In the days before Mel Gibson totally lost his mind, he and Randall Wallace had a lot of fun making a pseudo-biographical film about Scottish hero Sir William Wallace and the role he played in the rebellion against England that led to Scotland’s independence and the ascention of Robert the Bruce to the throne. Despite all of its glaring historical innacuracies, this is a fun movie to watch. (And Jeremy Irons looks pretty good in this movie. The costumes are divine, as is the acting from all of the main players. While I’m no fan of Leonardo diCaprio, he did a great job in this movie, playing the double roles of Louis and Philippe. not to mention the star-power of the actors replacing our Gen-Xers above: Jeremy Irons (Aramis), John Malkovich (Athos), Gerard Depardieu (Porthos), and Gabriel Byrne (d’Artagnan). Though taking a more serious turn than the Disney version of the early part of the story, this movie is a great follow-up to #8. Rebecca deMornay does a turn as the sinister woman scorned, and Tim Curry is absolutely delightful as the villain, Cardinal Richelieu.ħ. Point of interest: Paul McGann, one of my all-time favorite actors, played two different characters in this film: Girard, the dandy who was chasing d’Artagnan for ruining his sister’s reputation, and Jussac, one of the soldiers the musketeers fight at the ruins near the beginning of the movie. Sanitized by Disney, Charlie Sheen (my ultimate heartthrob in the late 80s/early 90s) played the religious romantic Aramis, with Kiefer Sutherland as the brooding Athos, Oliver Platt as a portly and quite funny Porthos, and Chris O’Donnell as d’Artagnan-whose role was not center-stage as in other productions of this story. Charlie Sheen and Kiefer Sutherland followed up their success in a boy-band-like version of the story of Billy the Kid (1988’s Young Guns) with a comedic and campy version of The Three Musketeers, which probably had Alexandre Dumas spinning in his grave. If it were a movie instead of a TV show, I would have listed the newest version of the story, the BBC’s current Robin Hood series, starring Jonas Armstrong as Robin, Lucy Griffiths as Marian, the incomparably funny Keith Allen as the Sheriff of Nottingham, and the divinely dark and brooding Richard Armitage as Sir Guy of Gisborne.Ĩ. And Olivia deHavilland is absolutely gorgeous as Maid Marian. Flynn’s line, “Welcome to Sherwood, my lady” from this film! Sure, Robin’s and the Merry Men’s costumes are the most clichéd ever, but that just makes it more fun. I like this movie so much that when my computer starts up, there’s no “Windows” chime-it’s a sound clip of Mr. What medieval movie montage would be complete without a Robin Hood film? And no one buckles swashes like Errol Flynn. It’s worth watching over and over and over just for him!ĩ. The absolute best part of this movie is Rufus Sewell’s portrayal of Marke, the British overlord. This movie would be much higher on my list if the romance didn’t center around an extra-marital relationship. (click on the movie title for an image collage)ġ0. And of course, all of the medieval-set romance novels I read in my teens and twenties when that was the most popular setting for historicals. Basically what I’m saying is: I love stories about those times. Then there were the plays we read/saw in the Shakespeare class that were set during the Middle Ages. Another favorite course was History of the English Language, where I did a research project on the impact of the Norman conquest of England in 1066 on the English language-all the way up through the reign of Robert the Bruce in Scotland, including the origins of the Robin Hood tales. It’s more than just Beowulf and King Arthur, though there are a lot of great stories written about King Arthur and his knights. One of my favorite undergrad literature courses I took was Medieval Literature. I put it in quotes because some of them are actually more from the baroque/renaissance eras (and, okay, two are actually from the 17th century)-but I think you get my drift. Yep, I’m talking about Medieval Movies! This past weekend, I pulled out an old favorite to watch, which got me thinking about all of the movies I love that are set during “medieval” times.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |