Michael the Brave (film)

Michael the Brave Romanian Mihai Viteazul is a Romanian historic epic film, created by the film director Sergiu Nicolaescu. The film is a representation of the life of the Wallachian ruler Mihai Viteazu, and his will to unite the three Romanian principalities Wallachia, Moldavia and the Principality of Transylvania in one country. The film was released in 1970 in Romania, and worldwide by Columbia Pictures as The Last Crusade.

The film had initially been intended to be an AmericanRomanian superproduction, with Columbia Pictures proposing actors such as Charlton Heston, Orson Welles, Laurence Harvey, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, or Kirk Douglas. But at Nicolae Ceauescus intent, the production was approved only with Romanian actors.The story, recognized for its historical accuracy, is full of grand battle scenes, political plots, betrayals and family drama. To reenact the battles that Mihai Viteazul fought against the Turks, some 5,000 soldiers of the Romanian army were brought to the set. Some reports put this number around 10,000 soldiers. The film has two parts and was shot in several locations, such as Istanbul, Prague and Calugareni, but also the Danube, the Black Sea, Alba Iulia, Carpathian Mountains, Bucharest, Sibiu, Sinaia, and Miraslau. The budget at the time was aroundmillion lei, which in 2010 was estimated to be worth to be around 500,000 dollars, a relatively high sum for its period. ........

Source: Wikipedia