The BEST EPIC FILMS EVER, by Definition, Require a Valid Hero.
May 12 '00 (Updated May 23 '07)
The Bottom Line The best Epic Films are the most accessible of all great movies. If we can put aside some of the politics behind them, they are wonderfully entertaining.
Epic, n: a long poem in elevated style narrating the deeds of a hero. [My useful pocket Merriam-Webster Dictionary gives this definition.]
In terms of a movie, which is like a poem or a piece of music, the definition is not nearly so restrictive as one we found for "drama." In fact, conventional movie "epics" appear in theaters every weekend. However, following the definition, we require a long (more than an episode), poetic (cinematic) picture in an elevated style (superbly photographed and edited), concentrated on a valid hero.
I'm afraid, much as I admire them, the definition eliminates INTOLERANCE (GRIFFITH, 1915), GREED (VON STROHEIM, 1924), BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN (Eisenstein, 1925) CITIZEN KANE (Welles, 1941),THE WILD BUNCH (Peckinpah, 1979) AGUIRRE, WRATH OF GOD (Herzog, 1972), THE GODFATHER's (Coppola, 1972-1990), 200l: A SPACE ODYSSEY (Kubick, 1968) APOCALYPSE NOW (COPPOLA, 1979), GETTYSBURG (Maxwell, 1993). All of these have no hero, a doubtful one, or the story covers only a few days. We might wonder whether or not, in the media spotlight of the late 20th Century, a modern hero in the classical sense can exist.
The definition also does away with crowd pleasers I admire less: BIRTH OF A NATION (Griffith, 1915), GONE WITH THE WIND (Fleming, 1939), SCHINDLER'S LIST (Spielberg, 1993), TITANIC (Cameron, 1997).
C.B DeMille's name was synonymous with Epic, but his entire output, with the possible exception of REAP THE WILD WIND (1942), has not worn well.
I can't think of anything wrong with either version of BEN HUR (Niblo, 1926 or Wyler, 1959) but that, after the spectacular chariot race, both versions tip-toe around the Biblical horror of leprosy.
Let me get this straight for you. I have to pick ten superb films with a main character of heroic stature, engaged in an epic situation over a period of time, a hero or heroine who grows somewhat in complexity and character as the film develops. And, of course, I am going to avoid a number of the usual choices. I'm going to give you a few surprises!
Here goes:
10. THE SECRET Life OF WALTER MITTY (McLeod, 1947): Based on James Thurber's classic comic short story, Danny Kaye becomes the title character in his best performance. Momma's boy Walter Mitty is under the thumb of his mother (Fay Bainter), and his hand-picked fiancee (Ann Rutherford), and at the darkest of times (when he has to buy "puppy biscuits"), he daydreams he is rescuing fair dream girl (Virginia Mayo) throughout history, in scenes of surrealistic Technicolor splendor, as an RAF hero, a sea captain in a hurricane, a riverboat gambler, a brain surgeon, a western tough guy, etc. Boris Karloff, as a German Spy, becomes a real life threat to the heroine, but no fear, Mitty is here. The improbability of the latter doesn't matter; we can all identify with Mitty.
http://www.epinions.com/mvie-review-3DAE-1963C484-3A3D83B8-prod4
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9. THE SIN OF HAROLD DIDDLEBOCK (Sturges, 1947). This 90 minute version is seldom seen; re-edited and re-released as MAD WEDNESDAY in 1950, it becomes Sturges' last masterpiece. Diddlebock (Harold LLoyd) is the true real life American Hero, a football star at 19, he is given a sinecure by a wealthy fan (Raymond Walburn). He works loyally through the Administrations of Coolidge, Hoover, FDR, and Truman, always pining for a succession of dream girls (all played by Sturges' latest Dream Girl Frances Ramsden). Then, he is cashiered as too old for his job. That day he trudges to a basement bar, where the bartender (Edgar Kennedy) makes Diddlbock his first alcoholic beverage: "A Bikini Cocktail." The result caused the restless Hughes tear the film apart, put it back together crudely at 79 minutes, and change the film's title to MAD WEDNESDAY. Sturges' craziest, perhaps most personal film.
8. AT PLAY IN THE FIELDS OF THE LORD (Babenco, 1991): Aidan Quinn and Kathy Bates, John Lithgow and Daryl Hannah are missionary couples, who have travelled far up the Amazon in their attempt to proselytize one of the last primitive tribes in the Brazillian Rain Forest. The couples work at cross purposes, as does the Government, which really wants to open up the timber and mineral resources of the region. The real hero of this epic is a Native American (Tom Berenger), who has stowed away to bring a revolutionary message and to become one with his South American Bretheren (resulting in tragic consequences). Based on Peter Matthiessen's prize winning novel, it is my entry for Religious Epic.
http://www.epinions.com/mvie-review-66E9-4BF2AA2-398223C4-prod6
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7. THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE (Curtiz, 1936): Here is Hollywood's version of history. Epic Film Hero Errol Flynn makes an appearance as an officer of the 27th Lancers vowing revenge on Surat Khan (C. Henry Gordon), one of those untrustworthy villains so beloved by Hollywood in the 1920's and 1930's. A mostly imaginary massacre in India leads the Lancers to the Crimea, where they become part of the most celebrated of all British Military Disasters: The Charge of the Light Brigade. Supported by the stirring cadences of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's epic poem, and Max Steiner's magnificent musical score, Flynn and the Lancers ride to death and glory, which in the original cut took nearly 20 minutes. (See my remarks on Great Soundtracks).
