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The Panda

A History in Film - BOT Top 50 Historical Fiction/Narrative Films - Counting Lists Now, Will Still Take A List Today

Qualification Poll  

39 members have voted

  1. 1. Should Historical Films with slight alternative history deviations be allowed (Ex Once Upon a Time In Hollywood), this is NOT talking about films with historical inaccuracies

    • Yes
      33
    • No
      6
  2. 2. Should Fantasy films that serve as Historical Allegories be allowed? (Examples: The Wizard of Oz and Pan’s Labyrinth)

    • Yes
      12
    • No
      27
  3. 3. Should older films which cover historical events in their present time be included? (Ex Casablanca)

    • Yes
      17
    • No
      16


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40 minutes ago, 4815162342 said:

 

Putting aside Panda's post, the original Amityville Horror would presumably be ineligible because it came out very close to the time of the actual event. It's a contemporary film, not a historical one.

 

 

I personally think you need at least a decade of distance to get that separation between past and present perspectives

I think we settled on at least 5 years of distance as the cut off?  This is a valid point

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Just finished watching this masterpiece on the Criterion Channel, I used to think  Schindler's List was the most horrifying WW2 film but I was gravely mistaken. Come & See felt 10x more bleak. and the last hour of the film was a nightmare. it'll probably be #1 for me on this list 

4ur56ax2l7741.jpg

 

Edited by RealLyre
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So haven’t settled into starting my list yet, but definitely want to rec:

 

Inherit The Wind

 

starring Spencer Tracy and Gene Kelly. It is a court room drama from Stanley Kramer on the Scopes Monkey Trial. Excellent movie with compelling performances from Tracy and the entire cast. Still feels, for better or worse, incredibly relevant to today’s society and the Moral, spiritual, and intellectual questions we face today. 
 

 

1776 

 

SIT DOWN, JOHN. We’re trying to write a Constitution here and you keep singing about how TJ is good at oral sex!!!

 


 

 

ooooh. I also just realize that Singin in The Rain totally counts. It was produced in the 1950s about the 1930s and it captures a very specific transitional time in Hollywood history... 🤔

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On 3/27/2020 at 7:28 AM, The Panda said:

Just a heads up, I am planning to a run the next edition of “Top 100 Films of All Time”, but we’re going to do it later in the year this time, to give some distance from the Best of the Decade Countdown. ?

 

I just saw that you guys are making a top 100 of all time list soon so I have a little irrelevant suggestion to make (that you can ignore if it was already done). why don't you make a top 100 films of the 20th century list first? an all-time list would have so much overlap with the 2010s list (or so depends on the person). so doing a 20th century list first could further help distance it from the 2010s list (ofc this means we don't get 2000s but oh well).

besides 1930s-1990s have a huge variety to choose from :thinking: and on an all-time list the newer stuff could overshadow older movies bc of recency bias.

 

 

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3 hours ago, RealLyre said:

I just saw that you guys are making a top 100 of all time list soon so I have a little irrelevant suggestion to make (that you can ignore if it was already done). why don't you make a top 100 films of the 20th century list first? an all-time list would have so much overlap with the 2010s list (or so depends on the person). so doing a 20th century list first could further help distance it from the 2010s list (ofc this means we don't get 2000s but oh well).

besides 1930s-1990s have a huge variety to choose from :thinking: and on an all-time list the newer stuff could overshadow older movies bc of recency bias.

 

 

That list is more with the tradition for BOT to update their all time list every two years.  20th Century is a good idea and could be done at some point, but yeah that’s also why I’m not doing that one til July, to give some space between the lists.

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3 hours ago, The Panda said:

That list is more with the tradition for BOT to update their all time list every two years.  20th Century is a good idea and could be done at some point, but yeah that’s also why I’m not doing that one til July, to give some space between the lists.

I didn't notice it was more of a tradition. that sounds great. do you still have the threads for the 2018/2016 all-time lists? 

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1 hour ago, RealLyre said:

I didn't notice it was more of a tradition. that sounds great. do you still have the threads for the 2018/2016 all-time lists? 

They should be in the speakeasy somewhere.  2016 and 2018 were done by me, some others did 2014, 2013 and 2012 editions.

