One of my favourite movie epics is David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia. It was one of Peter O'Toole's first movies, but he never outdid this role! Mind you, it's so long that I don't always stay to the end. A couple of times I left when they started blowing up trains. And I go to the lobby during the scene with Jose Ferrer as the kinky Turkish officer.
It helps to see this kind of movie on a big screen. Back in 1982 I saw the Warren Beatty epic Reds at the huge University cinema, before they tore it down. (The Eglinton was also a good place to see epics.) A couple of months ago I saw Spartacus and Giant on nice big screens at the Lightbox cinema.
The Japanese make some good epics. Akira Kurosawa raised the samurai action movie to an epic scale with The Seven Samurai, and also did Throne of Blood and Ran, epic adaptations of Shakespeare's Macbeth and King Lear.
Some TV miniseries manage an epic scale too. There's The Jewel in the Crown, about the British in India, and the Larry McMurtry western Lonesome Dove. And I also enjoyed the series Rome.
No comments:
Post a Comment