Made for the big screen: Our favorite epics of all time

Twenty years ago, James Cameron rolled the dice on his passion project epic romance "Titanic," scoring an unlikely mega, mega hit. To celebrate that achievement, and the film that sold hundreds of thousands of tissues, we share our list of favorite epics, covering a variety of genres from romance, to war, to historical events, to space operas. No matter what your flavor, there's an epic to cover it, and we think these are the best.

Love it or hate it, "Gone With the Wind" rightfully holds its place in film history as the definitive Hollywood epic. Starring Clark Gable and Vivian Leigh as Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara, "Gone With the Wind" is on its surface a torrid love story set against the burning of the South at the height of the Civil War, but culturally, more was stake, particularly when it came to depictions of people of color. While Hattie McDaniel would take home an Oscar for her performance as Mammy, a first for any African-American, the film is widely criticized for its supposed glorification of slavery. That said, "Gone With the Wind" stands as the golden Hollywood film, the most beautiful and spectacular among melodramas.

Yes, there have been many versions of this tale of a Jewish man seeking revenge against a terrible betrayal, but William Wyler's four-hour version of "Ben-Hur" is an achievement that stands above every other iteration that came before it, or followed it. As iconic action scenes go, the chariot race scene is a true classic of white-knuckle cinema. Due to its extensive stuntwork, the scene took five weeks to film, and was so spectacular, MGM had tour buses running through the gigantic set daily. This biblical epic holds a significant place in the hearts of many, which justifies the yearly airings exposing new audiences to this film.

"Spartacus" was Stanley Kubrick’s first epic production, featuring a cast of nearly 10,000 extras, and for the first time, he didn't have complete control of a film. That said, his (final) collaboration with Kirk Douglas, who treated his title role as a "labor of love," stands as a titan of film, and to date, the best example of the whole "sword and sandals" genre. Featuring a cast that includes Laurence Olivier and Peter Ustinov, "Spartacus" is a true achievement of film, and still stands as tall as it did when released in 1960.

While sprawling films with giant sets and big ensembles certainly existed before David Lean's biopic of the life of T.E. Lawrence, the term "epic" found true meaning with "Lawrence of Arabia." Depicting Lawrence's time on the Arabia Peninsula during World War I, the film is a massive achievement both on a technical and narrative level. Boasting Super Panavision 70 cinematography in exotic locales such as Jordan, Morocco, and Spain, "Lawrence of Arabia" is a marvel of sight and sound. But visuals aside, what brings the film together is the performance of Peter O'Toole as Lawrence is one-of-a-kind, presenting a rich if not complicated view of an egotist who suffers from bouts of heroism.

As epics go, "The Longest Day" earns its place on our list based on sheer ambition alone. Featuring a gigantic ensemble cast representing numerous nations, "The Longest Day" boasts a total of five directors, each tasked with filming distinct parts of the film, including American, German, and French segments, with all actors speaking in their native languages. The film, depicting the D-Day landings at Normandy during WWII, features massive sets and expertly detailed recreations of significant scenes as they happened during the war. An epic must for any war film buff, but also just as important for anyone who simply loves film.

Like "Ben-Hur," there have been numerous iterations of the story of Cleopatra VII, the young Queen of Egypt, who used her wiles and wits to fend off Roman invasion, but this version, directed by Joseph Mankiewicz and produced by Walter Wanger, is notable as no expense was spared in the production of film. Featuring a stellar cast, including the fiery pair of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton as Cleopatra and Mark Antony, "Cleopatra" became the most expensive film ever produced at the time, and threatened to bankrupt 20th Century Fox, yet upon release, became the highest-grossing film of the year — while still managing to be a huge flop.

Based on Boris Pasternak's 1957 novel, David Lean's "Doctor Zhivago" certainly takes a romantic view of the harsh realities of the Russian Revolution, but its heartbreaking story of love delayed and later lost is a sumptuous, beautifully-filmed example of the best of 1960s epic films. While it may not have the grandeur or significance of Lean's earlier effort in "Lawrence of Arabia," "Zhivago" remains a prime example of how expert filmmaking in conjunction with striking leads (here played by Omar Sharif and Julie Christie) can coalesce into a classic epic.

