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Summary: A dysfunctional royal family,whats new?
Review: Best film Ive seen in a long time.Xmas Eve was not like this in our family. All that wonderful wit and quick repartee...and Katherine Hepburn to deliver all those delicious lines and earning a best actress academy award for 1966 besides. Talk about keep it in the family.It caused moi to return to the history books for a refresher. All the roles are memorable especially O'toole who has no problem keeping up with Hepburn.Even Anthony Hopkins shows of his early talent before disappearing into those wilderness years.Its like the bible really,rape incest murder homosexuality and all in the family. But truly"what family doesnt have its ups and downs." Rent this one for Xmas Eve before it disappears into the archives. Pity they dont make em like this anymore.
Rating:
Summary: There's no substitute for great dialogue!
Review: You just can't beat this film for the quality of the performances, the beauty of the music, and the terrific atmospheric quality; but the script in particular, is what sets this movie apart from most of the junk that passes for entertainment these days. By the way, there was a laserdisc version of this movie issued a few years ago which I own. The letterbox format is terrific as is the quality of the print, but the soundtrack is mono. Let's hope a DVD will become available with a full stereo track so we can really appreciate John Barry's great music. (Rumor has it that a re-make is being considered. Do they really think they could improve on O'Toole and Hepburn?
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Summary: THE LION IN WINTER
Review: PLEASE! MAKE THIS FINE FILM AVAILABLE, PREFERABLY ON DVD
Rating:
Summary: One of the finest films I've ever had the pleasure to see
Review: I was about 18 when this film was released. A medieval history buff, I ran to the threatre and ended up being exposed, perhaps for the first time in my life, to the world of truly great film as well as a myriad of the finest performances I've seen to date. Now, at a ripe 47 years old, I own a well worn VHS copy of The Lion in Winter -- it is a timeless classic that is as fresh today as when I saw it as a young girl. The film centers on one Christmas celebrated by the divided remaining family of Henry II of England played by Peter O'Toole. Henry releases his brilliant, cultured and once desvastatingly beautiful but scorned Queen, Eleanor of Aquitane from her enprisonment in the tower of Salisbury Cathedral. A woman who once traveled freely throughout the Mediaeval world and even went on Crusade, Eleanor suffers her indignance with a forced dry humor and an inner strenth that refuses to surrender. With Eleanor Henry has called together his remaining three sons, Richard (later the Lionheart), John of ill fated Magna Carts fame, and the short lived Geoffrey. Portrayed as a cold, conspiring, bitter and neglected middle son, Geoffrey is intent on claiming the throne as Henry's heir or taking it by force. He weaves a tangled web that draws his favored brother, John into a conspirary to plan an uprising with the help of the young Philip, teenaged King of France (Timothy Dalton). Eleanor herself was once Queen of France, and the toast of Europe. She is credited as fostering the age of Chivalry. She was divorced by Louis for her adulterous activies with the then Henry of Anjou heir to Williamt he conqueror. Later Eleanor married Henry who soon became king of England. Eleanor had mothered among many children, two future kings of England, Richard the Lionheart (Anthony Hopkins) and the traditionally reviled King John of Robin Hood legend. Together with Henry's young lover, a princess of France who had been engaged to Henry's oldest and recently deceased son and namesake, the plot boils and rithes with uncontrollable schemeing and plotting from one scene to the next. However through every changing plot and intrigue the embattled couple are touched by moments of weakness exposing a hidden remnant of the affectin that once bound Henry and Eleanor. Every scene in The Lion In Winter is brilliantly crafted by the characters, as passionate and violent scenes are pulled off seemingly without cuts. The acting is simply breathtaking. Why oh why is this film being held back from release in DVD format? -- the sound and music score painstakingly reformatted to match the power of the film? Let's hope its because are a spectacular director's cut replete with scenes never before relesed will be wortht he wait. This is am intelligent film, but don't think you'll be bored for lack of action. The verbal swordplay leaves the viewer teetering on the end of their seat.
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Summary: THE ONE MOVIE I REMEMBER FROM MY YOUTH!
Review: ALTHOUGH THIS WAS A "LONG" MOVIE , IT WAS ONE I WILL REMEMBER ALWAYS.
Rating:
Summary: great acting, great dialogue, great Hepburn and O'Toole
Review: This film is beautifully photographed complemented with great acting by O'Toole and Hepburn. The dialogue is clever and quick. Don't miss a word of it. A slice of history along with a good story well presented. John Barry's musical score is excellant with the film and as a CD. Hope it shows up on DVD soon!
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Summary: Love, lust, betrayal, wit...who could ask for more?
Review: As a Hepburn/O'Toole fan from way back and an English history nut to boot, this movie has everything. The gritty sets and costumes make you feel like you are in 12th-century England and the acting is superb from beginning to end. The verbal battles make you wince and the chemistry between O'Toole and Hepburn is real--when they are fighting you believe it and during the rare moments of affection, you believe that too. Eleanor and Henry II are two amazing characters and, after seeing this movie, you feel like you know them. It deserved to win the Oscars it did. And if you like this, you'll love Becket with Burton and O'Toole. Fine performances all around.
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Summary: There is no finer film
Review: The timing, costumes, sets, acting, directing... Theatre and film students should look to this film to see how it's done. I believe this is the perfect movie. The wit, delivery of lines, and relationship of charactors come together like a symphony.
Rating: 
Summary: Pretentious
Review: I don't understand how this awful mess got so many rave reviews. It tackles a complicated historical situation with poor cinematography and decent acting jobs of an overblown script. What we end up with is a barrage of every emotion under the sun assaulting us with little rhyme or reason, and no satisfactory conclusion.
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Summary: Eleanor of Aquitane as Katharine Hepburn
Review: For anyone who cannot understand how Hepburn has managed to gather a horde of admirers who would willingly give her detractors a severe lynching, this is the place to start. She pulls out all the stops to deliver one zinger after another and is compulsively watchable. The rest of the cast tries hard to keep up with her and hold their own during the movie. Arguably, the movie and Hepburn take themselves a little too seriously. The dialogue is ludicrous, but they try to play it up and even when they try to remain true to their 'characters', the pure camp in the script shines through, rescuing what could have been a real bore. If you feel you don't know where the movie is going for the first half hour, stick with it till Hepburn leaves her prison and you'll be in for a treat. Anthony Hopkins and Timothy Dalton pepper the rest of the cast that tries hard to not get blown off into the tapestries by Hepburn's incredible scene-stealing. This time, you cheer her on, ignoring the fact that she really isn't acting (or is it 'being taken in by it'?). She's simply perfecting the persona that made her into an icon in the sixties. With this film, she became the only woman to win a Best Actress Oscar back-to-back, the only woman to win three (at that time) Academy Awards, and her public image made the final transition from 'that annoying eccentric' to 'the woman of the century'.
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