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Originally Posted by :
Hey, if your talking Civil War movies, I think it begins and ends with "Gettsyburg" - probably one of my all-time favorites.
Yup gotta agree there, Gettsyburg is an excellent movie. Just don't, and I repeat don't ever see gods and generals. EVER!Hey, if your talking Civil War movies, I think it begins and ends with "Gettsyburg" - probably one of my all-time favorites.
Umm... How about another D-Day movie. (ducks to avoid rotten fruit) Just pulling your leg guys.
What about Manzkert 1071 I think. Where the byz met their match and much, much more when they tried to challenge the turks. I believe its called the Disaster of Manzkert.
Aye, they never recovered from that defeat, and I think they were actually winning that battle of a while and might have fought the turks to a draw if the emperor's tratorious marshal didn't march away from the battle with his powerful reserves leaving the emperor to be surrounded and captured. Big battle with a twist and treachery. Or maybe the first fall of constantinople to crusaders(it was contested for a while then it fell viaw trechery). Or maybe not. Oh well.
Oh, maybe the siege of vienna?
Oh, maybe the siege of vienna?
From my head, I recall that the defeat at Manzikert wasn't so severe, but the civil wars that followed and disbandment of the eastern Themes allowed the Seljuk Turks to march unopposed into central Asia Minor.
Perhaps the battle at Las Navas de Tolosa? Where the Almohads were defeated, and the winds of Islamic Spain "went out"?
Perhaps the battle at Las Navas de Tolosa? Where the Almohads were defeated, and the winds of Islamic Spain "went out"?
Originally Posted by :
Oh, maybe the siege of vienna?
Which one ? 16th or 17th century ? The main difference would really be that in the latter the Ottomans would be wearing almost no armor, save for the point-men in the "storm squads", and the Poles & Co. turn up and roll them up. Other than that it'd really just be a lot of men dying in the breaches ad nauseum, which would get a little tedious pretty quickly. Same for Malta and Rhodes, really.Oh, maybe the siege of vienna?
I don't think castle sieges really make good movie material. The fact is, most of the famous Medieval ones took a long time with very little actually happening aside from the steadily rising death tolls.
Hastings would be good, though. Lots of drama, many strong characters, and exciting skin-of-the-teeth victories for about all of Harold's brief reign. Unless the Brits have a fit of the "Hastings syndrome", naturally.
I wonder if any of the majoe set-piece battles of the Thirty Years War would be any good ? 'Course, almost none of them were decisive in any sense (aside form at best notable leaders dying and entire armies being all but wiped out, but that didn't actually tend to affect the overall situation much...) and if any amount of realism is maintained, the visibility will be extremely low.
Excuse me while I put in another plug for Alesia... 
Watchman, your comments about siege battles not being good subjects is generally true but exactly why I think Alesia would be an excellent choice for a movie. It overcomes those shortfalls you listed. In Alesia, there is a dramatic build up as a typical siege for Caesar turns into anything but typical. There is the decision to be made by Caesar to not lift his siege but stay and then it becomes a race for the Romans to complete the outward facing fortifications before the huge relief force arrives. Once the relief force shows up, you have a situation similar to the movie and battle of Gettysburg - the actual battle unfolding over 2-3 days as the Gauls become more desperate and the Romans stretched almost to the breaking point. Then there is the final climactic battle on the last day where the Gauls almost break through a weak point only to be repelled by skillful troop management by Labinus(?) and a timely arrival of Caesar with reinforcements to "save the day". As far as decisiveness goes, didn't Alesia pretty much break the back of Gallic resistance?
The battle has everything you'd want in a movie - a famous general in Caesar, a great situation with the siege within a siege, a battle strung out over a few days to allow for character building interludes between battle scenes and a dramatic and decisive end. If you want to add even more drama, you could play up the contention between the major Gallic tribes, especially during the interludes.
When can we start filming?
Watchman, your comments about siege battles not being good subjects is generally true but exactly why I think Alesia would be an excellent choice for a movie. It overcomes those shortfalls you listed. In Alesia, there is a dramatic build up as a typical siege for Caesar turns into anything but typical. There is the decision to be made by Caesar to not lift his siege but stay and then it becomes a race for the Romans to complete the outward facing fortifications before the huge relief force arrives. Once the relief force shows up, you have a situation similar to the movie and battle of Gettysburg - the actual battle unfolding over 2-3 days as the Gauls become more desperate and the Romans stretched almost to the breaking point. Then there is the final climactic battle on the last day where the Gauls almost break through a weak point only to be repelled by skillful troop management by Labinus(?) and a timely arrival of Caesar with reinforcements to "save the day". As far as decisiveness goes, didn't Alesia pretty much break the back of Gallic resistance?
The battle has everything you'd want in a movie - a famous general in Caesar, a great situation with the siege within a siege, a battle strung out over a few days to allow for character building interludes between battle scenes and a dramatic and decisive end. If you want to add even more drama, you could play up the contention between the major Gallic tribes, especially during the interludes.
When can we start filming?
I think Thermopilae would make for a decent film as well. In a "Last Samurai" kinda style. Althought they would have to pull out a survivor to make it all more heroic....
I agree with Gregoshi in that Alesia would have been perfect for a film. Now they only need Brad Pitt to agree to wear a skirt again....
I agree with Gregoshi in that Alesia would have been perfect for a film. Now they only need Brad Pitt to agree to wear a skirt again....
I can't really think of a good idea for a movie right now. Can we think of perhaps the WORST battle to base a movie on? Maybe a Masada movie... nothing but 2 hours of digging and ramp-building with perhaps some dramatic subplots about a shovel thief or something. Better yet, the Battle of the Ironclads; nothing but cannonballs bouncing off of the ships' hulls for three hours(as any proper Civil War film must go for three).
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