"Amadeus" Always Rocks Me

Rating: 10/10 (9 May 2009)

The director of "Hair" (which I contend was actually better than his "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest") and the playwright of "Equus" (which I have never seen) teamed up to produce one of the most powerful, lasting movies ever imagined.
"Amadeus" is the story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart through the eyes of his greatest rival, Antonio Salieri. The odd thing is, neither character is inherently likable. Mozart is a disgusting slacker and Salieri is a whiny, jealous outcast. What makes the film entertaining is that precise fact... and the great portrayals by Tom Hulce and F. Murray Abraham, respectively.
Also astounding is the look of the film, shot in Prague (you'd never know it wasn't really Vienna) with design by Patrizia von Brandenstein and Josef Svoboda. No backlot shoots for "Amadeus," thank you very much.
I could go on and on and on about the great performances (even by bewildering faces, like Jeffrey "Principal Rooney" Jones and Christine Ebersole), beautiful music adaptation, and incomparable dialogue, but they speak for themselves. All you have to know is that "Amadeus" will either be the masterpiece you've heard, or it will exceed your expectations.
As the tagline promises, "Everything you've heard is true."