THE LION IN WINTER
DVD issued in 2003
The 1968 classic set during the Christmas festivities in 1183. Henry II, played by O'Toole in one of his greatest performances (it is the same role he played in Becket with Richard Burton), invites his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine (Katherine Hepburn) to celebrate with him and their three sons - a kind of medieval "Family Reunion". This involves releasing her from the castle to which she has been confined since she supported Richard (later "the Lionheart") (Anthony Hopkins in his screen debut) in an attempted coup d'etat. They meet and, while Henry flaunts his young mistress Alais, they argue about the succession: Eleanor still supports Richard, their eldest; Henry supports John, the youngest - until he discovers John involved in another plot to murder him. Then he decides he should marry Alais and produce a new heir. But he is old now, and who will protect the boy from his three charming half-brothers? Brilliant dialogue by James Goldman, based on his play of the same name.
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Three Oscars (seven nominations)
EL CID
DVD issued in 2005
The story of Rodrigo de Bivar (Charlton Heston, at his Ben Hur best), known as El Cid, perhaps the greatest hero of medieval Spain, his love for the beautiful Jimena (Sophia Loren at her most irresistible), his battle with her father, who accuses him of treason and whom he eventually kills in a duel (making things more than a little tricky with Jimena!) and his part in the war against the Moors who then held most of Spain. The Battle of Valencia is unforgettable: a crazed Herbert Lom leads the huge Moorish army (it is for real, as they say: this was long before the days of digital imaging) and it was actually filmed outside the ancient walled city of Peñiscola, to the north of modern Valencia. One of the great film epics of all time, directed in 1961 by Anthony Mann, who later made The Fall of the Roman Empire.
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