Alexander the Great (1963 TV Movie) User Reviews

Worth a watch

[bobbuethe-29666 · 6/10 · 6 January 2020]

Not a whole lot of plot, but fun to watch for Shatner's performance. Adam West had surprisingly few lines for a second-billed role.

As I write this, the pilot is available to watch for free on YouTube. Just search for "Shatner Alexander the Great."

Cliff notes Greek history.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 24 January 2016]

A very blonde William Shatner commands attention as Greek emperor Alexander who ruled the world after conquering the Persians who had taken over from the Babylonians who had taken over from the Egyptians. Of course, the Greek empire would be taken over by the Romans, continuing a trend that continued until the establishment of the European continent and multiple countries governed by themselves, not just one world leader. This is of course only one part of Alexander's life, dealing with dissent in his ranks, lead by John Cassavettes. Alexander's right hand man is none other than Batman's Adam West. This appears to have been quickly rushed together, as well as greatly edited. Shatner is commanding, but he is defeated by a rather generic production with little research done outside of an encyclopedia.

Weak but passable telefilm about the greatest conqueror who faces off the vast Persian empire

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 19 June 2020]

This is a pilot episode about a failed series concerning Alexander the Great . It is a brief biopic about the famous conqueror of the Fourth Century, his doubts, betrayals and relentless challenges. As Alexander : William Shatner, crossed to Asia on his eleven years of conquest to an unknown world. The picture deals with his taking on Persian King Darius III and especially his General Memnon : Cliff Osmond . Finally, Darius III to be defeated in three bloody battles : Granico, Issos, Gaugamela.

Fimmaker offers a medium budget film with a few fresh and insightful ideas about Alexander. There is plenty of globe-trotting horse going along here, along with one or two battle sequences and they are made in scale enough but no much, and, being rather effective. Willam Shatner is an acceptable choice as the Macedonian hero, I was surprised to find he really fits his character pretty well . He brings a high level to the part, doing us focus on his bravery, obstinacy, and integrity. However, the picture is more focused on the discussion, debates, arguments, and confrontation with his Generals. These commanders are well played by a fine plethora of secondaries as Joseph Cotten, Adam West, Simon Oakland, John Doucette , and Alexander's main contender nicely performed by John Cassevetes. While Alexander's love interest being acted by the beautiful Ziva Rodann. In the film stands out a rousing and epic musical score by Leonard Rosenman. The motion picture was professionally directed by Phil Karlson, though with no much enthusiasm.

The picture is partially based on historical events. As Alexander was born in Pella and died in Babylon (356-323 BC), he was disciple to great philosopher Aristoteles and conquering most of the then known world, creating a Greek empire that spanned all the way from the Balkans to India . Son of the great king Philip II of Macedonya who vanquished in Queronea and united the Greek cities in the league of Corintho. Alexander conquested all of the ancient Greek tribes and led the Macedonian army against Persians. From his conquest of Egypt founding Alexandria as capital, he took Phenician coast cities, Byblos, Sidon, Tiro and subsequently Babylon and Persepolis that he fired. In spite of his gay orientation and loving relationship with his childhood friend, Hephastion, he married a Persian princess called Roxanne. Later on, he continued his unstoppable conquests arriving in Afghanistan and Khiver Pass and pushing all the way to India where he reigned unchallenged. In India he was infected by fevers , dying a bit later on. Then his vast empire to be divided amongst his Generals : Seleuco, Antioco, Ptolomy.

There are various versions about Alexander, these are the following ones : Alexander the Great 1956 by Robert Rossen with Richard Burton, Danielle Darrieux as his mother Olympias , Claire Bloom, Gustavo Rojo, Ruben Rojo, Marisa de Leza, Fredric March as Philipo, Peter Cushing, Barry Jones, Michael Hordern. Alexander 2004 by Oliver Stone with Colin Farrell, Angela Jolie as Olympias , Jared Leto, Anthony Hopkins as Aristoteles , Rosario Dawson, Christopher Plummer, Val Kilmer as Philipo. And Young Alexander 2010 by Jalal Mehri with Sam Heugham, Lauren Cohen.

Where can I get the original version of this pilot

[antwa100 · 3 June 2006]

I have not seen this film, but I truly would like to, as I was the main Belly dancer in it. Can anyone tell me where I can get a copy of it. I didn't even know who William Shatner or Adam West was at that time. The only person I knew was Joseph Cotton. Carey Leverette was the choreographer (may he rest in peace). Yes, even for the 60's it came across quite corny on the set, but it was a lot of fun. Please, Please, tell me where I can obtain a copy. I have been searching and searching for this for many years. I even got on Shatner's web sight and asked where I could get a copy. I never received the information. Thank you so much. Antoinette

Batman + Captain Kirk fight Persians... Nuff said.

[RoughRatings · 3/10 · 26 June 2018]

A story about great men that would come to redefine our civilisation. An event whose impact would reach the "ends of the world and the great outer sea". A cultural revolution had started that would mark the beginning of an epoch.

None of these statements describes this made for TV pilot movie, which is a rather turgid retelling of the Battle of Issus with William Shatner in the title role and Adam West playing Robin to his Alexander. The script is horrible, the acting is wooden and thank god this pilot was never picked up.