The third film in Sergio Leone's "Dollars" trilogy, "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" is everything a Western epic should be, including heroes, villains, and rogues stuck in the middle against the backdrop of the Civil War. As spaghetti westerns go, this remains possibly the most entertaining example of a film that can properly balance humor and action alongside an iconic score by Ennio Morricone. While Clint Eastwood, as the Man With No Name (who this time, actually has a name: Joe), is the top-billed character, the true star of the film is Eli Wallach, whose anti-hero, Tuco, gives the film a lightness that balances his selfish villainy, separating him from the cold evil of Lee Van Cleef's Angel Eyes, and sets up a finale that is nothing short of perfection.

Based on the first book of Arthur C. Clarke's "Odyssey" trilogy (which was released after the film), "2001: A Space Odyssey" is a hard sci-fi epic that was visionary for its time, delivering a complicated classic that emerged as one of the greatest and most influential films ever made. Director Stanley Kubrick creates a hypnotic exercise in sight and sound that might feel boring upon first view, but the concepts layered within the script, credited to Kubrick and Clarke, show a level of depth unmatched in films during the time. It stands as a sci-fi classic and an unrivaled work of art.

"Once Upon a Time in the West" could be considered "the epic that almost never was." After the success of "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," director Sergio Leone felt he said everything he needed to say in the Western genre, but when given the opportunity to work with Henry Fonda, along with his biggest budget to date, Leone came out of semi-retirement to deliver an epic that improved on his already successful formula, becoming a masterpiece in its own right. It took many years for "Once Upon a Time in the West" to earn its due, compared to Leone's previous trilogy, but today audiences consider this to be Leone's finest epic.

The first of three films by director Francis Ford Coppola to make our list, "The Godfather" is not only an epic depiction of organized crime post-WWII, it is likely the finest American classic we have in film. Collecting the talents of Al Pacino, Marlon Brando, Diane Keaton, John Cazale, James Caan, and Robert Duvall, Coppola uses them to maximum effect, and delivers an epic for the modern era. "The Godfather' set the bar for practically every crime saga that followed, some certainly better than others, but each owing itself to this blood-soaked fable of a true American family.

So how do you top greatness? By being better. In the wake of the massive success of "The Godfather" Francis Ford Coppola was given complete control of the sequel (the first to ever have "Part II" in the title). The result was an even larger epic that many feel is superior to the original. If "The Godfather" depicted the rise of an American crime family, "Part II" shows the Corleone family's moral fall. Couple this with the prequel segments starring Robert De Niro as a young Vito Corleone, and you have a nearly perfect epic that bears multiple viewings to take it all in.

Francis Ford Coppola may not have gone to Vietnam, but he faced his own personal Vietnam during the shooting of "Apocalypse Now," his epic retelling of Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness," facing problems from every corner, whether it was actors, climate, or just bad timing. The end result, however, somewhat borne from the adversity Coppola faced, resulted in possibly the darkest epic on our list, a film that is both chilling and yet innately enjoyable. Of the experience, Coppola is famously quoted as saying, "We were in the jungle, there were too many of us, we had access to too much money, too much equipment and little by little, we went insane."

While 1977's "Star Wars" served as the face that sailed a thousand sci-fi imitators, its 1980 sequel, "The Empire Strikes Back" is what happens when you do a space opera epic the right way. Liberally borrowing from 1930s serials in a straightforward and earnest way while also expanding greatly on the mythos of the original, "Empire" is the perfect storm of epic space-faring, planet-hopping action expertly paired with humor and romance, delivering a swashbuckling classic that further films in the same franchise have yet to match.

To call Sir Richard Attenborough's biography of the life and death of India's greatest civil rights leader an epic doesn't do it justice unless you focus on what truly makes the film an epic: the performance of Ben Kingsley as the ill-fated icon. What Kingsley does with the role is to make it less a performance and more a possession, as he expertly embodies Gandhi with both intelligence and emotional impact. 

Probably best described as a "hipster epic," Philip Kaufman's adaptation of Tom Wolfe's seminal recounting of the early days of the US space program, "The Right Stuff" took space flight out of the realm of science fiction and put an exceedingly human face on it, giving audiences an epic they could actually relate to. The men who would throw their bodies into the void of the unknown were our neighbors, our brothers, and our friends, and to give them such humanity on screen in turn created a film classic that — even at three hours — is still accessible to this day by new and younger audiences as a testament to the resiliency of the human spirit and a monument to human achievement.

