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Gallipoli | 
| Director: Peter Weir
Actors: Mark Lee, Bill Kerr, Harold Hopkins, Charles Lathalu Yunipingli, Heath Harris
Studio: Warner Home Video
List Price: $14.95
Buy Used: $0.90
You Save: $14.05 (94%)
New (10) Used (33) Collectible (4) from $0.90
Rating:  114 reviews
Sales Rank: 12101
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Hifi Sound, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: VHS Tape
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 111 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 4.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 0792106164
UPC: 097360150438
EAN: 9780792106166
ASIN: 0792106164
Theatrical Release Date: August 28, 1981
Release Date: October 22, 1996
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com essential video
An outstanding drama, Gallipoli resonates with sadness long after you have seen it. Set during World War I, this brutally honest antiwar movie was cowritten by director Peter Weir. Mark Lee and a sinfully handsome Mel Gibson are young, idealistic best friends who put aside their hopes and dreams when they join the war effort. This character study follows them as they enlist and are sent to Gallipoli to fight the Turks. The first half of the film is devoted to their lives and their strong friendship. The second half details the doomed war efforts of the Aussies, who are no match for the powerful and aggressive Turkish army. Because the script pulls us into their lives and forces us to care for these young men, we are devastated by their fate. --Rochelle O'Gorman
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| Customer Reviews: Read 109 more reviews...
 Devastating look at war October 10, 2004
Jeffrey Leach (Omaha, NE USA)
59 out of 72 found this review helpful
It's unfortunate in the extreme that the First World War has largely fallen by the wayside. If we hear anything about the conflict at all, it's usually on the History Channel or another network airing a documentary full of grainy, black and white clips of men stumbling over the top of trenches. Interest in historical events tends to drop off significantly when those involved pass away, and in the case of the generation that fought this horrific war not only have they exited the stage, they have left the building as well. I developed a life long interest in "the war to end all wars" after seeing Peter Weir's 1981 film "Gallipoli" in a small, run down art house theater at the age of ten. I didn't understand the historical context at the time, but this dramatic interpretation of events that unfolded in the Dardanelles during 1915 left a lasting impression on my impressionable mind. I recently rewatched the film and can say that it still works as an intense drama and as a serious antiwar statement. Weir's overt hostility toward the British commanders at Gallipoli, however, doesn't stand up as well. By the way, this is one of the films that propelled Mel Gibson to international stardom.
Weir decided to focus his film not on the massive armies battling away in Europe, but on two individuals living in Australia. Archy Hamilton (Mark Lee) and Frank Dunne (Mel Gibson) are two of the fastest runners in the country. Hamilton trains with his demanding grandfather, who promises the young lad that if he works hard he may yet go down as the next national sports hero. Frank, on the other hand, wanders around the country with a few buddies taking any job he can get and generally just having a lot of fun. News of the escalating war in Europe is vague and distant, referenced only when someone brings up a news story they saw in the paper. Archy wants to go and fight, attracted by the lure of glory that has suckered millions of young people since the dawn of time into disaster. Frank doesn't think of war as glory, and when his pals bring up the idea of enlisting he quietly makes his position known. Both of these young men's lives are forever changed after the end up competing against each other in a foot race at a regional fair. Archy barely wins, but a friendship develops between the two that soon finds Frank tagging along when Archy decides to enlist in the illustrious cavalry. Frank agrees to join with Archy, once he discovers that the ladies love a soldier, but goes into the infantry after failing to qualify for the light horse unit.
It really doesn't matter anyway since horses won't make a bit of difference when the ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) soldiers head first to Egypt and then the Dardanelles for combat against the Ottoman Turks. What the war effort needs are bodies capable of running headlong into a withering wall of machine gun fire, and cavalry troops minus their steeds will work in this capacity just as well as infantrymen. Before they reach the killing fields, Archy and Frank reunite during a training exercise in Egypt. Hamilton convinces his commander to enlist Dunne in the cavalry, claiming that his skills as a runner rival his own and that both men will make a major contribution to the regiment. Weir shows us plenty of carefully crafted scenes of the men having a good time in Cairo, of the deepening camaraderie taking place even as the war looms larger and larger in the background. The movie takes a doom and gloom turn as the ANZAC forces land at Gallipoli to take part in the fighting. Casualties mount as attacks designed to expand the beachhead fail under Turkish machine guns. Soon, Archy and Frank know they will have to go over the top too, and realize they will certainly perish in the process. The conclusion to "Gallipoli" is one of the most emotionally grinding, soul shattering denouements in motion picture history.
The only thing I found extremely irritating about "Gallipoli" is the cheesy synth musical score, which now sounds so early 1980s that it dates the picture terribly. I think the message about how people join up to go to war for all the wrong reasons, however, is still highly relevant. And if there was any war that everyone should have avoided, it was World War I. Generals and leaders still subscribed to antiquated notions of warfare, never taking into account machine guns, poison gas, and airplanes would decimate the troops. The fatalities were truly appalling, with millions perishing in muddy trenches during the four year conflict. Weir expertly depicts the squalid conditions of the trenches, but he goes too far blaming the film's fatal charge on the British commanders. First of all, far more British soldiers died during the campaign in the Dardanelles than did members of ANZAC. Second, why place the onus for the war on the British? Plenty of commanders on all sides made mistake after mistake in this conflagration, mistakes that resulted in so many fatalities that it's a wonder humanity didn't rise up and cast their leaders into the fire.