http://www.epinions.com/content_45186256516
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6. ROB ROY (Caton-Jones, 1995): I had a choice between this and BRAVEHEART (Gibson, 1995). Both are about Scottish Epic Heroes. Both are Epic stories, BRAVEHEART the more so. ROB ROY'S great advantage is that it tells a more tight and complete story, much of it was actually made in Scotland rather than in Ireland, and though none of the principals are Scots, there are actually Scotsmen in the film! Marvelous performances by Liam Neeson, Jessica Lange and Tim Roth. The simple legend of how Rob Roy McGregor upheld his Family Honor has an unflashy feel, which BRAVEHEART does not. The latter seems to have 20 minutes cut out of it near the beginning, and to have borrowed from every other film epic from HENRY V (Olivier, 1945) to SAINT JOAN (Preminger, 1957).
http://www.epinions.com/mvie-review-3E33-B74D291-387E74A4-bd1
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5.STORM OVER ASIA (Pudovkin, 1927): The Russians are the pioneers in epic film making. This lesser known work by one of the three greatest Soviet Silent Film Directors, Vesvolod Pudovkin, may be the most extraordinary (and certainly the most fun). A Mongol trapper is captured by the British-American Expeditionary Force in Central Asia during the Russian Civil War (1919-1925). He is identified as a direct descendant of Ghenghis Khan. They groom him to become ruler of an Allied Puppet State in Central Asia. Their inherent racism cause him to turn against them. (Memorable Scene: When junior officers snub the Puppet Emperor, a British General goes into such a rage that his tunic bursts into flames!)
http://www.epinions.com/content_341730758276
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4. THE THREE MUSKETEERS TRILOGY (THE THREE MUSKETEERS, 1974; THE FOUR MUSKETEERS, 1975; THE RETURN OF THE MUSKETEERS, 1989 -- all directed by Richard Lester): Grand Adventure covering 20 years in the lives of Alexandre Dumas' immortal men at arms: Porthos, Athos, Aramis, and, of course, D'Artanan as they defend their King and Queen against the machinations of Richelieu (Charlton Heston) and his ace swordsman (Christopher Lee). They must rescue fair lady (Raquel Welch), but fail at the hands of the evil Lady DeWinter (Faye Dunaway). The first two films have a wonderful combination of cast, production values, derring-do, romance, suspense and humor. (Richard Chamberlain, Oliver Reed, Michael York, and Frank Finlay are the Musketeers.) These are the most successful of the many film versions made from Douglas Fairbanks' classic production in the 1920's onward. The last film of the trilogy, RETURN OF THE MUSKETEERS, a denouement, based on Dumas' Twenty Years After, is not quite so successful, perhaps because one of the main supporting actors, Roy Kinnear, was killed in a riding accident on camera, which put a pall on the production. Lester never made another feature film.
3. THE FOUR FEATHERS (Zoltan Korda, 1939). A group of dashing British Officers (Ralph Richardson, Donald Grey, Jack Allen, Clive Barker) join their Regiment to take on that implacable, unpredictable enemy, The Mahdi, in the Egyptian Sudan. One of their number, Harry Faversham (John Clements), chooses to remain at home, prompting him to receive four white feathers, badges of cowardice, from his comrades. How he redeems himself when they are captured makes for one of the great epics of the screen. Shot on location, in British Technicolor, the film seems to know that Britain will soon be tested again. With the wonderful old C. Aubrey Smith and the beautiful June Duprez.
http://www.epinions.com/mvie-review-5CA4-2404EF76-39F64381-prod3
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2. THE GRAPES OF WRATH (Ford, 1940): John Steinbeck's finest novel was adapted and produced as a softer, warmer film. Nevertheless, as he follows the Joad Family, victims of foolish early 20th Century farm practices encouraged in The Dust Bowl of Oklahoma, Master Director John Ford shows them in their warty splendor. They are driven from the land by the Banks, sent in a long, desperate car journey to California, in Ford's American Depression Epic, suggesting a rescue by New Deal Programs which led to much of our Post World War II prosperity. (Many of the so called "Okies" became millionaires, but people are still being evicted from their homes and land as I write.) Great performances by Henry Fonda as Tom Joad and Jane Darwell as Ma.
1. NAPOLEON (Gance, 1927): Only one film can be considered a true Film Epic in every sense. Abel Gance spent several years making the French National Epic (and remade the story for the rest of his career). Begun as a trilogy, Gance resolved to include every variety of lens, film stock, camera techique, montage, widescreen, triptych, color, and music to describe the life of Napoleon Bonaparte from a poor orphan through his triumphant invasion of Italy. The five hour film, although initially hailed, fell into the hands of the distributors, who cut it to 90 incomprehensible minutes. The other two parts of the Emperor's life could not be financed and were never made. In the late 1970's, British film Historian Kevin Brownlow re-assembled from all over the world (including center sprocket Nickelodeon footage) a nearly complete film. It was shown to a very frail Gance at Sundance. The present 235 minute version was released theatrically in 1981, courtesy of Francis Ford Coppola. If you ever get a chance to see it in a theater, by all means do. Several sequences are unique, and the snowball fight at the Military School, showing little Napoleon's precocity, is a piece of genius.
An Epic Film toast: To the Good Fight and Beautiful Women!
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