Rating: 
Summary: Dialogue as good as it gets!
Review: Superb acting and dialogue more than make up for any lack of action. This is a thinking person's film for those who appreciate words and character study. Katherine Hepburn gives a remarkable performance as Eleanor--they don't make them like this anymore, which is our loss to be sure!
Rating: 
Summary: Idle chatter of an all too modern kind
Review: One of the most frustrating movies ever made because so much talent was wasted on a script that thinks it is more clever than it actually is. Many fine actors with a great deal of genuine presence (Hepburn, O'Toole, Hopkins, Dalton) try to utter this drivel with a sense of both irony and conviction but end up overplaying to compensate for writing that refuses to go beyond the surface gloss of it's presumed wit. (Others reviewing this movie have commented on representative lines of dialogue that support my point.)That said, I still bought The Lion in Winter. The sheer grandeur of Hepburn and O'Toole both as "actor" and "star" is worth watching for its own merit. They are Eleanor & Henry by Divine Right, irrespective of the words they're forced to speak. You also get Anthony Hopkins and Timothy Dalton showing the promise that they would fullfill later in their careers. John Barry's score is a dazzler, even if he borrows more than a little from Orff's Carmina Burana. The settings and costumes capture what one might believe is a real feel for 12th century England & France. This is not the kind of Middle Ages you see in a storybook, but a place subject to the physical rigors of its time. What a pity that the foundation on which all this excellence rests, the script, is so poorly constructed.
Rating:
Summary: Best movie ever made!
Review: If you are fortunate (yes, fortunate) enough to have seen this movie in its original release in theaters, this is the version of it to own (DVD). The quality is faithfully reproduced here; the depth of the color and all the other sharp edges of this masterpiece of writing and of filmmaking have been captured. There exists no video version of this movie that can produce this fine a viewing experience. The script, the costumes, and, of course, the acting are all brilliant. This is, as well, the least romanticized and most realistic version of what living in a castle in the 12th century was actually like. When you have thoroughly absorbed the movie, you can listen to the director's voice over the film with details of the actual making and editing of this gem. This is simply the best version of the best movie ever made.
Rating:
Summary: Hear me roar.
Review: Wordy examination of England's Angevin dynasty. Playwright James Goldman insists on having his characters, especially Henry II and his estranged wife Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, howl at each other like banshees, generally. Problem is, we're so removed from the historical context of the story that we wonder what all the screeching and sobbing is about. The cumulative effect is one of ghastly overacting rather than catharsis. As has been noted elsewhere in these reviews, Katherine Hepburn in particular is a big offender: it seems we're expected to feel sorry for Ms. Hepburn because she's growing old. This is the sort of cheap tactic that secures Oscars. A final thought: the director, Anthony Harvey, might have overcome his fondness for zooming the camera shots in from great distances.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Movie
Review: This is my favorite movie of all time --- and I have seen a lot of movies! The soundtrack is fantastic as well.
Rating:
Summary: When Titans Bestrode the Earth...
Review: This is the type of film that reminds us of the power of acting to involve us with people we initially do not know. It also is a shocking reminder of the poverty of today's actors to make us care about those we see on the screen. The emotional detachment of most of today's American cinema (e.g., Pearl Harbor) stands in stark contrast to the violent emotionalism as exhibited in this magnificent film. John Barry's score beautifully reflects this film's multi-faceted emotional appeal. Hepburn (Eleanor) and O'Toole (Henry II), along with the Plantagenet siblings, are engaged in a fratricidal all-out war, in which evreything and anyone is fair game. Emotional warfare is as lethal a weapon as Dirty Harry's Magnum, and all the players use it to great effect. The Lion in Winter is virtuoso acting at its highest form, and the dialogue written for the entire cast is pitched high, but still undeniably effective. "What family doesn't have its troubles?" asks Eleanor as one titantic battle subsides and the principals mend their wounds in anticipation of the next conflict. What that question asked can be seen in film after film since then, but few films are able to demonstrate the high stakes of emotional claims as being paired with political and social stakes like this one -- maybe Godfather I and II had that depth of writing and acting, but few others. This is film-making at its finest: no glitz, relatively simple sets, authentic costumes, and the best cast you could possibly have at the time. What more could you want? Grab this movie in any format you can find it in...it's a film you'll want to see again and again.