"Gallipoli" wins the day in the end thanks to the charm of Mark Lee and Mel Gibson. Weir's cinematography sinks its claws in as well. Check out the shots of the Australian outback, the Red Cross party, and the landing at Gallipoli to learn why. The transfer looks good, but the only extra on the disc is a short interview with Weir about the making of the film. I wanted a commentary track for this film desperately, and still hope a special edition will arrive on the market in the near future. If you haven't seen "Gallipoli," check it out soon.
a gripping and moving masterpiece July 31, 2000
Alejandra Vernon (Long Beach, California)
21 out of 23 found this review helpful
This is one of the best films I've ever seen. Mark Lee and Mel Gibson are magnificent and positively radiant in this tale of two friends caught up in a horrifying war...the innocence of these characters, and their courage, will move you to tears. Peter Weir has made many wonderful films (like "Witness") but none in my opinion as powerful as this. The score by Brian May is beautiful and uses Albinoni's glorious "Adagio in G minor" for the titles, credits, and during the film. If you were only to see 10 films in your entire life, this should be one of them.
Pity Most Americans don't Understand the History of Galipoli June 10, 1999
18 out of 23 found this review helpful
Being Australian and having learned the significance (futility) of the battles fought along the Gallipoli coast I realise more than most. What this movie explores is the relationship between australia and Britain (the Empire) and how Australians and New Zealanders were slaughtered to create a "diversion" for the English landings. It gives you a small understanding of how WW1 was fought and how remote the so caller "Leaders" were from reality. The concept of "MATES" is touched on through the friendship of the two main characters. This concept of self sacrifice for ones friend (mate) is something that sets Australians apart. Peter Weir (Australian) has captured this aspect well. Do not look for a war movie or an adventure. This movie is part of Australia's sole searching at the misdeeds and abuses inflicted upon us by our so called Empirial masters. As Americans have veterans day, Australians have ANZAC day (two days actually). This experience is more than a simple war for Australians, it is a coming of age.
WHAT MANY REVIEWERS FAIL TO NOTICE... July 19, 2004
HILMI CEM CELEBI (Istanbul, TURKEY)
18 out of 30 found this review helpful
IS THE BRAVERY OF THE TURKISH ARMY, AND THE INCREDIBLE HUMANITY LESSONS TO BE DERIVED FROM THE TURKISH COMMANDER:(SPEAKING FOR ENEMY SOLDIERS)
"Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives..you are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace.There is no difference between the Johnnies and Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours.. You,the mothers, who sent their sons from faraway countries wipe away your tears; Your sons are in peace.After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well." MUSTAFA KEMAL ATATURK
 Weir's Best Film January 4, 2004
R. Albin (Ann Arbor, Michigan United States)
17 out of 19 found this review helpful
This excellent film is probably the best movie made by the talented Australian director Peter Weir. While Weir has a made a number of very good films, notably The Year of Living Dangerously and the recent Master and Commander, the subject matter of Gallipoli is the most serious of any of Weir's films. Gallipoli is the general title for the series of WWI battles in which the Western Allies attempted to force the Dardanelles and knock Turkey out of the war. Some, including Winston Churchill, himslef one of the prime movers behind the campaign, argued that Allied success at Gallipoli would have been decisive. This has been disputed by recent historians. The Gallipoli campaigns were the first large scale attempt at amphibious assault and were an organizational and tactical disaster. The Allied commanders flubbed several chances to beat the Turks. The Turkish defense was tenacious and much of the action became the trench warfare characteristic of much of WWI. The Allies failed, at great cost, though Turkish casulties were also quite high.
Gallipoli holds a special resonance for Australians. The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) was the first major overseas participation of Australian and New Zealand troops fighting as national formations. The ANZACs fought courageously, prefiguring the outstanding performance of Australian and New Zealand infantry in both World Wars. Gallipoli appears to occupy the place in Australian history that the Civil War occupies in American life. Australia (possibly also New Zealand) is the only country that regularly celebrates a major military defeat.
Weir's movie is a powerful depiction of the Australian experience at Gallipoli. The story is simple. A pair of friends from Western Australia enlist, are sent to Gallipoli, and one of them dies in one of the famous and bungled attacks characteristic of the campaign, indeed of the whole war. Weir uses this conventional war movie formula in particularly creative ways. A good deal of the movie takes place prior to enlistment. Weir uses these scenes to convey his image of Australia as rural, provincial, starkly beautiful, and in important ways, profoundly innocent. The war scenes are beautifully prepared and photographed. Weir and his team apparently used a careful study of photographs from Gallipoli to construct scenes in the movie. I recognized parts of scenes as being almost identical to some famous photos of trench life in Gallipoli. The scenes before and during the climactic assault are devastatingly powerful.
This film was made in Australia, by Australians, and for Australians. Some important aspects of the story are simply assumed. These are things that would be known by Australians but not by Americans. The infantry assault depicted in the film were diversions and part of the Battle of Suvla Bay, an attempt to break out of the limited beachheads established in the initial landings. Had the Suvla Bay attacks been successful, the Allies would have beaten Turkey in 1915. Suvla Bay almost succeeded and failed largely because of poor leadership and communications. Because of the latter, the sacrifice of the ANZACs was entirely wasted. Australian audiences would know this and this fact gives the ending of the film a particularly bitter flavor. The end of the movie shows the suicidal attack of the Light Horse on entrenched Turkish positions. The Light Horse suffered 50% casulties that morning.
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