History/Movie Question

[CivicLx]

As I'm typing this, I realize that no one will probably read the whole thing, so sorry if it's a long thread, but here goes...
Are there any history buffs in here? It always seems like History tops the list for boring subjects, but I find it very fascinating. I'm more into US History, especially the Civil War, but I really like learning about any history in general. I think what made me post this, was the fact that Gettysburg was on TV this weekend and I think it is an absoultely outstanding movie with a great cast. Well anyway, just wondering if anyone else appreciates history and if so, what is your favorite period?

And the movie question is, can anyone suggest some good movies that are set during Medieval times or before? The only ones that come to mind right now would be the LOTR trilogy, Braveheart, Willow, Troy, Gladiator...geez I thought I knew of more than that. Well ok, can anyone suggest some other ones? I'm not usually into fantasy movies like LOTR or Willow...I thought these were great movies, but I normally prefer something like Braveheart or Gladiator. Can you guys think of some other good movies to check out? I missed Kingdom of Heaven at the theatre, so I'm really looking forward to checking it out on DVD.

Ok well thanks and sorry if the post was kind of dry

 

[tricky nicky]

cool man, dont have to say sorry, you posted in an appropriate board.

the Victorians were the most interesting for me.

all that stiff upper lip.I bet as far as tennis was concerned bad balls were never called out

tricky.

 

[Deckard]

Read Michael Crichton "Timeline". Great read and a very insightful detailed look at medieval times.
Oh and don't bother with the film, it's crap.

 

[AndrewD]

CivicLx,

Medieval times or before is a pretty broad time span (as in, there's more before than after). Can you cut it down a little?

Anyway, if you want to see what England was actually like in the Dark Ages (check a history time line) then the best film is (and Im not joking) Jabberwocky. Made by Terry Gilliam and with Michael Palin, it might be a very dark comedy but the settings are absolutely spot on. Also, check out Terry Jones', 'The Crusades'. It's an informative series so might not be the entertainment you're after but is a hell of a lot better than 'Kingdom of Heaven'.

Forget Gladiator and look up 'Ben Hur', 'Quo Vadis' and 'Spartacus'. That will give you a link to more films set around the Roman Empire. Huge selection of those.

LOTR and Willow are fantasy films and not really set at any time. Still, if that type of film appeals then check out 'Excalibur' - yes, the old Arthurian legend. If you want a laugh then grab 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail'.

Oh, and I hope you saw the Ken Burns documentary series 'The Civil War'. Absolutely outstanding (as were his ones on baseball and jazz).

 

[MegacedU]

I like America in the 1920's.

 

[safin_protege]

History is very interesting, and very beneficial to study. My favorite time periods would probably be Medieval Japan and Roman Times. If you like Gladiator, than you'd probably like Spartacus. I thought it was better than Gladiator, even though it was older. If you like US History, books like Killer Angels I'd think you'd really enjoy. I had to read it for Social Studies last year, and it was a historical/fictional representation of the Battle at Gettysburg.

 

[Phil]

As I'm typing this, I realize that no one will probably read the whole thing, so sorry if it's a long thread, but here goes...
Are there any history buffs in here? It always seems like History tops the list for boring subjects, but I find it very fascinating. I'm more into US History, especially the Civil War, but I really like learning about any history in general. I think what made me post this, was the fact that Gettysburg was on TV this weekend and I think it is an absoultely outstanding movie with a great cast. Well anyway, just wondering if anyone else appreciates history and if so, what is your favorite period?

And the movie question is, can anyone suggest some good movies that are set during Medieval times or before? The only ones that come to mind right now would be the LOTR trilogy, Braveheart, Willow, Troy, Gladiator...geez I thought I knew of more than that. Well ok, can anyone suggest some other ones? I'm not usually into fantasy movies like LOTR or Willow...I thought these were great movies, but I normally prefer something like Braveheart or Gladiator. Can you guys think of some other good movies to check out? I missed Kingdom of Heaven at the theatre, so I'm really looking forward to checking it out on DVD.

