Highest-Rated Movies about '1860s'

Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo (1966), Yojimbo (1961), The General (1926), The Leopard (1963), Gone with the Wind (1939), Dances with Wolves (1990), The Ballad of Narayama (1983), Glory (1989) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best 1860s movies.

#1. Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo (1966)

Storyline: Blondie (The Good) (Clint Eastwood) is a professional gunslinger who is out trying to earn a few dollars. Angel Eyes (The Bad) (Lee Van Cleef) is a hitman who always commits to a task and sees it through, as long as he is paid to do so. And Tuco (The Ugly) (Eli Wallach) is a wanted outlaw trying to take care of his own hide. Tuco and Blondie share a partnership together making money off of Tuco's bounty, but when Blondie unties the partnership, Tuco tries to hunt down Blondie. When Blondie and Tuco come across a horse carriage loaded with dead bodies, they soon learn from the only survivor, Bill Carson (Antonio Casale), that he and a few other men have buried a stash of gold in a cemetery. Unfortunately, Carson dies and Tuco only finds out the name of the cemetery, while Blondie finds out the name on the grave. Now the two must keep each other alive in order to find the gold. Angel Eyes (who had been looking for Bill Carson) discovers that Tuco and Blondie met with Carson and knows ...

Plot Keywords: spaghetti western, explosion, dehydration, blood, man with no name, hitman, anti hero ...

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#2. Yojimbo (1961)

Storyline: Sanjuro, a wandering samurai enters a rural town in nineteenth century Japan. After learning from the innkeeper that the town is divided between two gangsters, he plays one side off against the other. His efforts are complicated by the arrival of the wily Unosuke, the son of one of the gangsters, who owns a revolver. Unosuke has Sanjuro beaten after he reunites an abducted woman with her husband and son, then massacres his father's opponents. During the slaughter, the samurai escapes with the help of the innkeeper; but while recuperating at a nearby temple, he learns of innkeeper's abduction by Unosuke, and returns to the town to confront him.

Plot Keywords: samurai, bodyguard, one against many, man with no name, katana sword, 1860s, one word title ...

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#3. The General (1926)

Storyline: Johnnie loves his train ("The General") and Annabelle Lee. When the Civil War begins he is turned down for service because he's more valuable as an engineer. Annabelle thinks it's because he's a coward. Union spies capture The General with Annabelle on board. Johnnie must rescue both his loves.

Plot Keywords: train, national film registry, shooting, covered wagon, chopping wood, jumping onto a train, rifle ...

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#4. The Leopard (1963)

Storyline: In the 1860s, a dying aristocracy struggles to maintain itself against a harsh Sicilian landscape. The film traces with a slow and deliberate rhythm the waning of the noble home of Fabrizio Corbero, Prince of Salina (the Leopard) and the corresponding rise to eminence of the enormously wealthy ex-peasant Don Calogero Sedara. The prince himself refuses to take active steps to halt the decline of his personal fortunes or to help build a new Sicily but his nephew Tancredi, Prince of Falconeri swims with the tide and assures his own position by marrying Don Calogero's beautiful daughter Angelica. The climatic scene is the sumptuous forty-minute ball, where Tancredi introduces Angelica to society.

Plot Keywords: prince, based on novel, italy, epic, revolution, nobility, battle ...

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#5. Gone with the Wind (1939)

Storyline: Scarlett is a woman who can deal with a nation at war, Atlanta burning, the Union Army carrying off everything from her beloved Tara, the carpetbaggers who arrive after the war. Scarlett is beautiful. She has vitality. But Ashley, the man she has wanted for so long, is going to marry his placid cousin, Melanie. Mammy warns Scarlett to behave herself at the party at Twelve Oaks. There is a new man there that day, the day the Civil War begins. Rhett Butler. Scarlett does not know he is in the room when she pleads with Ashley to choose her instead of Melanie.

Plot Keywords: narcissistic personality disorder, american civil war, black stereotype, battle of the sexes, high society, cotton, old maid ...

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#6. Dances with Wolves (1990)

Storyline: Lt. John Dunbar is dubbed a hero after he accidentally leads Union troops to a victory during the Civil War. He requests a position on the western frontier, but finds it deserted. He soon finds out he is not alone, but meets a wolf he dubs "Two-socks" and a curious Indian tribe. Dunbar quickly makes friends with the tribe, and discovers a white woman who was raised by the Indians. He gradually earns the respect of these native people, and sheds his white-man's ways.

Plot Keywords: friendship, native american, 19th century, cult film, military officer, club, directorial debut ...

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#7. The Ballad of Narayama (1983)

Storyline: In a small village in a valley everyone who reaches the age of 70 must leave the village and go to a certain mountain top to die. If anyone should refuse he or she would disgrace their family. Old Orin is 69. This winter it is her turn to go to the mountain. But first she must make sure that her eldest son Tatsuhei finds a wife.—Mattias Thuresson

Plot Keywords: vagina, snow, acceptance, widow, young love, teenage pregnancy, starvation ...

