The best 'olden-time' films

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I guessed this place was the best place to ask. I like war-films, like any lad with red blood. I'm talking about films like Braveheart (even though it's a total work of fiction), Gladiator, The Patriot (same as Braveheart), Master and Commander, 13th Warrior, & more recently Centurion.

I wonder if you guys could name any others I should watch? Can be from the Napoleonic era (sadly under-representated in the film world, it seems), or medieval, or whatever, so long as machine guns aren't involved.

I'm poorly so need some 'film ammo' to work my way through . Cheers guys.

 

If you liked 13th Warrior you'll probably like Excalibur. Savage and bloody, all done with good ol' swords.

Don't know if you've seen The Last Samurai, but it is quite bloody. (I thought it'd be a little cheesy but it turned out enjoyable.)

Otherwise it's hard to think of other good movies in that genre that you haven't already named!

 

Yeah, I've seen The Last Samurai, loved that.

 

Ye 'olden times'? 'Olden' as in 'old'? And you speak of these movies? From 1996?

For old, try Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922) (so old, it doesn't even has sound). That's a formidable movie and it is 'old'. Or the newer movie, Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979). That one is in colour, and with sound.

 

SET in a historic period, not filmed then. I.e. films that contain swords or muskets. You great pleb, Raggers!

 

Waterloo an italian/Soviet movie from the 70's. It's a fine film about the battle of waterloo with amazing battles. It's a one of a kind movie really with plenty of flaws but the battles as I said are the best I've seen about the Napoleonic era. So there's a film you might want to check out. It seems though that you value action and drama over even attempting to describe the events in a realistic fashion so I'm not fully sure if it's the kind of film you'd like.

 

Barmy, on a more serious note, you will likely like the Sharpe tv series.

 

Lord of the Rings: Trilogy - Dir. Peter Jackson with Viggo Mortensen (Tolkien)
Kingdom of Heaven - Dir. Ridley Scott with Orlando Bloom, Eva Green, Liam Neeson (Crusaders vs Moors)
Troy - Dir. Wolfgang Petersen with Brad Pitt, Eric Bana (Homer's Iliad)
300 - Dir. Zack Snyder with Gerald Butler (Battle of Thermopylae)
King Arthur - Antoine Fuqua (sp?) with Clive Owen (Romans vs Saxon - a different take of the Arthurian legend we are familiar with)
Robin Hood - Dir. Ridley Scott with Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett (you know the character but the story is not the one we are familiar with)
Hero - Dir. Zhang Yimou with Jet Li, Tony Leung (based on the story of the attempted assassination of the Emperor of Qin Dynasty in Fuedal China, this Emperor is the guy who started the Great Wall of China - Chinese movie) Warning... extensive 'wire-fu' action and is also one of the highest-grossing movie in China.
Red Cliff I/II - Tony Leung (excerpt from the Chinese Novel 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms' - Chinese movie, note: this is a 2-part movie)
Curse of the Golden Flower - Dir. Zhang Yimou with Chow Yun-Fat, Gong Li (Chinese movie) Oscar nominee for Foreign Language film.
Warriors of Heaven and Earth - Dir. He Ping with Jiang Wen (in the tradition of The Seven Samurai - Chinese movie) Oscar nominee for Foreign Language film.
Musa - Dir. Kim Sung-Su with Jung Woo-sung, Zhang Ziyi (somewhat like The Seven Samurai - South Korean movie)
Sword In The Moon - Dir. Kim Ui-seok with Choi Min-soo, Cho Jae-hyun (South Korean periodic movie)

You can check out youtube for trailers of the Chinese and South Korean films.

Oh how about...
The 3 Muskeeters - Keifer Sutherland and Charlie Sheen (Alexander Dumas)
The Man In The Iron Mask - Jeremy Irons and Leonardo Di Caprio (Alexander Dumas)


Some really oldies...
Seven Samurais - Dir. Akira Kurosawa with Toshiro Mifune
Spartacus - Kirk Douglas (gladiators vs Romans)
Zulu Dawn - Peter O'Toole (British vs Africans)
The Man Who Would Be King - Sean Connery, Michael Caine (British vs Malays)

 

Thanks for the suggestions lads.

Rags, I do like Sharpe, yeah

Morgs, I do like both really. I enjoy realistic films etc, but it has to be entertaining too, or my attention span wears out.

nior, first of all, sorry I can't think of a good nickname for that, 2nd, thanks for the suggestions :-)

 

What about Japanese movies?

You've got some great titles ranging from masterpieces -Akira Kurosawa's Ran, Kagemusha, Kumonosu-jô- to campy manga styled pieces like Azumi for instance.

 

Just quickly off the top of my head I would suggest Black Death directed by Chris Smith (Severance,Creep,Triangle) bought it with Centurion. Loved it, its darker than Centurion and has less action. Got Sean Bean in it too, who is always a badass.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Death...4S0S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1288703145&sr=8-1

 

Try Beowulf & Grendel filmed in Iceland it overshadows the cartoon version they made a bit back in my own humble, oh and the mission with DeNiro and Jeremy Irons one of the best films i've ever seen.

 

The three musketeers\four musketeers from the 70s is fantastic. Best adaption of the story, by far.

Once upon a time in China 1-4 is great as well. Jet Li is in it.

Excalibur is another good one I guess, and Willow.

 

Willow is the mutz nutz! Love that ****. Black Death, Waterloo and The Mission 'ordered' .

Keep 'em coming

 

Mmmh... war movies only, it seems. I wanted to suggest Amistad, but that's not really a war thing. Some action now and then, though. That movie really caught me.

Well, er... War movies, heh? Perhaps you like Attila? I didn't fancy it all that much, so I wouldn't spend any money on that. I'm not you, though, so here's a trailer:

 

In no particular order.... Sparticus, Ben-Hur, Quo Vadis, Gladiator, Ulysses (the Kirk Douglas one), Jason and the Argonauts, Henry V, Gunga Din, The Wind and the Lion, The Man Who Would Be King, Zulu, El Cid, The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), Ran, Gettysburg, Glory, Horatio Hornblower ... if you want a list of great war movies from WWI on (WWI, WWII, etc.) the list would be even longer.

 

I doubt the story is going to be great, perhaps decent but the action and cinematography is something to look forward to.

 

The Name of the Rose with Sean Connery. It kicked butt. I think his lame little sidekick was Christian Slater -- coulda done without that little punk, but otherwise it was a good movie.

 

I agree 120 percent with LKD. In the Name of the Rose, was excelent.

 

Flesh & blood

The War lord

The long ships

Aleksandr Nevskiy

Krull

I assume that you have watched the Conan films, so I haven't put them on the list. Avoid Red Sonja