Kevin's Watch

Gladiator.

Spoiler

Had me on the verge of tears when Maximus died at the end.

Last of the Mohicans (sp)
(***at the risk of sounding lame***) 10 Commandments

#Kingdom of Heaven looks good

If we're talking 20th century history, "Lawrence of Arabia". If you ever get the chance to see it on the big screen, do so.

WWII era - "Patton". The best performance by any actor ever, and the final scene is just perfect.

Vietnam - "Apocalypse Now". The helicopter attack scene - think about it. No models. No CGI. Amazingly complex set piece.

Ancient - "Spartacus". Saw it when I was a kid; first time I ever cried in a movie. Still holds up, and is a much better movie than either "Gladiator" or "Braveheart".

As a mini-series:
Roots
Highlander
Shogun
Band of Brothers

As a movie:
Elizabeth
Highlander
The Messenger
Gladiator
Last of the Mohicans

the Big Red One is a favorite WWII.

and just for good (not great) filmaking, see Memphis Belle. a solid pic.

Gladiator was pretty good, as was Highlander. Glory is pretty much the top of my list, though. If we're counting 20th century stuff, then Schindler's List and The Great Escape... and maybe The Tuskegee Airmen. Oh, and Stalag 13. Definitely that one.

Branaugh's Henry V-awesome!

Alynna Lis Eachann wrote:Glory is pretty much the top of my list, though.

Yeah, Glory is definately up there. A classic, just like Highlander.

I think my favorite though is Gettysburg. It's long, but damn, is it good.

Of course, I'm a bit of a Civil War junkie. Heh.

Oh, another Civil War classic - Andersonville.

-jay

kevinswatch wrote: I think my favorite though is Gettysburg. It's long, but damn, is it good.

Of course, I'm a bit of a Civil War junkie. Heh.

Oh, another Civil War classic - Andersonville.

-jay

Yeah, those were both great. I could go on about the Vietnam-era ones, myself... Full Metal Jacket, Platoon, Apocalypse Now...

Can't think of anything good in the sword/spear/musket era, really. Nothing that hasn't been mentioned already, at least. Alexander was alright, I guess. King Arthur was, too, but that's a weird take on legend more than anything else. I did want to mention The Thirteenth Warrior, but that was... um... interpretive might be a word to use. What is it with me and cheesy movies??

BTW, I read a great review of the background of Kingdom of Heaven that totally put me off to seeing the movie. Apparently the historical interpretation ranks somwhere just below Troy.

The two movies were shot at the same time, so you could say the 1974-75 movies "The Three Musketeers" and "The Four Musketeers" was a really good sword-epic. The best movie interpretation of Dumas' classic yet.

"Rob Roy" is also a great movie of this type. (Much better than Braveheart...)

Usivius wrote:The two movies were shot at the same time, so you could say the 1974-75 movies "The Three Musketeers" and "The Four Musketeers" was a really good sword-epic.

They were meant to be one movie, but when they turned out to be too long, they decided to break itup into two movies. If I remember correctly, there were even some legal issues revolving around that, such as the actors were initially only payed for one movie, but obviously wanted compensation for the seconf movie - something along those lines...

How about Pirates of the Caribbean? That was historic...er...yeah... Heh.

Alynna Lis Eachann wrote:Full Metal Jacket, Platoon, Apocalypse Now...

Ya know, I've heard that all of those are classic movies, but I've never seen any of them. I guess I really need to see them sometime.-jay

The first 30 minutes of Full Metal Jacket is awesome - the rest I can do without.

dlbpharmd wrote:The first 30 minutes of Full Metal Jacket is awesome - the rest I can do without.

True... I think I have a more positive attitude toward it because I read the book first, and the combined effect of book and movie is different than either on its own.

For the war movies, I am surprised that nobody has mentioned Saving Private Ryan.
It was based on a true story about 4 brothers serving in the military
and 3 were killed within a very short period of time.
The opening scenes were mind-blowing.
The graphics, the gore, the realism.

Didn't really care for SPR. I prefer The Longest Day, Highlander or The Big Red One.

cheval wrote:For the war movies, I am surprised that nobody has mentioned Saving Private Ryan.
It was based on a true story about 4 brothers serving in the military
and 3 were killed within a very short period of time.
The opening scenes were mind-blowing.
The graphics, the gore, the realism.

For the record, I did consider mentioning "Saving Private Ryan" - after all it is made by the same Speilberg/Hanks partnership that brought us "Band of Brothers", which I think as a whole is truly an excellent mini-series.

However, though the openeing scenes were mind blowing, for some reason "Saving Private Ryan" never really did it for me - even though it is based on a true story, somehow it feels contrived to me, though I can't back that up with exactly why...

SPR is one of my favorite movies of all time. I'll never forget the first time I saw it. I had been warned of the realism, and I had mentioned to my wife that I had heard that it was intense - but the first 30 minutes affected me like no other movie I've ever seen. Some of you know that my other great passion in life (other that TCoTC) is military history. I'd always been fascinated by stories of heroism and bravery, and in my mind at least I had glorified war. That's why one of my other favorite movies was "Patton" and my favorite scenes from that movie were the ones were Patton says "Compared to war, all other human endeavors pale in comparison" and of war: "God, I love it so." (I'm sure Syl and anyone else who's served in uniform is cringing right now - please excuse a young man's foolishness.) SPR showed me at least some small measure of the true horror of war. I still love military history, and I still honor the bravery of those who have fought and died defending their countries - but I no longer have any use for the glory of war.

dlbpharmd wrote:but I no longer have any use for the glory of war.

Amen !