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 12^th 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 15^th 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 17^th C. France, and a well-done movie
• Brother Cadfael – great medieval mystery series, with Derek Jacobi, set in 12^th 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, 18^th century French nobles playing games)
• Pride and Prejudice (Colin Firth)
• Rob Roy (Liam Neeson – historical character in the 17^th 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 19^th C.)
• Ivanhoe – set in 12^th 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 12^th 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 (16^th 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.