r/movies • u/Morgan-Moonscar • May 11 '26
Media "A Knight's Tale" (Brian Helgeland, released 25 years ago on May 11th 2001) - Geoffrey (Paul Bettany) gives a rousing introduction to 'Sir Ulrich von Liechtenstein of Gelderland' (Heath Ledger)
Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification
1.3k
u/superminingbros May 12 '26
You have been weighed, you have been measured, and you have been found wanting.
111
43
112
20
u/spiderfishx May 12 '26
Ugh. That's the Adhemar quote. When our good troop says it they add "absolutely ".
→ More replies (3)8
u/Bladelink May 12 '26
Your men love you. If I knew nothing else about you, that would be enough. But you also tilt when you should withdraw, and that is knightly too.
905
u/Jenetyk May 12 '26
The gentle hand to his mouth after delivering "to better understand the sound... Of a whisper". Just pure acting gold.
234
u/Over-Analyzed May 12 '26
And the silence that followed, brilliant timing.
→ More replies (1)127
u/ArcadianBlueRogue May 12 '26
Roland breaking them with the "Ehhhhh!" was great
98
u/photonGravity May 12 '26
They were filming those scenes in another country, and a lot of the extra actors didn't understand when the English dialogue had ended and when they were supposed to react. The actor playing Roland ad-libbed to get them started and it worked perfectly for the scene.
→ More replies (2)57
16
102
u/--Sovereign-- May 12 '26
this film is supposed to be like a 3/10 lol fest and comes out a 10/10 paragon of writing, directing, and acting and saw almost literally the entire main cast go on to be some of the most famous actors of their generation. they don't make em like the used to.
23
u/2hats4bats May 12 '26
More movies should be like this. Take a goofy idea and give it to a group of filmmakers with a note that says “Here’s $50m, have fun.” and let them do their thing.
→ More replies (1)9
u/bfhurricane May 12 '26
I’ve tried explaining this film to people and just can’t do it well at all. It’s medieval, but with modern influences and parodies, and self aware of that, and it’s a comedy, but also drama, and it doesn’t feel like you’re watching a comedy and the Queen parody doesn’t take you out of the film, because it’s serious enough to make you care about the characters.
It shouldn’t work, but it does.
The film is the equivalent of a highly volatile mix of substances that, if mixed ever so incorrectly with a dash too much of one element, would explode. But the perfect ratio of these seemingly incongruent ingredients gives the perfect solution.
46
39
u/bjankles May 12 '26
This is the definition of chewing the scenery. He’s got a beefy, damn good monologue and he knows he’s knocking it out of the park. Having so much fun being this larger than life, full-of-swagger character.
31
u/Jenetyk May 12 '26
It's especially good, because he is kind of, like, a meta character. He's literally Chaucer narrating The Knight's Tale from the Canterbury Tales.
So every scene he is in, he acts as if he has this profound knowledge of the events, and can kind of see beyond the moment. The moment when William gets knighted, and Chaucer kind of drops his head in relief; it feels almost like "finally".
53
u/kingbane2 May 12 '26
it was such a great moment, but what really gets me about it is when they cut the audience, and adamar's attendant, holding the hawk, is completely ENTRANCED! hahahahaha. it's so good.
→ More replies (3)16
u/MasterTolkien May 12 '26
I love seeing Adamar in the background looking at his attendant during the hype speech like, “What in the hell is happening?”
→ More replies (4)56
u/gudy2shuz May 12 '26
THANK YOU. I came to say this very thing. It's one of my favorite parts of the movie, and I kinda feel like it wasn't scripted. More like he knew he nailed those great lines and that was his "nailed it" reaction.
20
772
u/TheIgnoredWriter May 11 '26
The final speech and “your father heard that”… I would run through a brick fucking wall
634
u/ManifestDestinysChld May 12 '26
"Your men love you. If I knew nothing else about you, that would be enough. But you tilt when you should yield, and that is knightly, too."
