EPIC FILMS

10.  Dances With the Wolves, 1990

9.    Ran, 1985 (based on Shakespeare's King Lear)

8.    Das Boot, 1981

7.    Once Upon a Time in America, 1984, directed by Sergio Leone, is an epic crime drama set in the 1920s and moves forward to the 1960s.  Of all of the films in this list, Once Upon a Time in America is the best selection.  Not only does it rank with The Godfather, but in many ways it surpasses it.

6.    12 Years a Slave, 2013

5.    Saving Private Ryan, 1998.

4.    Schindler's List, 1993.

3.    Seven Samurai, 1954.

2.    Gone With the Wind, 1939.

RUNNERS UP:

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, 2003.

Forrest Gump, 1994.

Gladiator, 2000

Titanic, 1997

Spartacus, 1960

1.    Lawrence of Arabia, 1962.

Why not include The Godfather, Last of the Mohicans, Rob Roy, Braveheart, and others?

10.  Open Water, 2003

9.    White Squal, 1996.

8.    The Perfect Storm, 2000

7.    The Wayback, 2010

6.    Rabbit-Proof Fence, 2002.

5.    Rescue Dawn, 2006

Of all the movies in this list, Rescue Dawn, directed by Werner Herzog, is by far the best selection.  Again, in part to Christian Bale, whose performance cannot be reproduced.  The story is a testament to remarkable stamina, strength, and courage.  How he, Dieter Dengler, overcame what he first went through goes beyond telling.  Some idiot who goes by the username writes in the comments that this is a poor movie.  He says "This movie is horrible. One of the worst war movies that I've seen. How it got good decent to good reviews on IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes I have no idea. The movie was very poorly directed and had extremely bad pacing. Acting was sub-par. The story was way too fictional to even be base on true event.  For example how does Dengler escape the mob of angry villagers while his friend get chopped up while sitting right next to him. Fictional crap this like that made the movie feel less believable in a movie that is suppose to be base off something. Ending was worst."  Immediately there are others who attack him.  This is one of the greatest war dramas that I have ever seen and I have seen a lot.  When he says that acting was "sub-par," well, he was just baiting his audience.  Christian Bale pulls off a remarkable performance.  And his co-stars, too, provide some terrific and unforgettable characterizations of prisoners of war.

4.    Touching the Void, 2003

3.    Into the Wild, 2007.  Directed by Sean Penn.

2.    Alive, 1993, Crash landing of Uraguayan soccer team in 1972.

1.    127 Hours, 2010, about outdoors-man Aron Ralston.  I saw this movie with my sister, Mary, back in August of 2011.  I have not had many moments with my sister, so I really enjoyed spending time with her.  As to the movie, well, it didn't work.  The effect it had on the audience was like torture.  We knew the story.  Ralston's efforts were remarkable and courageous.  It shows what some people do to survive.  But as a form of entertainment, the film did not work.  Between squirms around the sawing off of his arm, I was bored to death with the deterioration of his psychological state.  From what I watched, I thought that Ralston was a bit of a risk taker, jumping down into crevices into subterranean pools.  Beautiful but highly risky.