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The War Lord (1965)

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21 out of 24 people found the following comment useful :-
This is the role Charlton Heston was born to play., 19 agosto 2004

Author: lloyd7202003 de Texas

If you're under 20 years of age this flick is going to look a little strange to you. There are no super-women wielding swords in battle, very little profanity, and the only sex is in PG form. Made in 1965, The Warlord is an accusing yet romantic look at medieval Europe. It's no Disney movie, but you could still take the whole family to see it.

The cast is first rate. Forget El Cid. This is the role Charlton Heston was born to play. You can pretty much say that about all the great actors in this story, most of whom are gone now. Richard Boone, Guy Stockwell, Maurice Evans, Michael Conrad,...but thank heaven we have them all assembled here in this exciting yarn about the middle ages. There's plenty of action, romance, and even a little comic relief. Men will enjoy the kick-butt sword fights, (Heston kicks one guy in the groin actually,--crude but effective). Ladies should enjoy the romance if they can remember that this is happening in the year 1060, long before the women's movement. The hero Chrysagon fights two empires for the love of one woman, says the promo. Even in 1965 that was enough for most women. The peasant girl Bronwyn, played by Rosemary Forsyth, has scores of men killing each other over her, although quite unintentionally.

Other good ingredients: a rousing and romantic musical score, and some well-done outdoor photography of Chrysagon's tower fortress and the battle scenes.

All in all, this is a great movie to watch on some Saturday afternoon. It will take you away from your problems for a while to a time and place long ago. And since medieval Europe really stank, it will make today's world look pretty good to you again.

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20 out of 24 people found the following comment useful :-
Most Satisfying, 22 septiembre 2002

Author: tonstant viewer

Costume pictures often reek of Classics Illustrated comic books. This is among the few whose script as released is not an insult.

This movie's atmosphere is incredibly strong - I was absolutely sure that this was shot on location in Europe until I recognized the Universal hillside around twenty minutes from the end. Rarely does a Hollywood film hide its backlot origins so thoroughly.

If you want a movie about long ago and far away, this one is highly recommendable, unless of course you need light sabers or all-powerful rings to hold your attention.

Minor drawbacks must be acknowledged. The girl can't deliver her lines, there's a handful of process shots in one sequence where the black lines around the actors' heads are visible, and Paul Frees not only delivers the opening narration but voices both the jester and Michael Conrad, later familiar from "Hill Street Blues." Someone in Universal's sound department thought that Frees' voice blended in; it doesn't. (You can hear Frees as four separate characters in "Spartacus." And "Flight From Ashiya" sets some kind of record.)

None of these quibbles matter. The "War Lord" is romantic, poetic, mildly gritty (by today's standards), the cinematography and music are gorgeous and the closing action sequences feature classic Hollywood stunts by Joe Canutt, Hal Needham, Richard Farnsworth and Buddy Van Horn.

This database lists at least 250,000 worse ways to spend two hours than "The War Lord." Make yourself comfortable and enjoy.

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14 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
The realism of the movie., 29 abril 2000
Author: threemws

Everything in this movie is so real. The attitudes of each other the costumes the setting and on and on. Notice the actors never changed clothes. The tower was spartan just as it would have been. There has not been a movie that packs this level of realism.

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10 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
A Castle and Some Swampland for Chuck, 20 agosto 2005

Author: Bogmeister de United States

The War Lord is Chrysagon, as essayed by Charlton Heston, a knight come to a moody medieval place with his retinue to take charge. This is one of Heston's best performances, as he actually loses himself in the role, at least in a few spots, rather than projecting his standard Chuck persona. He's somewhat superstitious, as everyone is during this period, longing for a little love which he never had a chance to have before, and in strange, if expected, competition with his younger brother (Stockwell). The fighting scenes are excellent, a bit ahead of their time, even if they don't seem so now. Back then, having guys clanking swords always carried the same limited appeal, but here there's some nicely energetic choreography, quite complex in places. As someone states near the beginning, the atmosphere has a queer, moody tinge and all the players seem caught in a suffocating tragedy waiting to happen. Director Schaffner, as he would continue in later films, conveys a reality to all the proceedings, despite a rather fantastic setting from our point of view in modern times.

Most of the actors are terrific. Boone is Boone, being his usual tough ornery personality; no one would mess with this guy. Stockwell is tremendous; it's a shame he only appeared in a few more films which no one went to see and faded. He's very intense here, his envy of his brother and coveting his station a palpable energy. Forsyth, the object of Heston's desire, does seem out of place, never really in sync with the rest of the cast. In a way, this works in her character's favor, what with the suggestion of witchery surrounding her. Farentino, in an early role, doesn't get to show much range but what he does show is very effective. You genuinely feel for his plight towards the end due to the strong emotion he projects. In all, this is a smaller-scale epic than what one is used to from Chuck ("El Cid" and "Ben Hur" for example) but the almost intimate focus on this patch of land and the small cast of characters works in its favor.