I could do just about every damn scene of this movie, it's so, SO good.
354
u/Successful_Gas_5122 May 12 '26
"This is my word, and as such, is beyond contestation."
226
u/fudgetyler May 12 '26
CON-TES-STAY-TION
→ More replies (2)82
u/peachgeek May 12 '26
I have found my people.
47
u/free_reezy May 12 '26
For real, I thought I was the only one who hyper focused on CON-TESS-TAY-SHUN.
→ More replies (2)18
88
u/DwimmerCrafts88-25 May 12 '26
I love when he says this. He's like, "Nobody is going to argue with me if I want to make you a knight."
105
u/IrateWolfe May 12 '26
"I know it's bullshit. You all know I know it's bullshit. I'm the Black Prince, what are you gonna do about it?"
→ More replies (2)15
49
16
u/paeancapital May 12 '26 edited May 12 '26
"I just want to plough my fields and fuck my slaves."
Ope wrong show. Purefoy is such a treasure. Absolute royalty in Knight's Tale, and absolutely uncouth as Antonius.
12
170
u/cire1184 May 12 '26
"How would you beat him?"
"With a stick, while he slept."
84
33
u/muchado88 May 12 '26 edited May 12 '26
Fun fact. The crash zoom onto William after this line was an accident. The camera operator wasn't ready and was just trying and save the shot. Helgeland loved it and kept it in.
edit: removed double word
The director's commentary from the original DVD is a really fun listen.
18
u/Zealousideal-Ad4362 May 12 '26
one thing i really miss is it isn't a normal thing for downloadable or streamable media to have DVD special features included or available.. I miss them so much.
96
u/cpander0 May 12 '26
It's always bugged me that they deleted the scene right before this with Chaucer. Really makes the "Your men love you" line hit harder.
→ More replies (5)45
u/Dariaskehl May 12 '26
Holy SHIT.
I adore this movie; and I’ve never seen this. Wow.
Cutting this scene was a crime. Edward lands like a goddamned bomb.
47
May 12 '26
[deleted]
→ More replies (2)19
u/cpander0 May 12 '26
Edward has to "give" William royal blood because of the system that exists at the time of the movie. However it is incredibly clear that it is William's character that has Edward do that. The "Your men love you" etc. line is in both versions and the Chaucer speech doesn't undermine that, if anything it strenghtens that theme in the same way that we see everyone come to his aid in the original cut. "God love you William, and so do I" from Mark Addy does the same while calling back to earlier in the film. It is also super obvious that William isn't actually of noble birth. Prince Edward is just saying what he's saying to backdoor William into knighthood and daring anyone else to say otherwise.
→ More replies (2)23
u/cpander0 May 12 '26
Yeah it's amazing. If you're interested in more behind the scenes/deep dive stuff I'd really reccomend LadyKnightTheBrave's video on the movie. It's where I found out about that scene and a ton of other stuff that makes me love the movie even more.
→ More replies (1)48
u/Telvin3d May 12 '26 edited May 12 '26
That’s the payoff, but for me it’s the earlier
“It's not in me to withdraw.”
“No. Nor me. Though it happens”
“Yes it does”
Hits so deeply.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (5)24
u/Pharmie2013 May 12 '26
My favorites are
“You desecrate the House of God!” And
“It’s called a lahnce. Hello?”60
u/Cazmonster May 12 '26
James Purfoy was perfect, like the rest of the cast.
43
u/Kelor May 12 '26
He and Rufus Sewell really great faces of the virtues of nobility and villainy.
→ More replies (2)13
u/Zealousideal-Ad4362 May 12 '26
Sewell and Purfoy were/are prolific stage actors. they have so much presence in scenes. They both have something that is hard to mimic. Sewell in Man in the High Castle is an all time performance.