Ok well thanks and sorry if the post was kind of dry

Try these:

Ben Hur
Spartacus
Ran (Kurosawa-about Medieval Japan, but a MUST SEE)
The Fall of the Roman Empire
I Claudius (BBC Mini Series-outstanding-w/Derek Jacobi)
The Vikings (not well-known, but one of the best-Kirk Douglass)
King Arthur (lousy, but recent-so you'll find it at the video store)
Excalibur (fantasy, but possibly the top 3 of all Medieval flicks)
The Return of Martin Guerre (sp?)
A Walk w/Love & Death (with a VERY young Angelica Huston)
The Warlord (Charlton Heston-SUPERB!!! One of the best.)
Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves (Kevin Costner, therefore, not great)
the Errol Flynn Robin Hood flick
Robin & Marion
Dragonslayer (Fantasy)
The Longships
The Flame and the Arrow
Name of the Rose
Any of the Several Joan of Arc flicks
El Cid (Charlton Heston/Sophia Lorean-very good)
The Seventh Seal (Sweedish-Bergmann)
Henry V (w/Kenneth Bragne-sp?)
Ivanhoe (Elizabeth Taylor, Robert Taylor)
Ivanhoe (a remake, I think, from TNT-made for cable)
Beckett (Richard Burton/Peter O'Toole)
The Lion in Winter
Alfred the Great
The Last Valley (not Medieval-set during the 30 Years War, but still outstanding, w/Michael Caine and Omar Shariff)
The Crusades
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (once you've seen all of the above and can then, knowing all the cliches, laugh your butt off...)

This will keep you busy. This is only off the top of my head-as you can tell, I LIKE this historical period and the films on the period (throwing in a few "ancient" ones too). There's a few in there from Europe, but many more that were made in Italian or French. I don't remember foreign titles.

 

[Noelle]

The Lion in Winter

I know there are two versions of this, but I've never seen the first one (1968 ) starring Peter O'Toole and Katharine Hepburn. The more recent one (2003) was made for Showtime and stars Glenn Close and Patrick Stewart. That was the one I watched.

As far as I know, they used the same script; the main difference lies in the interpretation. It could be fun making comparisons between the two.

Personally my favorite history movie is the Joan of Arc movie starring Milla Jovovich. My favorite spoof movie is Robin Hood: Men in Tights.

 

[Phil]

I didn't know that there was a re-make of Lion in Winter-Close and Stewart are good actors but, if you liked that version, I highly recommend the original-because the acting is beyond merely good.

 

[Capt. Willie]

Gettysburg was outstanding. And if I'm not mistaken, it was a made for TV movie for one of Ted Turner's cable channels. What I really liked about it was how they showed both sides (North/South) views of the war without taking one side over the other. There were great scenes where men were talking in the camps as to why they joined the army and what they believed they were fighting for. In one scene Lawrence Chamberlain, who believed he was fighting the war to free slaves, is talking to some Confederate POWs. They tell him (and I'm probably going to screw this up) they don't own slaves and that they are fighting to free their State from an oppressive federal government which has illegally put itself ahead of states rights. The Southerners believed they were closer in philosophy to what the founding fathers wanted the U.S. to be and had now drifted away from. I thought it interesting how both sides saw the fact that the battle was taking place with "4th of July" just a day or two away as a sign that they would prevail.

 

[Phil]

Is Gettysburg the flick in which Martin Sheen plays Bobby E. Lee? With Tom Berenger and Sam Elliot, etc.? If that's the one you're talking about-with all the facial hair prosthetics-then I did see it, a couple years ago and thought it was relentlessly boring and plain awful. Sheen was so wooden that I thought he was going to keel over and fall off his horse, like a wooden cigar store Indian.

This was a REALLY boring flick. But...it did a good job of showing the incredible idiocy of Lee's battle strategy-i.e. Pickett's Charge.

 

[rumstove]

Although I'm not a huge history buff and I don't watch alot of public television, there's a show called "Battlefield Britain' on PBS (I don't know if it's just WI PBS stations or not) that I like alot. Each show focuses on a different historic battle fought in, well of course, Britain. Last night was about Boudicca's revolts against the Romans. Cool stuff.

 

[AndrewD]

CivicLx,

Looks like a few repeats from the ones I suggested initially so that's a good indication they're worth a look.

If you are interested in history, especially European or English history, the safest bet is not to see anything made in Hollywood. Otherwise you run the very real risk of seeing John Wayne playing Genghis Khan (amazingly, Im not joking).

Check out BBC documentaries and mini-series. An absolute hive of accurate information, quality acting and accents that aren't laughable (who could forget Prince of Thieves lol )

Phil,
how could you recommend Ivanhoe? Terrible film adapted from a terrible book (hardly surprising considering Scott also wrote 'Waverley'). The Return of Martin Guerre was French (from the book The Wife of Martin Guerre) and, quite surprisingly, was based on a true story.

Meg,
If you like America in the 20's, check out the Ken Burns documentaries. Jazz is fantastic as is all of his work.

 

[wtennis206]

America during the 1700's. What a loser I am. :neutral:

 

[Camilio Pascual]

For prehistory:
"Quest for Fire"
A fascinating movie, especially if you are one of the very few Americans who believe in Darwinian evolution.
Greatest strength: Not one line of intelligible dialogue, but you know what they are saying.

