Nicholson and Duvall are superb in a true classic.

Rating: 10/10 (5 April 2014)

I first saw The Shining when I was about 13 in 1983 in the UK. Back then I knew I was watching something quite special, and was taken aback by Nicholson's performance, and how chilling the movie was.
Having just watched the full length edition on Blu-Ray, I am simply awestruck.
All the people who slate this movie must be mad! How anyone can give this film 1 star (as some IMDb reviewers have) is beyond me. Even if you don't think it is the masterpiece it so obviously is, you're telling me it's only worth 1 star?!?! The performances, the sets (I can hardly believe this was filmed on a set in London), the photography, the script, the costumes; everything about this film is remarkable. I won't go on to review the story and plot, others have done that, but I am motivated to make a few further comments about Shelley Duvall.
Having only recently consulted the 'great internet' about the details of this film, I am totally shocked to learn that so many people hate Shelley Duvall's performance; and indeed that her performance was disliked by critics at the time of the film's release, and that she was nominated for a Razzie.
Well NEVER has there been such an injustice in the history of cinema!! Shelley's performance is absolutely breathtaking, and the film would not be anywhere near as frightening without it. Her conveyance of fear and exasperation at Jack's descent into madness is absolute. Many people seem to have a problem with her being weak and feeble, but hang on; that's the character Kubrick wanted her to play!! It's called acting, and she was superb. Cruel comments about her looks are also as absurd as they are irrelevant; she was a very pretty woman. It is cinema folklore how Kubrick treated her like dirt on a near year long shoot. Perhaps the glorious ends do indeed justify the means, but Duvall gave it her all and was a real trooper; 45 takes to do the staircase scene! The scene where she discovers Jack's writing (all work and no play make Jack a dull boy!) and the following staircase scene are cinematic gold. Shelley has been immortalized by these scenes.
How Duvall didn't get an Oscar, let alone a nomination, is completely beyond me. And to think that Sandra Bullock got nominated for Gravity!! The 70's (this movie was made at the end of that decade) was a time when 'unconventional' looking actors could star in films (Hoffman, Hackman, Duvall etc.) because they had talent. How I wish cinema was more like that today.
Anyway she gave a stunning performance in an iconic film that will forever be remembered. I wonder how many of her internet snipers can put that on their resumes?