These films cover primitive times, the rise of social media, and everything in between. 20 great historical movies, from ancient epics to modern classics These films cover primitive times, the rise of social media, and everything in between. By Jordan Hoffman :maxbytes(150000):stripicc()/JordanHoffmanauthorphotoe4b61cf41b534ce3bd109eae4b8f4eaa.jpg) Jordan Hoffman Jordan Hoffman is a writer at , mostly covering nostalgia. He has been writing about entertainment since 2007. EW's editorial guidelines December 24, 2025 9:00 a.m.

These films cover primitive times, the rise of social media, and everything in between.

20 great historical movies, from ancient epics to modern classics

These films cover primitive times, the rise of social media, and everything in between.

By Jordan Hoffman

Jordan Hoffman

Jordan Hoffman is a writer at **, mostly covering nostalgia. He has been writing about entertainment since 2007.

EW's editorial guidelines

December 24, 2025 9:00 a.m. ET

'Master and Commander,' '12 Years a Slave,' 'Lawrence of Arabia'. Credit:

20th Century Fox/Courtesy Everett Collection; Francois Duhamel/Fox Searchlight; Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty

If you don't know your past, you don't know your future. It may be a cliché, but it's true.

Luckily, the movies are always here to tell us about the way things used to be. Are they always accurate? No! In fact, they are usually nowhere close to the strict truth. But as often as not, you can get a sense of what life was like when, say, English colonialists first landed at Jamestown, or what the vibe was like during the Space Race.

Even the silliest Hollywood historical epics — like Elizabeth Taylor romping around Rome in *Cleopatra* — have a few facts sprinkled in. Just enough, hopefully, to inspire some further education.

With that, for everyone who was too busy passing notes in high school and didn't pay attention in class, we've collected 20 supurb historical movies from all across the timeline.

12 Years a Slave (2013)

Chiwetel Ejiofor in the Best Picture winner '12 Years a Slave'.

Jaap Buitendijk/Fox Searchlight Pictures

Steve McQueen's Best Picture winner is one of the most immersive (though deeply depressing) looks at the so-called "peculiar institution" of slavery, the economic engine upon which so much of the United States of America was founded. Based on a pre-Civil War memoir, the film stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as Solomon Northup, a free Black man living in New York who is kidnapped and sold into slavery in the South.

Through his eyes, we witness the mechanics of slave auctions, the cruelty of plantation life, and how the enslaved struggled to create meaningful emotional connections in the face of such cruelty. It remains an essential look at a still under-discussed aspect of American history.

Apollo 13 (1995)

Bill Paxton, Tom Hanks, and Kevin Bacon in 'Apollo 13'.

Ron Batzdorff/Universal

When Ed Harris' Gene Kranz surveys the potential catastrophe developing around him and predicts that it "is going to be our finest hour," he's not just talking about the ingenuity and fortitude of the American space program, but also Ron Howard's masterpiece of competency porn, *Apollo 13*.

Tom Hanks is in peak form in one of the all-time great Dad movies, personifying the risks and rewards of the Space Race. While he, Bill Paxton, and Kevin Bacon face off against certain death, a gaggle of twerps, dweebs, and nerds deploy their slide rulers and atypical thinking to figure out a way to retrieve them from the Void, forging a win for all mankind.

Cleopatra (1963)

Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in 'Cleopatra'.

Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty

While often remembered as a runaway production, this four-hour film with a gargantuan (for its time) budget north of $30 million may have suffered behind-the-scenes tumult and tabloid gossip, but it was worth every penny. (It was also the year's top box office draw, so it was far from a flop.)

Elizabeth Taylor, born to American parents in London, is perhaps not the most logical person to play a Queen of Egypt, but this is 1960s Hollywood, not strict history. Gaze upon her as she rolls out from a smuggled carpet before Julius Caesar, regard her beauty as she dines with Mark Antony aboard a galleon, and watch breathlessly as she and her coterie of beasts and men enter the gates of Rome, arguably the most over-the-top sequence in all of cinema.

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From the EW archives: Behind the scenes of 'Apollo 13'

Gladiator (2000)

Russell Crowe in 'Gladiator'.

