Review: Romeo and Juliet (1968)
Set in Verona,
Italy, where The Montague family and the Capulet family are locked in feud. One
night, young Romeo of Montague (Leonard Whiting) sneaks into a party thrown by
the Capulets and locks eyes with the beautiful Juliet (Olivia Hussey), and she
does with him. It’s love at first sight and before long they are completely,
overwhelmingly infatuated with each other, even after learning they belong to
their parents’ enemy’s family. Later, Friar Laurence weds the duo in secret
from one another’s family, with only the Friar and Juliet’s cheerful nursemaid
(Pat Heywood) aware of this. Things go seriously wrong, however, when Romeo’s
jester-like, unstable friend Mercutio (John McEnery) and Juliet’s tempestuous
cousin Tybalt (Michael York) take up swords after the latter makes an insult
towards Romeo. This leads to a double tragedy and further hatred of the
Montagues by the Capulets. Juliet’s stubborn father (Paul Hardwick) attempts to
marry Juliet off to boring but wealthy Count Paris, leading to Juliet turning
to the Friar for a drastic escape of this arranged union. And we all know what
comes next, don’t we? Robert Stephens gives a powerful speech towards the end
as the Prince of Verona, abhorred by the ultimate tragedy and the senseless
spitefulness between the two warring families.
This 1968 Franco
Zeffirelli (the dreary, silly “Endless Love”) film version of the Bard’s
play is for me the definitive version of what is the greatest romantic tragedy
of all-time. It’s the romantic
tragedy. It’s the one film version that seems to truly understand the text. The
two leads are age-appropriately cast (Leonard Whiting 17, Olivia Hussey 15),
they and director Zeffirelli really nail the idea that this was a first love
experience for both characters. They seem almost out of control of their own
bodies with such unrestrained passion for one another. They’re in over their
heads experiencing feelings they’ve never felt before and it’s exhilarating and
overwhelming for them. It’s all feeling and action, they haven’t stopped to
understand the ins and outs and whys, they just do. That’s why their behaviour in the finale doesn’t feel so
melodramatic, because their behaviour throughout the entire story has been
melodramatic. That’s teenagers and young love for you. Any teenage love and/or
heartbreak seems like the entire world at that age. Then we grow up and realise
that maybe it wasn’t everything. For Romeo and Juliet, however, it is
everything, because it always will be everything, because they were not given
the chance to experience anything else (Spoiler alert? It should be common
knowledge for anyone over the age of 13. Spoiler my arse!). Friar Laurence
tells Romeo to ‘love moderately’ at one point. Yeah, Romeo and Juliet don’t do moderate, Friar. It’s not in their
vocabulary. The film gets that absolutely note perfectly for me. Yes it’s a
film about lovers torn apart by warring families, but at its heart this is a
story of first love, first pain, first love lost, and the stupidity of adults
that has dire consequences for their children. I don’t think any other film
version prior or subsequent to this (certainly not the one with Leslie Howard
from the 30s) has truly understood the text to the degree that everyone in this
version seems to have.
If you’re someone
who struggles with deciphering the text (It has never really proved that
difficult to me), the body language throughout should tell you everything you
need to know here. It really is quite accessible, if you ask me. Leonard
Whiting gives an underrated performance as Romeo. He actually sells Romeo’s
initial sadness very well even before he meets Juliet. I think it helps to
somewhat show his predisposition to getting emotional and making rash,
impulsive decisions that we’ll see later in the film. Olivia Hussey makes for a
perfectly lovely, innocent Juliet. Yes, sometimes she acts like it’s Juliet’s
first day as an Earthling (or at least a deaf person trying to read lips) with
her oddball fixed stare, but for the most part she’s beautiful, delicate, and
conveys the feeling that this girl has never prior experienced such
all-consuming love. Nor will she ever again. They’re a very sweet, believable
couple whose romance is very easy to become invested in. Even better, though,
are scene-stealers Michael York (with darkened hair) and John McEnery. York’s
fiery, antagonistic Tybalt and McEnery’s, rubber-faced, mercurial jokester
Mercutio are easily the most vivid characters in the film. McEnery really goes
for broke in this and could’ve easily been too much if it weren’t for the tinge
of sadness and slight madness (Mercutio seems rather bi-polar to me) to the
character that prevents him from seeming too comedic and lightweight. He’s
actually a tragic clown, kind of the epitome of such a thing, really. York
gives easily the best performance of his career as a man who is all fire,
passion and hatred. I think both McEnery and York can think themselves unlucky
to have not earned Oscar nominations for their terrific character work. Pat
Heywood offers up enjoyable light comic relief as the jovial Nurse, and Milo
O’Shea excels as Friar Laurence, who means well but ultimately does play a part
in the unfortunate, tragic events of the climax. Fittingly narrated by Lord
Laurence Olivier, too, though his services are only briefly employed.
The other thing
you’ll remember about this film is the hauntingly beautiful music score by Nino
Rota (“The Godfather”), best exemplified by the masked ball sequence
with the ‘Love Theme’ truly unforgettable. It almost brings a tear to my eye
every time I hear it. It’s also a stunning film to look at, through costuming
and cinematography, both top-notch.
The greatest of
all tragedies as young love turns into senseless young death. It’s obvious why
this story still resonates. Everyone knows first love and first heartbreak.
This is the extreme, full-blooded example of that. Most of us move on from our
first love and first heartbreak, Romeo and Juliet sadly wouldn’t live long
enough to see it all play out and eventually reflect on it. It’s heartbreaking
and tragic, like any occasion where young people are robbed of the chance to
grow into adulthood.
This is the best
screen version of the tale (Forget Baz’s overly stylised modern take, I’d class
that as a remake of “West Side Story” just with Shakespeare’s names this
time around), a wonderment in every single aspect, and quite amazing that
Shakespeare’s language is put to the screen by an Italian filmmaker (Who
subsequently never topped this film). If you only see one Shakespearean tale in
cinematic form, make it this one. It’s a deeply moving, beautiful masterpiece,
and the play is probably Shakespeare’s most quotable, too. Adapted from the
Bard’s tale, the screenplay is by Franco
Brusati, Masolino D'Amico, and Zeffirelli.
Rating: A+
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