The Vikings....1958

[Toki Bloodaxe]

I have seen this movie over and over again throughout my life and I still cannot stop watching it. The film stars Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh and Ernest Borgnine. The main storyline is of the Viking Ragnar (Borgnine) who sires two sons- one he knows of, Einar (Douglas) and one that he doesn't know of, Eric (Tony Curtis). The brothers begin to fight over the beautiful Welsh princess (Janet Leigh) and all Ragnorak breaks loose because of their rivally. This film is gorgeous! It is filmed on location in the fjords of Norway and in the castles of France with spectacular scenery all around. Director Richard Fleischer really went the whole nine yards on this film to achieve authenticity. He used Norwegian actors as extras, built three dragon raider ships from plans at the viking ship museum, designed buildings, weapons, clothing and rituals from the advise of Viking experts both here and in Norway. There is a heavy dose of Norse Mysticism sprinkled throughout the film. And, the drinking and feasting and weapons contests are accurately portrayed. For a film of its time, it does a pretty good job of portraying the Vikings as just who they were- violent and dangerous raiders who spread their influence all over parts of Europe and Eurasia by sword or by colonization. There are many great scenes in the film. One of the best is where Kirk Douglas climbs a wall of thrown axes to open a drawbridge on a besieged Northumbrian castle. ODIN!!!!!   Sure its no Lord of the Rings. But, these were the movies we had to make do with when we were kids....right?

[Morgan Dreadlocke]

But, these were the movies we had to make do with when we were kids....right?

An good days they were! Saturday matinee 60 cents, popcorn .20, soda .25 and a horde of feral kids combin' the city fer pop bottles to pay fer it.

[Amras Elfwine]

I do indeed have this DVD in muh library...I love the ships built for this film...beautiful photography and music as well!

[BLAKDUKE]

How about Douglas, drunk as the proverbial skunk, cutting the pigtails off the blonde to prove her faithfullness(or lack thereof) to her husband.

[Will Gamwell]

Love this movie!  Own it, watch it often.

[Pascal]

Tremendous movie -- once of my favorites!

And, am I misremembering completely, or wasn't there a television show with a similar name and theme not long after this?  Don't recall how long it lasted, just remember watching battle scenes.

[Morgan Dreadlocke]

There was.  I were diggin around on the www surfin fer who knows wot when I run across it. Twas Vikings done wi' a sorta "Bonanza" twist. Never seen it me self but its out there.

[Just Randall]

I have this one also. And I tend to prefer the 'older' movies, before they had all this CGI and ultra-mega special effects, when the movie succeeded or failed based on the talents and skills of the actors.

Guess that's probably why 'Mr. Roberts' is my favorite all time movie.

[VIII]

"I wish it were English blood!"

BTW: Jamie Lee Curtis was conceived during the making of this movie.

[Toki Bloodaxe]

Much thanks, your Grace! The Dvd of "the Vikings" that we got frm Netflix had a short feature with director Richard Fleischer's recollections of making the film. I was astounded by how much time and effort went into making this film. And, how much personal energy the cast displayed to make the film as authentic, and as entertaining as possible. They really don't make 'em like this anymore.

[Will Gamwell]

It is very unfortunate that movies today are almost all CG.  I think the last one that I saw that did not have any CG was the new Punisher movie with Tom Jane.  It made watching the movie more enjoyable knowing that it was all done by actors and stunt men/women.

[Toki Bloodaxe]

    I have to agree with you. Rafe, that movies that have very little CG in their sequences, particulary action sequences seem to be better films. I recently watched a movie called "Doomsday" with the British actress Rhona Mitra in the role as the Police Force Special Ops Officer heroine of the story. There is a section of the film where she has to fight an armored knight with only her bare hands and her wits. Now, I checked a bit on this and I learned that Rhona Mitra trained for weeks in sword fighting, contact martial Arts and gymnastics so that her performance would be as realistic as possible. She handles many of her own fighting sequence stunts and the results are realistic (for a movie, that is) enough so that the audience isn't insulted by ridiculous flying scenes, or far shots of someone in the heroine's costume performing outlandish stunts. Many recent films make me shake my head in disbelief as the audience is asked to suspend their sense of disbeiief for yet another skin-of-your-teeth escape from an exploding building.
    Another interesting tidbit concerns the Luc Besson movie "The Messenger." During many of the medieval fighting scenes (the film takes place during the Hundred Years war) Police with riot shields had to sorround the camera and the camera men to keep the expensive cameras and the camera operators safe from out-of-control actors and stuntmen overcome by the fury of the moment, swinging, swords, maces, flails and battle axes and smashing up each other's armored suits.

[Amras Elfwine]

I love the fact that Kirk Douglas actually "ran the oars" on that great stunt!!