The War Lord (1965)

Wow! Such a good movie.

the audience applauded

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Truly, this film was masterfully done in all of its aspects. As many others have remarked it's quite odd that this film is so underrated and unknown. It's easily Heston's best work, and Schaffner's too. The direction, acting, cinematography, and music all come together virtually flawlessly. For any aspiring film students take note, this is a master class in how a great film is made. It really shows just how powerful a film cam be when done right, and how so many of them are done so woefully bad by comparison.I love this film for the respect that Schaffner accords the viewer with. His sense of visuals are unparalleled, as directors go. The best scenes in the film are conveyed wholly without words or gesticulation, just pointed looks. It's amazing just how much a look can convey. My favorite scene in the film is where the old woman brings Heston and Forsyth food. He steps out of the room and the old woman into it. We then see closeups of Heston and Boone exchanging looks. Then to the old woman and Forsyth exchanging looks. Four people speaking volumes and not a word being said. Brilliant! This is a deliberate film, both intelligent and thoughtful, treating the viewer as such. I re-watch it once a year at least. I always find it best viewed in the late fall/early winter on a Saturday night, or a blustery Sunday. Usually as part of a marathon with such classics as 'The Lion in Winter', 'Beckett', and 'A Man for All Seasons'. This one however, this one is the real gem and the one I always look forward to most.

Like a goddess, she walked into my graduate class and sat down next to me, Summer 1972. She was tall, slim but with an unmistakable figure, blonde and blue-eyed, ladylike, and German-American. (She was quite like Rosemary Forsyth's Bronwyn in The War Lord, which I had seen and taken as my own, only this girl was even more beautiful.) I always had something prepared to ask and talk about with her, however briefly before class would start. She would always respond in friendly but careful fashion.Then one day, our ("visiting") instructor - a sharp-tongued young woman aggressively proud of her new doctorate in our field - just unloaded on this girl, for no conceivable reason other than jealousy. In shock, the girl quietly said (to me), "I was just trying to answer her." and in an also-barely-audible, consoling voice - but loud enough I hoped the instructor would hear and just *try* to take *me* on - I said "Maybe you try too hard." After that, whenever we were around each other outside class, and I would look at the girl, she would seem to become emotional and look away.It was just as well, I thought. Only a few days before the summer session had started, I had married a sweet young girl whom my family and I had long known, who adored me, and who was trying her best to be a good young wife in every way possible. I could not betray her.At the end of the summer session, my classmate came up to me in the departmental library. Emotionally, she said "Coatney, ...." and I cut her off, saying, "I *know*." Upset, she turned and left, and I felt horrible.Coming back from vacation for the regular academic year, I learned she had gotten married during that! It was one of the hardest emotional hits I have taken in my life, however unjustified.40-some years have passed, I recently found her on Facebook, and we have become friends. She is now a grandmother, still beautiful. She has there some photos of her in those years. Under the best, I have written "Unforgettably beautiful." Indeed.All the characters in The War Lord are - with the possible exception of the Frisian prince - prisoners of the Middle Ages' highly regimented social system and life, not free to follow their hearts without causing great disruption and grief.The criticism of Rosemary Forsyth's performance as being "wooden" is unjustified. Bronwyn is trying to control herself, but she and Chrysagon were lost to each other from the first moment they met, and she is being swept along, stunned, by feelings and events completely out of her control. Similarly, James Farentino is excellent for his role - young and idealistic, even admiring Chrysagon at first. (And maybe the previous priest had been Italian - who knows?) And as others have noted, the role of an imperious but all-too-human knight suited Charlton Heston completely.The film is a beautifully conceived medieval tragedy which belongs with the art of that age. Many of those works of art were composed long after the actual events, and 1965 is an elapse of only 1000 years, which - if the human race does somehow last another 20,000 years or so - will come to seem not so far after the fact either.The development of the characters and their respective places in those times is both full and educational. Their emotional interplay is as intense as it is fated.Anyone who follows ... or consciously decides not to ... their heart takes such powerful, lifelong feelings with us to the grave ... as Lord Chrysagon may have been soon to do.GREAT, historically important film, beautifully acted.

