Stubs - The Lion in Winter (1968)

The Lion in Winter (1968) Starring: Peter O’Toole, Katharine Hepburn, Anthony Hopkins, John Castle, Nigel Terry, Timothy Dalton. Directed by Anthony Harvey. Screenplay by James Goldman. Based on the play, The Lion in Winter by James Goldman. Produced by Martin Poll. Run Time: 135 minutes. U.K.  Color. History, Drama

If you think you have a dysfunctional family, spend Christmas with Henry Plantagenet’s and you’ll truly appreciate how normal yours seems by comparison. That seems to be the point of The Lion in Winter, a historical drama starring Peter O’Toole and Katharine Hepburn. Based on the play by the same name, which premiered at the Ambassador Theater on Broadway on March 3, 1966, the film is an example of historical fiction.

In 1183, King Henry II of England (Peter O’Toole) summons his estranged wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine (Katharine Hepburn), whom he has imprisoned for 10 years in Salisbury Tower for her part in civil wars and plots against him. Henry has called a Christmas Court at Chinon Castle to determine which of their three surviving sons, Richard (Anthony Hopkins), Geoffrey (John Castle), or John (Nigel Terry), will be named successor to the crown. At 50, Henry figures he is near the end of his life and with the death of his heir, the Young King Henry, earlier during the year, the decision on succession requires immediate attention. (The film avoids the fact that Young Henry was killed during the course of a campaign in the Limousin against his father and his brother Richard. It was common at the time for the heir apparent to be crowned during the reign of the Senior King, so as to avoid issues of succession.)

Also present are Henry's mistress, Princess Alais [pronounced like Alice] (Jane Merrow), who has been promised as wife to the new heir, and her 18-year-old brother, Philip (Timothy Dalton), the King of France. Alais, who was raised by Eleanor as her daughter has grown into her 23 year-old replacement for Henry’s affections. Philip is there to settle the treaty that lead to his sister’s betrothal. He demands that if she is not to marry the heir, the treaty will be nullified and lands given to Henry would be returned to France.

Jane Merrow plays Princess Alais. She is both promised to the king
 of France and is also the object of King Henry's (Peter O'Toole) affections.

Henry, who proves to be more impulsive than decisive, chooses John as his successor. John is portrayed as a spoilt boy of 16, who is probably afraid of his own shadow. Alais makes no effort to hide her displeasure with marrying John, whom, she remarks, smells like compost.

Anthony Hopkins plays the eldest of the three sons, Richard.

Eleanor, fully aware that Henry doesn’t really care about any of his three sons, proclaims that the throne rightfully belongs to the eldest, Richard. Almost immediately, everyone plots to attain their own selfish ends: Eleanor offers to yield Aquitaine to Henry if Richard is named heir. [Not explained in the film, Aquitaine is a region of France which Eleanor originally ruled as Duchess. In 1137, she married Louis VII of France and possession passed to France. However, the marriage was annulled 1152 and when she married Henry II in 1154, Aquitaine became an English possession. It would remain one until 1453 when it was annexed by France at the conclusion of the Hundred Years’ War. Because of her annulled marriage to his father, Eleanor is also the step-mother to Philip.] Geoffrey, a typical middle child who is neglected by both parents, conspires with John and Philip to rob Richard of the throne. Henry, meanwhile, confesses to Alais that he intends to get his way without giving her up.

Eleanor conspires with her sons, here pictured Richard and John (Nigel
Terry), to ally with the King of France against Henry.

Eleanor and her sons decide that an alliance with the King of France might solve all their problems, and Eleanor sends Richard to convince Philip of the merit of their cause. But he is beaten to the punch by Geoffrey and John, who have come looking for an army to back John on the throne and Geoffrey as his Chancellor. While they hide, Richard comes into the Philip’s chamber, where a previous homosexual affair is recalled and Philip, just as he had done to John and Geoffrey, promises to support Richard.

