Magical Moments in Epic film

[The Augusta]

I wonder if any other of our members have a favourite magical moment in a film about our beloved ancient world that has either stayed with them since childhood, or taken away breath, or otherwise had a lasting effect.

 

I am brave enough to provoke ridicule and scorn here, and plunge in with my own little gem. That gorgeous, tacky 1963 'Jason and the Argonauts' was on sale in the local supermarket the other day for a whole

[Northern Neil]

300 Spartans. The bit where the Persians offer to spare the lives of the remaining Spartans if they will give up the body of Leonidas. They say 'we stay with our king'. The bit where the Thespian general refuses to leave them is pretty throat - tightening too.

[Ursus]

"Spartacus" where Olivier's Crassus addresses the Senate and the army before the showdown with the rebels. He certainly had a commanding presence, and this has subconsciously feeded my impressions of the gravitas a Roman patrician must have genuflected.

[spittle]

i CANNOT REMEMBER THE FILM BUT ITS THE PART WHERE ABOUT 25 MEN ALL TAKE TURNS SHOUTING 'NO, I AM SPARTACUS!'.

 

I seem to remember it was BEN HUR.

[Pantagathus]

There are lots of fun moments, but the one for me, that stood out when I was a child, and still has the power to leave we with a lump in the throat and a tear in the eye, is the moment when Jason and his buddies are sailing through the Clashing Rocks and Poseidon appears out of the waves to hold the rocks apart and let the the ship through. Has anyone seen this?

:wub:

But of course! His constipated stare as he's holding the rocks and everything is rumbling is unforgetable...

 

I love Ray Harryhausen! So taking that cue, I'll say that one of mine is in Clash of the Titans when Cassiopeia runs her mouth about how hot her daughter is then makes the fatal mistake of compairing her to Thetis... The huge Thetis statue starts rocking and crumbling and the head lands facing the crowd and the face comes alive...

 

Maggie Smith (Thetis) proceeds (through the animated head) to give a supreme a$$ chewing that sets the rest of the plot of the story: "YOU VAIN AND FOOLISH WOMAN!!!"

[Nephele]

i CANNOT REMEMBER THE FILM BUT ITS THE PART WHERE ABOUT 25 MEN ALL TAKE TURNS SHOUTING 'NO, I AM SPARTACUS!'.

 

I seem to remember it was BEN HUR.

 

 

No, no, nooooo. Ben-Hur was the movie in which Moses parted the Red Sea and the Romans came and held a HUGE chariot race through the center of it. Rumor has it that you can see someone driving a red Chevy pickup truck in the background.

 

The guy named Spartacus was the eponymous hero of a low-budget musical from the '40s, about the struggles of a poor, young immigrant with talent trying to make it on Broadway. That line you remember -- "No, I am Spartacus!" -- was uttered by the jealous members of the chorus line who all wanted to steal "Sparky" Spartacus's role when the stage manager called out his selection for star tap-dancer.

 

-- Nephele

[Primus Pilus]

Sophia Loren looking stunning in "Fall of the Roman Empire".

 

Seriously though, the movie seems to be sometimes forgotten in comparison to Ben Hur and Spartacus, but I enjoyed the film despite it's Hollywood inaccuracies. I loved Alec Guiness as Marcus Aurelius whose script was essentially a series of quotes from "Meditations".

[M. Porcius Cato]

"Unleash hell".

[Pertinax]

"Ragnor's bones lie at the bottom of the fjord!"

 

testing if your wife is unfaithful....(drunk am I?)

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3NNF2u_m98

 

and this is a good way to go out......

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daiHAIQm-lw

[Antiochus of Seleucia]

Rumor has it that you can see someone driving a red Chevy pickup truck in the background.

 

Yeah yeah, apparently there is one in one of the Lord of the Rings movies too.

 

Me? The part in Gladiator where Maximus takes off his helmet and gives his full title to the emperor... omg that is soooo cool.... and the shock the emperor gets!!!!