Ancient Historian Reacts To The 'Alexander' Movie | Deep Dives | History Hit

Ancient historian and host of The Ancients podcast, Tristan Hughes, deep dives into the historical accuracy of Oliver Stone's highly controversial film 'Alexander' about Alexander the Great.

00:00 Intro
01:19 Ptolemy in Egypt
03:28 Battle of Gaugamela
08:53 Tutored by Aristotle
11:34 Taming Bucephalus
13:39 Meeting Stateira
16:29 Death of Darius III
18:30 Marriage to Roxana
24:50 Alexander Exiled
27:42 Alexander kills Cleitus
30:17 Philip assassinated
34:24 Battle of the Hydaspes
37:11 Alexander’s death
41:45 Ptolemy in Egypt
43:05 Outro

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[LouisPlume]

I worked on Alexander, Alexander was the best job I'd ever had and it paid so fkn well too, it was a joy. Last year I worked on Gladiator 2, you'll see it when you see it, I dont expect great things from it.
What did I do, I made all the crest plumes, everyone of them, every plume, Colin Farrell's and all the background artists plumes were made by me and my workers. That is our speciality at The Plumery.

[ExistentialWill]

The fact that you pointed out the Irish-to-English being the film's Macedonian-to-Greek distinction in dialect is wild. Didn't realize that til now.

[winstonmarlowe]

Harsh title, man. Don't be so hard on yourself; you're not THAT old.

[garyhughes]

I may have a million other things to do, but when Tristan Hughes comes on talking about a historic movie I simply have to put everything on hold and watch. Loved it.

[NastyCupid]

36:53, Fun fact, When I was 10 years old I cut my wrist to the bone on a glass window, and for a few seconds as result of the shock, everything around me was coloured red while instinct and adrenaline took complete control over my body.

That is also why that particular scene and this movie in general always resonated with me.

[davidschreyer]

Alexander 2004, is one of my all time favorite historic movies. I specially like the longest version "Alexander. The final cut". This movie really portrays greatly the greatness of Alexander, but also his flaws at times. Its a real gem, one of a kind movie.

[ericdane]

One 40 min episode of History Hit is more informative and engaging than 6 episodes of Netflix drama.

[Cobra]

The Music in this movie is insanely good.

[BamBamBigelow..]

Siege of Tyre can be a movie in itself

[nigeh]

Alexander like Napoleon and Julius Caesar is one of those legendary figures from history who would need a 10 hour film to do justice to his deeds.
No film maker could do that and no public audience would go and see it.

[FutureMythology]

As an avid history enthusiast, I found this Ancient Historian's reaction to the 'Alexander' movie both insightful and captivating. His deep dives into the historical accuracies and inaccuracies shed light on the complexities of portraying such a legendary figure on screen. It's refreshing to see a nuanced analysis that combines scholarly expertise with cinematic appreciation.

[Simon-Wolf]

I worked with Capt. Dale Dye on a recent project. He was the military advisor on Alexander too.

He told me that before this movie the accepted wisdom was that an assempled Macedonian phalanx could only move forward and backwards.

He was able to show that they could do much more and pivot successfully, and that academics from across the world flew out to see how it actually could be done, in awe at the revelation.

[Jayjay-qeum]

Four versions of the film exist, the initial theatrical cut and three home video director's cuts: the "Director's Cut" in 2005, the "Final Cut" in 2007, and the "Ultimate Cut" in 2014. The two earlier DVD versions of Alexander ("director's cut" version and the theatrical version) sold over 3.5 million copies in the United States. Oliver Stone's third version, Alexander Revisited: The Final Cut (2007), sold nearly a million copies and became one of the highest-selling catalog items from Warner Bros (as of 2012).

[sargonsblackgrandfather]

Finally someone gets the dialects right. When this came out I heard so many total idiots criticise the film for the accents thinking they were smart when it didn’t take a genius to work out what Stone’s point was ie when all characters are going to speak English the accent would denote their class within the Greek empire

[rqry]

One of my favourite movies. I know it has lots of issues, but I love it.

[weltraumaffe]

When this film was being made I don't think they realized how little history was being taught in public schools in the USA. When the audience doesn't know ANYTHING about the events being retold it important to lay the scenes out chronologically.

[marissahammer]

I tuned in and only really planned to watch 10 mins or so, but ended up watching the whole thing!😂 I absolutely love the history, it was much more entertaining for me than the actual film. Thank you!

[TotalFiction]

Did anyone else hear the slight voice crack and chocking up by the historian when describing Alexander's death? that's real passion for history wow

[aniqfarooqi]

You forgot to mention, that famous line that was asked by Alexander to Stateira was actually a dialogue between Alexander and Porus.

[SmorgasLord]

I would love a multiple season HBO show about what happened after Alexander's death