Richard hides behind a tapestry when Henry arrives to continue his negotiations with Philip about settling the treaty. Thinking he has won the negotiations, Henry starts to leave, but Philip stops him. The youthful French king has disdain for his own father, but more for Henry and with a certain amount of glee he exposes the homosexual bent of Richard, the treachery of Geoffrey, and the disloyalty of John.

Timothy Dalton plays Philip, the young King of France, who has his own priorities in negotiations.

Outraged, Henry disowns his sons on the spot and demands an annulment from Eleanor, declaring his intentions to marry Alais and father a new heir with her. When he plans to go to Rome to get the pope to annul the marriage, she threatens him with a rebellion while he’s gone. To avoid that, he decides to imprison his sons in the castle’s dungeon while he’s out of the country. But Alais insists that Henry execute his sons to protect any child she might bear him.

Intent on carrying out her wishes, Henry descends to the dungeon, but Eleanor gets there first and arms the three princes with knives to aide their escape. But Richard refuses to run. Henry, with Alais, arrives and gets into a knife fight with his sons. All of them are shown to be afraid. When John makes an ill-advised lunge at his father, he is easily wrestled to the ground and has a knife at his throat. But Henry doesn’t kill him.

Eleanor arms her three sons, Geoffrey (John Castle), Richard, and John.

However, he pulls out his sword and declares that all three are to be put to death. But when he raises his sword over Richard's head, he can’t bring himself to go through with it and the three sons make their escape. Left alone, Eleanor and Henry, adversaries, realize that there is a bond between them that is too strong to be broken by a struggle for power.

Christmas morning, with nothing resolved, Henry escorts Eleanor to the barge that will return her to prison.

Sadly, that sort of sums up the film; nothing is resolved. Sometimes hard to follow, after two and a quarter hours we’re sort of back to square one. While there is some very good dialogue spoken (this was originally a play after all) and the acting is very good, Hepburn would win one of her Academy Awards for Best Actress for her role as Eleanor, the film was overall dissatisfying. Perhaps a more intimate knowledge of peerage and an encyclopedic knowledge of English history would have helped going in. Things are not explained in the film and sometimes events become confusing to the unknowledgeable amongst us.

While all of the characters really existed, some of the plot points are fictional. I am no English history scholar, but I have found out about some of the fictionalized history involved. The play and the movie take place during Christmas (much of it taking place Christmas Eve into Christmas morning) at Henry II’s castle in Chinon, Anjou, Angevin Empire, [which is in modern day France]. There wasn’t a Christmas Court at Chinon that year. And there is no evidence that Alais was Henry’s mistress, though Richard would use it as a reason to resist marrying her.

Henry would live another six years, dying, no surprise, after a battle with Philip and Richard, who had joined forces. After surrendering and capitulating to their demands, Henry returned to Chinon where John publicly sided with Richard in the conflict. The shock and a fever led to Henry II’s death on July 6, 1189. Son Richard, aka Richard the Lionhearted, succeeded him to the throne.

Peter O’Toole, who became a major film star six years earlier in Lawrence of Arabia (1962), plays Henry II for the second time, having first played the part in Beckett (1964). O’Toole, who was known as much for his drinking as his acting, gave many memorable performances in such films as The Ruling Class (1972), Man of La Mancha (1972), The Stunt Man (1980), My Favorite Year (1982) and Venus (2006). He died in December 2013.

Katharine Hepburn and Peter O'Toole in The Lion in Winter.

Katharine Hepburn was an American treasure. Once considered box-office poison, Hepburn would have a film career that lasted from A Bill of Divorcement (1932) until Love Affair (1994). She would be nominated 12 times for the Academy’s Best Actress Award, winning it four times. In addition to The Lion in Winter, she would win for her performances in Morning Glory (1933), Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner (1967) and On Golden Pond (1981). She is perhaps best known for her on screen chemistry and off screen romance with the married Spencer Tracy. They would appear together in Woman of the Year (1942), Keeper of the Flame (1942), Without Love (1945), The Sea of Grass (1947), State of the Union (1948), Adam’s Rib (1949), Pat and Mike (1952), Desk Set (1957) and Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner.

