Waterloo (1970)
Movie Info
Cast
as Napoleon
as Wellington
as Louis XVIII
as Duchess of Richmond
as Gen. Thomas Picton
as Ney
as O'Connor
as Ponsonby
as Lord Uxbridge
as Lord Gordon
as Marshal Soult
as Gen. Drouot
as Vicomte Pierre Cambronne
as William De Lancey
as Uxbridge
as Marshal Gebhard Blucher
as Le Bedoyere
as Sauret
as Maria
as Gen. Muffling
as Sarah
as Lord Richard Hay
as Tomlinson
as Marquis Grouchy
as Vicomte Pierre Cambronne
as Gerard
as Duke of Richmond
as Constant
as Sir John Colborne
as Capt. Ramsay
as Capt. Normyle
as Duncan
as Gen. August Gneisenau
as Capt. Mercer
as McKevitt
as Mulholland
as Delessart
as Marshal Berthier
as Oudinot
as Percy
as Somerset
as Madeleine Hall
as Joseph Fouche
as McDonald
as Saint-Cyr
as MacMahon
as Sir John Colborne
as Gen. Bertrand
as Duke of Richmond
as Boudin
as Cambaceres
as Chactas
as Corporal
as Charles X
as Maitland
as Tamburo Maggione
as De Vitrolles
as Prince of Brunswick
as Flahaut
as Green
as Kellerman
as Larrey
as Legros
as Taylor
as Colson
as Marbot
as Molien
as Rumigus
as Patsy
as 1st Sergeant
as 2nd Sergeant
as 3rd Sergeant
as Drummer
as Wounded Officer
as Fat Man
as Fainting Soldier
as Officer with Wellington
as Officer of the 13th Square
as Lady Webster
as Lady of the Court
as Soldier with Ney
as Lancer with Napoleonic Hat
as Coulincourt
Critic Reviews for Waterloo
All Critics (9) | Top Critics (4) | Fresh (3) | Rotten (6)
Bondarchuk is so overwhelmed by the thousands of Russian cavalry troops he's been given to play with, and by his $25 million budget, and by-his obsession for aerial photography, that his leading characters turn out scarcely more human than his extras.
As for the golden history and legend, they lie buried beneath this delayed replay of a primer on strategy.
Visually impressive, but a rather silly attempt to explain Napoleon.
The sense of the film itself is another matter, and the particular dullness of Bondarchuk's attempt to translate history into cinema makes Waterloo a very bad movie.
A confusion of spectacular aerial shots, romantic slow- motion calvary charges, mumbled high command conferences and deafening artillery.
Waterloo is solid, sometimes to the point of lumbering... But Waterloo succeeds in what it set out to do -- to re-create a major historical event and place it in some kind of perspective.
Audience Reviews for Waterloo
What's good about this work? Steiger as Napoleon and Plummer as Wellington. And a glorious project that's as sumptuous as imagination could make it, lavish in numbers of people and in costumes and sets. But the story's too big. They couldn't get it all in. So you get crowds of well dressed folks simply standing around in some scenes. And if one is unfamiliar with the story forget about understanding the huge battle scenes. There's a better chronicle on this epic, historic battle somewhere, there must be.
Super Reviewer
At first, King Louis XVIII(Orson Welles) is none too worried when Napoleon(Rod Steiger) begins his comeback tour from Elba with a thousand men. When that number becomes substantially much, much larger, the king figures it might be a good time for an extended vacation. That's okay because the Duke of Wellington(Christopher Plummer) is waiting patiently in Belgium for the emperor to make his move. In the meantime, he attends a gala or two. "Waterloo" is a splendidly produced extravagansa, centered around the famed battle and turning point in history. While it is clearly apparent the huge amount of research that went into the making of this movie, it sadly never truly comes alive. Part of this comes down to the narrow focus on Wellington and Napoleon, especially about how different they may have been. In fact, the first half hour comes perilously close to becoming a one man show which is not entirely bad since Rod Steiger makes a surprisingly effective Napoleon. That's also at the detriment of almost everybody else which partially short circuits the movie's otherwise profound final statement.
Super Reviewer
Massive battle scenes and a superb cast. The script often sounds a bit strangled as it leans heavily on attributed quotes. The film was a joint Soviet/Italian collaboration made in 1970 and it seems no coincidence that political and socialogical differences between Napoleon and his adversaries are highlighted - the dictator Bonaparte is shown as very much a man of his people whereas his aristocratic opponents exhibit an air of superiority to and distain for their working class rank and file. All in all it's not a perfect film but it truly is an epic spectacle.
Super Reviewer
Waterloo Quotes
| Wellington: | Napoleon is not a gentleman. |
| Duchess of Richmond: | What an Englishman you are! |
| Wellington: | On the battlefield his hat is worth fifty thousand men. But he's not a gentleman! |
| Napoleon: | I have come back to make France happy! I am France and France is me! |
| Napoleon: | Well, they've done it. All the great powers have declared war against me. Not against France -- against me! |
| Marshal Michel Ney: | They honor you by making you a country. |
| Napoleon: | Honor? They deny me the decency of law. They make it legal for any clown to kill me! |
| Lord Richard Hay: | If you would take the men into your confidence.... |
| Wellington: | If I thought my hair knew what my brain was thinking, I'd shave it off and wear a wig. |