My favorite old-time epics
Apr. 29th, 2005 10:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieNow, I am all for gritty, slice-of-life dramas. And I love the flashy, colorful musicals. But for my money, there is nothing like a sweeping, grand-scale, emotional epic. There has been a resurgence of them lately, with the amazing Lord of the Rings, OK Gladiator and Troy and abysmal Alexander and King Arthur. So I hope we are in for a second hey-day of epicness. But this post is not about these new films. It is about the classic, literally "cast of thousands" epics. Here is my Epic Top 10. They all have wonderful character stuff, not just glittery spear points. (I am not sure how Gone with the Wind would fit into the epic genre, but if it fits, it is also in my Top 10). Go watch them:
Top 10 (in order)
1. Lawrence of Arabia (Peter O'Toole, Omar Shariff, Alec Guinness): Not only is this the best classic epic ever made, it is one of the best films ever, period. And one of the few that you simply MUST see on the big screen. The story of a tortured WWI British hero, fighting with the Arabs against the Turks is a brilliant psychological study, a stunningly beautiful moving painting, and an emotionally deastaing experience. And Peter O'Toole gives the single best performance ever put on screen.
2. El Cid (Charlton Heston, Sophia Loren): Martin Scorcese loves this movie for a reason. The story of Spain's greatest national hero, his fight against invaders, his struggles with his King, and his tempestuous love affair with his wife Chimene (played by Loren at her most beautiful) is complex, subtle and moving. And Charlton Heston has rarely been better. When his soldiers treat him as a personal deity and a man of rock-hard integrity, you more than believe it. You know it.
3. Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston, Stephen Boyd, Jack Hawkins): This still holds the records for most Oscars won. It is tied with Titanic and Return of the King (significantly, other epics), but it won them when there were a lot less Oscars to be had. Ben-Hur is a Jew living in occupied Judea, who has the misfortune to fall afoul of a former childhood Roman friend. He is imprisoned in the galleys and his family jailed. How he frees himself and tries to proceed with his life is the rest of the movie. This story has been largely stripped of the Christian bent and becomes a rather timeless tale of one man's quest for vengeance and peace. The performances are to die for (especially Heston's, who won Best Actor that year). The chariot race is one of the best sequences put on film.
4. Spartacus (Kirk Douglas, Jean Simmons, Laurence Olivier): This is yet another movie with a to-die-for cast. This is based on a true story (though quite a few liberties have been taken) of a slave revolt against the Romans. It is moving, it is grand, and Spartacus' struggle for his human rights and dignity moves me every time I see it, sometimes so much I want to look away. The ending is one of the most memorable and bleak ones epics ever had.
5. For Whom the Bell Tolls (Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman): I am not sure if it is too modern to be an epic (it is set during the Spanish Civil War) but I think it qualifies. This adaptation of a Hemingway novel has an American, who is fighting against the Loyalists, on a mission to meet with a bunch of Spanish guerillas and blow up a bridge. There he meets all sorts of people, including Maria, a young girl with shorn hair who falls in love with him. The scene where Maria tells Robert of the day her town fell and what was done to her is riveting, though you want to look away. And his reply back "No one has touched you. No one!" is probably up there on my fave romantic movie quote list. But bring tissues if you plan to watch this one.
6. Agony & Ecstacy (Charlton Heston, Rex Harrison): This is about the painting of the Sistine Chapel and one of the rare Renaissance epics. This alone would guarantee it a spot on the list, but the intelligent script and great performances do so as well.
7. Khartoum (Charlton Heston, Laurence Olivier): This is about the confrontation between the Mahdi and Gen. Gordon. Look at the topic, look at the cast, now watch.
8. 55 Days at Peking (Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, David Niven): This epic about the Boxer Rebellion with an amazing cast deserves to be better known. The characters are fascinating, and the period little explored in Western cinema. And I swoon for Heston, as always. One of the few actors with a grand enough presence for epics.
9. Cleopatra (Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison): this mammoth of a movie about the life and loves of an Egyptian Queen is actually quite good. Complicated plot, interesting characters, good dialogue. There are also costumes and scenery to die for and an amazing amount of sizzle between Taylor and Burton. $40m could have been worse spent.