Of the three sons, Anthony Hopkins shines as Richard, a brave knight/mommy’s boy. Hopkins was a relative newcomer to films in 1968 as Lion in Winter was only his second film appearance. He had been acting since appearing on stage in the Swansea Little Theatre’s production of Have a Cigarette (1960). Perhaps best known for his Academy Award winning performance as Dr. Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs (1991) as well as its sequel Hannibal (2001), Hopkins is still working today appearing in such films as Thor (2011), Hitchcock (2012), Red 2 (2013), Thor: The Dark World(2013) and Noah (2014).

Anthony Hopkins and Timothy Dalton in The Lion in Winter.

And I would remiss if I didn’t mention future James Bond star, Timothy Dalton, as Prince Philip in his first film appearance. He would appear twice as the British secret agent in such films as The Living Daylights (1987) and Licence to Kill (1989).

I will admit that before I watched The Lion in Winter, I had some reservations. For some reason, I always thought Hepburn was too old for O’Toole, but she is actually about the right age for the part. Eleanor was supposed to be older than Henry II, 59 to his 50, Hepburn was 60 when she made this film.

But having watched the film, my criticism is that there doesn’t seem to be a point to the story. The issues it presents are either left unresolved or are forgotten altogether. For all I know Prince Philip is still in his chamber with more people hiding behind the tapestries.

I also didn’t like the musical score, even though it too won the Academy Award. The vocal stylings which permeate the score don’t seem to fit with the time the film is set in and I found that somewhat jarring. Not as bad as say a rock-themed soundtrack might have been, but rather than setting a mood, it had the opposite effect and took me out of the film. You can tell this is a 60’s movie with the occasional jump cut and jolting transitions. And Jane Merrow’s Alais has a very sixties, dare I say it, hippie look to her. Perhaps what is really old was new again.

While I’m pleased that I finally saw the movie, I feel like it was more a required history course rather than an elective. This is one course I’m glad I don’t have to take again.

Stubs – Head (1968)

Head (1968) Starring Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork, Victor Mature, Annette Funicello, Carol Doda, Frank Zappa, Terry Garr, Sonny Liston. Directed by Bob Rafelson. Written by Bob Rafelson and Jack Nicholson.  Produced by Bob Rafelson and Jack Nicholson. Run time: 86 minuted. U.S. Color, Comedy, Musical, Satire.

It’s nearly impossible to talk about The Monkees without mentioning The Beatles, because you wouldn’t have the former without the latter. Bob Rafelson may have come up with the idea for the show in 1962, but it took the British Invasion, led by that group for Liverpool, and of course a catching theme song by writers Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, to get it greenlit in 1965.

The TV Series, which had been aptly described like a little bit of Help! (1965) every week was filmed on many of the same sets that Columbia Pictures had built for the Three Stooges shorts and even some of the same props would be reused. The Monkees TV series only lasted two seasons, 1966-1968, but in that short period of time, the “band” had gone from lip-synching front men to demanding to play their own instruments. The Monkees had some very real success on the pop charts, posting several number one singles and albums. They even toured in 1967 with The Jimi Hendrix Experience as an opening act for a few of the gigs.

By the time the series was winding down, the group had already started work on a new venture, a feature film. With Rafelson and actor Jack Nicholson, the group met in Ojai and brainstormed ideas into a tape recorder. They also apparently smoked a lot of weed while doing so. Nicholson then took the tapes home and banged out a screenplay. He apparently took a lot of LSD while he did. The band members were upset about not getting writing credit and three of them boycotted the first day of production, February 15, 1968. The dispute would drive a permanent wedge between them and Rafelson, who not only did receive writing credit, but produced (along with Nicholson) and directed the film.