Bernardo Bertolucci's beloved depiction of the Qing Dynasty and the life of China's last emperor Pu Yi in the Best Picture-winning "The Last Emperor" is largely considered the last of the great epic bio-pics. Starring a largely Chinese cast, this epic is one of the few on our list to accurately and properly represent people of color in an authentic way. John Lone is a standout as the adult Pu Yi, delivering a tragically dignified performance.

Before Mel Gibson would cede his leading man status to find Oscar gold, Kevin Costner would do the same with this epic tale of America amidst the turmoil of the Civil War, as a Union soldier does the unthinkable by befriending a Native American tribe, eschewing his former life for something he believed in more. Costner did the 1988 book the film was based on more than justice, delivering on a story that offered more dignity to native people than had been in films previously. It holds its place as a western epic, as well as one of the best films of the 20th century overall.

Making a film about controversial civil rights figure Malcolm X for audiences who 30 years after his death still weren't comfortable with was always going to be a daunting task, but for Spike Lee, it became a calling. Facing tremendous pressure and lack of support from Warner Bros., Lee was forced to enlist Black America's biggest stars to finance the remainder of his film so that it would see light of day. The result is authentic, sprawling and to this day, still underrated, even though it boasts a powerhouse performance from Denzel Washington in the title role. Ultimately, "Malcolm X" is the film that likely broke Lee, as he has yet to reach the same height in film in the 25 years since its release.

In 1993, Steven Spielberg was a director in transition. Previously known only for his blockbusters, with the occasional drama tossed in the mix, "Schindler's List" was the first, and immediate step in the evolution of one of our finest directors. Shot entirely in black and white with moments of color, the film is a melancholy epic that elevated Spielberg to a height he has yet to come down from. Featuring Ralph Fiennes as Nazi monster Amon Goeth and Liam Neeson as Oskar Schindler, Spielberg takes everything that worked for him in more mainstream blockbuster fare, and used it to weave an unforgettable epic that serves not only as a classic film, but also an indelible legacy.

In his second film as director, Mel Gibson created an epic tale of war and romance that would've fit right along with contemporary epics of the 1960s, that is, if it weren't so damned bloody — which in this case, was a very, very good thing. "Braveheart" pulses with heroism balanced with sacrifice, creating a hero in the previously little-known (at least in the US) Scottish lord William Wallace, as he faces off against the English with utter defiance, only to lose love and suffer betrayal by his fellow countrymen. It is an amazing epic, featuring one of the more chilling final lines from a hero to date.

Twenty years ago, director James Cameron was on the brink of losing it all. Every report from the set of "Titanic" said this was a film destined for failure before it ever reached cinemas. However, as soon as the star-crossed pair of Jack and Rose locked eyes, Cameron's gamble of wrapping a love story within the hull of the greatest luxury liner disaster ever was a gamble that paid off, making "Titanic" the highest grossing film of all time — that is, until Cameron bested himself with 2009's "Avatar."

Director Peter Jackson successfully closed his version of J.R.R. Tolkein's revered trilogy with the fantasy epic to end all epics. "The Return of the King" feels less like a closing chapter and more a celebration of the very achievement of pulling off an instant classic. Unlike the previous chapter, "The Two Towers," which was far too focused on action, and "The Fellowship of the Ring," which was a much more personal affair, "Return" was a film that fired on all cylinders, and left an impression unmatched to this day. 

The middle chapter of director Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, "The Dark Knight" feels less like a comic book movie and more on par with crime epics like "The Godfather." Nolan succeeds in creating an entire world where Batman exists as opposed to a world that exists to simply serve Batman. Here, his battle with his "new" arch-nemesis, The Joker (a superb Heath Ledger) feels both self-contained and yet pervasive as the effects envelop the entire city. It's most memorable for the greatest act of heroism in the film having nothing to do with Batman himself, as a barge full of commuters and prisoners have to trust one another in order to live. 

Make no mistake, "Blade Runner 2049" is both visually and narratively flawless. Like its predecessor, however, it is largely underrated, and probably slightly ahead of its time. While the 1982 original focused on a neo-noir vision of a futuristic Los Angeles where androids are willing to kill in order to live, director Denis Villeneuve's sequel examines the very meaning of life itself through the eyes of androids and the humans who see them only as slaves. Epic in length and scope, nothing about "Blade Runner 2049" is in any way boring, and serves as a prime example of how epics should be in the 21st century and beyond.