Waterloo (1970/I)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Sergei Bondarchuk

Writers:

H.A.L. Craig (story)
Sergei Bondarchuk (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

28 October 1970 (France)

Genre:

Action | Drama | History | War

Tagline:

Waterloo.The battle that changed the face of the world.

Plot:

After defeating France and imprisoning Napoleon on Elba, ending two decades of war, Europe is shocked...

Plot Keywords:

Napoleon | General | Waterloo | Fate | Prussian

Awards:

Won 2 BAFTA Film Awards. Another 1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Rod Steiger	...	Napoleon Bonaparte
Christopher Plummer	...	Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington
Orson Welles	...	Louis XVIII
Jack Hawkins	...	Gen. Sir Thomas Picton
Virginia McKenna	...	Duchess of Richmond
Dan O'Herlihy	...	Marshal Michel Ney
Rupert Davies	...	Gordon
Philippe Forquet	...	La Bedoyere
Gianni Garko	...	Drouot
Ivo Garrani	...	Soult
Ian Ogilvy	...	De Lancey
Michael Wilding	...	Ponsonby
Sergo Zaqariadze	...	Blucher (as Serghej Zakhariadze)
Terence Alexander	...	Uxbridge
Andrea Checchi	...	Sauret

Also Known As:

Ватерлоо (Soviet Union: Russian title)

Runtime:

Norway:134 min | UK:132 min | USA:123 min

Country:

Italy | Soviet Union

Language:

English | Russian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono | 70 mm 6-Track (Westrex Recording System) (70 mm prints)

Certification:

Ireland:G | UK:U | Singapore:PG | Iceland:12 | Finland:K-12 | Germany:12 | Norway:16 (1971) | USA:G

Filming Locations:

Dino De Laurentiis Cinematografica Studios, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Dino de Laurentiis Cinematografica

Trivia:

Virginia McKenna replaced a actress who dropped out.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: At least twice in the movie when French infantry are shown marching to the beats of drums that are played by young drummer boys, the tattoo beat by the drummer boys sounds clear and consistent, but close up shots of the drummer boys reveals that they are in fact just beating the drums randomly, if at all. As some of the boys seem to be barely able to march holding the drums let alone play them with such precision as heard in the movie's soundtrack.

Quotes:

Napoleon Bonaparte: Cross the river. Tomorrow we will dry our boots in Brussels.
Michel Ney: God willing sire.
Napoleon Bonaparte: God? God has nothing to do with it.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Lost Kubrick: The Unfinished Films of Stanley Kubrick (2007) (V)

A tad messy, but it certainly has it's moments....

Having read some other comments, I felt compelled to throw in my tuppence worth.

The story of Waterloo is a difficult one to tell clearly in a couple of hours and rumors abound of a 4 and a half hour cut in existence, giving many more details of the earlier battles of Ligny and Quatra Bras. If it is 'out there', I've yet to find it.

I would agree that some of the acting is a little clunky but one of the things you should always bear in mind is the fact that all those extras are really there, not created by CGI, and as such some scenes are truly breathtaking, simple scenes prior to the battle such as Rod Steiger standing at his vantage point with the allied lines in the background, campfires twinkling away...beautifully framed. Or the slow, almost balletic charge of the heavies, countered by Napoleon's lancers, almost a cliché now....but wonderful then.

Admittedly the film does suffer from some of the Eurofilm values of the time, with some dodgy dubbing etc and Rod does chew the scenery at times, though I think Chris Plummer does a good job, Dan O'Herlihy makes a good Ney ( ironically his son turned up in one of the Sharpe episodes back in the 90's,) and the attention to detail is commendable.

To sum up, I know a lot about the battle, I've walked the field itself and so shouldn't like the film on so many levels, yet I still love watching it. It's not one of those films that it's cool to talk about at a dinner party, listing your fave five, but it still has a place in my heart. 7 out of 10.