Production took place at the Columbia Pictures/Screen Gems Studios in Culver City and on the Columbia Ranch (now the Warner Bros. Ranch) in Burbank. There were also scenes shot on the Gerald Desmond Bridge in Long Beach; the Pasadena Rose Bowl; the Hyperion Sewage Treatment Plant in Playa Del Rey; Bronson Canyon; Palm Springs; the Valley Music Hall, Salt Lake City; and the Bahamas. Filming completed on May 17, 1968 on a budget of reportedly about $750,000.

The film is touted, at least on the DVD case, as being “A Hard Day’s Night on acid” but it’s more like a poor man’s Magical Mystery Tour (1967). Trailers at the time called it "most extraordinary adventure, western, comedy, love story, mystery, drama, musical, documentary satire ever made (And that's putting it mildly)."  And yes, the film does touch on all of these genres, but it never really does anything with any of them.

The film starts with a ribbon cutting ceremony on the Gerald Desmond Bridge, which is interrupted by the Monkees. Micky Dolenz is in hot pursuit by the other members, Peter Tork, Michael Nesmith and Davy Jones. Micky jumps over the railing and falls into the sea where we’re treated, if that’s the right word, to The Porpoise Song, the best known of the songs from the film.

Micky Dolenz about to jump from the Gerald Desmond Bridge.

The colors become distorted the way psychedelic films do and transition into a scene where a girl is in the Monkee pad kissing all four boys one by one as if judging who is the best kisser. On the way out, she relays to Micky that there really isn’t a difference. After she leaves, the screen gets thumbnailed.

We’re next treated to a mockup of The Monkees theme, written by Jack Nicholson. Called the Ditty Diego Chant!, which parodies the Boyce-Hart song. In the song they admit to being a manufactured band amongst other things. The video sequence accompanying it shows what would now be called a thumbnail from pretty much every scene in the film, ending with the horrific piece of footage from the Vietnam war of a local prefect shooting a suspected Viet Cong in the head at close range. This sequence would be replayed several times throughout the film.

After that, we’re thrown in and out of genres and situations, from War to Westerns and on and on. Along the way some famous people show up. Green Bay Packer Ray Nitschke (Private One) wearing a football uniform continually tackles Peter Tork as he runs through the trenches to get ammo that his company commander Mike had sent him to get.

Micheal Nesmith, Davy Jones, Micky and Peter Tork in the film's take on war films.

The band plays live, in Utah, while footage from Vietnam is mixed in with the band performing and throngs of young girls screaming. The girls rush the stage and literally pull the boys apart.

The band performing live in Head.

The film uses some stock footage, including Ronald Reagan, then Governor of California, interspersed with clips from various unrelated movies, including some clips of Bela Lugosi, local car commercials and what not. In the desert, we see Micky Dolenz rolling down a sand dune. Thirsty for water, he comes across a Coke machine in the middle of nowhere, but it’s empty.

Micky can't believe the Coke machine is empty.

After Micky struggles with it for a while, an Italian tank comes over the dune and Vito Scotti (I. Vitteloni) gets out. He surrenders the tank and his weapons to Micky, followed by a platoon of Italian soldiers, all who drop their weapons and march off to be POWs. Micky gets into the tank and blows up the Coke machine.

We end up in a Western, so to speak, with one of the first of our cameo appearances, Terri Garr, then credited as Terry Garr (Testy True). Actually, this is only a cameo since Ms. Garr has gone on to bigger and better things. She was still pretty new to Hollywood and this is actually her first lines in a movie, even though they aren’t much and don’t really have anything to do with the story, but of course, there isn’t one.

Cameos continue throughout with Davy boxing Sonny Liston (Extra) in a one-sided fight, even though his girlfriend, Annette Funicello (Teresa/Minnie), in a “spoof” of 30’s boxing films, tries her best to convince him to stick with the violin and not get into the ring. Micky is sitting with Michael assuring him that Davy will take the dive he’s supposed to. Sitting next to Michael is Carol Doda (Sally Silicone), the famous enhanced topless dancer. This sort of spoof was handled much better in Movie Movie (1978).

Davy Jones picks Sonny Liston as his foil in a boxing match.

