Home :: DVD :: Drama  

African American Drama
Classics
Crime & Criminals
Cult Classics
Family Life
Gay & Lesbian
General
Love & Romance
Military & War
Murder & Mayhem
Period Piece
Religion
Sports
Television
Romeo & Juliet

Romeo & Juliet

List Price: $29.99
Your Price:
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 3 4 5 .. 12 >>

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A very good movie for students who are working on the play
Review: This movie basically covers everything in the original play by william shakespeare. it is very good if you're having trouble with the old english words. but to get the full spectrum of the play (and an A on your essay) you should still read the play.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: titanic
Review: titanic has afilm that damege by accedent
and it go throw deeply under the sea

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Very nice
Review: This was no typical love story, and a very good remake from the play. However, I was amazed at how many lines were cut out from the play and put into the movie. This was effective because the play may get boring for viewers sometimes because of all the un-necessary lines. The plot was very good, excellent in fact. Zefirelli did an outstanding job directing and the duel between Romeo and Tybalt was well choreographed. But... At the end I was kind of dissapointed because the movie had cut out a good part that the play had in it. I won't tell you the moment because it's a spoiler. Oh well... Enjoy the movie.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Overrated. And even that's an understatement.
Review: As an avid Shakespeare fan, (I've read Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, and A Midsummer Night's Dream)
I was delighted when my class read "Romeo and Juliet" for humanities. I wasn't so keen on watching the film versions (we watched both this adaptation and Luhrmann's version) and frankly, I came out of my classroom a bit surprised.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Luhrmann's "Romeo + Juliet," and even more surprised that I absolutely, positively HATED the Zephirelli version.

While I'm glad Zefirelli had the sense to not cast middle-aged actors as the star-cross'd lovers, I'm amazed that Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey, who read their lines in an overdramatic and tedious manner, were respectively chosen as Romeo and Juliet. I do enjoy the balcony scene, though, in which Romeo proceeds to jump from a tree to a balcony à la Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and then later trips down a hill. That's quite funny. On the whole, though, I was entirely unsympathetic toward the characters, which is not something I can do easily.

Also, the technical effects are just -- well, _bad_. The lighting makes it impossible to figure out what's going on sometimes. The costumes are probably very Elizabethan-era-accurate, but they distract the viewer from the story. Hey, wouldn't you laugh at a wanna-be tradegian in tights?

Bad acting and lighting aside, the thing I despised most about this is that it's so ... _traditional_. One reason so many people are not interested in Shakespeare's wonderful work is because they associate Shakespeare with stuffy pretentious British people in tights. That's the main thing I liked about Luhrmann's version -- it broke barriers. It showed that Shakespeare is not and shouldn't be confined to a particular era.

But stuffy pretentious British people in tights is all this movie is. I fully don't recommend it.

Oh, and the singing's horrible.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Zeffirelli's Quintessential Version! Every Aspect Excellent!
Review: This is THE must see version of Romeo and Juliet. Zeffirelli's 1968 masterpiece stars 17-year-old Leonard Whiting and 15-year-old Olivia Hussey with great music by Nino Rota. Filmed "on location" in Italy this version also has the fingerprints of the 1960s all over it, from moddish long hair, the debut of Michael York as Tybalt, John McEnery as Mercutio, the lush balcony scenes, the nude scene, and an emotional intensity throughout. McEnery brings just the right comic touch to the comi-tragedy and screenwriters Franco Brusati, Maestro D'Amico, and Zeffirelli keep true to Shakespeare with a take on the story that's easily accessible to a wide audience, thereby making this one of the most popular films of the '60s.

Especially effective is the ambiguity of intent of the Tybalt-Mercutio duel, and the overall editing of dialogue just enough to keep it succinct and believable yet retain the poetic and philosophical virtuosity of the playwright's playwright. The music is used effectively and as it rises during the love scenes it's a manipulation that's an enhancement to rather than distraction from the emotion--a rare successful pull-off of this. And that balcony scene is extraordinary, the lush dark atmosphere, Romeo's giddiness, Juliet's beauty...I believed it.

Milo O'Shea (who later played the Judge in "The Verdict") does a believable Friar Laurence and Robert Stephens (I)(with a long list of Shakespearian roles to his name) an intensely serious Prince of Verona. It's hard not to fall in love with Olivia (watch for her new film role as Mother Theresa).

