Hollywood has produced a number of films that reach just a little further in their search for dramatic purpose. Sometimes this means spanning years, or traveling the globe. Sometimes this means bringing thousands of people together for massive productions. No matter how it’s done, these films stand out because they succeed in making a movie into an experience. I consider an epic to be a film that brings a segment of history or society to life in grand scale. Although a number of war films have done this, I think these films also need to clearly represent the era that the movie takes place in.
Here are some of those epic films:
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
Gone with the Wind (1939)
The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
The Longest Day (1962)
Cleopatra (1963)
The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965)
Doctor Zhivago (1965)
Reds (1981)
Gandhi (1982)
The Last Emperor (1987)
Dances with Wolves (1990)
Braveheart (1995)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)
Did You See That One? 
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