After Micky walks off the Western set and through the backdrop, the boys end up in a coffee shop on the lot, where a man dressed as a woman who runs the place trades insults with the boys before Peter finally punches him. But Peter frets openly to Bob (Rafelson) as the director about how the kids will react to it. With Bob are Jack Nicholson and Dennis Hopper, but the latter is only briefly on the screen and says nothing as he passes through.

The boys end up on a tour of a plant, the Hyperion Sewage Treatment Plant, where Davy notices some strange goings on that the others, including their tour guide, ignore. No one listens to him until they are trapped in a cargo container. They end up being a part of a dandruff commercial on actor Victor Mature’s (The Big Victor) head and are vacuumed up by his assistant.

While Micky, Mike and Peter end up in the canister, Davy gets hung up in the hose and then manages to escape into his own song and dance routine, Daddy’s Song, with Toni Basil, years before her own hit single, “Mickey” in 1982.

Davy gets one song and dance number, "Daddy's Song".

When he leaves the stage Davy is accosted by Frank Zappa, who critiques the number as being awfully white, before walking off with a cow.

Frank Zappa makes a cameo, walking a cow and criticizing Davy's performance.

The others escape the container, but not the movie. The rest of which is sort of a hodge podge of ideas, most centering around interactions with Timothy Carey (Lord High 'n' Low), both in and out of a Western movie set. The boys unsurprisingly end up back in the container, but this time it gets dumped out in the middle of the desert.

The Monkees keep having run-ins with Lord High 'n' Low (Timothy Carey) throughout Head.

At this point, all the various characters they’ve interacted with during the movie come at them all at once. The boys start running off, with Micky in the lead. They end up back on the Gerald Desmond Bridge and this time we see all four boys leap into the water. This time, they end up in a giant fish tank being pulled on a tractor with Victor Mature sitting on the platform behind the tank.

All the boys end up in the water at the end of Head.

The soundtrack music at the end has an almost Help! feel about it, which isn’t that surprising since Ken Thorne, who did the score for Head, also did it for that earlier Beatles film.

This is a stream of consciousness mixed with mind-altering drugs sort of experience and is more like a bad dream than a good movie. Judging by its initial reception, I’m not alone in this opinion.

The movie opened on November 6, 1968 to less than stellar reviews or boxoffice, earning a paltry $16,111. Part of the problem with the box office might be laid at the feet of the film’s marketing. There were no pictures of the Monkees on the original poster (see above); only a picture of John Brockman, who did the PR for the film. The sole television ad also featured Brockman with a close-up shot of his head. After 30 seconds he smiles and the name HEAD appeared on his forehead. The ad was an apparent parody of Andy Warhol's film Blow Job (1963), which only showed a close-up of a man's face for an extended period, supposedly receiving 'head'. Needless to say the ads and promotions were a complete failure. Perhaps whoever devised it was as high as everyone else related to the production.

There are a few films from this time period which I personally blame on LSD. The aforementioned Magical Mystery Tour, How I Won The War (1967), the original Casino Royale (1967) and this one.  All were made about the same time and most are pretty much unwatchable unless you’re also imbibing. What sets Magical Mystery Tour above most is the thin plot device that it is a holiday bus tour. There is no plot to hold onto with Head. Another thing that helps Magical Mystery Tour is that it features the Beatles and several of their songs, including “I Am The Walrus”. Head features Beatle-wannabes and some fairly uninteresting songs. Even a “bad” Beatles song beats anything that appears in this film.

Head is really a relic of the 1960s, with its use of psychedelic coloring, its repeated references to the Vietnam War, Transcendental Meditation and it’s obvious drug culture influence. Head has midnight movie written all over it. It’s perhaps best if you don’t pay too close attention to it. Now, I know there are some die-hard Monkees fans out there, but I can’t imagine they really love this film either. While this is more than just an elongated Monkees episode, it is also devoid of much of the zany fun that made that series worth watching.