Rating:
Summary: sound and fury, signifying nothing
Review: Alas, this film has not held up well over the years. It is an overacted and convoluted emotional mess, a bit like "Wuthering Heights" on steroids. For all its blustering, it goes nowhere. This movies attempts to tell the story of Eleanor of Aquitaine and other historical personages, which I grant you is no easy task. However, has there ever been such melodrama? This is almost as silly as a Strinberg play, with cheesy cinematography to boot.
Rating:
Summary: Legendary Movie with Legendary Talent
Review: "The Lion in Winter" is Katharine Hepburn's best movie, which is saying quite a lot. This movie, set at Christmas during the reign of Henry II (Peter O'Toole) is more historically accurate than any other middle ages period piece I have seen. Chickens and farm animals are constantly running about the castle. Hepburn and O'Toole's characters are shown to have flaws and problems just like any other dysfunctional family. Each character is well acted and multi-dimensional. This was Anthony Hopkins', who plays Richard, first movie. If the DVD retains any of the extras from the 25th Anniversary laserdisc, there should be a good interview with Hopkins about acting with Hepburn. This movie was the best of 1968 and would have been in the AFI top 100, except that it was filmed in England and not considered a truly American film.
Rating:
Summary: Magnificence and splendor!
Review: This period piece is one of the most witty, biting, intense, and thoroughly modern stories you'll ever encounter. An excellent screen adaptation of a play by James Goldman (he wrote the screenplay himself), this masterpiece has one rare characteristic: No actor is miscast! Who can play the overbearing, shrewish, grandiose, yet victimized Eleanor of Aquitaine other than Katherine Hepburn? (She won her third Academy Award for this incredible performance.) Who can portray Eleanor's better half better than Peter O'Toole, a wise, aging, but still powerful Henry II who keeps his wife locked up and who can reason about all things under the sun except who shall inherit the throne of England? And then there are the children: three very different sons intent on grabbing the throne, each for different a motive. Anthony Hopkins delivers a gripping performance as Richard the Lionheart,the eldest living brother, a fierce warrior with deep emotional problems which he refuses to face. Nigel Terry plays the youngest half-witted John whose greed is only surpassed by his stupidity - look out for some fine acting! But the middle one, Geoffrey, is the character that stays with you most: a dangerously intelligent, anguished young man who does the most gruesome things in a desperate bid for his parents' affection. The actor who so superbly and subtly portrays this tragic figure is John Castle, now relatively little known. One cannot but wonder how such a talent went almost unnoticed all this time. Then there are the two French siblings: Alais, Henry's hostage and love, played by the exquisite Jane Merrow, and young king Phillip, come to Henry's court to finish his dead father's business, played by a venomous Timothy Dalton. Another detail which makes this film extraordinary: its soundtrack. John Barry got an Academy Award for the music, but apart from that, this is one of the best film scores in history. It has a medieval flavor, but the treatment is novel and effective. For any lover of broad, expansive characterization and intricate, emotionally charged story-telling, this film is a must!
Rating: 
Summary: The First Disfunctional Family?
Review: My husband the history buff rented "The Lion in Winter" and "Becket" the same weekend and I thought I was in for two nights of yawners. I was wrong. "Lion" is riveting. The characters scheme and backstab, hurt each other and themselves, and all but self-destruct. Peter O'Toole (Henry II) is marvelous as he growls and howls his way through his family's treachery. Katherine Hepburn is both malicious and pitiful as the free-for-the-holiday imprisoned Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine. Their sons are jealous, revengful and petty-- just like their parents. While this sounds like an episode of "Melrose Place," it's not. Intelligent philosophising, witty dialogue, and a mouth-breathing son or two separate "Lion" from the trash heap.
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