# There aren't that many Alexander the Great movies, are there?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-arent-that-many-alexander-the-great-movies-are-there/787471
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [May 26, 2017, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-arent-that-many-alexander-the-great-movies-are-there/787471 "2017-05-26T14:10:25Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@The\_Piranha\_Brothers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Piranha_Brothers)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2017, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-arent-that-many-alexander-the-great-movies-are-there/787471/1 "2017-05-26T14:10:25Z")
Guess he’s not so easy to interpret as a character. I was checking if there would be enough to write something interesting about.
But I count only 4 movies and 2 TV specials??
Not counting documentaries or out-of-time stuff like epic rap battles.
Television:
- Adventure Story (starring Sean Connery as Alexshander) UK 1961
- Alexander the Great (unaired pilot, wildly inaccurate by the way, with Adam West and William Shatner) 1968
Movies:
Alexander the Great from 1956 and from 2004
And two Indian (!) movies (his campaign reached India), Sikandar from 1941 and Sikandar e Azam from 1965.
I’d have thought there’d be more obscure stuff like '50s televised plays and such.
By the way if anyone can help me find the last one from India, “Sikandar e Azam”, on DVD that would be really really great. There was an English subtitled DVD once but it’s hard to find and some copies are unreadable - I mean this legally of course.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2017, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-arent-that-many-alexander-the-great-movies-are-there/787471/2 "2017-05-26T14:44:53Z")
well, there’s a 2014 film, but it sounds very weird:
> **[Alexander the Great (Short 2014) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4150098/)**
>
> Alexander the Great: Directed by Meghan Horvath. With George Hewer, Christopher Blake, Gergo Danka, Alex Edwards. Reporting for Olympus News, Barbara Winters explores a key problem faced by Alexander the Great, in a modern retelling of the tale.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2017, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-arent-that-many-alexander-the-great-movies-are-there/787471/3 "2017-05-26T14:47:00Z")
There are a few other TV shows and movies, especially if you go outside the US:
> [@](#):
>
> Television[edit]
> Alexander the Great (1968), TV series pilot, starring William Shatner as Alexander, directed by Phil Karlson.
> Alexander Senki (1997)Alexander Senki, Anime / TV series, starring Toshihiko Seki as Alexander, directed by Yoshinori Kanemori, and with character designs by Peter Chung (of Aeon Flux fame). It was based on the novel Alexander Senki by Hiroshi Aramata. Also known as Alexander (International: English title); Reign: The Conqueror (USA). The series (US version, Reign: The Conqueror) debuted on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim block variety show in 2003.
> The middle episodes of Chanakya, a 1991 Indian TV series based on Chanakya, depicts Alexander’s invasion of northwestern India, his death, and the rebellion led by native Indian kingdoms under the leadership of Maurya Empire founder Chandragupta Maurya against Alexander’s successors in India.
> The 1996 miniseries Gulliver’s Travels, starring Ted Danson, featured a visit from Alexander the Great.
> In the Smallville season 1 episode “Rogue”, Lex Luthor shows Clark Kent the armor that Alexander the Great wore in battle. The breastplate is gold, with red and blue diamonds (the colors that represent Superman), and a snake shaped like the letter S.
> In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great (1998), mini-series, hosted by Michael Wood, directed by David Wallace.
> In the miniseries Yu-Gi-Oh! Capsule Monsters, Alexander the Great was the main villain in the Capsule Monster World.
> Alexander was occasionally featured on Histeria!, depicted as a somewhat egotistical man who liked to make it clear that “I’m great! Ha ha!” The first episode to feature him was “Really Really Oldies But Goodies”, which featured a sketch about his habit of naming cities after himself, which leads to a scene where World’s Oldest Woman gives Toast multiple directions to different cities called Alexandria. In “A Blast in the Past”, Alexander consults Sigmund Freud about his past, fretting about the fact that his father always considered him “pretty good” rather than “great”. Finally, in “When Time Collides!”, Alexander is shown as the reigning champion on a Jeopardy! parody, because all of the correct responses to the answers are centered on him. He even finds a way to win when Charity Bazaar gives the correct response.