Some bits of trivia: Before 1968 Romeo and Juliet was not generally taught in US high schools and this film's popularity changed all that as most of you reading this had it in high school. Michael York turned down the role of Oliver in Love Story--one may read into this he felt it was a poor man's Romeo and Juliet...just a thought. Also Olivia Hussey briefly dated Prince Charles. And here's the clincher: Paul McCartney got the original offer to play Romeo. I'm glad he turned it down, as Whiting is perfect here. And for those who wonder, the story did not originate in historical fact, though one may wish it so. The story came from mythical legend starting in 5th century Greece, later evolving into "The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet" translated into English in 1562 by Arthur Brooke and originally written about 1530 by Luigi da Porto., 'til Shakespeare got a hold of it (circa 1594) and breathed into it the life that will last as long as humanity does most probably.

This towers over the 1st film version with a 34-year-old Norma Shearer and a 43-year-old Leslie Howard, and as for the 1996 mess sorry guys; American accents, present day gang violence, over-the-top overacting, LA locales, and Leonard DiCaprio do not great Shakespearean tragedy make. This 1968 one is the one to see over and over.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Romeo and Juliet with Olivia Hussey!
Review: For me, this is the only Romeo and Juliet Movie that matters! ... I've seen other movies of Romeo and Juliet and this is still the best one for me.
Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting were made for this movie. If Shakespeare could have picked these two actors to play his Romeo and Juliet he would have!
For me, it is the most realistic movie made of this story of love between two young people of that time. It is just beautiful and will remain so for years to come. ...5 stars at least!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Romeo and juilet
Review: Well is think that Romeo and juillet for franco zeffirelis version is more closer to shakespears intentions in the parts there are really harldy any scenes that are taken out although they dont show much of paris

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This has been my favorite movie since it came out in 1968!
Review: This is a movie with virtually no flaws -- the casting is superb, the story is, of course, classic, and the settings are beautifully rustic. Even the music is perfect.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Dramatic Tragedy
Review: Romeo and Juliet Directed by Franco Zeffirelli is an unforgettable movie of love written by Shakespeare, where teenagers like Leonard Whiting (Romeo), and Olivia Hussey (Juliet) made a huge production, to be able to express as the days of Shakespeare were. It is considered as a romantic tragedy movie, where our eyes, and imagination travels as you are watching the 1968's version. This movie is a play with a really high range of value for me as a reader of the book, because when you read the book first you would figure a 1968 version.

In my opinion the actors John McEnery (Mercutio), and Michael York (Tybalt) made a really good fight scene, where both ended up death, because Tybalt killed Mercutio, then Romeo got mad, fought, and killed Tybalt. That's how the big tragedy really started, because by that way Romeo got banished. Then after that, Friar Laurence (Milo O'shae) planned to fix everything, because he knew that he was going to get in trouble if he let Juliet to get marry twice, being Juliet already married to Romeo without the consent of Capulet (Salvatore Billa), and Lady Capulet (Natasha Parry). The Friar gave Juliet a poison, which made her pretend she was death, so that Romeo could go and pick her up, and they could leave Verona together. But Balthazar (Keith Skinner) who saw Juliet death, messed up the Friar's plan by telling Romeo that Juliet was death, but he didn't know that Juliet was just pretending she were death, while Romeo was expecting to get a letter from the Friar. Then Romeo went to see Juliet carrying a poison with him, and he said: "Eyes, look your last! Arms, take your last embrace! And, lips, O you the doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss a dateless bargain to engrossing death!" Then Romeo drinks the poison and die. Then a minute after that, Juliet woke up and saw Romeo death in the floor, and then she killed herself with Romeo's stake.

I love this version of the movie; it was so dramatic and ironic. But I think that is not very mature to kill itself by love. Knowing that out there are too many people. But there is always a saying that I say, "Every person is a different world", which I found out is true, because everyone thinks different. I'd like to say that this is a metaphorical experience, where I think that Shakespeare maybe thought that love is over all situations, where everyone gets confused, and lost control of the situation by taking or trying to fix everything in a very fast way, which is even worse.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Classic.......
Review: I first saw this movie in 1969, and everytime I see it again, it still looks fresh and new. Because the actors are the ages that Shakespeare intended them to be played as, it seem much more realistic. The photography is just beautiful and the acting is very heartfelt and believable. The tenderness between Whiting and Hussey is truly magical. I would recommend this movie to young adults who might have trouble following the story in book form. I think that they could really relate to this.


<< 1 2 3 4 5 .. 12 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates