‘Napoleon’ and the Top Five "Great Men" Movies

‘Napoleon’Ridley Scott, 2023

Napoleon 2023

Two movies bolted together over 30 years: a psychosexual comedy between Napoleon (Joaquin Phoenix) and Josephine (Vanessa Kirby), and Ridley Scott battle filmmaking. Everyone had fun; everyone wanted the four-hour Apple cut. The consensus is it races through history without ever getting to the bottom of the man, an 'awesome three-star movie.' Highlights: the Toulon siege, the frozen-lake cannon fire at Austerlitz, and the 'destiny has brought me to this lamb chop' dinner-table blowup.

The Top Five "Great Men" Movies each host's favorites: do the movies interrogate the great man or endorse him?

Picked by Sean Fennessey

Steve Jobs 2015

Works because it never tries to tell the whole life: three backstage scenes, Sorkin dialogue, and a late gloss with his daughter that puts the praise and the blame at his feet.

Picked by Sean Fennessey

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford 2007

One of his favorites of the century: fame and worship through Robert Ford's eyes, demythologizing Brad Pitt's over-the-hill outlaw. 'A movie about being Brad Pitt.'

Picked by Sean Fennessey

Amadeus 1984

The great-man inversion, told through a jealous rival: Salieri watching Mozart reach something out of reach.

Picked by Sean Fennessey

Lincoln 2012

Like Oppenheimer to him: restrained, not the valedictory the branding implies. A great man shown trapped by warring factions.

Picked by Sean Fennessey

Citizen Kane 1941

His No. 1: invented the sub-genre. You think this guy's great; here's what's really going on under the surface.

Picked by Amanda Dobbins

Shakespeare in Love 1998

Her classic pick: different when the great man is an artist. Loves the logistics of the theater and the court as much as the romance.

Picked by Amanda Dobbins

All the King's Men 1949

The 1949 film, based on the novel keyed to Huey Long. Shows a man learning that the only way to win is to cheat, a modern portrait of ambition.

Picked by Amanda Dobbins

The Lion in Winter 1968

A family of 'great men' plus one great woman: the answer to 'why are you like this' is a lousy dad and annoying brothers. Great Katharine Hepburn.

Picked by Amanda Dobbins

Malcolm X 1992

Her No. 1: the complicated, tragic life of a major American figure. A favorite Spike Lee film and Denzel performance.

Picked by Chris Ryan

The Right Stuff 1983

Prompted by Matt Zoller Seitz's Phil Kaufman interview. Goldman wanted a galaxy of American heroes; Kaufman insisted they were fuck-ups with taped-together tech, and that tension is the movie.

Picked by Chris Ryan

Apollo 13 1995

The flip side of The Right Stuff: hagiography of the man who doesn't make it to the moon, and a team-up of everyone who saves him.

Picked by Chris Ryan

Wyatt Earp 1994

Costner deciding only he can play the greatest lawman in the West across a decade-spanning epic. Tossed in amid Horizon anticipation.

Picked by Chris Ryan

Darkest Hour 2017

His throw-in: Gary Oldman's Churchill in nearly every frame, leaving you sure that without him we'd all be at Oktoberfest. Amanda pointedly left it off (too many Churchills).

Also out: ‘Rustin’on Netflix

Rustin 2023

George C. Wolfe's film about Bayard Rustin organizing the 1963 March on Washington, produced in part by the Obamas' Higher Ground. Sean didn't think it was very good, a broad early-'90s-style biopic that plays like a 1997 HBO movie, but rated Colman Domingo's performance highly and wanted the nittier, grittier process-and-ideas version.

Also mentioned raised along the way

Ridley Scott and the Napoleon comps The DuellistsWaterlooBarry LyndonDangerous LiaisonsMarie AntoinettePhantom ThreadGladiatorKingdom of HeavenHouse of GucciNapoléon

Joaquin Phoenix The MasterJoker

Dual-track and other releases BlackBerryAustraliaThe Hateful EightMadame WebAnyone but You

Great-men talk OppenheimerLawrence of ArabiaThe Life of Emile ZolaJFKSaving Private RyanVanilla SkyForrest GumpThe Silence of the Lambs

John Ford at dinner How Green Was My ValleyDrums Along the MohawkThe SearchersThe Grapes of Wrath

In passing The KillerMaster and Commander: The Far Side of the WorldOcean's ElevenThe FavouriteSaltburnLady BirdThe Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & SnakesHorizon: An American Saga

Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads

TV Faraway DownsThe Gilded AgeJohn AdamsThe GreatSaturday Night Live

Books Say NothingHamnetAdventures in the Screen Trade

Games FIFA World Cup Launch EditionFIFA

Ads The Wedding ScammerCarvanaNetflixFanDuelBoar's Head