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If Lagaan or historical mob fictions are considered, FYC

 

Gangs of Wasseypur

 

Gangs of Wasseypur II

 

Jodhaa Akbar (Trailer of late 2000s, badly cut but film is good, last I watched)

 

Padmaavat (Great Trailer just Good film)

 

Bajirao Mastani

 

 

Devdas

 

 

If they count

Baahubali: The Beginning

 

 

Baahubali: The Conclusion

 

 

The Legend of Bhagat Singh - Biopic of India's most famous freedom fighter. Not the British hyped dick Gandhi.

 

Edited by charlie Jatinder
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My list!

 

1.       Schindler’s List

2.       Silence

3.       Lawrence of Arabia

4.       The Battle of Algiers

5.       Ran

6.       The Grapes of Wrath

7.       Apocalypse Now

8.       Aguirre, The Wrath of God

9.       The Lion in Winter (1968)

10.   The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)

11.   Das Boot

12.   City of God

13.   All Quiet on the Western Front

14.   The Last Temptation of Christ

15.   Judgement at Nuremberg

16.   Pan’s Labyrinth

17.   Quest for Fire

18.   Kundun

19.   Doctor Zhivago

20.  The Sound of Music

21.   Life of Brian

22.   Seven Samurai

23.   The Last of the Mohicans

24.   Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

25.   The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

26.   12 Years a Slave

27.   Alexander Nevsky

28.   The Grave of the Fireflies

29.   Come and See

30.   The Last King of Scotland

31.   Letters from Iwo Jima

32.   Gladiator

33.   The Big Short

34.   The Madness of King George

35.   There Will Be Blood

36.   Barry Lyndon

37.   Lincoln

38.   Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India

39.   The Revenant

40.   The Immigrant

41.   The Message (1976)

42.   House of the Flying Daggers

43.   Dunkirk

44.   The Right Stuff

45.   BlacKkKlansman

46.   Amadeus

47.   Mongol (2007)

48.   Hero

49.   Hotel Rwanda

50.   Gandhi

Edited by The Panda
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Not Confirmed or Ranked Yet, but Thinking:

  • 12 Years A Slave
  • 1776
  • A League of Their Own
  • All The President’s Men

  • Amadeus

  • Battle of the Sexes

  • Belle

  • Blackkklansman

  • Bonnie and Clyde

  • Cabaret

  • Casablanca

  • Chicago

  • Cleopatra

  • Conspiracy (HBO)

  • Elizabeth

  • Fiddler On The Roof

  • Frida

  • Frost/Nixon

  • Glory

  • Gone With The Wind

  • Grave Of The Fireflies

  • Hairspray (2007)

  • Hidden Figures

  • Henry V

  • Inherit The Wind

  • Jackie

  • Judgment at Nuremberg

  • Lagaan: Once Upon A Time In India

  • Lawrence of Arabia 

  • M*A*S*H

  • Malcolm X

  • Milk

  • Monty Python’s Life Of Brian

  • Mudbound

  • Pride

  • Saving Private Ryan

  • Schindler’s List

  • Selma

  • Singin’ In The Rain

  • Spartacus

  • Sounder

  • The Battle of Algiers

  • The Best Years of Our Lives

  • The Bridge Over The River Kwai

  • The Favourite

  • The Great Escape

  • The Grapes of Wrath

  • The Lion in Winter

  • The Normal Heart (HBO)

  • The Patriot

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FYC

 

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Heavily inspired by the real history of pre-war California

 

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The founding of Jamestown and the dramatization of the story of John Smith and Pocahontas

 

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Decades-spanning story of two dueling French officers around the time of Napoleonic wars. Not exactly a historical allegory but gets at larger historical notions of obsession/aggression, honor, etc. Ridley Scott's secret best film.

 

cabaret-vintage-movie-poster-original-1-

 

Classic musical set against the backdrop of the rise of the Nazi Party in 1931 Berlin

 

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Character study of an Italian bureaucrat working for the Fascist secret police in the 1930s

 

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Borderline perhaps but I do think the '70s setting is important enough to this. It is about its specific time and place as it's both remembered and might have been experienced, and in the process it becomes about nostalgia for a specific time and place as well.

 

538_box_348x490.jpg

 

On military hypocrisy during World War I. One of Kubrick's best and maybe his most accessible and emotionally gripping.

