Waterloo (1970/I)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Sergei Bondarchuk

Writers:

H.A.L. Craig (story)
H.A.L. Craig (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	...	King Louis XVIII
Jack Hawkins	...	Gen. Sir Thomas Picton
Virginia McKenna	...	Duchess of Richmond
Dan O'Herlihy	...	Marshal Michel Ney
Rupert Davies	...	Lord Gordon
Philippe Forquet	...	Le Bedoyere
Gianni Garko	...	Gen. Drouot
Ivo Garrani	...	Marshal Soult
Ian Ogilvy	...	William De Lancey
Michael Wilding	...	Sir William Ponsonby
Sergo Zaqariadze	...	Marshal Gebhard Blücher (as Serghej Zakhariadze)
Terence Alexander	...	Lord 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: I can't believe my ears! You all stand before me waving a piece of paper crying 'Abdicate, abdicate!' I WILL NOT! I WILL NOT, NOT, NOT!

Movie Connections:

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

Exquisite for its focus alone

The problem most war movies have, especially if they depict one battle, is the addition of extraneous sub-plots. I suppose the film makers think a broader audience will appreciate a movie more if there's an ordinary fellow shoved in that we can follow, and a love interest . . . Perhaps this view is valid. "Waterloo" comes dangerously on the brink of that pitfall in an early scene, but quickly backs up and focuses on who we really need to know to understand the battle: Napoleon and Wellington. Christopher Plummer was born to play Wellington, and he underplays the part beautifully, so that you know what he's thinking by the flick of an eyebrow or the corner of his mouth. Steiger looks like the older Napoleon, and he tends to chew the scenery, but Napoleon flew into unrestrained rages.

The movie does an admirable job of doing what so many lesser war movies don't: it gives you a good idea of what's going on in the field. If you pay attention, you won't be at a loss for the strategy or tactics.

Furthermore, the way it was shot has kept it from aging. It doesn't look like a "spectacle" from the '50s or '60s -- and though it employs a few of the poor film-making choices of its time that late-sixties film makers thought were so cool but which turned out so confusing and easily dated -- it doesn't seem dated at all.

The script has a peculiarity that might well have destroyed it: the writers seem to have excavated every famous quote from Napoleon, Wellington, et al, and shoved them all into the dialogue; and, amazingly, it isn't a distraction.

The worst problem the film has as a whole is its tendency to try to duplicate famous paintings by Meissonier, Lady Butler, and others; sometimes this works, giving the color tones we have come to expect of the period from those very artworks. Occasionally, it's distracting.

There are a few very rough cuts that look pretty bad. But the movie originally was more than four hours long, and the American release suffers from somewhat poor editing and splicing. Surely it's time to bring a full (and wide-screen) release to home video?

However, if you like your historical war movies diluted with love stories and fictional characters, rather than having the real brains behind the battles at center stage, you'll probably be bored to tears by it. If you want as good a recreation of a famous battle as you can probably get, this movie's for you.