Going Medieval: 25 films to watch while waiting for Game of Thrones season 8

18) The Name of the Rose (1986)

More Connery! This time, he’s starring in a murder mystery set in a 14th century Benedictine Abbey. The Name of the Rose is based on the book of the same name by Umberto Eco, and the movie adaptation brandishes a lot of star power, including Connery, Christian Slater, Ron Perlman and F. Murray Abraham.

Adso of Melk (Slater), now an old man, tells the story of his youth when he and his mentor, Franciscan Friar William of Baskerville (Connery), attempted to solve a series of murders in the Benedictine abbey they were visiting, fearful that failure would result in a dreaded inquisition.

The Name of the Rose did not fare well upon release in the United States, tanking at the box office with only a $7.2 million return on its $17 million budget. It gathered steam worldwide, though, and ended up earning a respectable $77 million in total. American and Italian critics were generally positive about the film, though Roger Ebert gave it only 2.5 out of 4 stars, writing: “There are so many good things in The Name of the Rose – the performances, the reconstruction of the period, the over-all feeling of medieval times – that if the story had been able to really involve us, there would have been quite a movie here.”

I remember seeing this movie in the theater (yes, I’m old) and I remember rather liking it. It clocks in with a nice 74% reviewer score and 85% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.