Three years later Shatner and West were free to be cast in their iconic roles and history was made.

wish I could see this again

[vironpride · 1/10 · 31 January 2006]

If I remember correctly, I only saw this flick once, and that was many years ago. Therefore I don't remember much about it except that it was so bad, it was hilarious. First of all was William Shatner in his usual hammy, overacting mode (did he have any other?). As a horse lover, I could not help but notice that Alexander's famous horse, Bucephalus, was played by an American Saddle Horse, which breed was not developed for many centuries after Alexander's time. However, I must recommend "Alexander the Great" mainly because it contains probably my favorite line in motion picture history. Alexander says of Bucephalus, "Did I not tell you that among horses he too is a God?" This stinker is worth seeing for that alone!

Only has good eye candy

[HotToastyRag · 2/10 · 30 June 2023]

Do you want to see Captain Kirk and Batman in the same scene? Or how about two great stage actors in a BC period piece? William Shatner, Joseph Cotten, John Cassavetes, and Adam West all teamed up for the television hour-long movie Alexander the Great. It was obviously a low-budget flick, and the two famous tv fellows weren't famous yet.

Really, the only reason to watch this is if you think William Shatner is a stud. He prances around in skimpy Roman costumes showing off his body, and he looks very cute with his wavy, blond hair. The movie itself is pretty bad. It's one of those old tv movies that give old tv movies a bad name. But I did sit through the entire hour. I like to look at pretty things.

Short movie about Alexander's battle where he counquered King Darius

[lln123 · 5/10 · 11 September 2018]

A decent little flick that is so short you won't have time to get bored. I couldn't help but see Adam West as Batman in this, but fortunately Shatner was able to shed his stereotypical acting style.

For those asking and looking for a copy of this movie, it's on The Sensational Sixties 50 Movie DVD set. Look on eBay, you can probably find it for less than $20.

Alexander the Great

[CinemaSerf · 5/10 · 3 June 2023]

If it wasn't for the really terrible dialogue, this would make for quite a passable sword and sandals adventure, William Shatner is in full theatrical ham mode as the eponymous character who must combat the maniacal King Darius of Persia as well as a few of his more independently minded generals. It can only really be described as a very loose interpretation of history - there is oodles of creative licence going on - but it is still quite a good fun little drama that lets our hero roll around in the dirt, without his shirt coming off, and we've even got some belly dancing too! It's rubbish, really - but I still, perversely perhaps, I rather enjoyed it.

Excellent for a sixties TV pilot

[trey-yancy-572-763547 · 8/10 · 23 March 2021]

Bearing in mind that this was an hour-long pilot for an early sixties television show, it really is quire excellent. Shatner was a fairly familiar face at the time but no one had ever heard of Adam West, so his second-billing was a response to his success as Batman when the titles of the film were updated.

There is an odd plot hole about what happened to Alexander at one point, but otherwise this was pretty darned good, considering that the competition was formulaic westerns and silly comedies such as the Beverly Hillbillies. And this was towards the end of the era when big budget sword and sandal epics were highly popular.

It would appear that the idea of staging huge battle scenes on a weekly basis (including the purchase of footage from previous films) would have been very expensive and I wonder if the stories might have become repetitious over a season. The one-off nature of this film is the result of the good judgement on the part of network executives and not because of the relative quality of the product.

Overall, this is a good flick and very bold attempt for a TV series pilot.

Sometimes network executives make the right decisions!

[Wizard-8 · 28 October 2014]

In his autobiography, Adam West stated, "May well be the worst hour of TV in history" regarding this pilot for a proposed TV series that he co-stared in. Is it THAT bad? Of course not - I've seen worse pilots and worse TV series. That's not to say that this is a GOOD pilot, however. I will say that it doesn't look bad - some time and expense was put into making or getting a hold of period costumes and props, though it does look some battle footage was taken from a theatrical movie. And there is some amusement from Shatner's sometimes hammy performance as the title figure, and that this great leader is sometimes portrayed as a kind of adolescent goofball. But that is all that is entertaining about this pilot. It's a real dull affair for the most part, with a lot of stiff and dry dialogue. The pilot also fails to provide enough explanation for viewers who know little to nothing about Alexander the Great and his military campaign, so as a result there are some confusing parts. If you do want to watch this pilot despite what I've said, it can be found on the Mill Creek DVD company's 50 movie pack "The Sensational Sixties", which managed to uncover a decent-looking print for this now public domain production.

decent

[Kirpianuscus · 28 October 2022]

The first temptation is to critic it very hard. The image of Persia from intro is fake, the Macedonians seems like Romans, the fight scenes are almost passable.

But William Shatner proposes a not so bad Alexander, Joseph Cotton and John Cassavetes are just good and the film is only a pilot episode .

So, after the 52 minutes, you can define it as a decent try, inspired by the spirit of period in adaptation of Ancient history heroic episodes, with a reasonable potential and fair in large aspects.

A nice film and a not so bad story- sure, the aspect of sketch is obvious.

At the second view it seems just correct, the heroic virtues, the love story, the punishment of traitors and enemies being fair used. The most important, the desire of return to Macedonia , interesting reflected.