Hellen I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Maidexpl Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Halsy Knox Truly, this film was masterfully done in all of its aspects. As many others have remarked it's quite odd that this film is so underrated and unknown. It's easily Heston's best work, and Schaffner's too. The direction, acting, cinematography, and music all come together virtually flawlessly. For any aspiring film students take note, this is a master class in how a great film is made. It really shows just how powerful a film cam be when done right, and how so many of them are done so woefully bad by comparison.I love this film for the respect that Schaffner accords the viewer with. His sense of visuals are unparalleled, as directors go. The best scenes in the film are conveyed wholly without words or gesticulation, just pointed looks. It's amazing just how much a look can convey. My favorite scene in the film is where the old woman brings Heston and Forsyth food. He steps out of the room and the old woman into it. We then see closeups of Heston and Boone exchanging looks. Then to the old woman and Forsyth exchanging looks. Four people speaking volumes and not a word being said. Brilliant! This is a deliberate film, both intelligent and thoughtful, treating the viewer as such. I re-watch it once a year at least. I always find it best viewed in the late fall/early winter on a Saturday night, or a blustery Sunday. Usually as part of a marathon with such classics as 'The Lion in Winter', 'Beckett', and 'A Man for All Seasons'. This one however, this one is the real gem and the one I always look forward to most.

Leofwine_draca THE WAR LORD is somewhat typical of the Hollywood historical adventure film in that the period it depicts looks nothing like it would have looked in real life. It's the odd haircuts and the silly armour that helps to spoil this one, although it's not a bad little film when it gets going and at least the storyline is rather atypical.The film pairs director Franklin J. Schaffner and stars Charlton Heston and Maurice Evans just before they had a big hit with PLANET OF THE APES. THE WAR LORD isn't in the same league, and for a long time in the middle of the film it's rather stodgy, bogged down by endless romance scenes between an autopilot Heston and an insipid Rosemary Forsyth. However, the film is book-ended with action sequences, and in particular the large-scale siege warfare at the climax is well worth the wait and one of the better Hollywood depictions of medieval combat.At all times, THE WAR LORD is a very obviously artificial viewing experience. Let's just say that California looks little like France, no matter how much they try to dress it up. Heston is oddly subdued and the likes of Richard Boone and James Farentino don't fit in the era at all, although Niall MacGinnis is reliably fluid. Still, I'm a sucker for a siege film, and at least the last half an hour is a lot of fun, almost making up for the problems found elsewhere.

MartinHafer It is very difficult to make a film set during the feudal era. After all, studios do want to make money and the lack of flash involving a story of common folk is a hard sell. Now it IS possible to make an exciting film about Medieval life--"The Vikings" (1958) is a great example as are pageantry films like "Ivanhoe" and "Robin Hood". But in general, the life of most during this period in history was pretty ordinary. There are no explosions, colors are muted and haircuts pretty bad (just look at Charlton Heston in this film)--and it takes real creativity to make an exciting film about this era--especially when "The War Lord" lacks the wild story elements of these other films. So, I had relatively low expectations for "The War Lord"--as making an engaging story would be an uphill battle.The film begins with Heston playing a favored knight working for a Duke in Norman Europe (modern day northwestern France). Heston's job as the new lord is to go into a godforsaken part of the kingdom and set to rebuilding its castle and restoring the Duke's authority. It seems that the old knight in charge of the region was remiss in his duties and the land fell into ruin. By saying 'remiss', I mean the guy was more interested in despoiling the local maidens and not much else and let the locals practice their old pagan ways! As for Heston's men, they, too, seem mostly interested in raping the local lasses. As for Heston, he's an enigma. Although he condemns such activities, when he meets up with a local lady about to be ravished, he's not exactly chaste--as he stands there staring at her nudity. And, through the course of the film, he seems almost 'bewitched' by this woman--though she doesn't seem to encourage him. The main theme of the film seems to be the clash between traditional values--paganism versus Christianity. Although the folks say they are good Christians, they retain many old ways. And, Heston is not exactly a bastion of Christian goodness, as through the course of the film he loses his moral compass. Eventually, he seems bent on exercising the feudal right of a lord to sleep with a virgin on her wedding night ("droit du seigneur"). I did some research on this right and apparently there really isn't any historical proof that such a privilege ever existed--especially since it would be hard to reconcile this with the teachings of the Church (of course, MANY behaviors by the nobles violated Biblical teaching during this time period--the whole 'thou shalt not kill' thing was pretty much ignored). The film might irritate some, as when Heston does exercise this probably fictional right, the fair lass was quite willing. This might tend to promote the old rape myth--the one that says women protest but they WANT to be ravished by a man who won't take no for an answer. It irritated me more for it promoting bad history (in regard to the supposed right) but in some other ways it was excellent history. Knights did pretty much bully the serfs and Heston's men wanting to do as they pleased to the poor folk was very possible. And, although the film was a bit slow, it did show life for the lower ranks of the nobility--a group pretty much ignored in other films. But I couldn't look past that the film was not particularly enjoyable or interesting--thank goodness at least it had a battle near the end to add some excitement. And, I am sure, at the time the film wasn't much of a success because of this.Some low-lights of the film would include Maurice Evans' character. This priest was VERY confusing--very pagan AND very Christian at the same time! He just didn't make much sense. Nor, now that I think about it, did the actions of Heston, the hot lady (Rosemary Forsyth) or many of the other characters.The highlights, at least for me, included a nearly naked Heston fighting against the evil Frisians--and shoving fire in the guy's face! It was cool...and a bit funny. And, seeing the boiling oil tossed on the Frisians near the end was pretty exciting...in a low-brow sort of way.As for me, I still prefer "The Vikings" and "Monty Python and the Holy Grail". In fact, repeatedly through the latter portion of the film I kept expecting to see the Trojan Rabbit or hear Heston tell his men "fetchez the vache".