Stubs – Romeo & Juliet (1968)

Romeo & Juliet (1968) Starring: Leonard Whiting, Olivia Hussey, Milo O'Shea. Directed by Franco Zeffirelli. Screenplay by Franco Brusati, Masolino D'Amico, Franco Zeffirelli. Based on the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare (London, ca. 1596, published 1597). Produced by John Brabourne, Anthony Havelock-Allan. Run Time: 138 minutes. U.K. and Italy. Color. Drama, Romance

Romeo and Juliet is perhaps the best known of all of William Shakespeare’s plays. The story of tragic love has its origins dating back to the beginnings of literature. The earliest type of story is Pyramus and Thisbe dating back to Ovid’s (aka Publius Ovidius Naso) poem Metamorphoses first published in 8 AD. (Pyramus and Thisbe would also make an appearance in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.)

The earliest version of Romeo and Juliet dates back to the story of Mariotto and Gianozza by Masuccio Salernitano, published in 1476. In 1530, Luigi da Porto adapted the story as Giulietta e Romeo and added many of the “modern” items we associate with the story, including the names of the lovers, the rivalry between the Montecchi and Capuleti families, characters corresponding to Shakespeare’s Mercutio, Tybalt, and Paris as well as using Verona, Italy as the location.

Matteo Bandello wrote his own version of the story in 1554. His version adds some characters, including the Nurse character, as well as the feud between the families. Bandello’s story was then translated into French by Pierre Boaistuau in 1559. And in 1562, Arthur Brooke faithfully translated Boaustuau in his narrative poem The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet. In 1567, William Painter retold the story again in prose. Shakespeare’s take on the story borrowed from both Brooke’s and Painter’s work, but he added his own dramatic structure and verse.

Written between 1591 and 1596, the play would be his most popular during his lifetime, along with Hamlet and the tragic love story has also been one of his most popular to be adapted to film. There have been over 20 versions of the play made for film and television dating back to Clément Maurice’s French version in 1900. But perhaps the best known version is Franco Zeffirelli’s Romeo & Juliet released in 1968.

Zeffirelli had started as a production designer and had made his directorial debut with another Shakespeare play, The Taming of the Shrew (1967), the best known film adaptation of that play as well. Originally slated to star Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni, the film ended up starring Elizabeth Taylor and her then husband Richard Burton, who had put more than a million dollars towards the film’s budget.

After the success of The Taming of the Shrew, Zeffirelli took on another Shakespeare play, Romeo & Juliet. For his second film, Zeffirelli supposedly approached Paul McCartney of The Beatles to play the lead male role. When that didn’t work out, there was a casting call which had 300 actors auditioning over a span of more than three months. From that Leonard Whiting was chosen. For Juliet, Zeffirelli chose Olivia Hussey, whom he had seen on stage in a production of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie opposite Vanessa Redgrave. Again, she was chosen over 500 other actresses.

With a production of $850,000, the film was shot on several locations in Italy. The story starts with narration read by perhaps the best known Shakespearean actor of modern times, Laurence Olivier. This prologue pretty much is a spoiler for the play, but that’s how it was written.

In Verona, Italy, there is a long-standing feud between two prominent families, one lead by Lord (Antonio Pierfederici) and Lady (Esmeralda Ruspoli) Montague and the other by Lord (Paul Hardwick) and Lady (Natasha Parry) Capulet. When members of these families meet on the streets it takes very little provocation to turn into an out and out street brawl. It takes the intervention of the Prince of Verona (Robert Stephens) and the threat to execute the leaders of both families to stop things.

Against this background of bad blood, two teenagers, Romeo Montague (Leonard Whiting) and Juliet Capulet (Olivia Hussey), meet and fall madly in love. Later, Romeo stumbles into the garden below Juliet’s bedroom balcony and the two exchange pledges of love.

Romeo Montague (Leonard Whiting) and Juliet Capulet (Olivia Hussey) meet and fall in love.

With the help of Friar Laurence (Milo O’Shea), who has been like a father to Romeo, and Juliet’s Nurse (Pat Heywood), who has been the girl’s stand-in mother, the two wed secretly.