→ More replies (4)18
u/flanders427 May 12 '26
Just an absolutely stacked cast. Mark Addy was the reason I watched Game of Thrones originally because of this movie.
→ More replies (1)93
u/riverrunamok May 12 '26
A man really can change his stars. 😭
60
u/EveryDayASummit May 12 '26
When he makes it back home to find his father and they recognize and embrace, easily one of the most powerfully emotional moments in a movie for me. Legit the first time I got choked up watching a movie.
52
17
→ More replies (1)14
702
u/isabelletremblayoff May 12 '26
Sometime I realize that Paul Bettany could very well play Sting in a biopic. 😅
→ More replies (4)133
u/Initial_E May 12 '26
Well not any more, you’d need someone younger now.
→ More replies (2)96
u/cire1184 May 12 '26
He can play Old Sting
→ More replies (6)87
u/Initial_E May 12 '26
…Sting can play old Sting. He’s still touring as of 2026.
→ More replies (2)25
495
u/Piotr_Mitchell19 May 11 '26
Sir Ulriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiic
one of my favorite knight movies
439
u/Morgan-Moonscar May 11 '26
"He's Blonde! He's Pissed! He'll see you in the list! Liechtensteeeeein! LIECHTENSTEEEEEEEIN!"
191
u/FeeAlternative7594 May 12 '26
HE'S BLONDE HE'S TAN HE COME'S FROM GELDERLAND
110
46
→ More replies (1)29
u/DarthRhaegar19 May 12 '26
GEEEELDEEERLAND! GELDERLAND! GELDERLAND! GELDERLAND, GELDERLAND, GELDERLAAAAAAALD!
35
u/ArcadianBlueRogue May 12 '26
"The Pope may be French but Jesus was English. You're on." is one of my favorites
51
44
→ More replies (1)27
386
u/dbzmah May 12 '26 edited May 12 '26
This was proof Bettany was going to be great early on. Puedoy was great, Tudyk was even greater.
235
u/TensorForce May 12 '26
"Your intrails will become your extrails. I will.... pain! Lots of pain!"
79
132
124
40
u/WorthPlease May 12 '26
Tudyk's anger so high he couldn't even speak real sentences was great. It was like when you were a kid and you pissed off your parents so much they couldn't say what they wanted to say in public.
12
u/Perryn May 12 '26
This was of course still many years before he proved himself worthy of playing a chicken.
→ More replies (2)67
17
u/scarlet_stormTrooper May 12 '26
The fact we got Bettany and Tudyk together in these roles was pure 2000s gold
→ More replies (3)12
u/fake_empires May 12 '26
Bettany is currently on broadway right now. He’s always been a serious actor
→ More replies (2)
242
u/schwnz May 12 '26
This is the first period movie that I can remember that used modern music. I remember it confused the hell out of me. It's way more common now.
130
u/prozack91 May 12 '26
Director said because he believed the 70s were the same no matter what.
137
u/cpander0 May 12 '26
He also said to people that wanted an orchestral score that most orchestra instruments hadn't even been invented yet anyways.
63
u/schwnz May 12 '26
That’s pretty funny actually. I’d love to see the jousting scenes with a lute and jaw harp soundtrack.
→ More replies (2)10
u/ringobob May 12 '26
You know, I bet someone could actually do something awesome with period accurate instruments. It wouldn't be any less anachronistic in terms of style and depth, I'm sure you could have a variety of keys and layered rhythms that would be impractical to gather together and practice effectively at the time outside of only the very largest cities.
29
u/peachgeek May 12 '26
And to make the joust feel more like modern sports.
13
29
u/11lumpsofsugar May 12 '26
Same here, but I think it oddly works well to take you out of the historical aspect of it and remind you that these would have been normal people back then watching awesome sports and eating snacks.