> The second season of Spike TV’s Deadliest Warrior, which features computer simulated battles between historical warriors, pitted Alexander the Great (portrayed by Jason Faunt) against Attila the Hun, with Attila emerging victorious, with 59.6% of the wins.
> Chandragupta Maurya, a 2011-2012 Indian TV series based on Maurya Empire founder Chandragupta Maurya, depicts Alexander’s invasion of northwestern India, his encounter with a young Chandragupta, and Chandragupta’s subsequent rivalry with Alexander’s successor Seleucus Nicator.
>
> Radio[edit]
> Alexander a six-part BBC Radio 4 series by David Wade starred Michael Maloney as Alexander.
>
> Film[edit]
>
> Date
>
> Title
>
> Country
>
> Notes
>
> IMDB
> 1941 Sikandar India Starring Prithviraj Kapoor as Alexander, directed by Sohrab Modi depicting Alexander’s conquests in North-Western India. [2]
> 1956 Alexander the Great USA / Spain Starring Richard Burton as Alexander, directed by Robert Rossen and produced by MGM. [3]
> 1965 Sikandar-e-Azam India A Hindi movie directed by Kedar Kapoor starring Dara Singh as Alexandar depicts Alexandar’s battle with the Indian prince Porus. [4]
> 2004 Alexander Germany / USA / Netherlands / France Starring Colin Farrell as Alexander, directed by Oliver Stone. Based on the biography Alexander the Great (ISBN 0-14-008878-4) by Robin Lane Fox. It was released on November 24, 2004. [5]
> 2006 Alexander Italy An animated film directed by Daehong Kim, and starring Mark Adair-Rios as the voice of Alexander. [6]
>
> Baz Luhrmann had been planning to make a very different film about Alexander, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, but the release of Stone’s film eventually persuaded him to abandon the project.[9]
> **[Cultural depictions of Alexander the Great | Film](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_depictions_of_Alexander_the_Great#Film)**
>
> 1.Baz Luhrmann had been planning to make a film about Alexander, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, but the release of Stone's film eventually persuaded him to abandon the project.
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### Author:  [@The\_Piranha\_Brothers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Piranha_Brothers)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2017, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-arent-that-many-alexander-the-great-movies-are-there/787471/4 "2017-05-26T15:04:19Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#):
>
> There are a few other TV shows and movies, especially if you go outside the US:
>
> [Cultural depictions of Alexander the Great - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_depictions_of_Alexander_the_Great#Film)
But of course, you’ll have noticed that some of those don’t really qualify. Footsteps = documentary, and the Smallville reference, now that is really scraping the barrel.
The two other Indian examples are interesting though… I don’t think they are simple docudrama’s, they seem like proper historical epic series.
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2017, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-arent-that-many-alexander-the-great-movies-are-there/787471/5 "2017-05-26T16:11:19Z")
Hollywood seems to favor Rome (or even Egypt) over Greece when it comes to period epics.
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### Author:  [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2017, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-arent-that-many-alexander-the-great-movies-are-there/787471/6 "2017-05-26T16:46:34Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> Hollywood seems to favor Rome (or even Egypt) over Greece when it comes to period epics.
The ancient Greeks made the mistake of not being photogenic enough for cinema. Just take a look at these pansies:
[What, you don’t have abs of your own so you put them on your armor, is that it?](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Ancient_athenian_warrior.jpg)
[Did you shave your legs before you put on that outfit?](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/80/Spartan_hoplite-1_from_Vinkhuijzen.jpg)
[This guy is dressed as a smurf.](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Agrianian3.jpg)
[I’m sure these guys can devastate you with their wicked poetry.](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Ancient_Macedonian_soldiers%2C_from_the_tomb_of_Agios_Athanasios%2C_Greece.jpg)
Compare that to the kick-ass Romans:
[Manly.](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Roman_army_in_nashville.jpg)
[MANLY!](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Roman_soldier_in_lorica_segmentata_1-cropped.jpg)
[SO GODDAMN MANLY!](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/Centurion_2_Boulogne_Luc_Viatour.jpg)
I rest my case.
