Gory battles on horseback? Epic??? Umm. Well, sure, I suppose, if you want to describe it that way - though really most of the fighting (what there was of it) took place on foot. I grew up just a few miles from the site of the “Battle of Fish Creek,” in which Dumont’s Metis ambushed Middleton. The ambushing fire is sometimes described as “withering.” Total government casualties? I think 2 dead and 7 wounded, but I’m going by memory. The “Battle of Batoche” was mostly a standoff, but the Metis quickly ran out of ammunition, and were obliged to run away. There were assorted other skirmishes, but none of them were any grander in scale. More people died in any given 5 seconds of Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg than did in the entire course of the '85 Rebellion.
Of course, this is not to say it wouldn’t make an absolutely rivetting movie if told right. The version I remember seeing in grade school was pretty dull, though. All I really remember from it is the bits portraying Riel going off the deep end thinking himself a messiah.
There were some excellent suggestions made when I posted this subject a couple of years ago.
My top pick, as mentioned in my OP there, is an incident in which the captain of an Arctic exploring ship is poisoned, leading to confusion and lack of leadership, and then the loss of several crew members overboard, where they drifted on an ice floe for weeks and weeks before miraculously being rescued. It’s in the book Arctic Grail.
Yep, that’s what it stands for. The “giant, flying lizard” is supposed to be the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl, who is revived in New York by a religous fanatic, and goes on a rampage. Great stuff.
On a similar note to the Conquest of Tenochtitlan, I was actually naive enough when I heard that a movie was being released entitled Tears of the Sun to hope that it was about the Conquest of Peru. (The Incans believed gold was formed by the tears of the sun and that silver was the tears [or sweat] of the moon.) There is one movie about this event; it’s based on Peter Shaffer’s Royal Hunt of the Sun and stars Christopher Plummer (?!) as the Incan emperor Atahualpa. Shaffer’s play was like his other play, Amadeus, in that it was excellent drama but terrible history (among other things he completely reverses the characters of Pizarro & de Soto- in real life, Pizarro wanted Atahualpa dead from Jump St. while it was de Soto who pled for his life).
A movie set during the de Soto expedition might be good, actually, particularly if shot with relatable characters on both the Indian and Spanish sides.
One word: Nanking. It’s been too little-known for too long.
But only if it’s a credible, “mainstream” movie…and only if it gets a wide Japanese market release. (I’d like to watch the minds blow.)
Oh, and so I don’t kill this thread…I’d love to see a story about the race to the moon. Told from the Soviet space program’s side. Probably ending with the explosion of the N1 booster in 1969.
I would invest, (if I had the money of course), in the fall Of Constantinople, so much great material. It would be the ultimate epic movie. Anybody that has read Gibbon’s “Decline and Fall” will agree with me. I sometimes dream of watching when the only reinforcement arrives from the west (no more than five Papal ships, escorted by an Imperial Men of War) They face the entire Muslim fleet and manage to break through… it would be magnificent.
Argentinian history has it’s great moments too. My favourite, the life of General José de San Martin (our Washington), a little known fact is that he is the modern Hannibal, in order to invade Chile he crossed the Andes, the he liberated Chile, he raised a fleet and invaded Peru, thus securing the independence of 3 countries. He was offer the greatest honours (and power) in both countries, he refused. When the argentinian goverment then ordered him to fight his own countrymen he left the land he had fought to free, never to return while living. A truly great man.
I would like to see a movie about The Conquest Of Mexico also. In Mexico they are starting to do historic movies. Zapata should be coming out this year. It’s about one of the generals of The Mexican Revolution.
Also, a movie about the life and times of the Prophet Mohammed should be pretty good. Or a Marco Polo movie.
FOr a disaster movie, the Texas City Disaster in the 1950’s (?) would be good Hollywood fare. Fort Sumter and the start fo the American Civil War has never got the coverage it deserves, and while I am sure that the Second Crusade and the confrontation (but never in person) of Richard the Lionhearted and Saladin would be appropriate for this time in history (even if Hollywood messes it up, as they most surely would)
I direct you to Elia Kazan’s Viva Zapata! Starring Marlon Brando as Emiliano Zapata, Anthony Quinn as Eufemio Zapata, and Alan Reed (better known as the voice of Fred Flintstone) as Pancho Villa. Pretty good movie, if not 100% historically accurate. And it was written by none other than John Steinbeck.
Are there any foreign movies about American-helmed atrocities, like Monte Cassino or the slaughters in the Phillippines?
Tijuana_Golds mentioned a Mohammed biopic. There was a movie in the 70s called Mohommed, Messenger of God that inspired a hostage situation in Washington, DC by the Hanafi Muslim sect. John Waters called it “the ultimate bad review.”
Slavomir Rawicz’s incredible journey as recounted in The Long Walk.
He was a Polish officer, captured by the Russians in 1939, tortured and sent to Siberia… he and some companions escaped from their Gulag (located North of the Arctic circle) and walked to India.
How about a movie about the allied firebombing of Tokyo in 1945. There’re so many films about the horrors of Hiroshima out there, it’s easy to forget that nearly as many Japanese died in the strategic bombing of Tokyo as in Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined.
It’s hardly a little known event, but I’d like to see more movies about World War I and fewer about World War II.
Somewhat related to the earlier idea about doing a movie on Angel Island, I’ve always wanted to see a biopic of Donaldina Cameron. Slave traders, Chinese tongs, midnight raids, and the 1906 earthquake would all figure prominently, so there’d be plenty of action. Plus, it’s got the two elements that Hollywood loves more than any other in its historical costume dramas: a strong female protagonist, and a noble white person saving the poor ignorant foreigners from their heathen ways.
Also, she’s my great-great-(great?)-aunt, and I want to bask in the reflected glory.
The movie mentioned above did just that (or at least tried). Anthony Quinn portrayed Muhammad’s uncle, Hamza, and… get this… the movie is filmed from Muhammad’s perspective. It’s generally considered one of the worst films ever made and a prevalent rumor is that Hollywood had already committed millions to the project hoping to capitalize on the Muslim market before they bothered to learn that any artistic depiction of Muhammad, his wives, daughters, or even his camel is blasphemous to conservative Muslims.
Have to second the Chosin Resevoir battle. There really hasn’t been a good Korean War movie to date.
I’d also like to see a good Gulf War movie. Three Kings was horrible, Courage Under Fire was good but was very limited in scope. And I am sure there is a movie or two to be had from the recent Iraq War—and the actions of the special forces during the invasion of Afghanistan.
