They could easily make a kick-ass movie about the bow and sword wielding warrior from World War Two: Jack Churchill.
I would also like to see some movie based on Norse sagas. Although most sagas leave much to be desired in terms of historical accuracy, they could make awesome movies. Love, warfare, magic, they’ve got everything you need in a movie.
There have been several French movies made about Henri of Navarre, later Henri IV, king of France, but the latest one I saw was based on an Alexandre Dumas novel (La Reine Margot) and only covers a short period of his life; also the King is not the main character.
I would love to see a movie or mini-series showing his whole life. Raised as a protestant, imprisoned by the catholic Kings of France Charles IX and Henri III, he becomes the first King of the Bourbon branch, succeeding the Valois, after three sons of Henri II die without legitimate heirs. The list of his predecessors:
[ul][li]Francois II, son of Henri II dies at the age of 16, with no children, from pneumonia- or was he poisoned by his own mother Catherine de Medicis?[]Charles IX, brother of Francois II, dies at the age of 24, with no legitimate children, from illness - or was he also poisoned?[]Henri III, brother of Francois II and Charles IX, is assassinated at the age of 48, dying with no legitimate children. Interestingly enough, when it looked like he would never become king of France, the future Henri III was elected king of Poland, but after Charles IX died, Henri III leaves Poland under the cover of night and rushes back to France.A fourth younger brother, named at birth Hercules, but with his name changed to Francois after the death of his older brother Francois II, would have succeeded to Henri III but dies of tuberculosis before Henri III.[/li][/ul]Four brothers had to die “early” to allow Henri IV the chance to replace the Valois dynasty.
Henri of Navarre (whose mother Jeanne died a couple of months before her son’s wedding - wouldn’t you know it, rumors have it that she was poisoned by Catherine de Medicis) is wed to the sister of King Charles IX (Queen Margot), a marriage of convenience to promote peace between the protestants and catholics; but a few days later, most of the French protestants in Paris, with many prominent Protestants having come to Paris to see the wedding of “their” prince Henri, are massacred on the day of Saint Barthelemy and during the weeks that follow thousands of protestants are assassinated in the major French cities. Charles IX makes a half-hearted attempt to stop these massacres but without much success.
To make a long story short, Henri III and Henri of Navarre form an alliance against the catholics in France who are opposed to the idea of Henri of Navarre succeeding to Henri III; Henri III dies assassinated, but before dying designates Henri IV as his successor; Henri IV has to conquer his kingdom, and to be able to reign without too much opposition, converts to catholicism ( a second time; his first “forced” conversion, which he did to save his life after the Saint Barthelemy massacre, didn’t take); fights a war against Spain, annuls his first marriage, marries a second time, has a male heir (and several other legitimate children), and is finally stabbed to death by a fanatic Catholic in the streets of Paris. (This was not the first assassination attempt; many people wanted to kill him, I’ve seen one count of 12 plots with at least one person wounding him at his mistress’ house).
Nicknamed “le vert galant”, he had six children from his second wife, and 12 illegitimate children from seven other women.
The verdict of posterity (in France) has made him one of the most beloved French Kings.
What with the wars of religion, all the (probably unfounded) rumours of people being poisoned or killed around him, surviving the massacre of nearly all the French protestants in Paris on the Saint Barthelemy, waging a civil war and a war against the Spanish to rule his Kingdom, his numerous girlfriends, being murdered in the street - what a story it makes!
William the Conqueror was perhaps the most important figure in British history, but he never got even a Shakespeare play, never mind a Hollywood biopic.
Alfred the Great would also have potential.
A film about the Battle of Kapyong, which took place during the Korean War.
The 2nd Battalion of Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry was charged with holding a hill against an attempted advance by a Chinese division on the offensive, north of Seoul. The battle raged for some four days from April 22-25, 1951. Unsuccessful, the Chinese retreated back into North Korea to regroup, having suffered heavy casualties (during the period from April 22-29, UN Command estimated Chinese casualties for the period as being 70,000 to 80,000, while at the Battle itself, 2ndPPCLI only lost 10 men with 23 wounded).
Subsequently, 2ndPPCLI was awarded the US Presidential Unit Citation for their actions during the Battle of Kapyong, the only time a Canadian unit has received such an award.
