Epic Movies (1 Viewer)

[DougRogers]

Definition of an epic:
1 : a long narrative poem in elevated style recounting the deeds of a legendary or historical hero
From here: Merriam-Webster
Doug

 

[DavidDeane]

Definition of an epic:
1 : a long narrative poem in elevated style recounting the deeds of a legendary or historical hero

Here's my personal definition of a film epic: any film that evokes the spirit of "a long narrative poem in elevated style recounting the deeds of a legendary or historical hero"; ie, translating this elevated style to the cinema. That would include Gone With the Wind, Dr. Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia, Ben Hur, etc., under the "old school", and Gladiator, Braveheart, Lord of the Rings, etc., under "new school". Star Wars might also be called an epic, although the B movie serial style Lucas emulates, mitigates somewhat against this; there's just enough deliberate hokeyness in the Star Wars series to undermine some of the "elevated style".

 

[Rob Tomlin]

Well, although they have already been mentioned, I still feel compelled to state that Lawrence of Arabia and Dr. Zhivago are two classic epic's, directed by one of the master's of epics, David Lean!

 

[Nathan V]

Although these take place in relatively modern times (epic no-no), the scale of these two films are almost incomprehensibly large, encompass an HUGE amount of DATA, and have MASSIVE all-star casts, OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD cinematography, and great scripts to boot, which I feel qualifies them as modern epics:

JFK

NIXON

(In case your wondering, yes, these are two of my favorite films ever)

Nathan

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned The Godfather Trilogy. I always considered these combined films to be a modern epic.

While not as fine a film as others discussed here, Cleopatra is certainly worth a viewing.

 

[Ashley Seymour]

I've looked bug I cant see it above
The Longest Day

 

[Jason Adams]

I'm partial to Cleopatra too. Excellent score, great actors, beautiful cinematography. I must say though, Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra was mistcast...thats only second on my list compared to John Wayne as Gengis Khan.

 

[Andrew_Sch]

Just got done watching Ten Commandments and all I can say is...WOW. Just like Ben-Hur, I was rarely bored and thought that Heston's performance was maybe even a little better than Ben-Hur. The set pieces in Egypt and Sinai were awe-inspiring, even by today's standards.

 

[teapot2001]

TCM is showing Napolean at 9 PM Pacific tonight. I highly recommend it.

~T

 

[MatS]

Stanley Kubrick's 'Barry Lyndon'

 

[Christian H]

I'd have to recommend Legends of the Fall as well.