10. Quo Vadis (Robert Taylor, Deborah Kerr, Peter Ustinoff, Leo Genn): This was my first epic, and as they say, you never forget your first. True, the book is much much better and subtle and Deborah Kerr seems to have wondered in from a Victorian school-house. But Robert Taylor is charismatic, the spectacle splendid, the dialogue good, and best of all: Ustinoff as petulant, shallow Nero, whom you cannot take seriously even as he contemplates mass murder and Genn as the world-weary, deeply humanistic intellectual Petronius (one of my many literary crushes translated successfully into movie medium) steal the show.
Honorable Mentions:
1. The War Lord (Charlton Heston, Rosmary Forsyth): This movie is almost too small to be counted as an epic, but it is all the better for it. Charlton Heston is a medieval nobleman who takes a village wench through a right of first night but falls in love with her and decides to keep her. Much conflict ensues. It's grimy, it's grim, it's dark, it's great.
2. The Robe (Richard Burton, Jean Simmons): Anything that deals so heavily with Jesus yet still manages to involve me (non-Christian) is good. One of the earliest 50s epics, this is an adapation of a Douglas novel about a Centurion who was at the Crucifiction and his search for truth. It barely did not make my Top 10.
3. Ben-Hur (silent) (Ramon Novarro, Francis X Bushman): The original, silent version is one of the earliest epics made. And it is very, very good. Novarro is a very different Ben-Hur from Heston but this is a very different movie (for one thing, the strong Christian thread is kept intact). Pure delight, though less moving, and wish I could see it on big screen.
4. The Egyptian (Edmund Purdom, Jean Simmons): A rare epic set in Ancient Egypt. It's rather ahistorical (Akhnaten is clearly seen as some sort of enlightened pre-Christian) but interesting story of an ancient Egyptian physician. Worth a watch.
5. Fall of the Roman Empire (Stepehn Boyd, Sophia Loren, Christopher Plummer): If you've seen Gladiator, you'd be surprised at the resemblance. That is because Scott borrowed more than a few plot points. The story of an honorable general, Lucilla the Princess who loves him, and crazy as a loon Commodus is somewhat overlong, but literate, moving, and (surprisingly for the period) really has nothing much to do with Christianity. And I love the end. Much bleaker than the end of Gladiator, the survival of the lead couple notwithstanding.
Camp Winner Awards: (cheesy but fun). Not in order.
1. Crusades (Henry Wilcoxon, Loretta Young): Richard the Lionheart goes on the Crusades to escape being married. Richard and Saladdin compete for the love of Berengaria. Who would make something so bizarre? That's right, Cecil B. DeMille.
2. Cleopatra (Claudette Colbert, Henry Wilcoxon): Another C.B. DeMille epic. Worth seeing for a "has to be seen to be believed" scene on the barge where Cleo seduces Anthony, complete with phallic oars and S&M cat-suited dancers. And Colbert manages to give quite a good performance even surrounded by such.
3. Ten Commandments (Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner): "Moses, you adorable fool!" says it all. Thank you, C.B. DeMille
4. Sign of the Cross (Elissa Landi, Frederic March): Lesbian orgies, naked virgins eaten by crocodiles. Oh, and somewhere in there is a Christian woman trying to hold on to her faith. But that is not why anyone watches this gem by (once again) C.B. DeMille.
5. Sodom and Gomorrah (Stewart Granger): Look at the title. Come on, do I need to explain?
6. Helen of Troy (Bland actors whose names I do not recall): People who thought Troy was a. bad and/or b. badly acted and/or c. revisionist should watch this horror with WWE Achilles, super-hero Paris and Helen the Super-Bland.
7. Samson and Delilah (Victor Mature, Hedi Lamarr): Sadistic Midgets. Victor Mature's pecs of doom. Angela Lansbury as a Philistine. A movie in such bad taste could only be another C.B. DeMille epic.
8. The Conqueror (John Wayne, Susan Hayward): John Wayne as Ghengis Khan. Do I need to continue?
9. The Vikings (Tony Curtis, Kirk Douglas, Janet Leigh): Tony Curtis as a Viking? He is supposed to be likeable but he is snivelly and annoying and the only one I like in the movie is Douglas' bad guy.
10. Solomon and Sheba (Yul Brynner, Gina Lollobrigida): Sheba is sent to seduce Solomon but falls for him instead. Camp abounds.
The Dull Award:
David and Bathsheba (Gregoy Peck, Susan Hayward): Cast is good, story is good, but the movie makes one snore.