My uncle was there.
NPR had a good bit a few years back on a writer for the Superman radio show, who went undercover to Klan meetings, and then would integrate what he learned about their fairly silly rituals into a storyline on the radio show where Superman fights the Klan. The description of the Klan members to having their “secrets” air on the radio, and coming home to have to watch their kids play “Superman fights the Klan” was pretty funny. I think it would make a good comedy.
The Funeral Games that followed Alexander the Great’s death could make a cool miniseries, sort of along the lines of The Tudors or Rome.
Has their ever been a movie based on the various Jewish revolts against Rome? You’d think with American love of sword and sandal epics, interest in Jewish history and the tie-ins to biblical themes there’d be a few, but I don’t recall ever hearing of such a thing. (the closest I can think of that deals with the theme is Life of Brian!)
There was one many years ago- big budget even- but it’s never been released to video. I’ve read mixed reviews, but mostly “great battle scenes/the rest is boring”.
Alfred’s stepmother would make for a good historical miniseries. She’s one of those characters about whom enough is known to have a skeletal structure but enough is unknown to take plenty of liberty. Her name was Judith, she was the daughter of Charles the Bald (a grandson of Charlemagne who was an evil little bastard- had to be, his half brothers were trying to chisel him out of existence) and was pretty much given to Alfred’s father, King Æthelwulf of Wessex, many years her senior and recently widowed (he was probably in his 50s and she was about 14) when he was on his way to Rome. This is when the Vikings were beginning to stir up problems on the continent and Charles was seeking a northern alliance.
At some point she fell in love with her stepson Æthelbald and very soon- possibly days- after her husband’s death she “took up” with him, causing problems twixt him and the church because technically shagging her was no better than shagging his mother (the scriptures were clear on not shagging thou Dad’s wife, regardless of whether she was your mom). He was killed- as were his brothers- by the Vikings, after which she became a nun for a while until her convent was pillaged. Ultimately she married the Count of Flanders and her children and grandchildren intermarried with Alfred’s.
There are many people from the Byzantine Empire who’d make great movies. Theodora- the girl who worked her way from child prostitute to courtesan to empress to Christian Empress and about whom one of the bitchiest most backstabbing books on Earth was written that almost 1500 years later still reads like a trash novel (weird sex, violence, cloak and dagger, etc.) while her husband builds one of the most beautiful buildings on Earth.
Or her centuries later successor the Empress Zoe- who in 1003 was sent to marry the Holy Roman Emperor in an alliance that’s breathtaking to contemplate- they’d have had Asia Minor, Italy, big chunks of Germany, all the Mediterranean but Israel and Egypt (and that they could have taken back with some skill) but, alas, he dropped dead the day before the wedding so-
she went back to Constantinople where her morbidly obese gay father kept her locked up in a marble convent and virginal until he was on his deathbed. (Her father was Constantine VIII, brother and co-ruler with Basil II (most famous for his blinding of 9/10 of the Bulgarian army- the other 1/10 he blinded in one eye each so they could lead the rest the hundreds of miles back home), both of whom “had issues” with trust due to their own rather memorable mother (a woman who’d make Eleanor of Aquitaine look like Rose Nyland).
When her father was on her deathbed she was in her mid 40s and delighted to finally be getting married until she realized her husband was an old man- her father’s key general, Romanus Diogenes- and who was none too happy to be forced to divorce his wife of many years and thus treated her like crap while living with his ex-wife but staying married to her because any man who married her was emperor. Romanus has a eunuch, John the Orphan-master (so called because it was the post he received his revenue from- most of the Byzantine civil service was eunuchs), who was brilliant and ruled the empire more than his master, but who really resented Romanus for many reasons. All of John’s younger brothers were also eunuchs, except for the baby of the family- studmuffin Michael- who John managed to get hired as a servant for the Empress.
At 50 Zoe, the empress of the cougars, seduces or is seduced by a hot 18 year old in a role that Helen Mirren was born to overact with a new young star. Pretty soon her husband Romanus “accidentally” drowns and the Metropoliton/Archbishop is summoned to the palace to conduct, he presumes, the last rites- in actuality he’s been summoned to conduct a wedding, and her boytoy becomes Michael IV, Emperor of Byzantium.