 

[Coda]

wTennis206, I'd check out The Patriot if you haven't already seen it...one of my favorite war movies.

 

[Phil]

Check out BBC documentaries and mini-series. An absolute hive of accurate information, quality acting and accents that aren't laughable (who could forget Prince of Thieves lol )

Phil,
how could you recommend Ivanhoe? Terrible film adapted from a terrible book (hardly surprising considering Scott also wrote 'Waverley'). The Return of Martin Guerre was French (from the book The Wife of Martin Guerre) and, quite surprisingly, was based on a true story.

Andrew - Ivanhoe was a rip-roaring Hollywood epic of the kind that they used to make in the 50's-brave knights, beautiful women, evil princes and their henchmen and stirring jousts and battle scenes-had it all. Being Hollywood, it was, of course, very cheesy and unrealistic, but highly entertaining. Of course, it wasn't a BBC DOCUMENTARY, with the characteristic rock solid research and ABSOLUTELY scintilating, nay, riveting commentary that the BBC is famous for...but on a dull evening, with a pizza and a coke, Ivanhoe is well worth a viewing. So put yer pretensions in a drawer for a couple hours, and rent the video. Movies are for entertainment.

I realize that Martin Guerre is French-starring Gerald Depardeiu...As I wrote, there are MANY good European flicks on the subject, only, I can't remember most of the titles of the ones I've seen, other than that one.

 

[AndrewD]

Well, I don't consider it pretension just good taste. However, to each his own and Im sure if I asked them my parents would side with you re: Ivanhoe. They did always like Robert Taylor although I can't remember them being crazy about Elizabeth Taylor. How about Robin Hood - the Errol Flynn version - as a compromise? Now that's ye olde Hollywood at its finest.

As far as foreign films go, two excellent ones are;Cyrano de Bergerac (another Deparieu film) and Queen Margot. If you liked Ran you'd probably also like Kagemusha.

Of course, what list of 'historical' films would be complete without Mel Brooks' 'History of the World: Part 1'.

 

[devilish_duke]

I've been a histor buff pretty much since I was 5. I like American history from the civil war to the present as well as european and asian history from forever ago 'til the present.

 

[Camilio Pascual]

If you liked Ran you'd probably also like Kagemusha.

That is one great movie, see it on the biggest screen you can.

"Ugetsu Monogatari" is a wonderful Japanese period piece.
"Rash-omon" is one of the most hypnotic and haunting movies I've ever seen.
That little sparkle of music when the errant little breeze blows and what beauty sets in motion...
Come to think of it, a huge portion of the very best Japanese films are set centuries in the past.

 

[Ronaldo]

Love History, try Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, dude

 

[bee]

Any well-rounded educated person should have a good grasp of world history and of the country he or she lives in.

Here's an excellent program available of video, but I don't think it's available on DVD: DEAR AMERICA (LETTERS HOME FROM VIETNAM). This is a good and informative documentary. Very good reviews from the film critics, and I agree. Hard to find. I just purchased one on video from BestPrices.com.

Highly recommeded.

 

[Phil]

Well, I don't consider it pretension just good taste. However, to each his own and Im sure if I asked them my parents would side with you re: Ivanhoe. They did always like Robert Taylor although I can't remember them being crazy about Elizabeth Taylor. How about Robin Hood - the Errol Flynn version - as a compromise? Now that's ye olde Hollywood at its finest.

As far as foreign films go, two excellent ones are;Cyrano de Bergerac (another Deparieu film) and Queen Margot. If you liked Ran you'd probably also like Kagemusha.

Of course, what list of 'historical' films would be complete without Mel Brooks' 'History of the World: Part 1'.

Andrew - Probably a fine line between pretension and good taste-I happen to like "shlock" historical films, and so many of them are just that. But I also like Martin Guerre and Ran (and I've seen Kagemusha and probably 9 or 10 other Kurosawa's films) so go figure...Loved the Errol Flynn Robin Hood, but for some reason, couldn't stomach History of the World-and I like a lot of the Mel Brooks films.

I'm telling you, take my word for it, check out Last Valley and War Lord - Last Valley was written and directed by James Clavell (Shogun, King Rat, etc.) and War Lord directed by Franklin Schaffner (sp?) one of the most underrated directors ever. War Lord is quite historically accurate. Musical scores for both are haunting and classic.

