Alexander (the Great): an Oliver Stone Film

[Jeff Green]

Having just read a great book on him (Paul Cartledge's bio), I am tempted to see this now on DVD, especially given these new revisionist comments by you blokes, but....really? I thought this thing was supposed to suck gigantic Macedonian ballz.

[Supersport]

Well Jeff,

If you watch the movie, Alexander pretty much sucks Macedonian (and some Persian too) balls throughout.

What I didn't like about the movie was the emphasis on homosexuality over his other great achievements.

[TomChick]

"Alexander was a fag."

"The hell he was."

"He was too, you boys. I go to his pad in Brentwood to install a two-way mirror, and he comes to the door in a dress."

"That doesn't mean he was a homo, Miller. Lots of guys like to watch their buddies fuck. I know I do."

-Tom

[Dirt]

Do they masturbate together in the hot tub too?

[Jeff Green]

This movie is sounding better and better!

Though Tom's post made me think that Harry Dean Stanton might have made a great (chain smoking) Alexander.

[Bill Dungsroman]

Jeff, Alexander is my favorite historical figure and all I have to say is, my problem with Stone's film isn't that it's gay, it's that it's not gay enough. I wanted Alexander flouncing around his libraries, making the gladiators swoon with his butch fighting skillz, getting grossed out at all the hot virgins he could take at his leisure. What a disappointment.

[Jeff Green]

Huh. So you mean the movie might have been better served had, say, Austin Scarlett from Project Runway been cast as Alexander?

[Enduro_Man]

Sure, and Steve Erhardt as Hephaestion.



In hindsight, maybe that was uncalled for...

[Mike O'Malley]

He has...breasts.

[Erlend Grefsrud]

Great. Now I can never wear that t-shirt again.

[Chris Nahr]

And Oliver Stone has made yet another edition! The Unrated Final Cut runs for a whopping 220 minutes, comes on two DVDs, and should be released later this year on HD-DVD and Blu-ray. Anyone seen the DVD version yet? I'll wait for the BR version...

[wumpus]

Since you resurrected the thread, I'll add that Alexander was one of the worst movies I've seen in years. One of those "I really want those two hours back" experiences.

[Chris Nahr]

That's because you haven't seen the rearranged Director's Cut which is excellent. I had a similar feeling about the theatrical release.

[John Merva]

Originally Posted by Enduro_Man

Colin Farrell was hilarious (literally--the audience burst into laughter the first time that "grown-up" Alexander appeared) and lacked the dramatic presence to pull off such a big role.

I think he may do better in more understated roles. He was excellent in Tigerland. I just don`t know if the action star 'big' roles are really for him.

[Chris Nahr]

So I've seen the Blu-ray version of the "Final Cut" which comes on two BDs -- this must be the first film that's split across two Blu-ray disks. There are also a couple of documentaries on the second disk but they're pretty shoddy, just some dude holding a shakycam on various people as they're making the film without any narration or context. I guess it's more artsy that way or something.

The film itself is now a whopping 3.5 hours with an old-style intermission in the middle, like Ridley Scott's revised edition of Kingdom of Heaven. Two commentary tracks, one by Oliver Stone and one by a historian. There are a couple of entirely new scenes (still no sieges, sadly) and some flashbacks that I could have done without, but mostly it's extra lines of dialogue that have been reinserted into existing scenes where they were previously cut for time.

As Oliver Stone says in his introduction, if you liked the film you'll like this version even more... and if you hated it you'll hate this version even more! Overall I think the added stuff is definitely an improvement. Best Alexander evar!