MovieChat Forums > Aleksandr Nevskiy (1939) Discussion > Other epics with large battle scenes

Other epics with large battle scenes

posted 17 years ago by D_vd_B
4 replies | jump to latest

I also made this topic on some other boards.

Okay....what I have seen so far with epic grand scale battles. There are NO WWII films in the list, for the simple fact that I cannot recall them just now. There are no Starwars/Lord of the Rings movies in it.

(Older)
Alexandr Nevsky (1938) (Black&White, but omfg looks great!)
El Cid (The battle of Valencia is great)
Lawrence of Arabia
Zulu (Nice suspense)
War and Peace (AA++)
Waterloo (AA++)
Spartacus
Ran (Nice)
Glory (Good last charge over the beach)
The Lighthorsemen (The story feels a little bit as an excuse for that charge)

(Modern;1990, - )
Gettysburg (long and glorious)
Gods and Generals
Braveheart
Army of Darkness (yup, a comedy on the list. Fun movie with fun battle)
Alexander
The Last Samurai
The Legend of Suriyothai
The Patriot
Gladiator
King Arthur
Kingdom of Heaven
Troy
The Alamo (2004, don't know the older version)
The Promise (fantasy, but still nice battle)
Joan of Arc: The Messenger

On my YET TO SEE list:
Zulu Dawn
Kagemusha
Charge of the Light Brigade
Ben Hur
Doctor Zhivago (mainly for the cossack charge)
Boris Godunov (very hard to get)
Cromwell (but I hear a lot that it is propaganda...oh well...since I put Alexandr Nevsky and the Patriot in the list I cannot complain about that anymore :p)

Honorable mentions (battles in a movie that are just good)
The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (The bridge battle is more focused on the useless of the war, but it looks great.)
Heaven's Gate (The villagers versus the mercenaries is nice battle....only it seems that there is more dynamite then there are people involved in it.
Flesh&Blood (One battle in the beginning, but not really worth it)
Revolution (many extra's but not great battles..the Pacino preformance is the best thing in the movie)
Cold Mountain (Not focused on the battle, but there is a battle in it)
Barry Lyndon (A smaller battle, not that great)
Ivan the Terrible part I (One siege. If you like giant guns... Still great movie)
Rob Roy (It's more of a raid, but there are some battle like happenings)
Michael Collins (Great street fighting scenes with old WWI weapons and armor)
Excalibur (O Fortuna+siege=great. 2x O Fortuna+charge=better)
March or Die (Good beginning, nice end battle. The rest is boring.)

I might forget some things. Feel free to add to the list.

[–] mkuusimaki 17 years ago

Hello!

Interesting lists you have. Thanks!

I just saw Alexander Nevsky on a big screen. Wow. You are spot on when it comes to the battle scene - and I somehow got to thinking about the cavalry attack at the end of The Charge of the Light Brigade that Michael Curtiz made with Errol Flynn in 1935. As Curtiz also experimented with rhythmic editing, music, and something of a montage as the "six hundred" ride into the Valley of Death, it would be intriguing to know how much Eisenstein he had seen and if Eisenstein, in turn, had seen what Curtiz had come up with. Any ideas?

Hey, I just remembered Chimes at Midnight, an Orson Welles film from 1966 - I saw it way back on TV and seem to recall a particularly graphic 16th-century battle scene...

[–] otis-driftwood 17 years ago

Gangs of New York......Brutal and bloody.......worth a mention.

Happiness is a warm gun...Lennon/McCartney
We're all gonna be just dirt in the ground....Tom Waits

[–] Draco2-0 16 years ago

What about Kolberg?

[–] sjl004 16 years ago

Kagemusha

Whacked Tom Cruise http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2196812000100119259ULHDOv