Stylish but barely mediocre overall

Boring

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Was in 1978 or 1979 that l'd watched this picture for first time on TV once,now revisiting this Epic l was deeply disappointed,for economic reasons was shooting in Spain that actually there's nothing in common with Greece landscape or Persia...second the battles were not convincing at all,hard to watching such few fighting those great battles...anyway who save the movie is Fredric March as King Philip whom is pretty good acting as mad King and concentrating all power in your hands,instead Richard Burton wasn't a good enough to play Alexander,,,firstly according history Alexander was more strong and tall and Burton don't filled the role,but the movie is watchable for historic reasons only!!!

I really don't care about the historical inaccuracies in this film, but if you're going to be inaccurate, at least make the result involving. I cannot recall another movie with this much superb acting talent, and with the actors involved actually given lots of lines to speak, that came out so uninspiring and flatfooted. Since the actors pretty much do their jobs well, then it has to be laid down to the screenplay and the direction that this intended intelligent man's spectacle comes off so badly. I have never considered Richard Burton a great actor - not ever - but he had an absolutely wonderful voice that he used in place of great acting most of the time, and when he did truly get into a character, it was almost always one in which he could not use that voice all that much to make overwhelmingly resonant pronouncements to the world. In other words, he was at his best as downtrodden characters like the ones he played in THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD and WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOLFF? When given 'big' dialog, he tended to coast on his voice - even in something as intimate as HAMLET. So, we get a certain level of professionalism out of him in much of the rest, and it is so here - maybe a little less so at that. I don't find him, as some others have, looking too old for the role. To me, he looks like someone in his 20s who has a voice in its 40s, but otherwise he's not terrible. What he is not, and rarely was, is truly charismatic. Fredric March as his father here pretty much offers what Burton lacks, but for two big problems - 1) he dies off in the middle of the film, and 2) as the King of Macedonia with a totally American accent, he sounds completely out of place given that every other speaking role in the film is done by British actors with good old-fashioned British Shakespearean deliveries; where did this guy come from? Ah, but the screenplay is written for such actors and they do well by it (especially Peter Cushing, Barry Jones, Michael Hordern and Niall MacGinnis). The problem is that it is not a very cinematic screenplay they are acting, but one that leaves them talking at each other incessantly in what really seems like a Shakespeare stage play transferred to the movies; indeed, if you take the large scale battle scenes out, what you have is a perfect vehicle for a Shakespeare play, and it really is amazing that the Bard never thought to write one on Alexander the Great. Unfortunately, the dialog, while often highly literate, is NOT by Shakespeare, but by Rossen. Despite what appears to be Rossen's serious intention to give us an Ancient Family Drama Writ Large, it doesn't work out that way, and I found it impossible to care very much for anybody in the film. As for the remainder of the movie (like when they all shut up and just fight), the battle scenes are incredibly klutzy and unreal - guys more or less standing around kind of hitting at each other while two guys in front of the camera try harder - that kind of thing. This has nothing to do with special effects, as we got great battle scenes all the way back to the silent film era without the benefit of computer-generated trickery. If any single word describes this film, it is "leaden". But, hey, you can't find a conglomeration of actors like these in any film anymore, so on that basis alone, I'll give it a 6 (if they replaced them with dubbed-in Spaghetti Western types, it would rate a 2!).

Hopefully everybody knows who Alexander of Macedon is, and for those who don't, we was the Macedonian who, in a few short years, conquered all of modern day Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and northwestern India. He was gone down in history as one of the greatest generals that the world has ever known, but despite his conquests, was he really a great man? Well, history has recorded that he was, but we look at his achievements over two thousand years after his death, and the closest record we have of his exploits was from Arian, who wrote over 100 years after his death.Whether Alexander truly a great man is not a question that this movie seeks to answer, though it does explore his character (based upon the mythology that has arisen around him) and follows him from birth to death (though does not strictly follow his entire life, but rather important events). The movie focuses on his birth (with his mum prophesying that she has given birth to a god), his coming of age when he is given rule over Macedonea while his father is away at war, his first victory on the field, and his father's death. Once his father is dead (after being assassinated by one of Alexander's friends), Alexander then raises his army and invades Persia. The main events are then his conquest of Anatolia, his battle with Darius, the death of Darius, his entry into Babylon, his decision to return home after killing his friend in a drunken brawl (which occurs in India) and finally his death in Babylon. The scope of the story of Alexander of Macedon is huge, almost too big to fit into a full length feature film.This movie is not so much a character study of this man, but rather following him as he comes of age and then sets out on his goal to first conquer Persia, and then conquer the world. However is character does come out, namely the oedipal complex with his mother (and in turn his dilemma when Phillip, his father, decides to get rid of his mother for a younger girl), and his hubris. While his hubris is not his ultimate downfall, it is his desire to conquer to the end that he forgets that those who follow him are far from home, and in the end the only thing they want is to return to Macedon (though Alexander's army was made up of many more people than just Macedonians). In the end, when he dies of a sudden illness, he is left with the question as to succession, to which he replies, 'my kingdom goes to the strongest'. Once again, not strictly true, as he did have an heir, but his heir did not possess Alexander's qualities, and his kingdom ended up being divided amongst his generals.As for the movie, it was enjoyable, maybe not faithful to the true story, but since the story of Alexander is sketchy beyond what we know, I guess it will be ever difficult to know the truth about this man beyond the legend that has developed around him.

When a film is more of a chore to sit through than a pleasure, you know something is wrong. "Alexander the Great" is lavishly produced and handsome to look at with impressive sets and costumes, but even the battle scenes are dull, as staged by director Robert Rossen.RICHARD BURTON is physically impressive as Alexander (with blonde wig), but recites his lines without any real passion or conviction. FREDRIC MARCH is better as his father, but when he dies midway through the story, the film suffers and goes downhill until the end. CLAIRE BLOOM is spirited in the leading femme role and has a few scenes that she plays very well.But too many talky speeches between battles are part of the problem. The script never allows any of the characters to be really fleshed out. In the end, one is left with the feeling that whatever history has been told is on the modest side, and instead there's a sand and sandal type of feeling--a Hollywoodized version of history--that one is left to ponder.Burton uses his voice effectively at times, but it's not one of his best performances.Summing up: History on the dull side.