 

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Decline of the old aristocracy during the Italian reunification of the 19th century

 

91-cAb7zYPL._SL1500_.jpg

 

The creation of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado in 1884-85, which also serves as a window into the larger depiction of the Victorian society of the time. A must for all fans of theater (musical and otherwise), stories about the creative process, Amadeus, Shakespeare in Love, etc.

 

MV5BMzg2MzE5YTktNzc3NC00NTI0LTk3OGMtNzQ5

 

The historical part is an extended flashback taking up most of the movie which is bookended by contemporary sections; hopefully it counts. An examination of the English notion of honorable warfare during the Boer War, World War I and the lead-up to World War II.

 

VCRpDPd7SFdURJulHsifKoXIDk8rwp_large.jpg

 

On the persecution of women accused of witchcraft in 17th century Norway. Essential viewing for all fans of The Witch. For non-fans too, really.

 

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Alexander Nevsky drools. Ivan the Terrible rules

 

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A companion piece to The Age of Innocence, the other great adaptation of an Edith Wharton novel about old New York society. AFAIK, Gillian Anderson's sole lead role in a film outside of the X-Files movies, and it's an incredible showcase.

 

6428.jpg

 

Spike Lee's semi-autobiographical comedy/drama about the life of a large black family in 1970s New York. Among his underrated ones.

 

MV5BMTM0MzQzMjUxM15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNzgy

 

Based on a true story of settlers traveling across the Oregon desert in 1845.

 

MV5BMTk5MTUyNTA2Nl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNTQz

 

The activities of a group of French Resistance fighters during WWII

 

MV5BNzA1NmM3NDktYzRkMi00NjZjLThiNjAtMWM2

 

Dramatisation of the true story of a 17th century Roman Catholic priest accused of witchcraft

 

514P+pMNXFL._AC_.jpg

 

Capitalism and power struggles in a small mining town in the beginning of the 20th century

 

MV5BMmJiM2JiNTMtYzllNy00ODZiLTkyMWMtMDA5

 

Set in the 1940s and 50s, a multiple generations-spanning story of the family of a Russian Jewish immigrant who came to the US in 1914. Possibly the very best film I've seen on memory and the experience of times changing, and one of the most overlooked American movies ever made.

 

MV5BZDcxZDU1NWEtMDU4NC00ZTJmLWE1NWUtM2Y2

 

Last year's Russian drama about two women's lives in the immediate aftermath of WWII and the traumatizing impact of the war on society.

 

28743.jpg

 

Dramatization of Elyesa Bazna's career as a spy working for the Nazis while stationed at the British embassy in Turkey. Great cold-blooded thriller.

 

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24 minutes ago, Jake Gittes said:

 

 

MV5BNzA1NmM3NDktYzRkMi00NjZjLThiNjAtMWM2

 

Anyone know how I can watch this? I've had it on my watchlist for a couple of weeks now but I've been unable to actually buy or rent it anywhere. It's on Shudder but Shudder doesn't work where I live even with VPN turned on and I can't get it on DVD too (my country has stopped amazon shipments and I never buy DVDs of movies I've never seen before from Amazon either).

 

edit: It's not even available on Shudder actually. It's there on the internet archive though.

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13 minutes ago, charlie Jatinder said:

Is Titanic eligible?

 

Also if Lagaan is allowed, so shall be films like Wonder Woman, Captain America: TFA, First Class, etc.

Titanic and Lagaan are allowed.  Superhero movies are not.

 

It can definitely be a fictional story, as long as it’s realistically told within its historical setting.  The historical elements of the movie should play a key role in the film.
 

And while historical inaccuracies are allowed, what we aren’t allowing films which go into a pretty much alternative history or pure fantasy realm.  Wonder Woman for example was the orchestrator of WW1 being a Greek god who is stopped by a magic superhero from an immortal tribe of Amazonian women, I’m being very lenient with what I’ll accept but that’s clearly much different than the fictional elements in Cameron’s Titanic or Lagaan.

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1 hour ago, The Panda said:

 

And while historical inaccuracies are allowed, what we aren’t allowing films which go into a pretty much alternative history or pure fantasy realm.

So then no to the Inglorious Basterds, right?

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