "relevant", much like a "Billy Jack", "First Blood" or any "Vietnam-vet-returns-home-disillusioned" movie is today, 30 years after the Vietnam War.
2) What can seem like self-absorbed whining and triviality by the characters WILL make sense after a bit. A scene may appear "cheesy", taken by itself, but wrapped together, those same cheesy scenes tell a great story.
3) The ending is both tragedy and triumph, but it is NOT a "cop-out-so-everybody-wins-just-like-Hillary-Clinton-wants" ending. The tragedy of the main character's death is met with the realization that he WAS right all along...think "Poseidon Adventure" ("The beautiful son of a bitch was right") done ten times better...and that, good or bad, people don't place a value on you, they take you at the value you place on yourself.

So...enjoy!

This is definatly my favorite movie ever. I first saw it when it was in the theater for about a week. I was semi active in the SCA and my girlfriend had just dumped me, so I really related to some of the stuff in the movie. I really loved the change in Tom Savini's Morgan, it was a true Epiphany. As others have noted, some of it is a bit hokey, the armor sucks, and the fighting is very unrealistic, but I still love it.

I had Romero sign my DVD booklet at a Wonderfest a few years ago. Everyone else had one of the "Dead" movies and I think I was about the only one with a Knightriders. Got to hang with him a bit later and asked him what he thought his best film was and he said that he liked Knightriders. He thought of it as his favorite.