Let's see, our "hero" is a rapist...a fratricide...AND a traitor, to the Duke who elevated him...and all for the sake of getting his rocks off with the only available hot box in the boondocks. Please don't tell me he did it for LOVE. That chick does have a smokin' bod, but she also has the personality of a sack of rocks...if a sack of rocks could quiver like a timid girl and pout. Ugh.As for the cinematic qualities, it is hard to imagine anyone too young to have been to a drive-in movie sitting through this. I suspect most of the viewers who rate this film highly are at least 50, and saw it when they were boys. I'm glad it reminds them of their carefree barefoot days playing sword-fight in the back yard, but don't hold your breath waiting for the remake.One interesting footnote: I bet this is the movie dwarf who inspired that dwarf in Game of Thrones. He's a dead ringer! And George R.R.Martin is old enough to have seen The War Lord at the local drive-in when he was a boy.

It is very difficult to make a film set during the feudal era. After all, studios do want to make money and the lack of flash involving a story of common folk is a hard sell. Now it IS possible to make an exciting film about Medieval life--"The Vikings" (1958) is a great example as are pageantry films like "Ivanhoe" and "Robin Hood". But in general, the life of most during this period in history was pretty ordinary. There are no explosions, colors are muted and haircuts pretty bad (just look at Charlton Heston in this film)--and it takes real creativity to make an exciting film about this era--especially when "The War Lord" lacks the wild story elements of these other films. So, I had relatively low expectations for "The War Lord"--as making an engaging story would be an uphill battle.The film begins with Heston playing a favored knight working for a Duke in Norman Europe (modern day northwestern France). Heston's job as the new lord is to go into a godforsaken part of the kingdom and set to rebuilding its castle and restoring the Duke's authority. It seems that the old knight in charge of the region was remiss in his duties and the land fell into ruin. By saying 'remiss', I mean the guy was more interested in despoiling the local maidens and not much else and let the locals practice their old pagan ways! As for Heston's men, they, too, seem mostly interested in raping the local lasses. As for Heston, he's an enigma. Although he condemns such activities, when he meets up with a local lady about to be ravished, he's not exactly chaste--as he stands there staring at her nudity. And, through the course of the film, he seems almost 'bewitched' by this woman--though she doesn't seem to encourage him. The main theme of the film seems to be the clash between traditional values--paganism versus Christianity. Although the folks say they are good Christians, they retain many old ways. And, Heston is not exactly a bastion of Christian goodness, as through the course of the film he loses his moral compass. Eventually, he seems bent on exercising the feudal right of a lord to sleep with a virgin on her wedding night ("droit du seigneur"). I did some research on this right and apparently there really isn't any historical proof that such a privilege ever existed--especially since it would be hard to reconcile this with the teachings of the Church (of course, MANY behaviors by the nobles violated Biblical teaching during this time period--the whole 'thou shalt not kill' thing was pretty much ignored). The film might irritate some, as when Heston does exercise this probably fictional right, the fair lass was quite willing. This might tend to promote the old rape myth--the one that says women protest but they WANT to be ravished by a man who won't take no for an answer. It irritated me more for it promoting bad history (in regard to the supposed right) but in some other ways it was excellent history. Knights did pretty much bully the serfs and Heston's men wanting to do as they pleased to the poor folk was very possible. And, although the film was a bit slow, it did show life for the lower ranks of the nobility--a group pretty much ignored in other films. But I couldn't look past that the film was not particularly enjoyable or interesting--thank goodness at least it had a battle near the end to add some excitement. And, I am sure, at the time the film wasn't much of a success because of this.Some low-lights of the film would include Maurice Evans' character. This priest was VERY confusing--very pagan AND very Christian at the same time! He just didn't make much sense. Nor, now that I think about it, did the actions of Heston, the hot lady (Rosemary Forsyth) or many of the other characters.The highlights, at least for me, included a nearly naked Heston fighting against the evil Frisians--and shoving fire in the guy's face! It was cool...and a bit funny. And, seeing the boiling oil tossed on the Frisians near the end was pretty exciting...in a low-brow sort of way.As for me, I still prefer "The Vikings" and "Monty Python and the Holy Grail". In fact, repeatedly through the latter portion of the film I kept expecting to see the Trojan Rabbit or hear Heston tell his men "fetchez the vache".