Movie Reviews for Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great

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Movie Reviews of Alexander the Great

Movie Review: An ambitious but not always successful attempt at a thinking man's epic
Summary: 4 Stars

It was bold of Robert Rossen to attempt to make a 'thinking man's epic' four years before the term would creep into common usage with Spartacus and at a time when the popular image of the screen epic was either of Cecil B. De Mille's enjoyable excesses or undemanding star vehicles for the likes of Tony Curtis and Cornel Wilde. He certainly chose a big subject - the most successful conqueror of the classical era - so it's perhaps not too surprising that with only 136 minutes at his disposal to do the Macedonian leader's short but eventful life justice he fell short.

Focusing on Alexander's conflicts with his brash and vulgar father and his mother's plotting as he sets out to live a life worthy of a god, it's not nearly as talky as its reputation, although unfortunately some of the talk does bring out the ham in Richard Burton and Frederic March in particular. Yet it's a more focused and accessible telling of a man who determinedly set out to become a legend than Oliver Stone's flawed but ambitious fractured narrative half a century later, and many of the scenes are surprisingly memorable. It's never entirely successful, but it works well enough to keep your interest, and if history doesn't always get its due onscreen at least for once it's not because the director is aiming for the lowest common denominator but overreaching himself with a subject that's too big for just one film.

MGM/UA's DVD has a decent widescreen transfer with the original theatrical trailer the only extra.

Movie Review: Surprised how good this film was. Sharp writing.
Summary: 4 Stars

There is an excellent scene in this film: after Philip is assassinated by a young man, who is inspired to kill by Philip's wife, Alexander brutally kills the assassin (a good friend), then they CUT TO Alexander descending a stone stairway, he stops halfway, and tosses the bloody dagger at the feet of his Mother, the Queen. It's very well done.

I had honestly never heard of this film until a picked up a dvd copy at my local library. I expected very little, but got a lot more. Burton is terrific as Alexander, but I think the real star is the writing. Nicely done.

Movie Review: Alexander the Great
Summary: 4 Stars

This is a better movie then the new one they made with Colin Farell. It is more refreshing to watch a movie that is easier to understand about the history then the confusing flashbacks that do not explain enough.

Movie Review: Great Film
Summary: 4 Stars

THE BEST, NATURAL, REAL AND THE MOST IMPORTANT THING, THE TRUTH, THE REAL TRUTH ABOUT THE LIFE OF ALEXANDER OF MACEDON, WHO MANY PEOPLE CALL: ALEXANDER THE GREAT.