AND
Alexander the Great (Richard Burton): Burton in a blond wig. Only good thing is it's not as awful as Farrell's Alex. But that is damning with faint praise indeed.
AND
300 Spartans (Richard Egan): It has its moments, but not only inaccurate, it is dull. A pity, since the story is a stirring one.
Top 10 (in order)
1. Lawrence of Arabia (Peter O'Toole, Omar Shariff, Alec Guinness): Not only is this the best classic epic ever made, it is one of the best films ever, period. And one of the few that you simply MUST see on the big screen. The story of a tortured WWI British hero, fighting with the Arabs against the Turks is a brilliant psychological study, a stunningly beautiful moving painting, and an emotionally deastaing experience. And Peter O'Toole gives the single best performance ever put on screen.
2. El Cid (Charlton Heston, Sophia Loren): Martin Scorcese loves this movie for a reason. The story of Spain's greatest national hero, his fight against invaders, his struggles with his King, and his tempestuous love affair with his wife Chimene (played by Loren at her most beautiful) is complex, subtle and moving. And Charlton Heston has rarely been better. When his soldiers treat him as a personal deity and a man of rock-hard integrity, you more than believe it. You know it.
3. Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston, Stephen Boyd, Jack Hawkins): This still holds the records for most Oscars won. It is tied with Titanic and Return of the King (significantly, other epics), but it won them when there were a lot less Oscars to be had. Ben-Hur is a Jew living in occupied Judea, who has the misfortune to fall afoul of a former childhood Roman friend. He is imprisoned in the galleys and his family jailed. How he frees himself and tries to proceed with his life is the rest of the movie. This story has been largely stripped of the Christian bent and becomes a rather timeless tale of one man's quest for vengeance and peace. The performances are to die for (especially Heston's, who won Best Actor that year). The chariot race is one of the best sequences put on film.
4. Spartacus (Kirk Douglas, Jean Simmons, Laurence Olivier): This is yet another movie with a to-die-for cast. This is based on a true story (though quite a few liberties have been taken) of a slave revolt against the Romans. It is moving, it is grand, and Spartacus' struggle for his human rights and dignity moves me every time I see it, sometimes so much I want to look away. The ending is one of the most memorable and bleak ones epics ever had.
5. For Whom the Bell Tolls (Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman): I am not sure if it is too modern to be an epic (it is set during the Spanish Civil War) but I think it qualifies. This adaptation of a Hemingway novel has an American, who is fighting against the Loyalists, on a mission to meet with a bunch of Spanish guerillas and blow up a bridge. There he meets all sorts of people, including Maria, a young girl with shorn hair who falls in love with him. The scene where Maria tells Robert of the day her town fell and what was done to her is riveting, though you want to look away. And his reply back "No one has touched you. No one!" is probably up there on my fave romantic movie quote list. But bring tissues if you plan to watch this one.
6. Agony & Ecstacy (Charlton Heston, Rex Harrison): This is about the painting of the Sistine Chapel and one of the rare Renaissance epics. This alone would guarantee it a spot on the list, but the intelligent script and great performances do so as well.
7. Khartoum (Charlton Heston, Laurence Olivier): This is about the confrontation between the Mahdi and Gen. Gordon. Look at the topic, look at the cast, now watch.
8. 55 Days at Peking (Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, David Niven): This epic about the Boxer Rebellion with an amazing cast deserves to be better known. The characters are fascinating, and the period little explored in Western cinema. And I swoon for Heston, as always. One of the few actors with a grand enough presence for epics.
9. Cleopatra (Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison): this mammoth of a movie about the life and loves of an Egyptian Queen is actually quite good. Complicated plot, interesting characters, good dialogue. There are also costumes and scenery to die for and an amazing amount of sizzle between Taylor and Burton. $40m could have been worse spent.
10. Quo Vadis (Robert Taylor, Deborah Kerr, Peter Ustinoff, Leo Genn): This was my first epic, and as they say, you never forget your first. True, the book is much much better and subtle and Deborah Kerr seems to have wondered in from a Victorian school-house. But Robert Taylor is charismatic, the spectacle splendid, the dialogue good, and best of all: Ustinoff as petulant, shallow Nero, whom you cannot take seriously even as he contemplates mass murder and Genn as the world-weary, deeply humanistic intellectual Petronius (one of my many literary crushes translated successfully into movie medium) steal the show.