Milo O'Shea plays Friar Laurence who secretly weds the young lovers.

Unfortunately, not a day goes by before there is trouble. Juliet’s first cousin Tybalt (Michael York), who doesn’t know about the wedding, throws insults at Romeo, who now thinks of Tybalt as family and doesn’t want to fight with him. But Romeo’s best friend, Mercutio (John McEnery), who doesn’t know about the wedding either, takes up arms to defend his friend.

Tybalt (Michael York) kills Romeo's friend, Mercutio (John McEnery).

While the duel that ensues starts out as two young men enjoying themselves as they try to best one another, it grows more violent and Mercutio is killed. So lighthearted is the duel that even though Mercutio is mortally wounded his friends think he is acting and do not get help that might have saved his life. Tybalt flees the scene, but Romeo follows and the two get into their own swordfight. Even though Romeo seems overmatched by Tybalt, he does manage to kill him. After one night of passion together, Romeo leaves Juliet and Verona, having been banished by the Prince for the murder.

And as revenge, Romeo duels and kills Tybalt.

Meanwhile, unaware that Juliet is already married, her father arranges her to marry the wealthy Count Paris (Roberto Bisacco). To help her avoid the marriage, Friar Laurence prepares a concoction for her that will make her appear to be temporarily dead for forty-two hours. He plans to inform Romeo of the hoax, so the two can meet after Juliet’s burial. Friar John (Aldo Miranda) is dispatched with a letter telling Romeo as much.

Romeo and Juliet spend one night of passion together.

However, Romeo’s servant Balthasar (Keith Skinner) witnesses Juliet’s funeral and, not knowing the hoax, goes to inform his master. Unfortunately, he arrives before Friar John and Romeo, reacting to the news, hurries to Juliet’s tomb. Distraught by seeing her dead body, he kills himself by drinking poison. After one last kiss, he dies.

Romeo doesn't know Juliet's death is a hoax, so he kills himself after one last kiss.

Friar Laurence arrives after Romeo’s death and just before Juliet reawakens from his potion. Seeing that Romeo is dead, she takes her husband’s dagger and stabs herself in the heart to join him in the afterlife.

Seeing her husband is dead, Juliet takes her own life with Romeo's dagger.

The young lovers’ death brings the two families together at a joint funeral and they agree to end their feud.

The death of Romeo and Juliet bring the two fueding families together.

When the film was released on October 8, 1968, it was a big success by the standards of the day, earning nearly $39 million at the box office. Reviews were generally positive and the film was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director, though it would win for Best Cinematography (Pasqualino De Santis) and Best Costume Design (Danilo Donati). Even the soundtrack album would peak at #2 in the Billboard charts in 1969.

No doubt at the time of the film’s release, showing young people close to the ages of the protagonists, rather than already established actors, was applauded and it should have been. While there is nudity, and it is perhaps a little gratuitous, you have to remember the time that it was made. These were not sights seen on American mainstream cinemas at the time. During the 1960’s, with its shift in mores, this film was the right one for the time; pushing the envelope without going too far for the movie-going public.

The film would make stars out of its young leads and they will forever be associated with the roles of Romeo and Juliet. They both have a certain star power that comes with young actors being able to carry a major motion picture. Whiting and Hussey were the reason people came to see the film and their performances are why the movie is still watchable to this day.

For a time, Leonard Whiting would get the pop idol treatment and would be considered a heartthrob to some.  Whiting would win the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year, but he would end up only making a handful of films, instead concentrating on his theatrical career. Olivia Hussey would have a longer career, though nothing would approach her initial success as Juliet. They are both reuniting in Social Suicide (2015).

There are other actors of note in the cast, including Michael York as Tybalt and Milo O’Shea as Friar Laurence. York was just starting an acting career that would include film, television, live acting and voice over work. York would appear in Cabaret (1972) with Liza Minnelli, co-star in The Three Musketeers (1973) and its sequel, The Four Musketeers (1974) and star in the sci-fi film Logan’s Run (1976).

