18th Century Warfare Movies Recommendations?

[Rontemon]

Besides "The Patriot"?

[Zalificent]

Forget Patriot, its historically innacurate anti British propaganda, where the anti Brit aspect seems to have been more important than the history....

"Barry Lyndon" is the classic 18th C movie that usually gets mentioned, also "Rob Roy", Ridly Scott's first movie, "The Duelists" is late 18th / early 19th C, and very good for that period flavour, "Last of the Mohicans" of course, a classic 7 Yrs War setting.

[Steven_McWayne]

Gettysburg comes into my mind

[Steven_McWayne]

or Glory

[JUMBO_F1573R]

glory is pretty good

[Zalificent]

Originally posted by Steven_McWayne:

Gettysburg comes into my mind

Originally posted by Steven_McWayne:

or Glory

Both ok, but mid 19th C... I'f we're expanding the definition to mid 19th... just for that casts of thousands volley fire by ranks feel, there's "Waterloo" which featured some 200,000 extras from the Red Army (no CGI then to add massive armies), or "Gordon of Khartoum", and "55 Days at Peking" though they are 3rd quarter of the 19th C, but fun for the whole war in distant colonies feel. There are also a numbr of versions of "The Charge of the Light Brigade" for the whole cavalry vs cannon thing.

"Baron Munchhausen" has it's 18th C moments, both the original 1940's version in German, and the Terry Gilliam one, and the latter has Ottomans with Elephants Gunners!

There's also a biopic about Catherine the Great, made decades ago, though I've not seen it myself.

Check the Hollywood studios old black and white back catalog, there was a 7 Yrs War movie made with Gary Cooper? Most notable for the scene at the end where the indian tribes are scared away from a fortified town by a relief column of wagons filled with dead Highlanders, propped up to look like they are ali8ve and sitting, lead by the hero, and a lone surviving piper...

There were a host of old black and white, and early technicolor movies about pirates and buccaneers, in cluding the classic "Treasure Island" with Robert Newton, the Monty Pythn team did "Yellowbeard" as well.

[saxoum]

There are 4 french movies untitled "Napoleon" with Christian Clavier (famous french actor). I know it's not really the 19th but they are very good and historically accurate. But I don't know if you can find them with english subtitles.

[lucifertdark]

You could try the Sharpe Series, they start in 1809 & run to 1818 & include the battle of Waterloo.

[|FTG|Mouth of Delorian]

sharpe was just the best. bit strange in sharpe's eagle when they blew a bridge and a lot of gunpowder barrels went everywhere but didn't explode.

[wererabbit]

The War that Made America & Last of the Mohicans will give you an idea of colonial warfare during the French and Indian War.

Keep in mind that most of the movies you'll see available that give examples of 18th Century warfare are based between 1776-1880. Military technology was changing so rapidly during the Industrial Revolution that a lot of the older weapons and military tactics were subsumed by new ones.

The Patriot is very anti-British but not completely terrible as far as replicating a battlefield or even some of the guerilla warfare used by natives.

There are a couple of movies about Napoleon out there, I haven't seen them, so I can't recommend them. There are also some good PBS/Discovery Channel documentaries on Napoleon and these cover things like Trafalgar, Wellington and Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo.

Master and Commander is an excellent choice (my favorite) for fairly authentic naval warfare between the 17-19th centuries.

The Ken Burns' series on the Civil War isn't an action movie by any stretch, but would give you a good idea of some of the same tactics used by Napoleon in the 1780s-1800 period.

I know that you think the American Civil War (or War between the States) was the wrong century, but keep in mind that Napoleon was considered the master tactician of his time (right at the turn of the 19th Century). While his style of troop warfare was optimized for shorter ranged muskets and rifles of the 18th Century, his tactics were taught to West Point-trained officers before the Civil War and used widely throughout the conflict. This was also part of the reason why losses were so high during that war - the rifle technology had changed and developed to the point where lethality far exceeded the range where Napoleon recommended troops line up to shoot at each other.

Another 19th Century based film that shows a lot of British troop formations and warfare that hadn't really changed much since Napoleon's time is Zulu.

[bartek.dabrowski]

Patriot & Master and Commander, far side of The World

[bartek.dabrowski]

Mr Midshipman Hornblower novell

[wererabbit]

There's also a great (BBC, I think?) Horatio Hornblower miniseries.

[Atermi]

I suggest North and South, Waterloo, War and Peace

[76561198049116737]

Try "The Sovereign's Servant" which is about the great Northern War in the early 1700's, also "The crossing" is a good story about Washington crossing the Delaware and attacking the British. Finally the Poles and Russians have made a number of good movies about the time of troubles in Russia such as "Ogniem i mieczem" and 1612. some great battle scenes and you get to see the Polish Winged Hussars in action. I know it's before the 1700's but the battle scenes are worth it.

[KevQuixote]

Dont forget "Pirates of the Caribbean, the Curse of the Black Pearl"