Universal/Getty

When it comes to giant movies about Ancient Rome, yes, indeed we *are *entertained. It's true that the Oscar-winning *Gladiator*'s relationship to truth is perhaps a bit exaggerated. For example, there's no evidence Marcus Aurelius secretly worked to restore the Roman Republic (perhaps Ridley Scott got confused by Mr. Spock working to reform the planet Romulus).

Nevertheless, Russell Crowe showing off his swordsmanship in a coliseum is a little more important than facts. The rich drama, gorgeous cinematography, bravura performances, and dazzlingly choreographed battles are all there to ensnare the mind and get audiences intrigued… and then maybe pick up an actual book about Rome. (Or at least check Wikipedia.) Either way it's a win.

History of the World, Part 1 (1981)

Mel Brooks as Moses in 'History of the World, Part I'.

20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection

You get a lot of bang for your history buck with this one — moving from the pre-Neolithic era to a peek at an interstellar future. All of it is done with Mel Brooks' inimitable "outsider" wisenheimer point of view. *History of the World, Part 1* packs each scene with as many jokes as possible, including visual gags, puns, pratfalls, a bit of raunch, big musical numbers, and plain ol' absurdity.

From Moses descending Mount Sinai with the Fifteen …oops, dropped a tablet… Ten, *Ten *Commandments, to the French origin of the phrase "it's good to be the King," several important moments in Earth's timeline get a shout-out. The best might be the Last Supper recreation, with Brooks as the put-upon waiter: "Does everybody want soup?"

Intolerance (1916)

Constance Talmadge and Alfred Paget in 'Intolerance'.

Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty

You owe it to yourself to watch a three-and-a-half-hour silent film just so you can brag about it afterward. Luckily, D.W. Griffith's *Intolerance* is surprisingly watchable, as it cuts between four timelines in history: Ancient Babylonia, Roman Judea in the time of Christ, the conflict between Huguenots and French Catholics during the Renaissance, and an American mill strike in 1914.

Each sequence (some more dazzling than others in the "elaborate sets and cast of thousands" department) showcases how intolerance leads to violence. It's believed that Griffith chose to make this after sharp criticism from his previous feature, the wildly controversial (and bluntly racist) *The Birth of a Nation *(1915). As an innovator, Griffith had few equals, though his legacy remains justifiably clouded.

The Last Emperor (1987)

Wu Tao and Joan Chen in 'The Last Emperor'.

CHRISTOPHE D YVOIRE/Sygma via Getty

Another Best Picture winner, Bernardo Bertolucci's sumptuous visual feast *The Last Emperor* tells the story of Puyi, the last emperor of China. The film is told in flashback, beginning in the 1950s during Communist China's Cultural Revolution, with Puyi reflecting on his first entrance to the Forbidden City (a rare allowance for a location shoot) and being coronated as a small child.

His fortress of pageantry and luxury is eventually breached by the forward momentum of time — increasing British influence (bringing Peter O'Toole in as a Western tutor), a Chinese republic, regional skirmishes and world war, then, finally, the strict Maoist regime that radically altered Chinese culture. The history of the region seen through Puyi's eyes is one that straddles multiple worlds, and is endlessly fascinating.

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif in 'Lawrence of Arabia'.

FilmPublicityArchive/United Archives via Getty

Myth-making at its finest, David Lean's mesmerizing look at T.E. Lawrence's celebrated adventures in the Arabian desert during the Great War may have some dated attitudes, but it remains revolutionary for its location photography and overall style. Led by a dashing young Peter O'Toole in his film debut, *Lawrence of Arabia* features lush landscapes and thrilling battle sequences that remain some of the finest moments in cinema. (Alec Guinness in brownface, a little less so.)

Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson's screenplay shows how the Arab Revolt against the Ottomans slowly turned from secondary importance in the framework of WWI to a harbinger of anti-colonialism in the region, the repercussions of which are still being felt today.

Lincoln (2012)

Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincolin in 'Lincoln'.

The American Civil War was not fought *solely *because of slavery, but don't let anyone fool you — it was a lot about slavery. Steven Spielberg, working from Tony Kushner's screenplay, turns attention away from the battlefields to something almost as gruesome: how laws are pushed through Congress. With Daniel Day-Lewis sporting that weird mustache-less beard, President Abraham Lincoln (you know, the guy with the hat!) pushes to get his 13th Amendment to the Constitution ratified before the war's end.

