Throwback Thursday: Cleopatra - The Death of the Great Epics

This week's Throwback Thursday post focuses on the opulent epic, Cleopatra. The film had a budget of $44 million ($338.94 million in 2015). The cast numbered in the thousands and it took years to shoot and reshoot the film. Much of the gold color in the props and on the sets was actual gold leaf. This was one of the most expensive films ever made. Filmed using a wide aspect ratio like other films like Gone With The Wind, The Ten Commandments, and Ben Hur, the film runs an astounding 4 hours. Starring Rex Harrison, Richard Burton, and Elizabeth Taylor, Cleopatra was nominated for 9 Academy Awards and won 4. Critically it received mixed reviews and currently stands at 48% on Rotten Tomatoes.

For me, Cleopatra is an interesting moment in film history. The great epics that came before were just that, great. Cleopatra had so much potential but just fell flat. It has the look of the greats, the great actors, the largest budget of all of them. The scope and ambition of this film is something to admire. Rex Harrison is wonderful (he won an Oscar for his role). Elizabeth Taylor was great and stole scenes from her male counterparts and she was radiantly beautiful. Plus her 65 costume changes was a world record until Madonna had 85 in 1996's Evita.

However, for all its wonder, Cleopatra falls short of being and equal to Ben Hur and The Ten Commandments. The story has potential. All about the political maneuvering and wars during the transition from the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire, the film's source material is full of potential plot lines and intriguing film making. Cleopatra attempts to hit every single possible plot point, some of which are only rumored to be true about the actual events. The film suffers from jumping from point to point without any real flow. It drags on and on for 4 hours. If the film had better pacing, the 4 hours would not feel so long. Unfortunately the film's pacing is all over the place. It spends too much time on pointless scenes and not enough on ones that matter. I would love to see a remake, a bit shorter and cleaned up, that has a focused plot. It has so so so much potential.

The devastating result of this movie was that the epic genre never recovered. Films were never as long, never as opulent, never as ambitious. Some films tried to capture the glory of the epics afterwards. Some came close, like Braveheart and Gladiator, but others failed like Troy or Alexander. They heyday of epic films, the Golden Age of Hollywood, began to end after Cleopatra. It almost bankrupted  20th Century Fox. 20th Century Fox eventually recovered, a large part in thanks to Star Wars in 1977, but the film industry was never the same. Corporations began purchasing and running the studios. The film epic was essentially dead, never to return to its former glory.

I love the old epics. Not enough old films are seen today. The classics are exactly that: classics. And whether or not Cleopatra was a great film or not, it is still a classic. Even with its faults, I still thoroughly enjoy this film as I do Ben Hur and the Ten Commandments. I love this genre and wish that more were made. I would happily welcome a remake of this film. If a new director feels they can do it justice and perfect the potential. As for the original Cleopatra, I give it a 6/10.