Honorable Mentions:
1. The War Lord (Charlton Heston, Rosmary Forsyth): This movie is almost too small to be counted as an epic, but it is all the better for it. Charlton Heston is a medieval nobleman who takes a village wench through a right of first night but falls in love with her and decides to keep her. Much conflict ensues. It's grimy, it's grim, it's dark, it's great.
2. The Robe (Richard Burton, Jean Simmons): Anything that deals so heavily with Jesus yet still manages to involve me (non-Christian) is good. One of the earliest 50s epics, this is an adapation of a Douglas novel about a Centurion who was at the Crucifiction and his search for truth. It barely did not make my Top 10.
3. Ben-Hur (silent) (Ramon Novarro, Francis X Bushman): The original, silent version is one of the earliest epics made. And it is very, very good. Novarro is a very different Ben-Hur from Heston but this is a very different movie (for one thing, the strong Christian thread is kept intact). Pure delight, though less moving, and wish I could see it on big screen.
4. The Egyptian (Edmund Purdom, Jean Simmons): A rare epic set in Ancient Egypt. It's rather ahistorical (Akhnaten is clearly seen as some sort of enlightened pre-Christian) but interesting story of an ancient Egyptian physician. Worth a watch.
5. Fall of the Roman Empire (Stepehn Boyd, Sophia Loren, Christopher Plummer): If you've seen Gladiator, you'd be surprised at the resemblance. That is because Scott borrowed more than a few plot points. The story of an honorable general, Lucilla the Princess who loves him, and crazy as a loon Commodus is somewhat overlong, but literate, moving, and (surprisingly for the period) really has nothing much to do with Christianity. And I love the end. Much bleaker than the end of Gladiator, the survival of the lead couple notwithstanding.
Camp Winner Awards: (cheesy but fun). Not in order.
1. Crusades (Henry Wilcoxon, Loretta Young): Richard the Lionheart goes on the Crusades to escape being married. Richard and Saladdin compete for the love of Berengaria. Who would make something so bizarre? That's right, Cecil B. DeMille.
2. Cleopatra (Claudette Colbert, Henry Wilcoxon): Another C.B. DeMille epic. Worth seeing for a "has to be seen to be believed" scene on the barge where Cleo seduces Anthony, complete with phallic oars and S&M cat-suited dancers. And Colbert manages to give quite a good performance even surrounded by such.
3. Ten Commandments (Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner): "Moses, you adorable fool!" says it all. Thank you, C.B. DeMille
4. Sign of the Cross (Elissa Landi, Frederic March): Lesbian orgies, naked virgins eaten by crocodiles. Oh, and somewhere in there is a Christian woman trying to hold on to her faith. But that is not why anyone watches this gem by (once again) C.B. DeMille.
5. Sodom and Gomorrah (Stewart Granger): Look at the title. Come on, do I need to explain?
6. Helen of Troy (Bland actors whose names I do not recall): People who thought Troy was a. bad and/or b. badly acted and/or c. revisionist should watch this horror with WWE Achilles, super-hero Paris and Helen the Super-Bland.
7. Samson and Delilah (Victor Mature, Hedi Lamarr): Sadistic Midgets. Victor Mature's pecs of doom. Angela Lansbury as a Philistine. A movie in such bad taste could only be another C.B. DeMille epic.
8. The Conqueror (John Wayne, Susan Hayward): John Wayne as Ghengis Khan. Do I need to continue?
9. The Vikings (Tony Curtis, Kirk Douglas, Janet Leigh): Tony Curtis as a Viking? He is supposed to be likeable but he is snivelly and annoying and the only one I like in the movie is Douglas' bad guy.
10. Solomon and Sheba (Yul Brynner, Gina Lollobrigida): Sheba is sent to seduce Solomon but falls for him instead. Camp abounds.
The Dull Award:
David and Bathsheba (Gregoy Peck, Susan Hayward): Cast is good, story is good, but the movie makes one snore.
AND
Alexander the Great (Richard Burton): Burton in a blond wig. Only good thing is it's not as awful as Farrell's Alex. But that is damning with faint praise indeed.
AND
300 Spartans (Richard Egan): It has its moments, but not only inaccurate, it is dull. A pity, since the story is a stirring one.
