Epic

What is an Epic when it comes to movies?
I read many movie reviews that start like :
"This great Epic of love and..."

I guess 'Epic' must have other elements than just Length..but it seems to be that whenever I read a review about a 3-hours movie or more the word Epic is mentioned...

1) Can anyone name a 3-4 hours movie which is NOT an Epic?

2) Can anyone mention a 2 hours movie which IS an Epic?

3) What makes an Epic besides the Length?

I always considered an epic as film that covered a longish perioud of time, had a huge cast, and revolved around some of the big themes of love and war.

Scarface is a pretty lengthy movie, but I wouldn't consider it an epic.

I can't think of a short movie that would be an epic offhand though. I'll get back to you.

1) An extended narrative poem in elevated or dignified language, celebrating the feats of a legendary or traditional hero.
2) A literary or dramatic composition that resembles an extended narrative poem celebrating heroic feats.
3) A series of events considered appropriate to an epic: the epic of the Old West.

The third line above is where interpretation comes in. What is considered "appropriate?"

One film nearly three hours long I have yet to hear referred to as an epic is La Dolce Vita. Most "epics" are historical films by popular definitions. Spartacus, Gone With the Wind, The Ten Commandments, etc.

Two other films that are over three hours long and aren't epics are Altman's Short Cuts and Anderson's Magnolia. I consider Mann's Heat to be a modern crime epic as it's differ is the setting from the other films.

Three other epics that come to mind are all Leone films. Once Upon a Time in America, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, and Once Upon a Time in the West.

Now, as for short epics I cannot really think of any, although one that pops in my head is DeMille's The Sign of the Cross.

Star Wars could be considered an epic.

Are u sure its an epic? can u explain why?

I'm referring to the Italian version's running length.

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly fits the definition perfectly. Brilliant cinematography, Morricone score, a film of an antihero as well as two other men in a story of greed. A huge film that fits the definition the same way Gone With the Wind would. It may not be a historical film, but that's not what an epic is.

To be honest, it's hard for me to describe why, I think of "epic" as a feeling, or state of mind if you will of a film. I can't explain why Short Cuts is not an epic and Gone With the Wind is.

Here is pretty much a feeling of what I think it is.

REFERENCE
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Epic Films often take an historical or imagined event, mythic, legendary, or heroic figure, and add an extravagant setting and lavish costumes, accompanied by grandeur and spectacle and a sweeping musical score. Epics, costume dramas, historical dramas, war film epics, medieval romps, or 'period pictures' are tales that often cover a large expanse of time set against a vast, panoramic backdrop. In an episodic manner, they follow the continuing adventures of the hero(s), who are presented in the context of great historical events of the past.

Epics are historical films that recreate past events. They are expensive and lavish to produce, because they require elaborate and panoramic settings, on-location filming, authentic period costumes, inflated action on a massive scale and large casts of characters. Biopic (biographical) films are often less lavish versions of the epic film.

Epics often rewrite history, suffering from inauthenticity, fictitious recreations, excessive religiosity, hard-to-follow details and characters, romantic dreamworlds, ostentatious vulgarity, political correctness, and leaden scripts. Accuracy is sometimes sacrificed: the chronology is telescoped or modified, and the political/historical forces take a back seat to the personalization and ideological slant of the story (i.e., the 'poetic license' of Oliver Stone's controversial JFK (1991) immediately comes to mind).

When we get down to it, it's as indefinable as the term "Classic".

Even so, I'd class Aguirre, Wrath of God (1972) an epic, even though it's at 93 minutes. In fact, it's the shortest epic I've seen, and one of the best films ever made.

Without researching into it, since the term is, as I said, an elusive one, I'd say an epic to me was a film with grand themes which go beyond somebody dying or making us laugh. Which is why I'd never call a Marx Brothers film or a Tarantino film an epic. Epic also indicates a collaboration piece: not, say, a character study of one man (though Ben-Hur is), but with a cast of thousands. It's got little to do with running time: normally, though, the length of a film happens to go in accordance with the themes, characters and narrative it portrays.

Thanks for reading.
Mick

A few words on what I meant by "collaboration": the epic often comprises a team effort which goes beyond the individual: Star Wars (1977) for example, or the already-said The Birth of a Nation (1915).

I think the best example of a film which transcends the epic while also working brilliantly on an individual level is The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).

Mick

Aviator is 3 hours long, but to my mind it is not an epic. Is Godfather an epic? Somehow "saga" sounds more appropriate in the godfather context.

Sure GF is an epic. And I always felt, for example "Heat" to be an epic, though it has nothing to do with long period of time and traditional hero.