EPIC MOVIES: THE BEST OF THE MOST PRETENTIOUS
Jun 06 '00
After a bout with the dictionary (the dictionary won), I've found that a CONVENTION applies to the definition of "epic movies" which exceeds the definition of the term. OK, I know I am in danger of losing any reader here, but "EPIC POETRY" refers to a specific type of work, "a long narrative poem" that relates to heroes and legend. Another definition states to be "epic" it must "extend beyond the usual or ordinary especially in size and scope". Now I have something to work with. This category for me can include historical, legendary or long movies, and if I take it seriously (and what are the odds of that?) movies that have a bigger meaning than just filling an hour or two on a week night. So I get to make two lists, one for the movies I think extend beyond the ordinary, and the other list where the movies are just really long (or so boring that they seem much longer).
The first List I take seriously:
1. BRAVEHEART This movie fills both definitions of epic: it is the stuff of legends, and it IS an epic poem. Also it is hard to beat the Scots in their kilts mooning the English for an unforgetable image.
2. TEN COMMANDMENTS I watched this movie so many times over the years that I began to envy the Jews wandering lost looking for the Promised Land. Remember this is BEFORE Heston joined the NRA.
3. TITANIC Hackneyed though it was, was it not a romance of the ages? Did it not define an era, and expand the scope of our understanding? No? Well it came close.
4. STAR WARS TRILOGY- (plus the epilogue, Phantom Menace) Even if it was imaginary, it was and still is, an epic adventure, with defined good and evil. It is legendary.
5. DANCES WITH WOLVES-Epic, legendary, all those things. Besides it WAS really long. On the serious side, the story points at the other side of the Western Adventure, and the Native Americans I lived and worked with saw it as vindication for their lost culture.
6. BEN HUR-Epic heroism, following through a lifetime of a chariot racer. Pretty heroic stuff, and I saw Charlton Heston through different eyes then.
7. TRUE GRIT Nobody ever talks of John Wayne anymore, but this was a classic movie promoting American values and the WESTERN legend.
8. SCHINDLER'S LIST : You need to see this movie. It is an affirmation.
9. 2001 SPACE ODYSSEY: I have to add this even though I hated the movie. It definitely must have had a scope beyond entertainment, especially those apes at the beginning of the flick.
10. AMADEUS-The legendary Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Of course it has an epic quality! Who, besides Bach, is more of an historic legend? (Oh don't give me a list please!)
The Following have EPIC qualities on the longest (and most boring) movies ever made (in my not-humble-enough opinion)
1. CLEOPATRA-The Elizabeth Taylor version. Lots of production not much movie.
2. ENGLISH PATIENT-Never have been able to stay awake through it
3. DUNE -Much better in the book version. Paul was cute, but he surely was confused ("The Spice, there must be something about the spice" DUH)
4. AMISTAD-Intentions were good, acting very fine. I wanted to like it, but alas, could not. It was, in a word, boring.
5. JFK-Costner was good, but the subject had long since passed being on the "most interesting" list
6. SAVING PRIVATE RYAN-There were things about this movie that I DID like, but it doesn't follow that sending a patrol out to risk their lives in this fashion should be called heroic.
7. THE LONESOME DOVE SERIES: Don't get me started on that one. I have friends in Texas. I hope they can escape.
8. ROOTS While it was catchy in its day, and there were performances I still remember, can you believe we sat through that whole thing?
9. 2001 SPACE ODYSSEY sorry, its a love-hate relationship.
10. THE MADNESS OF KING GEORGE Which is a fitting end of this review. It drove me mad trying to find the entertainment value. I really like historical art (movies, books) and I was disappointed.
If you have read many of my reviews, you know I am a little off-the-wall in my opinions. I can be snide any time, even about movies I love, but for me to really NOT see any value in the effort is out of character. Maybe it is a matter of pride. (You better like it, you paid for it!) But epic movies have a harder row to hoe for me...because of the unusual investment of time, and research into the historical era. So, I think if I have to invest that much effort, it should be worth it. Oh, but I could be wrong.
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Member: jude paxton
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If I'd known TODAY was to be my TOMORROW I woulda done better YESTERDAY.
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