What was the best film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet?

1968. End of thread.

Tybalt troll…

Romeo’s arse knows.

Romeo & Julian (1993)

1996

William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (1996). I remember reading all the previews and then seeing it at the local cinema when I was 13. Pure magic.

1968.

End of thread.

Why didn't Olivia and Leonard from the 1968 film become bigger stars?

Certainly Norma Shearer is in the best version of "Marie Antoinette."

"Muh-MAH! I am to be queen of FRAWNCE!"

[quote] Why didn't Olivia and Leonard from the 1968 film become bigger stars?

Well, it did make a big star out of Michael York.

Olivia Hussey was given many fine opportunities after "Romeo and Juliet," but she made terrible choices (like "Lost Horizon").

Leonard Whiting had nothing to offer but a great ass. It was undeniably a great ass, but that's all he had.

What all was cut out of the final version of the 1968 Romeo And Juliet?

I hope the full director's cut will be released one of these days.

Honestly, none of them are really that good. The problem is that actors who are or close to the right age don't have the gravitas to do justice to the two leads. And older actors with more experience just look silly. The piece works better on stage.

The 1968 Zeffirelli version is probably the best, but it's a puppy love depiction.

The Baz Luhrman version is just awful with the director's usual wildly overdone direction and two leads who try hard but can't quite cut it, though Danes has her moments.

The 30's version with Shearer and Howard is unwatchable, mostly due to her.

There's a 1954 film version with Laurence Harvey and Susan Shentall directed by Renato Castellani that has some beautiful sequences and the two leads aren't bad. Better than Whiting and Hussey actually.

Most of the other R&J films were done for British TV.

R13, well put

I really loved the 1968 Romeo and Juliet version. It was captivating. -t

[quote]Leonard Whiting had nothing to offer but a great ass.

I’ll never forget when they took our high school class to see “Romeo & Juliet” with Whiting and Hussey. When Whiting got out of bed showing off his fucking fabulous ass, everyone started yelling “Turn around! Turn around!” at the screen. Aw, memories.

1968

Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen’s.

Well Hussey did say that between takes of that scene Leonard proudly strut his stuff.

The best film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet is West Side Story (1957)

(1961)

1968 it is

But “Romeo and Juliet” IS puppy love. Teenagers are silly and fickle. Romeo is so depressed over Rosaline at the beginning of the play, meets Juliet at the ball and pow… he’s over Rosaline.

R&J is not even considered one of the four great tragedies of Shakespeare. It’s popular because it’s a pretty simple plot and a love story.

And there’s great poetry in the text. That’s why.

I taught 9th grade English in an all-boys hs and was the only one of the teachers who chose " The Merchant of Venice" rather than " Romeo and Juliet." When I was asked by the students why they were the only ones doing MOV, I just said," Romeo and Juliet: two horny teens get married so they can have sex. Then, they kill themselves. End of story."

Weak tea r25. My 9th grade class started with Macbeth…the most accessible, to young minds, of the canon. We ate it up.

The one with Olivia Hussey. Hands down.

Why isn't the one from 1936 very well liked?

Aged like curdled milk. The stars, not the film itself.

Madonna and Nick Scotti should have been in the remake

My 9th grade English class did Hamlet. Not sure how unusual that is. Romeo and Juliet was not one of the plays we read in my high school. I didn't see a recording of thar nice butt until well into adulthood.

We did Macbeth, JC, Henry IV 1 and 2 and Hamlet—in that order 🤷🏻‍♂️

Hamlet was 9th, The Tempest 10th, King Lear and Macbeth - 11th. I don't know what 12th grade English would've been. There were two senior classes in the English department that offered college credit and I picked Western Humanities instead of English that year.

In my "bad" HS in a crumbling New England city, we did two Shakespeare plays per year. I think the other in sophomore year was Antony and Cleopatra, but it was over 50 years ago and I blanked on that one. When I went to college and talked to classmates about their English classes, I was surprised how little was taught at the "better" suburban schools. From freshman to senior year:

A Midsummer's Night Dream, Romeo and Juliet

Julius Caesar

Othello, Macbeth

Hamlet, King Lear.

We did “Romeo and Juliet” in 9th grade and saw the 1968 film and did “Julius Caesar” in 10th (ugh, that play is as dry as sawdust which is why it’s “safe” to teach), nothing in 11th as it was American lit, then “Macbeth” senior year.

How many 9th graders can understand " Hamlet"? It's ridiculous to teach it at that grade level. Probably done because the teacher liked it.

Shakespeare has been eliminated from many curricula at liberal arts colleges and some high schools, because it's the writings of a dead white man. Instead, they get feminist writers and pop song lyrics in college.