History Film / TheWarLord1965

''The War Lord'' is a 1965 American historical romantic drama film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner, based on the 1956 Broadway play ''The Lovers'' by Leslie Stevens. It stars Creator/CharltonHeston, Creator/RichardBoone, Rosemary Forsyth, Guy Stockwell, Creator/MauriceEvans, James Farentino, [=Niall MacGinnis=] and Henry Wilcoxon. Schaffner, Heston and Evans later collaborated on ''Film/{{Planet of the Apes|1968}}''.

In [[TheMiddleAges 11th century]] UsefulNotes/{{Europe}}, Chrysagon de la Cruex (Heston) is a knight in the service of the [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfNormandy Duke of Normandy]]. He is sent with his brother Draco (Stockwell) and Bors (Boone), an old warrior who served Chrysagon's father and swore to protect him, to a coastal village where the previous lord was killed in his tower by Frisian raiders. He battles the Frisians, captures the son of their prince and begins to rebuild the Duke's authority over the still largely pagan villagers, which a monk (Evans) tries to convert to UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}}. Chrysagon falls in love with Bronwyn (Forsyth), one of the local women, and decides to keep her for himself, which angries both her fiancé Marc (Farentino) and the other villagers. Chrysagon then finds himself betrayed by the villagers, who call the Frisian raiders to help them besiege the tower to get both Bronwyn and the young son of the Frisian prince back.

''The War Lord'' is a 1965 American historical romantic drama film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner, based on the 1956 Broadway play ''The Lovers''. It stars Creator/CharltonHeston, Creator/RichardBoone, Rosemary Forsyth, Guy Stockwell, Creator/MauriceEvans, James Farentino, [=Niall MacGinnis=] and Henry Wilcoxon. Schaffner, Heston and Evans later collaborated on ''Film/{{Planet of the Apes|1968}}''.

In the [[TheMiddleAges 11th century]], Chrysagon de la Cruex (Heston) is a knight in the service of the [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfNormandy Duke of Normandy]]. He is sent with his brother Draco (Stockwell) and Bors (Boone), an old warrior who served Chrysagon's father and swore to protect him, to a coastal village where the previous lord was killed in his tower by Frisian raiders. He battles the Frisians, captures the son of their prince and begins to rebuild the Duke's authority over the still largely pagan villagers, which a monk (Evans) tries to convert to UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}}. Chrysagon falls in love with Bronwyn (Forsyth), one of the local women, and decides to keep her for himself, which angries both her fiancé Marc (Farentino) and the other villagers. Chrysagon then finds himself betrayed by the villagers, who call the Frisian raiders to help them besiege the tower to get both Bronwyn and the young son of the Frisian prince back.

* KillItWithFire: In their third attempt to storm the tower, the Frisians try to burn the tower's door down. This ends up literally backfiring when Chrysagon's men throw oil on the collapsed drawbridge, destroying it and [[ManOnFire putting several of them on fire]].

* DepravedDwarf: Downplayed with Flea, but he enslaves the Frisian Prince's son and later sends Marc to call the Frisians for help, betraying the Normans. Draco shoots an arrow in his back as a punishment for this betrayal.

* BrutishCharacterBrutishWeapon: The barbarian Frisian raiders who attack the English coast carry battleaxes.

* FrontlineGeneral: Chrysagon leads the Normans through and through and amidst the battle and siege, and doesn't hesitate to put himself at risk to defend the tower.

In the [[TheMiddleAges 11th century]], Chrysagon de la Cruex (Heston) is a knight in the service of the [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfNormandy Duke of Normandy]]. He is sent with his brother Draco (Stockwell) and Bors (Boone), an old warrior who served Chrysagon's father and swore to protect him, to a coastal village where the previous lord was killed in his tower by Frisian raiders. He battles the Frisians, captures the son of their prince and begins to rebuild the Duke's authority over the pagan villagers. He falls in love with Bronwyn (Forsyth), one of the local women, and decides to keep her for himself, which angries both her fiancé Marc (Farentino) and the other villagers. Chrysagon then finds himself betrayed by the villagers, who call the Frisian raiders to help them besiege the tower to get both Bronwyn and the young son of the Frisian prince back.

In the 11th century, Chrysagon de la Cruex (Heston) is a knight in the service of the [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfNormandy Duke of Normandy]]. He is sent with his brother Draco (Stockwell) and Bors (Boone), an old warrior who served Chrysagon's father and swore to protect him, to a coastal village where the previous lord was killed in his tower by Frisian raiders. He battles the Frisians, captures the son of their prince and begins to rebuild the Duke's authority over the pagan villagers. He falls in love with Bronwyn (Forsyth), one of the local women, and decides to keep her for himself, which angries both her fiancé Marc (Farentino) and the other villagers. Chrysagon then finds himself betrayed by the villagers, who call the Frisian raiders to help them besiege the tower to get both Bronwyn and the young son of the Frisian prince back.