A full cabinet of marvelous costars includes Tommy Lee Jones, David Strathairn, James Spader, Hal Holbrook, Adam Driver, Lee Pace, Tim Blake Nelson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Jackie Earle Haley, among many others, plus Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln.

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)

Paul Bettany and Russell Crowe in 'Master and Commander'.

20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection

In the only movie adaptation of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin books (available on the shelf of an Airbnb near you), Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany set sail during the Napoleonic Wars, battling the French, the elements, and seafaring superstition. While sold as an adventure film, it doubles as a bromance of the highest order and a valuable leadership tool. (Someone right now is searching for YouTube clips to use at a quarterly sales conference.)

The film peaks when the HMS *Surprise* visits the Galapagos Islands, hitting pause on the plot to allow for a few moments of awe. Eventually HBO or Netflix will put up the chest of gold needed to produce an adaptation of all 20 novels, and the world will be better for it.

The New World (2005)

Colin Farrell and Q'Orianka Kilcher in 'The New World'.

New Line/Courtesy Everett Collection

Though her story was told in the animated Disney film *Pocahontas*, we'll instead stick with Terrence Malick's immersive, experimental film about the Powhatan Princess later known as Rebecca Rolfe — as well as John Smith and the first English settlers at Jamestown. Eschewing plot for vibes, the film exalts in naturalistic settings (including a painstakingly recreated Powhatan language) for a style more akin to ballet than traditional moviemaking.

Audiences may not win quizzes about dates and facts afterward, but they'll perhaps gain a better understanding of how life was actually lived in what is now Southeastern Virginia. Anachronistic use of Mozart and Wagner only add to the otherworldliness.

Oppenheimer (2023)

Cillian Murphy in 'Oppenheimer'.

Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures

Christopher Nolan's Oscar-winning drama follows J. Robert Oppenheimer's life studying "the new physics" in Europe in the 1920s, becoming a radical professor in the 1930s, racing against the Nazis to first deploy the power of the atom as a weapon in the 1940s, watching politicians not realizing the inherent dangers of that power in the 1950s, and envisioning the destruction of mankind at some yet to be determined date.

Luckily, one does not need to understand the difference between fission and fusion to recognize the complexity of Oppenheimer as an individual, or see how the Cold War manipulated ingenuity toward nefarious goals. Somehow, this thoughtful three-hour film about scientists talking ended up making nearly $1 billion at the box office.

Quest for Fire (1981)

Ron Perlman, Everett McGill, Nameer El-Kadi and Rae Dawn Chong in 'Quest for Fire'.

20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection

If this list were in chronological order, *Quest for Fire* would come first. Jean-Jacques Annaud's film, featuring a "gestural language system" devised by author/polymath Anthony Burgess and anthropologist Desmond Morris, focuses on a tribe of Paleolithic-era cave people whose treasured fire (which they use to start other fires) is extinguished by a malevolent rival tribe.

A team of explorers must go out to find *new *fire, which involves many highs (including the discovery of new positions in which to propagate the species) and lows (like falling into quicksand). *Quest for Fire *is not only a thrilling (and, at times, funny) film, it can boast having inspired an Iron Maiden song.

Reds (1981)

Diane Keaton in 'Reds'.

Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty

From the cafés of Greenwich Village and the beaches of Provincetown, to the ramparts of Moscow and the halls power in St. Petersburg, then the icy vistas of the Finnish frontier and the dust of Azerbaijan, *Reds *seemed an unlikely project for Warren Beatty at the time. He was better known for lusty zeitgeist hits like *Shampoo *(1975) or silly romps like *Heaven Can Wait* (1978).

Nevertheless, he, Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Paul Sorvino, Maureen Stapleton and others star as American leftists bearing witness to (and trying to export) the Russian Revolution in 1917. The project took a decade, allowing Beatty to shoot interview footage with "witnesses" (some famous, some not, one as old as 98) whose firsthand commentary is intercut with the rest of the movie.

RRR (2022)

N.T. Rama Rao Jr. and a tiger in 'RRR'. Everett Collection

This recent runaway international hit may not be the most accurate representation of India during the British Raj period, but it's the one with an (Oscar-winning) song-and-dance break and the use of a flaming motorcycle as a hurled weapon.