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9 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Please release this movie on DVD in the UK, 31 octubre 2005

Author: bob-coley de United Kingdom

This represents one of the few movies which, in an acceptable & believable way, manages to convey what might be an accurate snapshot of life under the Normans, whether in northern France or in Britain.

The script might be a little clichéd, but the Heston & Boone characters are very convincing as 'men of their times' and the costumes and settings are superb. The movie creates an excellent period atmosphere and the soundtrack is brilliant.

I have to admit, l first saw this movie at a cinema many years ago and have seen it only once on TV in the past twelve years. But it stuck in my memory and l would dearly love to see it again, soon! Surely this excellent historical movie deserves a UK DVD release?

So, whoever owns the rights to this classic, PUT IT OUT ON DVD NOW!!!! I can't be the only one who wants to own a copy of The War Lord!

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12 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :-
Painstakingly accurate epic, 3 agosto 2004
Author: ginger_sonny de London, England

Painstakingly accurate historical epic that has Norman knight Heston, in charge of an 11th-century Druid community. He exercises his right to claim bride Forsyth on the night of her wedding, and she then falls for the knight, refusing to leave his side. Seeking vengeance, Farentino, the son of Druid leader MacGinniss, foments an all-out war between Heston and Heston's covetous brother (Stockwell). Despite the impressive scope of the battle scenes, The War Lord, based on a stage play by Stevens, is an intimate drama. Still, the sure-handed direction of Schaffner and the credible performances of Heston et al are well complemented by Morross's driving, Stravinsky-like score.

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5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
A striking depiction of a violent age, 31 enero 1999
Author: Peter Morrison de Nottingham

The film was based on a play - The lovers and in parts of the film it shows, but the story is interesting if unbalanced. After a first encounter between the Norman retinue of Chrysagon De Lacrue and Frisian raiders the film bogs down in the love story. Unfortunately, Rosemary Forsyth lacks either the acting experience, or personality to make Chrysagons betrayal of everything he has striven for with his sword "That cold mistress!" for over 20 years, seem plausible. As his brother comments, "Why don't you just sleep with her?" Captured in the battle is a young boy who turns out to be the son of the chieftan who impoverished Chrysagon and his brother Draco by charging an extortionate ransom for their captured father. All is well at first, until Chrysagon claims the right of Droit Signeur and beds a village girl he is taken with on her wedding night. In the morning he cannot give her back and the villagers go to the Frisian chief with the news that the boy lives.

At this point the film suddenly changes pace, with the love making of Chrysagon and his peasant girl being literally interrupted by the first Frisian attack on the stone tower housing the Normans. The screen is ablaze with action as arrows fly, swords and axes swing and the Normans exert super human effort to avoid being over run by hordes of barbarians. In short order we have a night attack to disable the draw bridge, a battering ram, the burning of the gate and a massive siege tower. The film carries on to a totally unexpected tragedy, followed by an unsatisfactory ending cribbed from Hemmingways For Whom The Bell Tolls.. Well worth watching if you like action films. Surprisingly, the whole thing was filmed in Hollywood, but it looks like Belgium and the Normans look like just that. Take it in, but fast forward in the middle if you get bored.

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6 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
An Honourable Failure, 5 febrero 2005

Author: James Hitchcock de Tunbridge Wells, England

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This film is set in mediaeval Normandy, and the war lord of the title is the knight Chrysagon de la Crue. Chrysagon does not rank very high among the Norman aristocracy. His lands are poor,consisting mostly of marshland, and he has the thankless task of defending them on behalf of the Duke against warlike Frisian raiders. He is impoverished, having been forced to pay an extortionate ransom after his father was captured by the Frisians. Nevertheless, he is still a feudal lord, having near-absolute power over the peasants within his domain.

At first, he tries to exercise this power in a just and humane manner; for example, he saves the lives of poachers accused of poaching deer (a capital offence at that time) when he dismisses the evidence against them. Things change, however, when he meets a young village girl, Bronwyn. She is engaged to be married to Marc, a young peasant, but Chrysagon, struck by her beauty, claims the right of "Droit de Seigneur" which permits a feudal lord to sleep with any woman within his domain on the night before her marriage. Having spent the night with her, he falls obsessively in love and refuses to give her up. Marc and the other villagers swear revenge, and inform the Frisian chieftain that Chrysagon is holding his young son as a prisoner. The Frisians launch a raid to rescue the boy, and lay siege to Chrysagon's castle.

