Waterloo

Waterloo (1970) was one of the '70s biggest flops, a $35 million multi-national boondoggle. Fresh off his gargantuan War and Peace (1967), Soviet director Sergei Bondarchuk teamed with Italian producer Dino DiLaurentis to depict Napoleon Bonaparte's last battle. The resulting film intersperses amazing battle scenes with dull plot. The biggest millstone, however, is Rod Steiger's awful performance.

Napoleon Bonaparte (Rod Steiger) returns from exile on Elba with a small army. Napoleon's old ally Marshal Ney (Dan O'Herlihy) joins him and they oust King Louis XVIII (Orson Welles), reestablishing Bonaparte as Emperor of France. Napoleon defeats Prussian Marshal Blucher (Sergo Zakariadze) at Quatre Bras, forcing the Duke of Wellington (Christopher Plummer) to give battle at Waterloo. The early rounds of the battle go Napoleon's way, and Wellington knows he must rely on Blucher to turn the tide.

Everyone comes to Waterloo for the battle scenes and Bondarchuk delivers some doozies. Using over 15,000 extras, the film's sheer scope is astonishing. One incredible shot has hundreds of French cavalrymen charging amongst a row of British infantry squares. Other scenes are equally impressive: the volleys that devastate the Imperial Guard's final charge, the point-blank artillery barrage annihilating some holdouts. It lacks the visceral impact of other war films but the incredible spectacle compensates.

Away from the battlefield, Waterloo is a ponderous bore. The story is choppy, with ragged editing and narrative leaps that suggest heavy cutting. H.A.L. Craig's dull script combines bald exposition with famous quotes, the worst kind of historical writing. Bondarchuk's style choices (sudden zooms, Leone-style close-ups, egregious slow motion) irritate more often than not.

Rod Steiger is absolutely monstrous. He bellows, raves, gestures, bugs out his eyes, broods, pouts, sweats, kisses flags, arches eyebrows, purses lips, intones on the soundtrack, a riot of cacophonous ham. Even at his best Steiger isn't subtle but this is rabies, not acting. Christopher Plummer's low-key Wellington comes off wonderfully in comparison.

The supporting cast is scenery. A bored-looking Orson Welles and Virginia McKenna (Carve Her Name With Pride) have miniscule cameos. Dan O'Herlihy (100 Rifles) gets some meaty scenes early on as the conflicted Marshal Ney. Spaghetti Western star Gianni Garko plays one of Napoleon's marshals. Jack Hawkins, Terence Alexander (The Day of the Jackal), Rupert Davies (John Paul Jones) and Michael Wilding (The Scarlet Coat) feature as Wellington's lieutenants.

Waterloo is worth checking out for the incredible battle scenes. Mostly though, this is the kind of epic I don't really like, all spectacle and little substance. And please muzzle Rod Steiger before he bites someone.