Things are peachy keen for a while- Michael keeps the empress more than occupied (and though she was old enough to be his grandmother you can see why he’d be attracted- unlike most women her age he’d have known she’s been pampered all her life, hasn’t been giving birth constantly since she was an adolescent, and is perfumed and well coiffed and gorgeously clothed). John is more than happy to run the empire for his brother the cub Emperor to the Cougar Empress and all live happily ever after.
UNTIL-
John’s eunuch brothers start wondering “Why’s Johnny getting all the palaces and revenues and accolades and power? We have just as few balls as he does and Mickey’s our brother too!” Also Michael IV begins to have seizures and suffer from painful illnesses and decides it’s God’s punishment and he must stop being a sex toy and go do all the good he can to redeem himself. It’s a three ring circus of intrigue that includes the empress being forced to adopt their nephew, also named Michael (the son of a sister- who’s illiterate and lazy and stupid and greedy) and ends with Michael being wounded and succombing to illness while on Crusade, the other eunuch brothers undermining John, Zoe being returned to her convent within the palace, and a climactic scene made for a melodrama-
Michael IV, still alive but barely, is brought back to Constantinople to die and laid beneath that breathtaking dome of Hagia Sophia. The Empress Zoe breaks and bribes her way out of the convent to come be with him, for she truly does love him. The Orphanmaster John attends him, and though his brothers are conspiring against him to mount a coup with their nephew the heir apparent (who even though he was a grown fat bearded man had sat on the Empresses lap like a baby during the adoption ceremony) and his time and full attention are needed to do a counter-coup- he finds he can’t leave his brother Michael’s side because ultimately his love for his brother supercedes his greed and thirst for power. Michael dies and his brothers immediately imprison John and plant their puppet nephew on the throne.
A rebellion ensues. Of all people it’s Zoe who quiets it, along with her hated older sister Theodora (a nun). As for Michael V (her husband’s nephew she adopted)- “kill the little bastard”. The coup fails, Michael V is publicly blinded- screaming and kicking the entire way- as are his uncles, except for John the Orphanmaster who basically says “Let me show you how this is done”. He goes to the scaffold, has his eyes gouged out, and then, with as much calm as a newly blind and bleeding man can muster, says “Can somebody lead me back to my cell please?”
Anyway, I won’t say it’s factual but it’s how it’s reported pretty much and would make a helluva miniseries. (If you’re wondering what happens next, Zoe and her sister share the throne for a while- literally- two old women squeezed together on the throne- before finally a new empreror is decided upon and marries Zoe to officially become Constantine IX, after which she voluntarily goes back to the convent with Theodora, having had her great adventure and gotten her freak on).
Check out, if you haven’t, Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War, from 2004:
It’s a good “Korean” Korean War movie.
For myself, I’d like to see a real brutal Viking movie, one that is mostly historically accurate (with the authentic language and whatnot), but also includes some things from our pop cultural image of the Vikings (horned helmets, mead mugs fashioned out of human skulls, beards, etc), and that doesn’t include any fantasy elements. I hear Mel Gibson is making one, but I also heard Leonardo Dicaprio is going to be it…
The history of Paraguay is filled with bizarre incidents that would make a good movie. If nothing else, you could have a nice sex comedy about the time after the War of the Triple Alliance when polygamy was temporarily made legal.
Has there ever been a movie about the Bonus Army? Seems vaguely relevant to recent events.
Not Hollywood but there was the BBC series Reilly, Ace of Spies. The early episodes were set before the war but the latter half of the series involved the Russian Revolution.
I’d like to see a movie about Hans Litten. He was the subject of a recent book, Crossing Hitler: The Man Who Put the Nazis on the Witness Stand.
There was the miniseries Masada.
Done. Alfred the Great Was on AMC back when cable was newish. Stars the guy that played Modred in Camelot.
I agree with the OP in that I’d love to see a Letters From Iwo Jima-style film about Vietnam, told from the Vietcong/North Vietnamese perspective.
I’d also like to see a film (or better yet, a mini-series) about the Indian Mutiny of 1857, the Far East Theatre of WWII from a British/Australian/NZ perspective, and the attempts to build a Cape-To-Cairo Railway.