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### Author:  [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2017, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-arent-that-many-alexander-the-great-movies-are-there/787471/7 "2017-05-26T18:37:12Z")
> [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#):
>
> The ancient Greeks made the mistake of not being photogenic enough for cinema.
Um… has everyone already forgotten about _300_? If so, BTW, that may not be entirely a bad thing. At least they didn’t make a sequel, thank Zeus.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2017, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-arent-that-many-alexander-the-great-movies-are-there/787471/8 "2017-05-26T18:41:10Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#):
>
> Um… has everyone already forgotten about _300_? If so, BTW, that may not be entirely a bad thing. At least they didn’t make a sequel, thank Zeus.
Yeah, that would be terrible.
Especially if they got their history as wrong as **300** did.
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2017, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-arent-that-many-alexander-the-great-movies-are-there/787471/9 "2017-05-26T18:43:43Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#):
>
> Um… has everyone already forgotten about _300_? If so, BTW, that may not be entirely a bad thing. At least they didn’t make a sequel, thank Zeus.
I hope you’re kidding as there was in fact a [sequel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/300:_Rise_of_an_Empire) to 300.
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### Author:  [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2017, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-arent-that-many-alexander-the-great-movies-are-there/787471/10 "2017-05-26T18:49:26Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#):
>
> I hope you’re kidding as there was in fact a [sequel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/300:_Rise_of_an_Empire) to 300.
What, did you say something? Lalalala! I can’t hear you.
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2017, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-arent-that-many-alexander-the-great-movies-are-there/787471/11 "2017-05-26T18:55:05Z")
Both movies were terrible, of course. But I kind of liked the Brad Pitt movie Troy.
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### Author:  [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_Arachnid_Laser_1)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2017, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-arent-that-many-alexander-the-great-movies-are-there/787471/12 "2017-05-26T19:14:14Z")
Compared to who? Not a lot of movies about Julius Caesar, , or Napoleon either… I don’t think there’s a single movie about Charlemagne, Cyrus the Elder, Augustus…
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### Author:  [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2017, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-arent-that-many-alexander-the-great-movies-are-there/787471/13 "2017-05-26T19:24:13Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#):
>
> Both movies were terrible, of course. But I kind of liked the Brad Pitt movie Troy.
For what it’s worth, _Troy_, despite my generally low opinion of it, has caused me to now forever picture Achilles as Brad Pitt, Hector as Eric Bana and Agamemnon as Brian Cox. Not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. The rest of the cast clearly weren’t as memorable, since they haven’t stuck to my mental eyeball in the same way. Especially whoever that Swedish looking lady was who rather offensively played Helen. Who else was even in it, BTW? _Googles._ What, Orlando Bloom was Paris? I completely forgot.
To return to the OP somewhat, allow me to also opine on the 2004 _Alexander_. That’s an odd case, at least for me. Some historical movies are bad for clear reasons, where the the major one is usually that the filmmakers didn’t care about the history. But Alexander? Well, there are problems you can pinpoint. For starters, the casting of its lead character, which is so batshit weird that someone must have been on shrooms. I have nothing against Colin Farrell, but what was he doing there? Maybe it sounded good in theory, though. But beyond that? Well, its heart is in the right place. It does care about the history. It’s mostly just vaguely crap, in a way I can’t really put my finger on. It’s not really a bad historical movie, it’s more just a bad movie, period.
> [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser](#):
>
> Not a lot of movies about Julius Caesar […]
I’m desperate for someone to make a movie or three about Caesar. When I become a multi-billionaire, which should happen any day now, I’ll be happy to put up the financing. Well, as long as I get to meddle in every step of the process, obviously, as Hollywood would bollix it up completely on their own.
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### Author:  [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2017, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-arent-that-many-alexander-the-great-movies-are-there/787471/14 "2017-05-26T20:13:28Z")
Alexander is a tricky subject for even modern audiences because he wasn’t the most strictly heterosexual of conquerors. People don’t know how to identify with him. (And identifying with the movie subject is crucial to mainstream success.)
