History Film / Cleopatra

* TheAlcoholic: In the second part of the movie, there is hardly a scene where Marc Antony is not drinking.

* ThisManIsDead: "There is no one here by the name of Mark Antony... alive".

* OnOneCondition Octavian is willing to leave the Egyptians alone, but requires a small token of faith that Cleopatra delivers him Antony's head.

* ShownTheirWork: Kinda. Most works of fiction forget that, whatever Antonius personally felt towards Brutus, he did have the latter's body wrapped in an expensive purple mantle, which was a show of great respect. In the movie, he covers Brutus with a red garment.

* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning:: Different from the average one; nobody is allowed to watch Cleopatra during it.

* OnOneCondition Octavian is willing to leave the Egyptians alone, but requieres as a small token of faith that Cleopatra delivers him Antony's head.

* SlapSlapKiss

* TheSpeechless: Flavius, Caesar's loyal manservant.
* TroubledProduction: The filming began in London in 1960. The first director, Rouben Mamoulian was fired, and the actors who originally played Caesar and Antony left; the directing was given to Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who inherited a production already over budget with no usable footage. Elizabeth Taylor got pneumonia and almost died. The producion had to be moved to Rome, because the English weather was bad for her recovery, and ruined the sets.
* TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask

** Played straight with Cleopatra after Mark Antony marries Octavia. She humiliates him thoroughly during an audience when he needs a treaty from her.

** Cleopatra was very probably genuinely offering her forgiveness, when you think about it. I'm sure the quick, relatively painless death from the poison was a gentler way to go than the one the law would reserve for someone who tried to assasinate the Queen.
* DisabledHottie: Phoebus, Cleopatra's blind poet.
* EpicMovie: One of the biggest. It cost $44 million to make, which, adjusted for inflation, would be ''[[BeyondTheImpossible $310 million]]'' in today's dollars. This figure has only been topped (and even then, just barely) by ''[[PiratesOfTheCaribbean Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End]]'' -- 44 years later. To put it into perspective: it remains the only movie to be the highest-grossing film of its year and ''still'' lose money. It would have had to become the third most successful film ''of all time'' just to break even.

* GrowingTheBeard: Mark Antony.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Casca, one of Casar's assasins in played by Carroll O'Connor, famous for his role as [[AllInTheFamily Archie Bunker]].

* {{Irony}}: Caesar dies, touching Pompey's statue.

* TheSpeechless: Flavius, Caesar's manservant.

* HistoricalBeautyUpdate: By all accounts, Cleopatra was rather plain-looking (her allure was in her personality), not the diving beauty pop culture remembers her as.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: Cleopatra's entry into Rome. One of the most awesome scenes in movies ever.
** The Italian extras clearly thought so as well, for they started cheering and calling Elizabeth Taylor's name in the middle of filming it.

* {{BFM}}: One of the biggest. It cost $44 million to make, which, adjusted for inflation, would be ''[[BeyondTheImpossible $310 million]]'' in today's dollars. This figure has only been topped (and even then, just barely) by ''[[PiratesOfTheCaribbean Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End]]'' -- 44 years later. To put it into perspective: it remains the only movie to be the highest-grossing film of its year and ''still'' lose money. It would have had to become the third most successful film ''of all time'' just to break even.

* HistoricalBeautyUpdate: By all accounts, Cleopatra was rather plain-looking, not the diving beauty pop culture remembers her as.

She certainly has a rather unfortunate nose. Which makes a certain running gag in Asterix and Cleopatra quite prophetic.

** It become a big problem when the Romans start taking offensive.

* HistoricalBeautyUpdate: By all accounts, Cleopatra was rather plain-looking, not the diving beauty pop culture remembers her as. She was also about half as old as Taylor.
** Averted in the case of Caesar, who roughly as old as Rex Harrison.

* [=~Hey, It's That Guy!~=]: Casca, one of Casar's assasins in played by Carroll O'Connor, famous for his role as [[AllInTheFamily Archie Bunker]].

->"''You know it's possible [[EmperorAugustus Octavian]] that when you die... You will die without ever having been alive.''"

The film that nearly killed [=~20th Century Fox~=], ''Cleopatra'' was released in 1963 and starred ElizabethTaylor, Richard Burton and Rex Harrison. It chronicles the tale of Cleopatra, Pharaoh of Egypt, and her long reign over her country. In the beginning, she romances [[GaiusJuliusCaesar Julius Caesar]], and tries to gain her place in the Roman Empire. Unfortunately, the Ides of March happen, and Cleopatra's dreams hit a roadblock. So, she turns her attention to Mark Antony, who eventually falls to the army of Octavian's.

* HistoricalBeautyUpdate

->"You know it's possible [[EmperorAugustus Octavian]] that when you die... You will die without ever having been alive."
-->'''Marc Antony'''

The film that nearly killed [=~20th Century Fox~=], ''Cleopatra'' was released in 1963 and starred ElizabethTaylor, Richard Burton and Rex Harrison. It chronicles the tale of Cleopatra, Pharaoh of Egypt, and her long reign over her country. In the beginning, she romances [[GaiusJuliusCaesar Julius Caesar]], and tries to gain her place in the Roman Empire. Unfortunately, the Ides of March happen, and Cleopatra's dreams hit a roadblock. So, she turns her attention to Marc Antony, who eventually falls to the army of Octavian's.

->"You know it's possible Octavian that when you die... You will die without ever having been alive."

The film that nearly killed [=~20th Century Fox~=], ''Cleopatra'' was released in 1963 and starred ElizabethTaylor, Richard Burton and Rex Harrison. It chronicles the tale of Cleopatra, Pharaoh of Egypt, and her long reign over her country. In the beginning, she romances Julius Caesar, and tries to gain her place in the Roman Empire. Unfortunately, [[GaiusJuliusCaesar the Ides of March]] happen, and Cleopatra's dreams hit a roadblock. So, she turns her attention to Marc Antony, who eventually falls to the army of Octavian's.

*GenreKiller: It killed the "sword and sandal" epic for over three decades, until ''{{Gladiator}}'' [[PopularityPolynomial restored it]].