And FWIW, I think a film about the last days of Viking Settlement in Greenland, if done properly, would be a very bleak but Critically Acclaimed Movie that would win lots of awards at prestigious Film Festivals.
As a martial arts fan, there’s a couple I would really like to see on screen:
Medieval martial arts: a couple of theorists today have imagined that knights did not fight the way we think they did. The weapons and armor indicate a much faster fighting form similar to kung fu. They think that fighting in the middle ages was very similar to what we think the Three Musketeers fought like.
Lua: The martial arts of the ancient Hawaiians. Almost lost to history, they managed to find the one surviving person with knowledge of it working at an airport. They raised money, built a school, and managed to save it from being lost forever.
Famous, obscure, historical Chinese martial artists: Common in Chinese literature, few have made it to the big screen. Examples escape me atm, but one I vaguely remember was a famous martial artist who was a beggar.
Sambo: The reason Fedor Emelianenko owns MMA.
Something with President James K Polk… a “dark horse” candidate who became President, the whole thing with fighting the Mexican War while trying not to make heroes out of Whig generals such as Zachary “Old Rough and Ready” Taylor and Winfield “Old Fuss and Feathers” Scott. Many Whigs voted for the war keeping in mind that 30 years earlier the Federalist party went out of business by opposing the War of 1812, one of them remarking he was now in favor of famine and pestilence too. Scott’s campaign to conquer Mexico City was at first denounced by the Duke of Wellington but later he declared it the most brilliant in history. The peace negotiations of Nicholas Trist. Many future Civil War people such as Robert E Lee, Ulysses Grant, Jefferson Davis made appearances. The various machinations of Santa Anna.
Xenophon’s “march of the 10,000”
You could probably do a whole season on the 18th Dynasty in Ancient Egypt: Hatshepust, Thutmose IIi, Amenhotep III and his with Tiye, Akhenaton and Nefertiti.
Has Hannibal/ Second Punic War ever been done? Although I always find most interesting is Claudius Nero intercepting a message that Hannibal’s brother Hasdrubal was coming. Nero decides to violate Roman law by taking most of his army facing Hannibal north to meet the invasion reasoning “If I’m successful they will forgive me. If I’m not, it won’t matter”.A battle is fought at the Metataurus when Nero again violates orders by swinging his right flank around to attack Hasdrubal. To be extra nasty, he informs Hannibal that his brother is not coming by flinging Hasdrubal’s head into the Carthaginian camp.
I always wonder just how Cortez and a couple hundred men were able to conquer Montezuma and the Aztec nation. I know the usual explanations: smallpox, alliances with other natives who hated the Aztecs, guns, horses. But there was a certain toughness they had too. There was a picture in the late 1940s “Captain from Castile” that starred Tyrone Power but The Joker, Cesare Romero, stole the show as Cortez. In ends with the Spaniards on the march, filmed on the actual locations and I wish they had made a sequel.
A minor nitpick. They weren’t peruvians. In the 17 century Potosi was part of the Viceroyalty of Peru. In 1776 it was incorporated in the newly created Viceroyalty of River Plate. Nowadays it is part of Bolivia.
During the colony that region was called Alto Peru (High Peru), so they were high peruvians (or peruvians on a high) 
Back to the OP, I’d love to see movies about:
JOSEPH SMITH starring Robert Patterson
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Another one would be the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and the ensuing destruction of Pompeii. There is an hour-long BBC docudrama about it that was really good but a full theatrical film would be great.QUOTE]
There were also movies made in 1935 and 1984, both called The Last Days of Pompeii, both based on Lytton’s 19th century novel of the same name. The first was excellent, the second not so.
Just recently, there’s 2005’s “The Lost City”, starring Andy Garcia about a nightclub owner in Havana, his family and friends, as they end with the Cuban Revolution (one of the main characters is a Communist, another one part of the democratic opposition to Batista, and one of his friends is a police captain under Batista.
There are also two films that aren’t really done from the POV of Cubans, but still. . . There’s the 1979 Sean Connery film “Cuba” where he stars as a British mercenary working for the Batista government who falls in love with a Cuban woman. There’s also 1990’s “Havana”, where Robert Redford plays an American gambler who also falls in love with a Cuban woman on the eve of the revolution.
