Big budget account of Christopher Columbus' discovery of the Americas. Released in 1992 to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the discovery. Shows the disastrous effects the Europeans had on the original inhabitants, and Columbus' struggle to civilize the New World.
The film version of the Broadway musical comedy of the same name. In the days leading up to July 4, 1776, Continental Congressmen John Adams and Benjamin Franklin coerce Thomas Jefferson into writing the Declaration of Independence as a delaying tactic as they try to persuade the American colonies to support a resolution on independence. As George Washington sends depressing messages describing one military disaster after another, the businessmen, landowners and slave holders in Congress all stand in the way of the Declaration, and a single "nay" vote will forever end the question of independence. Large portions of spoken and sung dialog are taken directly from the letters and memoirs of the actual participants.
In 480 BC, the Persian king Xerxes sends his massive army to conquer Greece. The Greek city of Sparta houses its finest warriors, and 300 of these soldiers are chosen to meet the Persians at Thermopylae, engaging the soldiers in a narrow canyon where they cannot take full advantage of their numbers. The battle is a suicide mission, meant to buy time for the rest of the Greek forces to prepare for the invasion. However, that doesn't stop the Spartans from throwing their hearts into the fray, determined to take as many Persians as possible with them.
In 480 BC, the ambitious, cruel and merciless King Xerxes (David Farrar) of Persia invades Greece with his huge army to extend his vast slave empire. The brave Spartan army is the great hope to free and unite Greece, and king Leonidas (Richard Egan) promises to the council of the Greek Stats to defend the passage of Thermopylae, the only way by land to reach Athens. However, he is betrayed by the politicians of Sparta and stays alone with his personal body guard army composed of three hundred warriors only. Using courage and great knowledge of strategies of war, he defends Thermopylae until a treacherous goatherd tells King Xerxes a secret goat passage leading to the back of Leonidas's army.
Pope Julius is eager to leave behind works by which he will be remembered. To this end he cajoles Michelangelo into painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. When not on the battlefield uniting Italy, the Pope nags Michelangelo to speed up his painful work on the frescoes.
...The campaign for Texas's independence was inspired by their last stand against the Mexican army during the famous San Antonio siege. Davy Crockett (Billy Bob Thornton) and Jim Bowie (Jason Patric) were among nearly two hundred Texans who held the Franciscan mission that was converted into a military fort in the spring of 1836. Men of all races who believed in the future of Texas were under siege by Mexican forces headed by the dictator of Mexico, General de Santa Anna, for 13 days. Deeds of Alamo soldiers would pass into history as General Sam Houston's war-cry for Texas independence.
Amistad is the name of a slave ship traveling towards the New World in 1839. It is carrying a cargo of Africans who have been captured, taken on board, and chained in the cargo hold of the ship. As the ship is crossing the Atlantic, Cinque, who was a tribal leader in Africa, leads a mutiny and takes over the ship. They continue to sail, hoping to find help when they land. Instead, when they reach the United States, they are imprisoned as runaway slaves. They don't speak a word of English, and it seems like they are doomed to die for killing their captors when an abolitionist lawyer decides to take their case, arguing that they were free citizens of another country and not slaves at all. The case finally gets to the Supreme Court, where John Quincy Adams makes an impassioned and eloquent plea for their release.
George and Kathy Lutz, a newly married couple with three children, movie into their beautiful new house in Amityville, New York, only to discover the house already has demonic inhabitants.
Russian exiles in Paris plot to collect ten million pounds from the Bank of England by grooming a destitute, suicidal girl to pose as heir to the Russian throne. While Bounin is coaching her he comes to believe she is really Anastasia. In the end the Empress must decide her claim.
This is the story of Anna Leonowens, the English schoolteacher who came to Siam in the 1860s to teach the children of King Mongkut. She becomes involved in his affairs, from the tragic plight of a young concubine to trying to forge an alliance with Britain to a war with Burma that is orchestrated by Britain. In the meantime, a subtle romance develops between them.
Henry VIII of England discards one wife Katharine of Aragon, who has failed to produce a male heir, in favor of a young and beautiful woman, Anne Boleyn, whose one-thousand-day reign as Queen of England ends with the loss of her head on the block. Henry weds Ann and soon she gives him a child. The girl, Elizabeth, is a bitter disappointment to Henry, who desperately wants an heir. Anne promises Henry a son "next time," but Henry is doubtful. Shortly thereafter, rumors begin that the King's eye has already wandered. One Jane Seymour is at court for a moment. The Queen has her sent away, but, if Anne will bring Jane back to court, the King promises to sign the Act of Succession to insure that Elizabeth will be Queen.