*RRR *stars N.T. Rama Rao Jr. and Ram Charan as adversaries who later join forces to save a kidnapped village girl. They later initiate the overthrow of the imperialist government with their radical tandem fighting and a slow-motion deployment of a menagerie of vicious beasts. (That latter one leads to one of the loudest cheers in moviegoing history if you end up seeing this in a packed house.)

Schindler's List (1993)

Liam Neeson and Ben Kingsley in 'Schindler's List'.

Universal/courtesy Everett Collection

Steven Spielberg's only Best Picture winner, *Schindler's List *remains one of the most concise dramatic tools to explain the Nazi attempt to extinguish Europe's Jewish population. It's told through the eyes of a striving industrialist (Liam Neeson as Oskar Schindler) who, over time, recognizes the horror of the system he's a part of and puts himself at great risk to do something about it.

While the film focuses on modern humanity's darkest chapter, Spielberg's natural Hollywood instincts keep the story propulsive and engaging. The subject matter is of course bleak, but there is (though it may be weird to put it this way) an "entertainment value" to watching Schindler's shift toward humanism, as if his very soul were the quarry of a caper film.

The Social Network (2010)

Andrew Garfield and Jesse Eisenberg in 'The Social Network'.

Merrick Morton/Columbia

This David Fincher-Aaron Sorkin collaboration is a period film about an important point in history — the moment when social media was born, before it wormed into our brains and made us all crazy. Oh, what a weird time were the mid-aughts, when the notion that a zillionaire computer genius wearing a hoodie to work made him some kind of hero.

Jesse Eisenberg gives a perfect performance as the brilliant but obnoxious Mark Zuckerberg. We loathe him, but we root for him all the same, first as he builds his digital empire, then defends himself against the guys he basically ripped off. (Then again, if any of them had invented Facebook, they would have invented Facebook.)

Spartacus (1960)

Kirk Douglas in 'Spartacus'.

Richard C. Miller/Donaldson Collection/Getty

We return again to Rome, this time for the great Camelot-era tale of individualism and revolt: *Spartacus*. Kirk Douglas stars as a slave who, after strutting his stuff as a gladiator, leads a populist revolution. The movie pulls a bit from the New Testament here and anti-McCarthyism there, with no shortage of Hollywood gloss over it all.

Alex North's masterful score (later adapted into jazz standards) and the envelope-pushing sexual frankness (including the "snails and oysters" scene between Laurence Olivier and Tony Curtis) give it an edge not usually seen in classic sandal epics. Though this was the only "for hire" job Stanley Kubrick took as a director, you can see his touch in certain action sequences and occasional instances of unusual camera placement.

War and Peace (1965-1967)

Vladislav Strzhelchik in 'War and Peace'.

Courtesy Everett Collection

Leo Tolstoy's 1,225-page novel set during the Napoleonic Wars, the title of which is now synonymous with the term "epic," got the treatment it deserved with this enormous production, which clocks in at over seven hours. No one really knows what it cost to shoot this thing; director Sergei Bondarchuk had the backing of the Soviet government, which felt that a bigger-than-Hollywood adaptation of Russia's prize literary work would be a Cold War coup.

They weren't wrong, as this movie beats the pants off the Henry Fonda-Audrey Hepburn version from 1956. The battle sequences remain breathtaking decades later, and the ballroom badinage is delightful and lush. Take the whole day off and binge this as soon as you can.

Zulu (1964)

Michael Caine in 'Zulu'.

Silver Screen Collection/Getty

Controversial even at the time, this military action film (featuring Michael Caine in his first major role) recreates the Battle of Rorke's Drift during the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879. For a film from the 1960s, in which African culture was frequently and racistly dismissed as mere savagery, *Zulu* is surprisingly thought-provoking, concluding with an unlikely respect between the British and African warriors ordered to kill one another. (The regiment dispatched to the British Empire is predominantly Welsh, themselves a tribe under the boot of the Crown.)

Political sensitivities aside, the location photography is mesmerizing, as are the detail and naturalism of the skillfully choreographed battle sequences. It was one of the biggest financial hits of British cinema, remaining in cinemas for 12 years.

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Published: December 25, 2025 at 08:38AM on Source: ANDY MAG

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