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Main => The Library => Topic started by: Sir William on 2010-11-08, 15:36:30
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So I was wondering if all of you knights were into this genre of movies and realized it was rather dumb of me to wonder considering we're all congregants here...so lets see what you guys are working with! This could include the sword-and-sandal movies of yesteryear, or anything you've seen that you feel should be included. Here's mine, with justification:
1. 10,000 BC - before the advent of steel, low tech, great epic
2. 13th Warrior – Viking fantasy w/Beowulfric references (Buliwyf precisely)
3. 300 - should be obvious
4. Alexander – it took a few times before this movie clicked for me, but it is good
5. Arn, the Knight Templar - one of the better Crusade-specific movies, KoH with soul if you will
6. Beowulf – the digitized version featuring Jolie, very well drawn
7. Beowulf & Grendel – starring Gerard Butler, more like a cautionary tale than an action flick
8. Brotherhood of the Wolf – renaissance-era France, lots of good knife work, ambience
9. Centurion - another Romanesque movie, great action, very visceral
10. Conan
11. Dark Kingdom: Dragon King (a Uwe Boll product replete w/horrible acting and story, but decent swordplay)
12. Elizabeth: The Golden Years (I love Cate Blanchett, she is electric as Elizabeth)
13. Excalibur
14. George and the Dragon (James Purefoy as titular character, fun movie a little cheesy in dialog, Swayze a stinker)
15. Gladiator
16. King Arthur (re-imagining of the legend, I liked it, despite its historical inaccuracies lol)
17. Kingdom of Heaven
18. A Knight's Tale
19. Lord of the Rings!!!
20. The Last Legion - another Roman epic, couldn't call it historically accurate but it was engaging, another take on the Arthurian legend
21. Last Samurai - this is a good movie, no idea as to historicity, but it was a good movie with some excellent swordplay
22. The Messenger, story of Joan of Arc - I liked this movie, it was definitely worth watching
23. Outlander - wasn't sure if I should include this one as it starts in the far-flung future but the majority of the movie takes place in a time and location of the Vikings and it was definitely a good movie to watch
24. Pathfinder – I have this movie, but didn’t really care for it; a Viking boy misplaced during a raid is brought up by the indigenous population that was raided
25. Scorpion King – big guy with huge sword, what’s not to like?
26. Seven Swords – Tsui Hark’s homage to the Seven Samurai, a worthy remake
27. Sword of the Valiant – big cheese fest, Connery’s 2nd worst role, Zed in Zardoz being THE worst IMHO)
28. Troy
29. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans – vampires in super cool looking armor wielding wicked looking swords killing werewolves, best of the three Underworld movies BY FAR (imho)
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29. The Thirteenth Warrior - A dozen Viking heroes and one Arab (Antonio Banderas) return to the Vikings’ homeland to battle an evil pagan cult.
30. The Warlord – Charlton Heston classic of a loyal Norman knight given a remote fief to defend against the Frisian raiders.
31. El Cid – Another Charlton Heston classic of the Spanish hero.
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13th Warrior- can't believe I forgot that, I have that too! Oh I know why...my sister borrowed it so it slipped my mind. Need to update my list, good call Sir Brian!
Think I might want to check out The Warlord, never heard of it.
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A few thoughts:
First Knight?
Braveheart?
Dragonheart? (1 & 2)
Highlander? (Movies & TV)
Robin Hood? (Variations)
Shroud?
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ug too many movies to list, will have to do it later in the week when i have time :)
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Definitely Braveheart...but I've seen it so many times that it isn't in my collection. Dragonheart...there was a second one? Direct-to-video, I see it. So, it was good?
How about shows, you guys? Any good medieval ones you may have seen? I'll start another thread.
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The first Dragonheart was pretty good, I thought. The second one is very forgettable in comparison.
I have First Knight on the list too. Not the best rendition of the Arthurian tales, but not bad either in its own way.
King Arthur just makes me mad. The movie itself is fine. I just don't like how they force the Arthurian concepts into it, with Arthur never actually being a king, despite the title, and otherwise it's just the names of the characters that tie it to anything even remotely Arthurian.