 

[Docalex007]

I am a HUGE war movie buff. In addition to this I am also a HUGE history buff. My favorite time period being 1700-1900 (European) with Napoleon's time right in the middle of that. However, I must say I am a big researcher of history spanning all of human history. (Ancient Greece especially). Barbarian groups around 200AD-600AD is also very fascinating.

A good war/semi-realistic war movie would be "The Last Samurai". Though wacky in history relevancy....the depiction of the times is indeed great.

 

[TennisD]

That is one great movie, see it on the biggest screen you can.

"Ugetsu Monogatari" is a wonderful Japanese period piece.
"Rash-omon" is one of the most hypnotic and haunting movies I've ever seen.
That little sparkle of music when the errant little breeze blows and what beauty sets in motion...
Come to think of it, a huge portion of the very best Japanese films are set centuries in the past.

I agree about Ran. It's an amazing film, definitely one of my favorites. Kurosawa is absolutely one of the best directors of all time...

 

[Morpheus]

For prehistory:
"Quest for Fire"
A fascinating movie, especially if you are one of the very few Americans who believe in Darwinian evolution.
Greatest strength: Not one line of intelligible dialogue, but you know what they are saying.

Great movie!

With regard to Darwin, did you know that according to a Gallup poll taken in 2001, 45% of Americans believe that God created human beings pretty much in their present form within the past 10,000 years. 37% allowed that God set the stage and natural selection took over from there. AND, only 12% believed that humans evolved from other life-forms without any involvement of a god.

 

[Camilio Pascual]

With regard to Darwin, did you know that according to a Gallup poll taken in 2001, 45% of Americans believe that God created human beings pretty much in their present form within the past 10,000 years. 37% allowed that God set the stage and natural selection took over from there. AND, only 12% believed that humans evolved from other life-forms without any involvement of a god.

Yes, I am most unfortunately aware of that and cast that comment out to see if there were other believers out there. Most of the polls I've seen regarding this show that there are about 8-15% who believe in Darwinian evolution.
Let's see...no evolution, no bacterial resistance. Hmmm...we can only hope that the 45% act upon their convictions and not take all of their penicillin to completion as the doctor advises. Let natural selection take it's course.
MU HA HA HA HA HA!!!

 

[Morpheus]

Yes, I am most unfortunately aware of that and cast that comment out to see if there were other believers out there. Most of the polls I've seen regarding this show that there are about 8-15% who believe in Darwinian evolution.
Let's see...no evolution, no bacterial resistance. Hmmm...we can only hope that the 45% act upon their convictions and not take all of their penicillin to completion as the doctor advises. Let natural selection take it's course.
MU HA HA HA HA HA!!!

At the risk of hi-jacking this thread, let me just say that it is highly likely that Bush and his cabinet, not to mention a fair share of the Supreme Court, fall into the first category; that is, those who believe that God created Man in his current form...but I'm pretty sure Bush thinks it was just 59 years ago--oops I mean 60 because he would add the year he spent gestating.

 

[CivicLx]

Hey thanks for all the replies. There's a lot of movies I have to check out. Most of my history I just get from The History Channel. They had a pretty good program on the other day about how s*** was settled in the Wild West. Used to be into the gunfighters and stuff like that. Anyway, it's good to see so many people appreciate history.

 

[slice bh compliment]

Lots of you have mentioned some true classics, so I thought I'd go with something different: Yellow Rolls Royce, with Shirley MacLaine, Art Carney, Omar Sharif and Ingrid Bergman. Some stories (that follow a very special automobile), set in early-mid twentieth century France/Britain, Italy and the former Yugoslavia (Slovenia, currently). The historic references are merely peripheral. Generally a fun flick. I think it was done in the late fifties.

 

[armand]

At the risk of hi-jacking this thread, let me just say that it is highly likely that Bush and his cabinet, not to mention a fair share of the Supreme Court, fall into the first category; that is, those who believe that God created Man in his current form...but I'm pretty sure Bush thinks it was just 59 years ago--oops I mean 60 because he would add the year he spent gestating.

Even the Vatican has accepted the Theory of Evolution!!

Anyway, I like the Last Samurai. Actually, I loved it but I know many people who hated it(I guess because of Tom Cruise. Let me say as a person in the film industry, I'd give my right nut for an actor with Cruise's acting ability)

 

[slice bh compliment]

Cruise

Cool. But how does your wife feel about the trade-off?

 

[armand]

re: Cruise

Good one, but even if I did have a wife(or a girlfriend, or any prospects of having a girlfriend) then I think she'd be ok with that flaw just as long as I introduce her to 'Maverick'.

 

[BankOfDad]

I find it interesting that the original poster thought the subject might be boring but look at all the thoughtful responses. Not a bad bunch of people on this board