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

21) The Lion in Winter (1968)

You can’t find a better cast than Peter O’Toole, Katherine Hepburn and Anthony Hopkins (in his movie debut). Their stellar performances drive The Lion in Winter. Adapted from a 1966 Broadway play by James Goldman, the movie went on to win three Oscars, for Best Actress in a Leading Role, (for Hepburn) Best Writing (Screenplay Based on Material from another Medium) and Best Original Score.

It’s Christmas in the year 1183, and the English royal family is getting together at King Henry II’s castle in Chignon. The King has three sons who want to inherit the throne, and the gamesmanship begins. Throw in Henry’s wife, Eleanore of Aquitaine (Henry’s had her jailed back in 1173), the King of France and Henry’s mistress, and it all gets very interesting.

The Lion in Winter did well at the box office, becoming the 14th most popular movie in the USA in 1969. Roger Ebert praised the film, saying “One of the joys which movies provide too rarely is the opportunity to see a literate script handled intelligently…Henry II rules a world in which kings still kicked aside chickens on their way through the courtyard.” So there’s a little bit of Robert Baratheon in there.

Rotten Tomatoes is a fan, tallying up a 91% reviewer score and a 90% audience score. If you want to see some of the all-time great actors plying their trade, you’ve found the right movie.