I still love the first Highlander and the series (most of it anyway, the last season falls apart). The later movies have their moments. Though I have to admit, the most recent one.. The Source... wow, WTF. Crap.
As for Robin Hood, I've enjoyed pretty much every variant I've come across, including the almost unknown Sean Connery one, Robin and Marian (1976), which is a fairly unique story of the characters re-uniting for one last adventure about 20 years after their legendary exploits. But I grew up with the Robin of Sherwood BBC series, and have that on DVD as well.
The War Lord (1965) with Charlton Heston was pretty good, but I think it's been out of print for a while, so it's super expensive. (http://amzn.com/B00000F5UV (http://amzn.com/B00000F5UV)). If we have a movie day, I have a copy.
I'll have to go look and see what else I have, but I think most of it is covered here already.
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Yea, I HAD First Knight on VHS, but never got it on DVD...I liked it too, for what it was. You know you can find the odd piece of 'armor' used in that film on eBay, especially the single pauldron they all wore.
Robin and Marian...I actually had that too, but my sister borrowed that as well. I never got to see it...I think it is a double feature too...has Sword of the Valiant on the same disc.
King Arthur was good, to me...since he became King at the end, I took it as a 'coming of age' tale so to speak...you know, he'd completed his service to Rome, him and his brothers-in-arms and they stayed, to help the indigenous peoples stave off the Saxon invasion; in gratitude, they named him King, and he married Guinevere.
Seeing as Arthur is another mythical construct much in the vein of Robin Hood, this story is as plausible as any other. I liked how they linked them with the legendary Sarmatian cavalry which were a real fighting force in the 5th Century BC. From Wikipedia (I know it isn't the definitive source for truth, but it has its uses as a staging point for research)
Sarmatians
Up to the 5th century, Sarmatians cavalry units were stationed in Britain as part of the Roman army (see End of Roman rule in Britain), allowing for a direct influence of Roman cataphracts on Migration Period Europe. According to a theory of Littleton and Thomas (1978), the legend of King Arthur, the prototypical knight of High Medieval literature, was directly inspired by these Sarmatian troops (however, it is most likely that the only reason we view Arthur and his retainers as knights was simply because the Arthurian Cycle became popular in a time in which knighthood was predominant); and Sir Thomas Malory's descriptions reflect his own time, in which the plate-wearing tournament knight was again prevalent.
That they were referred to as Knights in the film was for contemporary audiences; the likes of you and I would've understood them to be heavy cavalry regiment, much in the way of the Byzantine cataphract- shock troops. Knights served the exact same purpose over a thousand years later.
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Van Helsing :D
Black Knight (Martin Lawrence)
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Movies
Henry V....Keneth Branagh
Henry V....Laurence Olivier
Eragon
Tristan & Isolde
Holy Grail
The Lion in Winter
Rob Roy ( a little out of period etc)
Becket
Ivanhoe
TV
Cadfael... series
Pillars of the Earth... series
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Sir James, thank you for the Black Knight reference, I did like that movie, it was entertaining. Although for me, I would've preferred had it been more serious but then, it wouldn't have starred Martin Lawrence.
Henry V w/Kenneth Branagh I actually did see it and not sure why I'd forgotten it...for its time, it was excellent.
Eragon...I suppose I'll catch some flack for this but that movie was just plain AWFUL. Talk about a major departure from the source material...and I hold Paolini at fault because he was there on-set and should've pushed harder for them to be more true to the book which was much better, though derivative.
Tristan & Isolde was a good one, I liked it quite a bit. The girl who played Isolde was in Outlander and appeared to be quite skilled in sword and shield tactics.
Rob Roy was good...that swordfight in the end was visceral.
Ivanhoe...a childhood favorite of mine...it wasn't until I saw it recently that I realized their helms were more football-inspired than I'd originally thought.
I've not seen Becket, the Lion in Winter or The Holy Grail but it is on my list...
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:o :o You`ve never seen Monty Python`s "The Holy Grail" :o :o
lol
Yes Eragon is plain awfull imho, but my daughter enjoyed it so she felt it deserved a mention, and who am I to argue with her logic lol :-\
G
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Oh, Monty Python, yes, I have seen that. Loved it for the comedy, should've picked up on that, my bad!
