Cheap The Warlord (DVD) (Franklin J. Schaffner, Charlton Heston, Richard Boone) (Franklin J. Schaffner) Price

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Customer Reviews of The Warlord

Hey, it's Charlton Heston
Usually old movies are really cheesy and fake, but not this one. Hey, it's Charlton Heston! Along with Excalibur (directed by John Boorman) this is one of my favorite "Middle Ages" movie. The War Lord has one of the best, if not the most realistic battle scenes ever filmed-- the castle scene, it's uttlery fantastic. I'll take the realistic and non-glorified battle scenes of this movie over those of the Gladiator anyday. Also, Heston's love interest in this movie has that classic hollywood look, I can't describe it, but it's there. This movie is kind of the opposite of Braveheart, they're both dealing with Lords stealing other men's women, but in this movie they actually end up falling in love. Not too shabby.

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A most enjoyable film
I love "The War Lord". It's no Oscar winner to be sure but it doesn't make any pretense to be. Charlton Heston give a convincing performance as Chrysagon de la Crux, an 11th century Norman noble sent to govern a small backwater fief.

Guy Stockwell, who in my opinion steals the movie, is excellent as Heston's younger brother. He exudes that latent violence and ambition that inspired so many landless knights of that time to go on Crusade to the east.

Richard Boone also does a stand up job as the older, more experienced soldier whose job it is to squire Heston's character thru life. A little known James Farentino plays the local Celt in love with the woman whom Heston's character takes as his own.

This is just a wonderful period film with all the things that make medieval epics so much fun. Knights, longships, druids, castle towers, boiling oil, the whole nine yards. It's a wonderful way to spend a saturday afternoon.

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another excellent heston performance
here he plays a dispicable character and yet we still find ourselves empathising with him. when he takes this girl he lusts after away from her husband on their wedding night, evoking a still on the books 'right' but one that had not been enacted upon in some time, he is the 'old world' at odds with newer customs and he is undoubtedly the villian. he even gets men killed for his sin and he kills in the name of lust.
we sympathise even with farrentino (the girls husband) and yet we still see a human side in hestons villian, so human that while we may not be rooting for him, but we do care what happens to him.
if we compare this, khartoum and will penny to some of his other roles we see execellent examples of a superb actor and very bad acting.
in khatoum heston's natural acting wipes laurence olivier's heavily made up, theatrical acting off the screen. we see olivier acting. we never see heston acting and that is the mark of a great screen actor.
yet, in the 70s cheeseball; omega man we see him at the end, sprawled out like a god, christlike, dying for the sins of the surviving humans. the acting there is so over the top, so chest sticking out like some macho hero that we want to laugh.
these are the types of roles that have earned heston the accusations of acting pompous and those accusations are very evidently correct.
but, when heston stretched himself as in this, will penny, and khartoum he is a genuinely good actor. far better than the heston of ten commandments or el cid (another superficial'god like' acting job).
interestingly enough his character here is indeed also pompous but heston takes that trait and actually plays psychological havoc with it, making us care for him, despite his flaws. again, marks of good acting.
he is supported by the great richard boone who gives a character performance worth writing home about.
this is a small film and heston seemed to do far better in small initmate films than in the epics for which he is better known.
warlord has atmosphere aplenty. its not an action pic but a well done mood piece and its worth checking out, especially if you think of the charlton heston only of ten commandments