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### Author:  [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2017, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-arent-that-many-alexander-the-great-movies-are-there/787471/15 "2017-05-26T20:18:56Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#):
>
> Um… has everyone already forgotten about _300_? If so, BTW, that may not be entirely a bad thing. At least they didn’t make a sequel, thank Zeus.
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#):
>
> I hope you’re kidding as there was in fact a [sequel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/300:_Rise_of_an_Empire) to 300.
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#):
>
> What, did you say something? Lalalala! I can’t hear you.
Don’t nobody tell him about Highlander 2.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2017, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-arent-that-many-alexander-the-great-movies-are-there/787471/16 "2017-05-26T20:21:39Z")
> [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser](#):
>
> Compared to who? Not a lot of movies about Julius Caesar, , or Napoleon either… I don’t think there’s a single movie about Charlemagne, Cyrus the Elder, Augustus…
Almost 500 movies with Napoleon Bonaparte as a character. Lots of them with him as a central character:
[http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0027456/?ref\_=fn\_ch\_ch\_13](http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0027456/?ref_=fn_ch_ch_13)
Only 177 Julius Caesars:
[http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0026845/?ref\_=fn\_ch\_ch\_1](http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0026845/?ref_=fn_ch_ch_1)
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2017, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-arent-that-many-alexander-the-great-movies-are-there/787471/17 "2017-05-26T20:28:07Z")
Charlemagne’s got 18:
[http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0034201/?ref\_=fn\_ch\_ch\_1](http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0034201/?ref_=fn_ch_ch_1)
Augustus (Octavian) gets over 70 listings:
[http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0009975/?ref\_=ttfc\_fc\_cl\_t5](http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0009975/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t5)
I can only find one Cyrus the Great movie right now
> **[Alremo Films - Cyrus the Great movie - King of Kings](https://www.facebook.com/CyrusTheGreatMovie)**
>
> Alremo Films - Cyrus the Great movie - King of Kings. 847 likes. Alremo films is in the process of bring the history of Persia and its first great king Cyrus to the Movies. Iranians and the rest of...
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### Author:  [@The\_Piranha\_Brothers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Piranha_Brothers)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2017, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-arent-that-many-alexander-the-great-movies-are-there/787471/18 "2017-05-26T20:31:07Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#):
>
> Um… has everyone already forgotten about _300_? If so, BTW, that may not be entirely a bad thing. At least they didn’t make a sequel, thank Zeus.
Well I was talking about historical movies, not homoerotic western supremacy fantasies where a few names of people and places happen to be slightly similar to real events.
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### Author:  [@The\_Piranha\_Brothers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Piranha_Brothers)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2017, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-arent-that-many-alexander-the-great-movies-are-there/787471/19 "2017-05-26T20:34:23Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#):
>
> Almost 500 movies with Napoleon Bonaparte as a character. Lots of them with him as a central character:
>
> [http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0027456/?ref\_=fn\_ch\_ch\_13](http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0027456/?ref_=fn_ch_ch_13)
>
> Only 177 Julius Caesars:
>
> [http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0026845/?ref\_=fn\_ch\_ch\_1](http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0026845/?ref_=fn_ch_ch_1)
Exactly, there probably wasn’t a decade that didn’t produce two or three films with Caesar featured prominently in them. (Even if he did get murdered for being too ambitious.)
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### Author:  [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_Arachnid_Laser_1)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2017, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-arent-that-many-alexander-the-great-movies-are-there/787471/20 "2017-05-26T20:35:20Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#):
>
> Almost 500 movies with Napoleon Bonaparte as a character. Lots of them with him as a central character:
>
> [http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0027456/?ref\_=fn\_ch\_ch\_13](http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0027456/?ref_=fn_ch_ch_13)
>
> Only 177 Julius Caesars:
>
> [http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0026845/?ref\_=fn\_ch\_ch\_1](http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0026845/?ref_=fn_ch_ch_1)
And Alexander has got 50 imdb credits.
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