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Here's a question that needs to be answered – what's the best historical movie ever made? Let's say the storyline has to take place pre-1950. My choice for top movies would be:
- Braveheart
- Last of the Mohicans
- Gangs of New York
A case could be made for others – Barry Lyndon, Gallipoli, Saving Private Ryan, Patton, etc.What do you think?
I’m going to say Gladiator. I also like Braveheart. My third choice will have to be Gettysburg.
By the way, thanks for joing the Gunbroker forums Phidippides. We need your expertise over there. There’s some sharp folks who frequent those boards….some with Master degrees in Philosophy and Political Science. I hope we can convince more to join this site. 😀Nemesis:
Yeah that movie was solid. The Russians had more soldiers than weapons. They just sent some of them out without without a rifle, but the officers assured them that one would become available shortly. 🙁
I thought Gladiator was pretty good, but the storyline fell out toward the end and got too predictable.
And I almost forgot one of the best WWII movies I have seen (or more like a series) – Band of Brothers. Schindler’s List is also very moving, as is The Pianist (all of a sudden I’m remembering all these movies).
I haven’t seen Gettysburg, but about a month ago I watched Gods and Generals, which is supposed to be the precursor to Gettysburg. I thought that Glory was also a good Civil War movie.
I saw a documentary not too long ago that talked about the true story behind Enemy at the Gates. I think it said that there was a good number of female snipers for the Soviet Union during WWII.
Good historical movies are hard to come by, yet when they do they can make for some of the best films.
Glory is a fantastic movie for a number of reasons. Schindler’s List should be on any top-whatever list for so many reasons.
Gladiator was good but more than somewhat inaccurate and yes, predictable. The fact that they left no possibility for a sequel was pretty cool though.
The Gladiator formula…which is the Braveheart formula….which is The Patriot formula….which is the Gettysburg formula gets me every time. The Passion of the Christ probably tore me up more than the others……sheesh……I tried to sit through Gladiator, Braveheart, and the Passion without crying and I couldn’t do it. I’m so starved for real life heroes to look up to I get mushy when I see a noble man die for his lost cause. Okay, softy mushy speech over. 😀
I’d say Band of Brothers, Schindler’s List, and although the movie wasn’t written as a historical account necessarily, I was impressed at the political aspect of Kingdom of Heaven. The tentative peace agreements with the Muslim Saracens is pretty accurate. That’s about as “tolerant” as Islam has ever been, one provocation away from killing everyone. The Last Samurai sucked because of Tom Cruise and the glammed up storyline, but it did paint an pretty accurate account of the last days of the Samurai era and the bushido code. The Westernization and centralization of Japan led to its conquests of Manchuria and its involvement in WWII. Most of their disputes prior to 1900 were internal, their dedicated warrior culture coupled with an imperialistic gov’t was disasterous.
Thanks, I’ll contribute what I can, I know a lot of history but its about a lot of obscure topics, every once in a while I’ll be able to add something to the story
The ‘Fog of War’ was really impressive. It is a documentary of Robert McNamera. McNamera is interviewed on his life and his involvement in Vietnam.
My favorite is ‘Seabiscuit.’
It’s actually quite accurate, Hollywood dramatics and structure requirements aside, and stays relatively true to the book. But the book is so much more indulgent (in a good way) and really tugs at the heartstrings.Highly recommended!
Seabiscuit was pretty good, though I haven’t read the book. I have heard that the race against War Admiral was really quite popular when it occurred…I don’t know how many millions of people were listening to the race, but it was a good chunk of the American demographic.
On another note, has anyone here seen The Thin Red Line? It got good reviews, but I wasn’t that impressed. Had some good parts, but it was kind of “spacy” at times. Had a lot of cameos by well-known actors.
