Best 16th to 19th century era battles.
by Zil1668 | created - 09 Jul 2017 | updated - 5 months ago | PublicBest battles in film between XVIth to XIXth Centuries. No particular order. Any suggestion, feel free to post.
Check the other lists too!
Best battles since 1900 in films.
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls068281092
Best ancient and medieval battles.
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls068281160/
Best Fantasy battles:
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls068281486/
Best "modern" (XVth to XIXth century) era battles.
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls068281222
Best Sci Fi Battles
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls068287536
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1. Zulu (1964)
Not Rated | 138 min | Drama, History, War
Outnumbered British soldiers do battle with Zulu warriors at Rorke's Drift.
Director: Cy Endfield | Stars: Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, James Booth
Votes: 42,746
The Battle of Rorke's Drift was not only probably the best battle in a film until that time, it's also one of the best film sequences of all time.
A must watch if you like battles.
2. The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
R | 112 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Three trappers protect the daughters of a British Colonel in the midst of the French and Indian War.
Director: Michael Mann | Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Madeleine Stowe, Russell Means, Eric Schweig
Votes: 187,613 | Gross: $75.51M
So many good battles on this two hours film, but the Siege of Fort William Henry is the best.
3. The Patriot (2000)
R | 165 min | Action, Drama, History
Peaceful farmer Benjamin Martin is driven to lead the Colonial Militia during the American Revolution when a sadistic British officer murders his son.
Director: Roland Emmerich | Stars: Mel Gibson, Heath Ledger, Joely Richardson, Jason Isaacs
Votes: 293,462 | Gross: $113.33M
Not a very good film, but has many battles too, the final one is the best.
4. Gangs of New York (2002)
R | 167 min | Crime, Drama
In 1862, Amsterdam Vallon returns to the Five Points area of New York City seeking revenge against Bill the Butcher, his father's killer.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, Daniel Day-Lewis, Jim Broadbent
Votes: 472,870 | Gross: $77.81M
The "battle" of knives. Along with Heat (1995), the only one feature bandits in all these lists. Gruesome!
5. The Last Samurai (2003)
R | 154 min | Action, Drama
Nathan Algren, a US army veteran, is hired by the Japanese emperor to train his army in the modern warfare techniques. Nathan finds himself trapped in a struggle between two eras and two worlds.
Director: Edward Zwick | Stars: Tom Cruise, Ken Watanabe, Billy Connolly, William Atherton
Votes: 471,012 | Gross: $111.11M
The final one. Could be a better film, but the battles are great.
6. Heaven's Gate (1980)
R | 219 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
During the Johnson County War in 1890 Wyoming, a sheriff born into wealth does his best to protect immigrant farmers from rich cattle interests.
Director: Michael Cimino | Stars: Kris Kristofferson, Christopher Walken, John Hurt, Sam Waterston
Votes: 17,147 | Gross: $3.48M
Johnson County War. A good battle in an underrated film.
7. Gettysburg (1993)
PG | 271 min | Drama, History, War
In 1863, the Northern and Southern forces fight at Gettysburg in the decisive battle of the American Civil War.
Director: Ron Maxwell | Stars: Tom Berenger, Martin Sheen, Stephen Lang, Richard Jordan
Votes: 31,299 | Gross: $10.77M
8. Waterloo (I) (1970)
G | 123 min | Action, Biography, Drama
Facing the decline of everything he has worked to obtain, conqueror Napoleon Bonaparte and his army confront the British at the Battle of Waterloo.
Director: Sergey Bondarchuk | Stars: Rod Steiger, Christopher Plummer, Orson Welles, Jack Hawkins
Votes: 12,618 | Gross: $3.05M
An extremely expensive Soviet English language film with Christopher Plummer, Orson Welles and others with lavish scenes of the homonymous battle.
9. Ran (1985)
R | 160 min | Action, Drama, War
In Medieval Japan, an elderly warlord retires, handing over his empire to his three sons. However, he vastly underestimates how the new-found power will corrupt them and cause them to turn on each other...and him.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Terao, Jinpachi Nezu, Daisuke Ryû
Votes: 136,182 | Gross: $4.14M
Hidetora's Castle attack. One of the best scenes ever by Kurosawa.
10. Seven Samurai (1954)
Not Rated | 207 min | Action, Drama
Farmers from a village exploited by bandits hire a veteran samurai for protection, who gathers six other samurai to join him.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Tsushima, Yukiko Shimazaki
Votes: 366,778 | Gross: $0.27M
Another one by Kurosawa. The guy was a genius.
11. Gods and Generals (2003)
PG-13 | 219 min | Biography, Drama, History
The rise and fall of confederate general Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, as he meets with military success against the Union from 1861 to 1863, when he is accidentally killed by his own soldiers.
Director: Ron Maxwell | Stars: Stephen Lang, Robert Duvall, Jeff Daniels, Donzaleigh Abernathy
Votes: 17,205 | Gross: $12.87M
Don't listen to the haters, this film is good. Maybe not as great as Gettysburg, but still very good.
12. Zulu Dawn (1979)
PG | 98 min | Adventure, Drama, History
A dramatization of the Battle of Isandlwana, where the British Army met its match against the Zulu nation.
Director: Douglas Hickox | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Peter O'Toole, Simon Ward, Denholm Elliott
Votes: 7,595
Funny hope this one resembles Gods and Generals. A prequel with a much bigger budget of a great film released quite a while before. Both received lukewarm reception, but are, in my opinion very good.