''The War Lord'' is a 1965 American historical drama film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner, based on the 1956 Broadway play ''The Lovers''. It stars Creator/CharltonHeston, Creator/RichardBoone, Rosemary Forsyth, Guy Stockwell, Creator/MauriceEvans, James Farentino, [=Niall MacGinnis=] and Henry Wilcoxon. Schaffner, Heston and Evans later collaborated on ''Film/{{Planet of the Apes|1968}}''.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/affiche-Le-Seigneur-de-la-guerre-The-War-Lord-1965-2_8513.jpg]]

''The War Lord'' is a 1965 film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner, based on the 1956 Broadway play ''The Lovers''. It stars Creator/CharltonHeston, Creator/RichardBoone, Rosemary Forsyth, Guy Stockwell, Creator/MauriceEvans, James Farentino, [=Niall MacGinnis=] and Henry Wilcoxon. Schaffner, Heston and Evans later collaborated on ''Film/{{Planet of the Apes|1968}}''.

Up until this film, most Hollywood representations of feudal life were [[YeGoodeOldeDays glamorized]], with bright and clean colors, [[TheParagon Paragons]] and [[KnightInShiningArmor Knights in Shining Armors]] aplenty, with the issue of religion rarely brought up. ''The War Lord'' attempts to portray the late 11th century in a more accurate fashion as dirty, [[DarkAgeEurope violent, and ruled by brute force]] or pragmatism, and shows how Christianity dealt with local paganisms. It also shows how the social stratification imposed by feudalism governed every human relationship, with power devolving from the duke, to the knight, to his men at arms, the church and the peasantry at the very bottom.

* TheUnfavorite: The father of Chrysagon and Draco has always favored the former, something the latter has always deeply resented.

* HornyVikings: The Frisians are more or less portrayed like Vikings. The only things lacking are (precisely) horns on their helmets, Norse origins and longships. It's also ironic considering their enemies, the Normans, actually descend from Norsemen who settled in what became Normandy over 150 years prior.

Not to be confused with the trope TheWarlord, the comic series ''ComicBook/TheWarlordDC'' nor the film ''Film/LordOfWar''.

Not to be confused with the comics ''ComicBook/TheWarlord'' nor the film ''Film/LordOfWar''.

* IncendiaryExponent: In their third attempt to storm the tower, the Frisians try to burn the tower's door down. This ends up literally backfiring when Chrysagon's men throw oil on the collapsed drawbridge, destroying it and [[ManOnFire putting several of them on fire]].

* EnemyMine: The villagers have suffered from Frisian raids with all the RapePillageAndBurn, but they are also ''very'' angry at Chrysagon for keeping Bronwyn for himself. Angry enough to make an alliance with the Frisians, who want their little prince that Chrysagon keeps hostage back.

* LoveTheme: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9Z-Qb-9x7o "Chrysagon and Bronwyn"]] is a plaintive, achingly romantic melody for their intimate scenes together.

* AnAxeToGrind:
** All of the Frisians carry battleaxes.
** Marc carries one taken from a Frisian he killed when meeting Chrysagon for the first time, and the new lord takes that axe from him.
** Chrysagon gets disarmed during the siege tower assault so he picks up a dead Frisian's axe.

* {{Rescue}}: The whole purpose of the Frisian siege is to rescue the leader's young son.

* AwesomeMcCoolName: Chrysagon de la Cruex is by no mean a Norman name of the time, let alone French (it does sound like a botched "De la Croix"). It's still pretty cool.

* CainAndAbel: Draco eventually tries to kill Chrysagon, turning mad out of all the years of being TheUnFavourite and being in his brother's shadow. He does so even if he has technically been put in charge of his brother's domain by the Duke when searching for reinforcements. He also shows himself much less prone to be a fair overlord than his brother.

* NotAfraidToDie: During the BatteringRam assault, Bors immediately steps in to search the anchor to have a chance of stopping the ram.
-->'''Chrysagon:''' Not you, Bors!
-->'''Bors:''' Why not? I would as soon die a wet death as a dry one.

* AnAxeToGrind: All of the Frisians carry battleaxes. Marc carries one when meeting Chrysagon for the first time, and the new lord takes that axe from him.