Epic Movies: Top 25

image from Gone with the Wind

Top 25 Epic Movies Wikipedia defines an epic film as “a style of filmmaking with large scale, sweeping scope, and spectacle…It is often focused on a heroic character…[They may] take a historical or a mythical event and add an extravagant setting and lavish costumes, accompanied by an expansive musical score with an ensemble cast, which would make them among the most expensive of films to produce.” This list of the top 25 epic films of all-time has been assembled by aggregating the resources at the bottom of this page along with overall ranking in Dave’s Movie Database. Movies with sequels that also rated in the top 50 have been consolidated into one entry. 1. Gone with the Wind (1939) 2. Lawrence of Arabia (1962) 3. Ben-Hur (1959) 4. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) The Two Towers (2002) The Return of the King (2003) 5. Titanic (1997) 6. Spartacus (1960) 7. Gladiator (2000) 8. Schindler’s List (1993) 9. The Ten Commandments (1956) 10. Braveheart (1995) 11. Saving Private Ryan (1998) 12. Dances with Wolves (1990) 13. Doctor Zhivago (1965) 14. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) 15. The Seven Samurai (Schichinin no Samurai) (1954) 16. The Godfather (1972) / The Godfather Part II (1974) 17. Forrest Gump (1994): 18. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957): 19. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966) 20. Apocalypse Now (1979) 21. Reds (1981) 22. Gandhi (1982) 23. Cleopatra (1963) 24. Patton (1970) 25. Glory (1989) Resources: Dave’s Movie Database: Genre Lists American Film Institute (2016). “Top 10 Epic FIlms” AwardsCircuit.com (8/16/2016). “Top 10: Favorite Epic Movies of All-Time” CommonSenseMedia.org “Best Epic Movies” FilmSchoolWTF.com “Top 100 Best Epic Movies” The Flick Pick (3/20/2014). “Top 10 Most Epic Movies” Internet Movie Database (3/16/2011). “The 51 Top Epic Movies of All Time” ListChallenges.com “All-Time Best Epic Movies” LiveAbout.com (3/25/2019). “8 Classical Historical Epic Movies” Newsweek (10/15/2018). “Ranked: The Greatest Historical Epics Ever Told” Ranker.com “The Greatest Epic Movies Ever Made” TasteOfCinema.com (1/27/2015). “The 15 Best Epic Movies of All Time” Tuko.co.ke (2018). “10 Best Epic Movies of All Time” Vulture.com (5/10/2019). “The 33 Best Movies Over 3 Hours Long” WTOP.com (7/31/2018). “Best epic movies of all time” Originally posted 8/31/2019; last updated 5/25/2023.

Action/Adventure Movies: Top 25

image from Raiders of the Lost Ark

Top 25 Action/Adventure Movies These are the top 25 action films as determined by an aggregate of sixteen lists focused on action, adventure, spy, and swashbuckler films. See the bottom of the page for links to the individual lists. 1. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981): 2. Die Hard (1988) 3. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) 4. Aliens (1986) 5. The Matrix (1999) 6. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) 7. The Dark Knight (2008) 8. Gladiator (2000) 9. Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003) 10. Goldfinger (1964) 11. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Wo Hu Cang Long) (2000) 12. The Seven Samurai (Schichinin no Samurai) (1954) 13. First Blood (1982) 14. Predator (1987) 15. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) 16. Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981) 17. John Wick (2014) 18. Lethal Weapon (1987) 19. Robocop (1987) 20. Enter the Dragon (1973) 21. Speed (1994) 22. The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) 23. Casino Royale (2006) 24. The Fugitive (1993) 25. The Wild Bunch (1969) Resources: Dave’s Movie Database: Genre Lists ABC News/People Magazine (3/22/2011). “Best in Film: The Greatest Movies of Our Time” (includes top 5 action films) EmpireOnline.com (10/1/2016). “The 50 Best Action Movies” Entertainment Weekly (2013). “The 10 Greatest Action Films” Entertainment Weekly (2007). “The 25 Greatest Action Films Ever!” The Guardian (10/19/2010). “The 25 Best Action and War Films of All Time” Guinness Book of Film (1999). “The Top 100 Films by Genre Type” (includes top 5 action, spy, and swashbuckler films) HiConsumption.com (6/1/2014). “The 50 Greatest Action Movies of All Time” Looper.com (). “40 Best Action Movies” Men’s Health (2/22/2019). “These Are the 20 Best Action Movies Ever Made” Norman, Barry (1993). “100 Greatest Films of All Time” (includes top 10 adventure films) Ranker.com “The Greatest Action Movies of All Time” Rolling Stone (1/14/2015). “The 10 Best Action Movies of All Time” (readers’ poll) RottenTomatoes.com “Top 100 Action & Adventure Movies” Total Film (August 2017). “The 25 Best Action Movies” Originally posted 8/29/2019; last updated 5/25/2023.

Gladiator, future Best Picture winner, released

Gladiator Released: May 5, 2000 Studio: DreamWorks Genre: action Box Office (numbers in millions): Domestic: 187.70 Worldwide: 460.60 Adjusted for Inflation: Domestic: 313.67 Worldwide: 761.60

Directing: Ridley Scott Screenwriting: David H. Franzoni, John Logan, William Nicholson Starring: Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Richard Harris, Connie Nielsen Review: “The story line is Rocky on downers.” RE “The characters bring no cheer: They're bitter, vengeful, depressed.” RE “General Maximus [Crowe] is selected to succeed Emperor Marcus Aurelius [Harris], but the Emperor’s son Commodus [Phoenix] has other plans. With his family murdered, enslaved Maximus soon becomes a champion gladiator and gets to face his betrayer in the Colosseum of ancient Rome.” AFI07 This was “Russell Crowe’s big Hollywood breakthrough.” EM’18 He “is efficient as Maximus: bearded, taciturn, brooding.” RE “Phoenix is passable as Commodus, but a quirkier actor could have had more fun in the role.” RE This was director “Ridley Scott’s comeback (after a bad run with 1492, White Squall, and G.I. Jane.” EM’18 “Thanks to the scope of Scott’s visual ambition combined with a leap forward in CGI quality, the movie that showed the industry you could make colossal historical epics commercially viable once more.” EM’18 “A foolish choice in art direction casts a pall…that no swordplay can cut through. The film looks muddy, fuzzy and indistinct. Its colors are mud tones at the drab end of the palette, and it seems to have been filmed on grim and overcast days. This darkness and a lack of detail in the long shots helps obscure shabby special effects (the Colosseum in Rome looks like a model from a computer game).” RE Sources: AFI07 American Film Institute (2007). “AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movies – 10th Anniversary Edition” RE RogerEbert.com EM’18 Empire (3/20/2018). “The 100 Greatest Movies”

Awards/Honors/Lists: Dave’s Movie Database Lists: Dave’s Movie Database Genre Lists: Awards: Oscars: Wins: 5 – Best Picture, Best Actor (Crowe), Best Visual Effects, Best Sound, Best Costume Design. Nominations: 12 – including Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Phoenix), Best Original Score, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Film Editing Other Lists/Honors: First posted 5/27/2023.