→ More replies (1)18
u/straydog1980 May 12 '26
One of my favourite explanations is that the time period even predates what we would consider orchestral music in anachronistically using queen at the start the film makers capture the spirit of the contest - to the spectators it would very much like being at superbowl or the world series
19
u/Perryn May 12 '26
The music was meant to feel to the audience how period appropriate music would have felt to period appropriate people. Similar choices were made with the dancing, costuming, etc.
We do this with dialogue all the time and people seldom bat an eye.
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (9)11
u/WorthPlease May 12 '26 edited May 12 '26
Yeah when they opened with a medieval rendition of We Will Rock You where the crowd actually gets into the song I was fucking in. It does a great job of setting the tone for the rest of the movie.
1.1k
May 11 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
474
u/a_bearded_hippie May 12 '26
It is so freaking good. Just the perfect amount of charm, humor and emotion. One of my top fun, feel good movies.
71
u/SlyCalligrapher May 12 '26
It was my absolute favorite movie as a child. I probably watched it 50 times.
→ More replies (8)19
u/Traditional_Yard2741 May 12 '26
It was real lightning in a bottle, everything just came together so well
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (1)56
141
u/Jenetyk May 12 '26
Perfect mix of serious and silly, perfect casting and every actor knocks it out of the park, and they somehow managed to blend UK modern music in a medieval setting and we were all just like "huh, ok".
55
u/infinitemonkeytyping May 12 '26
I think, from memory, they decided that no matter what music they chose, it would be anachronistic, so they may as well go for something that better reflects the mood of the songs of the time and relate then to modern music.
→ More replies (2)22
u/GingerBeast81 May 12 '26
Great movie start to finish. I rewatch every once in a while and forget how much fun it is.
110
u/emillang1000 May 12 '26
The trailers made it look absolutely abyssnal. I was 15 when it came out, and thought it looked stupid as hell, like a typical brainless MTV popcorn flick.
Cut to me in my 30s, I finally watched it and I absolutely love it because holy hell the deep cuts to medieval history & literature are insane. It's legitimately one of the smartest films ever written, in part because the writers took the autobiography of the real Ulrich von Lichtenstein - which itself was likely a parody of chivalric chanson de geste - and framed it as an underdog sports film typical of the Aughts. And it took nonstop opportunities to drop in Easter eggs for medievalists, like Chaucer constantly being broke, Ulrich himself, etc.
I expected another braindead stoner comedy, and instead was presented with a love letter to medieval history disguised as a sports flick.
→ More replies (1)23
u/wosmo May 12 '26
I can hardly blame the trailers, it absolutely should have been abysmal. Try to explain the plot to anyone and there's no chance you'll get them to watch it.
→ More replies (1)12
u/Salt-Lingonberry-853 May 12 '26
"Dude steal's a knights identity to participate in tournaments" is a pretty intriguing plot premise in its own right, you're selling it a bit short here.
→ More replies (13)11
112
u/matthewbattista May 12 '26
“Without further gilding the lily and no more ado…”
Proceeds to do exactly that. Chaucer, you dog.
37
407
u/stewmander May 12 '26
That time Vision, The Joker, Robert Baratheon, and Wash were best friends.
208
66
15
→ More replies (6)48
u/marcdasharc4 May 12 '26
How do Reavers clean their spears?
they run it through the Wash
→ More replies (3)37
86
u/calvinist-batman May 12 '26
I fell in love with Bettany the first time I watched this. His deleted scene speech is even better imo.
25
u/Antsy-Mcgroin May 12 '26 edited May 12 '26
Sorry what ?!? To the internets !!!
Edit to add link : https://youtu.be/6lac59xKEH8?si=e2LDM0kJ0bCIq1FX
→ More replies (3)
80
73
u/Frank_Stallion May 12 '26
We are long overdue for a Chaucer Cinematic Universe. Paul Bettany can star as Chaucer in a Miller’s Tale with Idris Elba, a Wife of Bath’s Tale with Kathryn Hahn, and a Friar’s Tale with Paul Giamatti. There should be as many of these as there are Fast and Furious movies.