13. War and Peace (1965)
GP | 393 min | Drama, Romance, War
The Russian aristocracy prepares for the French invasion on the eve of 1812.
Director: Sergey Bondarchuk | Stars: Lyudmila Saveleva, Vyacheslav Tikhonov, Sergey Bondarchuk, Boris Zakhava
Votes: 8,341 | Gross: $0.13M
Another Soviet film about the Napoleonic wars.
This six hours best foreign language award winning adaptation of Tolstoy's Epic is sometimes regarded as the most expensive film of all time.
I don't think it is, but the 120 thousand extras used on a single battle scene already tell how huge and awesome it is.
14. The Leopard (1963)
PG | 186 min | Drama, History
The Prince of Salina, a noble aristocrat of impeccable integrity, tries to preserve his family and class amid the tumultuous social upheavals of 1860s Sicily.
Director: Luchino Visconti | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon, Claudia Cardinale, Paolo Stoppa
Votes: 28,815
One of the best films in all these lists. Indeed deserves its 100/100 on Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes.
15. Kagemusha: The Shadow Warrior (1980)
PG | 162 min | Drama, History, War
A petty thief with an utter resemblance to a samurai warlord is hired as the lord's double. When the warlord later dies the thief is forced to take up arms in his place.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Ken'ichi Hagiwara, Jinpachi Nezu
Votes: 38,170
16. Barry Lyndon (1975)
PG | 185 min | Adventure, Drama, War
An Irish rogue wins the heart of a rich widow and assumes her dead husband's aristocratic position in 18th-century England.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Ryan O'Neal, Marisa Berenson, Patrick Magee, Hardy Krüger
Votes: 183,043
The stunning Kubrick film has a nameless battle. Pretty dumb and short, but still fun to watch.
17. The Revenant (I) (2015)
R | 156 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A frontiersman on a fur trading expedition in the 1820s fights for survival after being mauled by a bear and left for dead by members of his own hunting team.
Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Will Poulter, Domhnall Gleeson
Votes: 874,214 | Gross: $183.64M
The opening battle, one of my favorites of this decade.
18. The Alamo (1960)
Passed | 162 min | Adventure, Drama, History
In 1836, a small band of soldiers sacrifice their lives in hopeless combat against a massive army in order to prevent a tyrant from smashing the new Republic of Texas.
Director: John Wayne | Stars: John Wayne, Richard Widmark, Laurence Harvey, Frankie Avalon
Votes: 17,716 | Gross: $17.26M
19. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
PG-13 | 138 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
During the Napoleonic Wars, a brash British captain pushes his ship and crew to their limits in pursuit of a formidable French war vessel around South America.
Director: Peter Weir | Stars: Russell Crowe, Paul Bettany, Billy Boyd, James D'Arcy
Votes: 237,904 | Gross: $93.93M
Would seel a kidney for some sequels. I can't believe this hadn't become a killer franchise.
20. Glory (1989)
R | 122 min | Biography, Drama, History
Robert Gould Shaw leads the U.S. Civil War's first all-black volunteer company, fighting prejudices from both his own Union Army, and the Confederates.
Director: Edward Zwick | Stars: Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Cary Elwes, Morgan Freeman
Votes: 144,416 | Gross: $26.83M
21. Khartoum (1966)
Approved | 128 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
In the Sudan, in 1884 to 1885, Egyptian forces led by British General Charles "Chinese" Gordon (Charlton Heston) defend Khartoum against an invading Muslim Army led by a religious fanatic, Mohammed Ahmed el Mahdi (Sir Laurence Olivier).
Directors: Basil Dearden, Eliot Elisofon | Stars: Charlton Heston, Laurence Olivier, Richard Johnson, Ralph Richardson
Votes: 8,268 | Gross: $6.54M
22. The Hidden Fortress (1958)
Not Rated | 126 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Lured by gold, two greedy peasants unknowingly escort a princess and her general across enemy lines.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Misa Uehara, Minoru Chiaki, Kamatari Fujiwara
Votes: 42,233
23. 55 Days at Peking (1963)
Unrated | 154 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
During the 1900 Boxer Rebellion, U.S. marine, Maj. Matt Lewis, along with British consul, Sir Arthur Robertson, develop a plan to keep the rebels at bay until an international military relief force can arrive.
Directors: Nicholas Ray, Guy Green, Andrew Marton | Stars: Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, David Niven, Flora Robson
Votes: 7,419
24. The Battle of Canudos (1997)
170 min | Drama, History, War
The drama of a poor family in the bloodiest war in the History of Brazil: the war of Canudos.
Director: Sergio Rezende | Stars: José Wilker, Cláudia Abreu, Paulo Betti, Marieta Severo
Votes: 794
25. Cold Mountain (2003)
R | 154 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
In the waning days of the American Civil War, a wounded soldier embarks on a perilous journey back home to Cold Mountain, North Carolina to reunite with his sweetheart.
Director: Anthony Minghella | Stars: Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Renée Zellweger, Eileen Atkins
Votes: 156,065 | Gross: $95.64M
26. Napoléon (2002)
380 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
A masterful soldier, tactician, and statesmen, Napoleon Bonaparte, with courage and love for his country, rises from an unpaid general consumed with ambition to the most powerful man in Europe. But his life ends with a fall and exile.
Stars: Christian Clavier, Isabella Rossellini, Gérard Depardieu, John Malkovich
Votes: 5,020
Here he is again, this time in a minisseries.
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