Alexander The Great (1968)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

A story about great men that would come to redefine our civilisation. An event whose impact would reach the "ends of the world and the great outer sea". A cultural revolution had started that would mark the beginning of an epoch. None of these statements describes this made for TV pilot movie, which is a rather turgid retelling of the Battle of Issus with William Shatner in the title role and Adam West playing Robin to his Alexander. The script is horrible, the acting is wooden and thank god this pilot was never picked up. Three years later Shatner and West were free to be cast in their iconic roles and history was made.

A very blonde William Shatner commands attention as Greek emperor Alexander who ruled the world after conquering the Persians who had taken over from the Babylonians who had taken over from the Egyptians. Of course, the Greek empire would be taken over by the Romans, continuing a trend that continued until the establishment of the European continent and multiple countries governed by themselves, not just one world leader. This is of course only one part of Alexander's life, dealing with dissent in his ranks, lead by John Cassavettes. Alexander's right hand man is none other than Batman's Adam West. This appears to have been quickly rushed together, as well as greatly edited. Shatner is commanding, but he is defeated by a rather generic production with little research done outside of an encyclopedia.

In his autobiography, Adam West stated, "May well be the worst hour of TV in history" regarding this pilot for a proposed TV series that he co-stared in. Is it THAT bad? Of course not - I've seen worse pilots and worse TV series. That's not to say that this is a GOOD pilot, however. I will say that it doesn't look bad - some time and expense was put into making or getting a hold of period costumes and props, though it does look some battle footage was taken from a theatrical movie. And there is some amusement from Shatner's sometimes hammy performance as the title figure, and that this great leader is sometimes portrayed as a kind of adolescent goofball. But that is all that is entertaining about this pilot. It's a real dull affair for the most part, with a lot of stiff and dry dialogue. The pilot also fails to provide enough explanation for viewers who know little to nothing about Alexander the Great and his military campaign, so as a result there are some confusing parts. If you do want to watch this pilot despite what I've said, it can be found on the Mill Creek DVD company's 50 movie pack "The Sensational Sixties", which managed to uncover a decent-looking print for this now public domain production.

I have not seen this film, but I truly would like to, as I was the main Belly dancer in it. Can anyone tell me where I can get a copy of it. I didn't even know who William Shatner or Adam West was at that time. The only person I knew was Joseph Cotton. Carey Leverette was the choreographer (may he rest in peace). Yes, even for the 60's it came across quite corny on the set, but it was a lot of fun. Please, Please, tell me where I can obtain a copy. I have been searching and searching for this for many years. I even got on Shatner's web sight and asked where I could get a copy. I never received the information. Thank you so much. Antoinette