Robert J. Maxwell Drama about Heston as a medieval knight who is given some remote northwestern coastal village as his fiefdom. The Duke tells him to clean up the place and make sure the stupid villagers are Christians and no longer Druids. Yes, when Feudalism was in flower.The most impressive thing about the film is the production design. Everything LOOKS authentically ten-sixtyish. The village is a pig stye and so is the "castle," which, as Heston observes, consists of marshes and a lone tower. The tower, reachable only by a small drawbridge, is about five stories high. It's the sloppiest castle you've ever imagined. When Heston and the dozen or so men in his retinue first enter it, bodies are strewn about and furniture overturned. Heston orders, "Clean this up," or words to that effect. The men do, but afterward they continue to throw their leftovers on the floors. The furniture itself makes St. Vincent De Paul look like Nieman-Marcus.My God, what uncomfortable armor -- and how ugly, those full-length coats of chain mail. And those soup-bowl haircuts. Only Heston, he of the aquiline beak and jutting chin could survive such a haircut. The men, however, are closely shaved by the studio's barber. We want them realistic but not offensive. Wardrobe has made the villagers drab, except for the girl Heston falls for, in the biggest mistake of his life, who has a loosely draped gown with a cunning décolletage and a slit up the side like Shanghai Lil's.That girl is Rosemary Forsythe, which brings us to the performers. Plump-lipped and, even PG, Rosemary Forsythe is attractive enough but can't act very well. That's not too much of an irritant because she hasn't that many lines. She's quite tall, almost as tall as Heston. Put her together with Uma Thurman and Mariel Hemingway and you've got the beginnings of a girl's basketball team.Heston is at his stalwart best, but he is as dumb as one of the Druid's carved trees. If he can make a mistake, he takes advantage of the opportunity. He develops a case of intense lust for Forsythe after glimpsing her in the river and exchanging a dozen lines with her. He frets. He utters hoarse, goaty cries as he destroys tables in an excess of heat. Why he simply doesn't relieve himself solo is a puzzle the writers never solve. He hardly knows the girl and, when you get right down to it, there are farm animals all over the place. But he plays the character as written, and does it well.Boone is the self-contained and ever-loyal bodyguard. Guy Stockwell is the jealous younger brother who finally precipitates a fatal quarrel just when victory seems to have been achieved. Stockwell is unlikable from the beginning. Every utterance is accompanied by a sweaty sneer. He's cynical, ruthless, and greedy. The knife fight between him and Heston ends in a cliché. The two are struggling over a knife and are pulled together with a thump, face to face. The action stops and we know one of them has a knife in his belly. Stockwell's twitching face lifts into a smile. But you're not fooled for a moment.The writers include John Collier, who is skilled in his craft, but the drama here is pretty murky. There are a couple of oppositions. First, the Frisian Islanders who raid the village fight Heston and his men. It's hard to know who to root for, although we are on Heston's side because we've gotten to KNOW these people and Heston is, after all, Heston. But the lingo of the Frisians, who live on islands just off the Netherlands, was the closest to English of any language in Europe and, I think, it still is. Some sentences in Frisian and English are almost identical. There's one about wanting a piece of green cheese that IS identical. Think about that for a minute.Also, this "droit de seigneur" business. It never existed. It was one of those legends from, I think, a Roman traveler who attributed it to barbarians in the Middle East or some other alien place. And the dialog: "You can go to hell." "I've been there."The musical score, if you listen to it with any degree of diligence, is generic. The love theme is derived from a folk tune and is given a syrupy arrangement. The action music is lifted in whole or in parts from other epic stories of the period, like "Taras Bulba." But I don't want to go on carping about these things because they're all made up for by wardrobe, production design, and some of the performances. I exclude Maurice Evans, along with Rosemary Forsythe, from the list of good performances. He has an old-fashioned, stagy Shakespearian style. His voice quivers like John Gielgud's, but Gielgud seems to know about it and Evans never really did. Lawrence Olivier's Shakespeare was always delivered in a more naturalistic and convincing style.