It had been less than a year since man first walked on the Moon, but as far as the American public was concerned, Apollo 13 was just another "routine" space flight—until these words pierced the immense void of space: "Houston, we have a problem." Stranded 205,000 miles from Earth in a crippled spacecraft, astronauts Jim Lovell, Fred Haise and Jack Swigert fight a desperate battle to survive. Meanwhile, at Mission Control, astronaut Ken Mattingly, flight director Gene Kranz and a heroic ground crew race against time—and the odds—to bring them home.
Germany in the 1970s: Murderous bomb attacks, the threat of terrorism and the fear of the enemy inside are rocking the very foundations of the yet fragile German democracy. The radicalised children of the Nazi generation lead by Andreas Baader, Ulrike Meinhof and Gudrun Ensslin are fighting a violent war against what they perceive as the new face of fascism: American imperialism supported by the German establishment, many of whom have a Nazi past. Their aim is to create a more human society but by employing inhuman means they not only spread terror and bloodshed, they also lose their own humanity. The man who understands them is also their hunter: the head of the German police force Horst Herold. And while he succeeds in his relentless pursuit of the young terrorists, he knows he's only dealing with the tip of the iceberg.
An age of rampant lusts, abandon, runaway passions. An age brought bristling to life by two of the most exciting stars of our time! (2 more taglines...)
As the story opens, King Henry II, who ruled England from 1154 to 1189 has entered Canterbury Cathedral to do penance at the tomb of his former friend, Thomas Becket. Bare to the waist, the king kneels to receive a flogging from Saxon monks. He begins to reminisce, recalling at first the carefree, promiscuous adventures with Becket, then his favorite drinking and wenching companion. A violently emotional drama that probes the changing relationship between two young men - between two close friends bound together by similar pride of flesh and spirit who become deadly enemies as they pursue their separate destinies . . . that of king . . . and saint.
In the early 1990s the Civil War raged in Somali. The resulting humanitarian crisis carried away more than 300 thousand innocent civilians. The nation starved to death as the troops of Mohamed Farrah Aidid, the leader of the major belligerent faction, were taking the food sent by the United Nations Organization. The U.S. made a decision to send peacekeeping force to the capital city of Mogadishu in order to break down Aidid's resistance and kill him. On October 3, 1993, they planned to capture two top lieutenants of the mutinous warlord. Army Rangers and Delta Force entered the city on a mission that was supposed to take about an hour. However, things got out of kilter from the very beginning of the operation...
The story about Swedish ambassador in Chile - Harald Edelstam - and his heroic actions to protect the innocent people from the execution during and after the military coup on September 11th 1973. We travel with Edelstam during the terrible moments just after the coup and follows his never-ending fight for human rights, law and order. What drove him? And what price did he end up paying for his total commitment? Haunted by his own demons the we experiences on close hand how a womanizer desperately searches to find love again, a task only doable, if he can fight his own past and redeem himself. After saving hundreds - maybe even thousands - he is challenged once more, this time to save his newfound love from the death penalty issued by the regime. Another impossible task and a desperate chase against time. Based on a true story about a man, that did, what all of us only dreams of.
In the 17th century a Jesuit priest and a young companion are escorted through the wilderness of Quebec by Algonquin Indians to find a distant mission in the dead of winter. The Jesuit experiences a spiritual journey while his young companion falls in love with the Algonquin chief's beautiful daughter underneath the imposing and magnificent mountains. Dread and death follows them upriver.
Documentary-style drama showing the events that lead up to the tragic incident on January 30, 1972 in the Northern Ireland town of Derry when a protest march led by civil rights activist Ivan Cooper was fired upon by British troops, killing 13 protesters and wounding 14 more.
The familiar story of Lieutenant Bligh, whose cruelty leads to a mutiny on his ship. This version follows both the efforts of Fletcher Christian to get his men beyond the reach of British retribution, and the epic voyage of Lieutenant Bligh to get his loyalists safely to East Timor in a tiny lifeboat.
The story is set in the latter days of World War 2, against the backdrop of fierce combat on the eastern front. Brother's War is based on real events. The western Allies push into Germany and the Red Army is fights its way towards Berlin. Churchill is worried about Russia's post-war plans for Europe but most not endanger the increasingly threatened alliance between the west and Russian A British military attached to the Red Army discovers a Russian war crime against the Polish government in exile and is seized by Stalin's feared intelligence service. He finds unexpected help from an enemy and fellow prisoner a German Captain. They discover a common bond in freemasonry and are bound by honor, oath and secrets. They are joined by Anna, a beautiful Polish nurse cast adrift on the tides of war. The three are pursued by A Ruthless Russian commander through Germany caring a secret that can change the outcome of the world and the fate of millions. Brother's War was produced with strict attention to historic accuracy and military detail and portrays the horrors and heroism of desperate battles. The film also opens the door into the ancient order of the freemasons and presents unmatched insight on the real histories of these men, brothers all, who have fought in every war for hundreds of years.