LOL @ daughter logic
No, one cannot argue with that. Having daughters I know this implicitly- but my youngest has the same sentiment, having introduced the books to me, she was equally disappointed in the film. But for one who never read the books, it would seem fantastical, I think.
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Ivanhoe...a childhood favorite of mine...it wasn't until I saw it recently that I realized their helms were more football-inspired than I'd originally thought.
I know what you mean. The A&E version that came out about ten years ago was really good. Probably my favorite version of the tale.
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I'll see if I can't find that one...I happened to catch Steven Waddington as the Duke of Buckingham in the Tudors and as Templar Grandmaster Torroja in Arn, the Knight Templar; he's an excellent actor, as is Ciaran Hinds (he played Bois Guilbert, also played Caesar in the HBO show Rome) and Christopher Lee ( aka Saruman, played Beaumanoir). The version I saw starred John Rhys-Davies (aka Gimli) as Front de Boeuf and a young Sam Neill as Brian de Bois-Guilbert; I thought his was an excellent choice.
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Ivanhoe...a childhood favorite of mine...it wasn't until I saw it recently that I realized their helms were more football-inspired than I'd originally thought.
I know what you mean. The A&E version that came out about ten years ago was really good. Probably my favorite version of the tale.
I have the 1982 version on DVD, which is probably my favorite version. It was surprisingly accurate with the armor and helms which was actually one of the primary inspirations for developing the crest on my great helm. This version also was loaded with some potent stars of the past and future. James Mason, Sam Neil, Olivia Hussey and John Rhys-Davies. The sword fighting was a bit weak as was the siege but still a great remake. :)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084157/ (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084157/)
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Sir Brian, that's the one I saw first, the '82 version. Did you notice that their coifs (and generally speaking, their mail) were shiny cloth rather than steel?
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Well of course it was cloth or "Hollywood Maille" as I like to think of it, which isn’t really all that bad IMO since we can't expect actors to spend 12 + hours in armor. I hardly hold it against Hollywood for what they actually make the maille out of as long as it is cut and worn appropriately for the time period they are going for and not embellished with fantasy or blatant out of period pieces like paulderons during the late 12th century. BTW, the vendor at the MDRF that made John's Raven helm has a nice harness of Knitted Maille that looks excellent from 5 feet away. ;)
The LOTR movies was one of the first I believe to use actual PVC maille which was certainly a step up, although the one scene during the Two Towers at the siege of Helms Deep the maille that Gimli put on certainly made a good solid metallic thump sound when he dropped it so maybe that was a prop just for that scene. :-\
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Well of course it was cloth or "Hollywood Maille" as I like to think of it, which isn’t really all that bad IMO since we can’t expect actors to spend 12 + hours in armor. BTW, the vendor at the MDRF that made John’s Raven helm has a nice harness of Knitted Maille that looks excellent from 5 feet away. ;)
Oh yeah, Chuck from Highland Anvil. He does have a set of that, I had nearly forgotten. That's true, it's hard to imagine a long filming shoot where you'd have to be in armor for 12 to 16 hours at a time, for weeks. :)
The LOTR movies was one of the first I believe to use actual PVC maille which was certainly a step up, although the one scene during the Two Towers at the siege of Helms Deep the maille that Gimli put on certainly made a good solid metallic thump sound when he dropped it so maybe that was a prop just for that scene. :-\
I don't think you can trust the sounds at all. Most of them are edited in. It's amazing to see what lengths go to for the "foley" sounds, where they create custom sounds just for characters walking and so forth that are so subtle you're not consciously aware of them when you're watching the film. But without them, the scene would seem fake. Sounds like the rustling of clothes, rubbing up against furniture, footsteps, and so on. All faked.
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I suppose...I usually rail at others who look for historicity in a Hollywood project so I should keep that in mind. Still...in LOTR it looked good and you're right, it sounded exactly like a heavy hauberk hitting the ground. Sir Edward does make a point tho- they can dub in anything and make it seem like it belonged.