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#8. Glory (1989)

Storyline: Shaw was an officer in the Federal Army during the American Civil War who volunteered to lead the first company of black soldiers. Shaw was forced to deal with the prejudices of both the enemy (who had orders to kill commanding officers of blacks), and of his own fellow officers.

Plot Keywords: 19th century, american civil war, military uniform, war hero, slavery, whipping, whip ...

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#9. Red River (1948)

Storyline: Fourteen years after starting his cattle ranch in Texas, Tom Dunston is finally ready to drive his 10,000 head of cattle to market. Back then Dunston, his sidekick Nadine Groot and a teen-aged boy, Matt Garth -who was the only survivor of an Indian attack on a wagon train - started off with only two head of cattle. The nearest market however is in Missouri, a 1000 miles away. Dunston is a hard task master demanding a great deal from the men who have signed up for the drive. Matt is a grown man now and fought in the Civil War. He has his own mind as well and he soon runs up against the stubborn Dunston who won't listen to advice from anyone. Soon, the men on the drive are taking sides and Matt ends up in charge with Dunston vowing to kill him.

Plot Keywords: cattle drive, cowboy, cattle, held at gunpoint, musket, flintlock rifle, outlaw ...

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#10. Little Big Man (1970)

Storyline: Jack Crabb is 121 years old as the film begins. A collector of oral histories asks him about his past. He recounts being captured and raised by indians, becoming a gunslinger, marrying an indian, watching her killed by General George Armstrong Custer, and becoming a scout for him at Little Big Horn.

Plot Keywords: native american, based on novel, cavalry charge, u.s. cavalry, revisionist western, childbirth, gunfighter ...

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#11. Ludwig (1973)

Storyline: Historical evocation of Ludwig, king of Bavaria, from his crowning in 1864 until his death in 1886, as a romantic hero. Fan of Richard Wagner, betrayed by him, in love with his cousin Elisabeth of Austria, abandonned by her, tormented by his homosexuality, he will little by little slip towards madness.—Yepok

Plot Keywords: homoerotic, loner, kingdom, homosexual subtext, empress, 1880s, 1870s ...

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#12. The Old Maid (1939)

Storyline: After a two-year absence, Clem Spender returns home on the very day that his former fiancée, Delia, is marrying another man. Clem enlists in the Union army and dies on the battlefield, but not before finding comfort in the arms of Delia's cousin, Charlotte Lovell. The years pass and Charlotte establishes an orphanage and eventually confesses to Delia that her dearest young charge, Tina, is an fact her own child by Clem. Jealousy and family secrets threaten to tear the cousins apart.—L. Hamre

Plot Keywords: necklace, 19th century, horse, f rated, blonde woman, brother brother relationship, child ...

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#13. Rurouni Kenshin Part I: Origins (2012)

Storyline: In 1868, after the end of the Bakumatsu war, the former assassin Kenshin Himura promises to defend those in need without killing. Kenshin wanders through Japan with a reverse-edged sword during the transition of the samurai age to the New Age. When Kenshin helps the idealistic Kaoru Kamiya from the gangsters of the powerful opium drug lord Kanryuu Takeda that wants her school for his production of opium, Kaoru invites Kenshin to stay in the school. But the drug chemist Megumi Takani escapes from Kanryuu and seeks shelter in the school. Meanwhile the killer Battosai is murdering police officers and leaving messages attached to their bodies. When Kanryuu poisons the population to get the school, Kenshin and the street fighter Sanosuke Sagara join forces to attack their common enemy.

Plot Keywords: bangs, pretty woman, live action remake of anime, medicine, fever, sickness, poisoning ...

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#14. Gangs of New York (2002)

Storyline: In the god-forsaken district of early-1860's Lower Manhattan known as the Five Points, the vicious Nativist, Bill "The Butcher" Cutting, is the supreme overlord of an area riddled with crime, prostitution, theft and murder, as the American Civil War still rages on. Sixteen whole years after the brutal murder of his father from Bill's blood-stained hands, an orphaned Irish-American, Amsterdam Vallon, returns to this melting pot of corruption to avenge his untimely death; however, a lot has changed since then. Who can remember the once innocent boy and now a young man bent on revenge, who works his way up to the hierarchy of Five Points? Will Amsterdam ever taste the dangerous but sweet fruit of retribution?

Plot Keywords: gangster, prostitution, catholic church, bludgeoning, american civil war, pickpocket, 1840s ...

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#15. Neco z Alenky (1988)

Storyline: A memorably bizarre screen version of Lewis Carroll's novel 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland', mixing one live actor (Alice) with a large variety of stop-motion animated creatures, ranging from the complex (the White Rabbit) to the incredibly simple (the Caterpillar, consisting of a sock, a couple of glass eyes and a pair of false teeth). The original story is followed reasonably faithfully, though those familiar with this director's other films won't be the least bit surprised by the numerous digressions into Svankmajer territory, living slabs of meat and all. As the opening narration says, it's a film made for children... perhaps?

Plot Keywords: stop motion animation, miniaturization, surrealism, very little dialogue, trap, child protagonist, name in title ...

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