Product: Romeo and Juliet [Region 2] (1968)
Rating: 5.0
The DEFINITIVE version of R&J on film!
It doesn't matter which versions of R&J you've seen. You haven't really SEEN it until you watch this gorgeous film. My mother saw this film as a teenager and rented it when I was quite young. It got me hooked on Shakespeare! I've seen it so many times, I can quote the dialogue word for word. Yes, there are scenes and dialogue omitted, but if they can edit the bible for film, I think they can edit Shakespeare. The story loses nothing from these omissions. In fact it gains a faster, meteoric pace, taking us with the young lovers as they soar high on love at first site, plunge into tragedy, and finally meet their violent ends. Leonard Whiting is a tender, poetic, marvelous Romeo, but Olivia Hussey steals the film with her passionately perfect performance of Juliet. Remarks have been made about her crying "too much". Hello??!! Critics who diss her for this have obviously never been a thirteen year old girl. Your hormones are going wacko at thirteen. I would sometimes cry at At&T commercials when I was thirteen, and Juliet certainly had more cause to cry than that! The haunting score by Nino Rota (who also scored the "The Godfather") heightens every single scene in which it is used. The music conveys the emotions of this story so well, it is almost a character itself. Pick up the soundtrack! It is phenomenal!I have seen many versions of R&J over the years. Every film version, many plays, but none compare to this. Particularly, no Juliet I have ever seen has compared with the vitality, passion, and almost unreal beauty of Olivia Hussey. She becomes Juliet in every way. I won't say another actress will *never* compare to her performance, but so far, noone has even come close to matching it.