List of Historical and Quasi-Historical Movies
by Christy Nicholas
Drama:
- Troy – Has Peter O’Toole, Brad Pitt, Orlando Bloom – flashy but interesting.
- Alexander the Great – Colin Farrell, Angelina Jolie, Val Kilmer
- Vercingetorix(Druids – UK title) – Christopher Lambert, about Celts vs. Romans
- Gladiator – Russell Crowe, Roman empire
- Boudicca – Alex Kingston, Dr. Corday from ER – a Celtic Queen who sacked London in Roman times
- Mists of Avalon – miniseries about King Arthur times, mostly from the female/pagan viewpoint
- First Knight – Sean Connery/Richard Gere/Julia Ormond – King Arthur tale, lots of Hollywood on this one
- Kingdom of Heaven – Orlando Bloom – About the Crusades, and fall of Jerusalem to the Muslims
- Thirteenth Warrior – Antonio Banderas is a Muslim who goes and helps Beowulf kill the dragon
- Braveheart – Mel Gibson in 12th century Scotland
- Henry V – Kenneth Brannagh is the English King who wins at Agincourt against the French
- The Messenger – Joan of Arc
- The Lion in Winter – my favorite – Katherine Hepburn/Peter O’Toole/Anthony Hopkins – Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, parents of Richard the Lionheart, play political games with their children as pawns
- The Agony and the Ecstasy – Michelangelo = Charlton Heston, with Rex Harrison as the Pope
- Anne of a Thousand Days – Richard Burton as Henry VIII, story of Anne Boleyn
- All the Mornings of the World – Gerard Depardieu – a sad story of a cellist in Provence, France
- Dangerous Beauty – courtesans in 15th Century Venice, a true story
- Victoria and Albert – about Queen Victoria’s life
- Lady Jane – about Jane Grey, who was queen for a few days before Mary took over (daughter of Henry VIII)
- A Man for All Seasons – About Thomas More, who dared to say No to Henry VIII.
- Mary, Queen of Scots – about Elizabeth I’s cousin, unhappy in love.
- The Count de Monte Cristo – Not really historical, but based in 17th C. France, and a well-done movie
- Brother Cadfael – great medieval mystery series, with Derek Jacobi, set in 12th century England.
- Gypsy (Natalie Wood as a young girl, who ends up as a stripper)
- Mississippi Masala (Denzel Washington – Indian girl falls in love with black man in Mississippi)
- Memoirs of a Geisha – set in Japan before WWII
- Mrs. Brown (Judi Dench plays Queen Victoria, depressed after the death of her husband)
- Valmont (Annette Benning, Colin Firth, 18th century French nobles playing games)
- Pride and Prejudice (Colin Firth)
- Rob Roy (Liam Neeson – historical character in the 17th C. Scottish highlands)
- Last of the Mohicans (Daniel Day-Lewis plays a white man raised by Indians after the French/Indian wars)
- John Adams (excellent miniseries on the birth of the US)
- The Queen (Helen Mirrim, about Elizabeth II during Princess Diana’s death)
- Les Miserables (Liam Neeson)
- Sharpe’s Rifles (first in a series of 14 BBC episodes with Sean Bean, about the Napoleonic wars)
- Horatio Hornblower (another series, with Iain Gryffud, life on the high seas with the British Navy)
- Master and Commander (Russell Crowe on the high seas with the British Navy)
- Becoming Jane (life of Jane Austen)
- Emma (a Jane Austen book)
- Sense and Sensibility (another Jane Austen)
- Tess of the D’Urbevilles (depressing story set in England in 19th C.)
- Ivanhoe – set in 12th C. England, about crusaders returning from the wars
- Ladyhawke – Michelle Pfeiffer, Matthew Broderick, set in medieval times, with magic and revenge.
- Outlander – a British WWII nurse gets sent back in time to 1743 Scotland, thrust into the heart of the Jacobite rising. (based on a series of bestselling books)
- Frontier – Jason Mamoa as a trader in the American French/Indian war time.
- The Crown – An in-depth look at Queen Elizabeth I
- Victoria – Queen Victoria done well
- The Last Kingdom – Based on Bernard Cornwell’s Saxon series, a decent take, though they do take liberties with both the books and history. Great portrayal of King Alfred.
- Poldark – Dark, gothic tale of mining in 18th century Cornwall
- Comedy/fun/light:
- Princess Bride (a requirement!)
- Willow – very early Val Kilmer
- Ballykissangel – not really historical, but set in a small town in Ireland, great funny series
- Monarch of the Glen – again, not really historical, but set in the highlands of Scotland, and my favorite TV series, period.
- Monty Python and the Holy Grail (silliness and fun)
- Princess Caraboo (exotic girl found in Edwardian England)
- Black Adder (more silliness and fun, 4 series – each a different era. Has Hugh Laurie in the later seasons, and Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean) is the main character)
- Shakespeare in Love (Gwyneth Paltrow) – Fun in life meets art
- Amadeus – Funny/tragic account of Mozart’s life
- Beau Brummell (James Purefoy, who was Marc Anthony in the above Rome, plays the man who turns the Prince Regent from a fop to a dandy, both fashions of the time)
- Gritty/heavy/serious/not for kids:
- 300 (Spartans make a stand against the Persions)
- Rome (HBO series) – excellent series with Ciaran Hinds, James Purefoy. Lots of violence/sex, but great historical accuracy and acting.
- I, Claudius (BBC Series) – 1970s series with Derek Jacobi of late Roman empire
- Excalibur – King Arthur story
- The Name of the Rose (Sean Connery, Christian Slater) – A 12th century monk tries to solve a murder mystery
- Elizabeth – Queen Elizabeth I first days in power
- The King’s Whore (Timothy Dalton) – gritty and violent, but very well done
- Immortal Beloved (Gary Oldman as Beethoven)
- Queen Margot (16th century Catholic marries protestant prince)
- Water (the tragedy of widowhood in India)
- The Madness of King George (the king that lost the US)
- My Left Foot (Daniel Day-Lewis plays a Irish painter quadriplegic)
- In the Name of the Father (Daniel Day-Lewis, accused of bombing in Northern Ireland)
- Kama Sutra (Indian love story)
- Michael Collins (Liam Neeson/Alan Rickman) About Ireland’s revolution
- The Wind that Shakes the Barley – Also Ireland’s revolution
- Quills (about the Marquis de Sade, with Kate Winslet, Joaquin Phoenix and Geoffrey Rush)
- The Tudors – series by Showtime about Henry VIII and his wives
- Game of Thrones – while more fantasy than historical, the storylines are based on several incidents in history, such as the War of the Roses and the Glencoe Massacre, among others.
- Brittania – More on the fantasy side than historical, it still shows an interesting take on the Roman invasion of Britain.