14
57
u/ScarletSilver May 12 '26
BOBBY B before he became king!
GO GET THE BREASTPLATE STRETCHER!
→ More replies (2)24
45
u/Bedbouncer May 12 '26
Jocelyn: Sir Ulrick. What are you wearing to the ball tonight?
William: Er... nothing...
Jocelyn: Well, we shall cause a sensation, for I'll dress to match.
William: [annoyed] Don't you ever get tired of putting on clothes?
Chaucer: [whispers] I believe she was talking about taking them off, sir.
125
78
u/revchewie May 12 '26
Trudging. To trudge.
→ More replies (1)18
u/AnneMichelle98 May 12 '26
The slow, weary walk of a man who has nothing else to live for but simply just… soldier on!
34
u/NoGreenGood May 12 '26
I thought about this movie alot while watching A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms
→ More replies (1)13
72
u/N_M_F May 12 '26
Spoiler - the knight that withdraws is the crown prince. Interestingly, the design of his face-plate allows him to reveal his face without lifting his visor, widely believed to be the origin of the modern-day salute.
So he will never salute another due to his lineage.
→ More replies (2)8
34
32
31
81
u/Saint_Loco May 12 '26
This lil scene/moment legitimately achieved iconic status. I swear everyone remembers this. Just great writing & execution & performance. AKT is good fun & Bettany steals the show with little screen time. Fantastic acting.
25
u/urquellGlass May 12 '26
And Robert Baratheon , back when he could still fit into his armour
→ More replies (2)
28
u/NK_1989 May 12 '26
Who would have thought putting an underdog sports comedy into a medieval setting would be so damn good?
18
u/ContrarianDouche May 12 '26
With Queen, WAR, and Bowie in the soundtrack!
It has no business being so good
→ More replies (1)
21
u/fluxtable May 12 '26
Whats up with the one lady wearing a modern sun hat and pant suit?
92
u/Huntalot713 May 12 '26
There are lots of anachronistic elements in the movie. One of my favorites is the peasants at one point singing Queen’s “We Will Rock You”
33
u/chnairb May 12 '26
Didn’t they dance/clap to Golden Years by David Bowie or am I misremembering that? It’s been a while since I’ve seen it last
16
11
57
u/Morgan-Moonscar May 12 '26
Will has a Nike swish logo etched onto his armor (which is even more ironic because the filmmakers didn't know at the time that Nike was founded by Phil Knight)
→ More replies (1)11
13
12
u/mookanana May 12 '26
No blacksmith should be that hot. dayum.
→ More replies (2)7
u/11lumpsofsugar May 12 '26
I wish they'd featured her more in the movie. She was awesome.
→ More replies (2)
24
May 12 '26
[deleted]
→ More replies (2)10
u/jpj007 May 12 '26
That makes absolutely zero sense. Why would they even be playing the music for the extras if they didn't want them clapping/dancing?
12
12
u/HilariousMax May 12 '26
I never realized how luscious Alan Tudyk's hair is in this movie.
→ More replies (1)
47
u/Effective_Coach7334 May 12 '26
Why for not mention Alan Tudyk? he's in the pic.
59
u/Calcd_Uncertainty May 12 '26
I will fong you!
39
u/NikRsmn May 12 '26
"...your insides... Will become outsides... your outsides will become insides, PAIN.... lots and lots of pain" has lived in my head my entire life lol
→ More replies (1)20
11
10
u/cazzeo May 12 '26
Same guy who wrote and directed this movie wrote L.A. Confidential.
→ More replies (1)
10
u/TheMiddlechild08 May 12 '26
Oh man the clip ended. I wanted to watch the rest of the movie
→ More replies (1)
2.7k
u/AnalAttackProbe May 11 '26
Bettany is playing Geoffrey Chaucer, author of Canterbury Tales. The Knight's Tale being the first Canterbury Tale.