But if I ever had the pleasure of being in a movie, I think I'd opt for real armor. It is stated in the LOTR production notes that Viggo (Aragorn) actually went out into the woods and slept in his armor and gear, so he could get used to the feel of it. I'd do just that. :)
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But if I ever had the pleasure of being in a movie, I think I'd opt for real armor. It is stated in the LOTR production notes that Viggo (Aragorn) actually went out into the woods and slept in his armor and gear, so he could get used to the feel of it. I'd do just that. :)
Wow, if that's true, he just earned a lot of respect from me. :)
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But if I ever had the pleasure of being in a movie, I think I'd opt for real armor. It is stated in the LOTR production notes that Viggo (Aragorn) actually went out into the woods and slept in his armor and gear, so he could get used to the feel of it. I'd do just that. :)
Wow, if that's true, he just earned a lot of respect from me. :)
Oh yea. http://www.viggo-works.com/index.php?page=112
I like that a lot.
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It is stated in the LOTR production notes that Viggo (Aragorn) actually went out into the woods and slept in his armor and gear, so he could get used to the feel of it. I'd do just that. :)
This part of your post reminds me of the time at MDRF during the 2009 season when a patron informed me that he and his kids had started playing D&D and they wanted to know if I could sleep in my armor. I got a chuckle out of their look of surprise when I replied with an emphatic “yes” and assured them that I had on more than one occasion slept in my armor at the renfaire, sure they were only catnaps but I could have easily slept longer. I explained further that if you are tired enough you can pretty much sleep in some of the most appalling conditions as numerous members of our military can substantiate! ~ I love it when I can contribute to the busting of a myth! :D
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I can attest to that (being able to sleep despite less than stellar conditions) - and I do intend to sleep in my armor; if I ever make it to PENNSIC that's exactly what'll happen. Most likely...it'd be easier than changing clothes, no? Might not be the most appealing in terms of personal aroma but hey, if they could ignore it for months (in some cases years) at a time, I can ignore it for a few days, right? lol
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and I do intend to sleep in my armor; if I ever make it to PENNSIC that's exactly what'll happen. Most likely...it'd be easier than changing clothes, no? Might not be the most appealing in terms of personal aroma but hey, if they could ignore it for months (in some cases years) at a time, I can ignore it for a few days, right? lol
There's always the opportunity to go to any one of many late-night parties and drink yourself into passing out. I doubt it would be the first time someone did that in armor there. :)
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It would be for me! LOL I haven't drank like that in...wow, I don't even want to say! I didn't know there were that many late-night parties where people wore armor...you're gonna have to tell me more about that, Sir Edward. ;D
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To be fair, most of the Pennsic folks don't wear their armor outside of the actual combat events. SCAdians wear some pretty heavy stuff for the rattan combat, so it's not entirely practical to treat it as garb off the field. That and the fact that a lot of the armor is meant to be functional but not pretty. It's actually amusing to see one of their processions/parades down the streets, with all of the heraldry and pageantry, but half the armor looks like it's made out of propane canisters. :)
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The armour is to keep you from injuring yourself when you pass out! ;D
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It's actually amusing to see one of their processions/parades down the streets, with all of the heraldry and pageantry, but half the armor looks like it's made out of propane canisters. :)
I'm being a little harsh, of course, but you do see a wide spectrum.
I have a lot of pennsic photos in these two galleries:
http://ed.toton.org/cgi-bin/gallery.pl?g=2006.pennsic (http://ed.toton.org/cgi-bin/gallery.pl?g=2006.pennsic)
http://ed.toton.org/cgi-bin/gallery.pl?g=2008.pennsic (http://ed.toton.org/cgi-bin/gallery.pl?g=2008.pennsic)
(http://ed.toton.org/photos/2006/pennsic/a712.jpg) (http://ed.toton.org/photos/2006/pennsic/a713.jpg) (http://ed.toton.org/photos/2006/pennsic/a716.jpg)
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Y'know, in imagining what a field army would look like after months on campaign- it might not look much better than this. My experience has been that armor is great, but hardly indestructible and things like straps and rivets tend to break and pop so if you're not a blacksmith and may not have the funds to pay one for repairs, you cobble together what you can. Not to mention the dirt- except for the incongruous presence of automobiles, this could easily have passed for such an event. Looks like a lot of fun!