The film was based on a play called The Lovers; Charlton Heston altered the title after his production company bought the film rights. This would suggest that he was more interested in military action than in the love story, but in fact both elements are equally important. Chrysagon can be seen as a tragic hero, facing a classic dilemma, the choice between love and honour. A choice of this type was a common theme in the plays of Pierre Corneille (himself from Normandy), and the appeal of The Lovers to Heston may have been due to the fact that a few years earlier he had had a big success starring in another mediaeval drama with a similar theme, El Cid, partly based upon one of Corneille's most famous plays. Chrysagon is a battle-hardened, middle-aged bachelor, whose life has been dominated by what he calls his "cold mistress"- his sword. Suddenly, he realises that he has a chance of happiness with a beautiful young woman, but he can only achieve that happiness if he fails in his duty to his vassals, who expect that he will rule them justly, and to the Duke, who expects that he will keep the peace.

The film's main strength is the vivid picture it gives of the Middle Ages and the sense of a world very different from ours. The battle scenes are very realistic and convincing, especially the siege of the castle. Its main weakness is that the love story of Chrysagon and Bronwyn is never really credible. Heston is a fine actor, but even good actors have their limitations as well as their strengths. Heston's main strength has been playing men of action- not just military heroes (although he has played plenty of those) but also statesmen such as Richelieu and Thomas More, creative artists such as Michelangelo and religious leaders such as Moses. Sensitive individuals given to strong emotions have been less in his line of country; several of his characters have had wives or sweethearts, but affairs of the heart have generally taken a lesser role in his films. Will Penny may be an exception, but even here Will's rather gruff tenderness for Catherine is very different to Chrysagon's guilty, obsessive passion.

It is therefore not surprising that Chrysagon the warrior comes across as more credible than Chrysagon the lover. In Heston's scenes with Bronwyn he comes across as too stiff and stolid. The casting of Rosemary Forsyth as Bronwyn was not ideal, either. Although her innocent beauty made her physically right for the part, she is far too passive. For the story to work, the audience need to believe that she returns Chrysagon's passion for her, or at least that she is torn between her two lovers. Unfortunately, there is no sense of this in the film. The impression is given that she is meekly submitting to Chrysagon's will because she is too frightened to defy him, which means that he ceases to be a tragic hero and becomes a villain, little better than a rapist.

If the filmmakers had merely wanted to make a mediaeval adventure story, they would probably have made a very good one. The appear, however, to have had something more ambitious in mind, namely to make that rare thing in the cinema, a genuine tragic drama. I think that they failed in this ambition, but it was an honourable one, and The War Lord can be seen as an honourable failure. 6/10

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6 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
Accurate depiction of Medieval life, 13 julio 2004

Author: nromanek

Captures a harsh flavor of medieval life in a way few other movies have -- the fervent Christianity at odds with superstition, the uncomfortable living conditions, the rigid barrier between ruler and ruled, the messy practicalities of medieval warfare, the absence of anything like personal "freedom". Also great to see portrayed a specific period of the 11th century that is not often depicted--around the time of William the Conqueror (one wonders if "The Duke" talked about in the story is meant to be William). Worth seeing too for the striking, brutally poetic dialog and Heston's performance.

The over-romantic score is distracting and often inappropriate. The female lead seems mis-directed--one feels she could do more, but is not being given the opportunity.

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7 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
You Want Medieval? Take This!, 21 julio 2004
Author: ewarn-1 de syracuse

Probably the most realistic portrayal of knights and feudal times in cinema history. Really gives you the feel of cold gloomy stone castles, dreary swamps of northwest Europe, and the unbearable social caste system. Who else but Chuck Heston could REALLY portray an eleventh century Norman knight? Robert Taylor? No way.

Maybe a little talky in places, but the talk does go somewhere. I could have used a few more action scenes, like the viking raiders attempt to storm Chucks tower. That was some epic battle sequence.

The cast all act like theyre medieval guys. Richard Boone,with his tremendous face,has a great role as Boris. They even got a dwarf/mascot in there who fits right in. Rosemary Forsyth is about the only one out of place, she looks like shes been growing up on a Malibu beach, not a filthy hovel in a cold swamp village. Her hair just doesent look like 1060.

Theres no real hero to this story, Chuck plays a tough soldier defending a village who lets his weaknesses carry him away (women). As the story develops, you see him lose the trust and control of his command. I found myself shouting at the screen. This same story has played out countless times since the dawn of man...On top of the world, and just cant resist that mystic female power. Hey, maybe Monica Lewinsky could have replaced Forsyth.

Even better than Chuck is Guy Stockwell. I think he died recently. This was one of his major roles, and he was always a seriously underated actor. He plays Draco, and hes cool. He had a great voice, but wasnt in too many good films. This was a great performance he will always be remembered for.

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