Milo O’Shea was best known as a character actor in a career that started as Air Raid Warden in Blackout (1940) and ended with an appearance on The West Wing (2004).

For the most part the movie’s screenplay stays fairly faithful to the source material, though there are some edits made in dialogue, etc., which one would expect with any adaptation, even one of Shakespeare. And it is how much this is like a play that keeps me from really endorsing the movie. Like The Merchant of Venice (2004), this film was made on locations that, at least, resemble the locations where the story would have taken place. But while Venice was shown as a vibrant city, Verona comes off like an empty stage on which the play is performed. I don’t really get the sense of place here that a location shoot should have brought.

Added to that, the voices sound like they were re-dubbed after filming. I haven’t been able to find any information about this production in particular, but it was a common practice to redub voices shot on location. In this case, it’s sort of like watching a Hong Kong kung fu film dubbed in English, but in this case it’s English that they’re overdubbing. All the lip movements synch up, but some of the power of the speeches seems to get lost in the process. As a result some of the acting comes off as a little flat. Again, I don’t have evidence that this is what happened, only that after having seen this film three times now, that is the impression I’m left with.

While I know the intent was to bring the play to life on the cinema screen, there is more to a production than costumes and beautiful cinematography. Having watched several other Shakespeare films recently, including A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935), Hamlet (1948), Othello (1995), and The Merchant of Venice (2004), this one seems to be the slowest paced and the least involving. Beautiful to watch, the film has not held up well over time.

But to say not to watch this is to like denying you a rite of passage. Ever since this film was released, it has been the go-to movie for new readers of Shakespeare wanting to see the play, but not wanting to wait for a production to be mounted nearby. And the film has been used as a vehicle to introduce the Bard to the masses. The story has been modernized, as in Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet (1996), but seeing the play in the setting Shakespeare envisioned is probably best for new viewers.

No doubt the play will continue to be adapted and retold as each new generation does its take on the classic tragic love story, but Zeffirelli’s adaptation is, at least for now, the standard bearer by which all future films will be compared.

Stubs - Yellow Submarine

YELLOW SUBMARINE (1968) Starring: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Voices by: John Clive, Paul Angelis, Geoffrey Hughes and Lance Percival. Directed by George Dunning. Written by Lee Minoff, Al Brodax, Jack Mendelsohn and Erich Segal. Produced by Al Brodax. Songs by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and George Harrison. Music by George Martin. Run Time: 89 minutes. Color. UK. Music, Comedy, Adventure, Animated

Of all the Beatles films, this one had the least involvement from the group. Based on the song “Yellow Submarine” released in 1966 as the double A-sided single with “Eleanor Rigby” both off the group’s Revolver album, the film began production in 1967. It wasn’t until after the group saw the completed work that they agreed to appear in the live-action cameo shown at the end of the film.

The roots for this project go back to the beginnings of Beatlemania. In 1964, the Beatles manager Brian Epstein was approached by Al Brodax, a cartoon producer who wanted to make an American TV cartoon series based on the group and their songs. While not enthusiastic about the idea, Epstein didn’t see any harm and agreed to do it and promised that the Beatles would cooperate with an animated feature, should the TV series be successful. The series ran for three seasons on ABC TV and in 1966, Brodax reminded Epstein of his promise. Neither Epstein nor the group was really excited about an animated film, but thought it would fulfill their commitment to UA for a third film.

Yellow Submarine has roots in the Beatles Cartoon series.

The story revolves around the magical Pepperland, a psychedelic playground that is attacked by Blue Meanies and their assorted co-horts. The Blue Meanies drain the color from Pepperland, and capture the protectors of Pepperland, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, in a bubble. In his last action, the Lord Mayor sends Old Fred, a sailor, off in a Yellow Submarine in order to get help.

Old Fred takes the submarine to Liverpool where he encounters an aimless Ringo, who is wandering the streets. After agreeing to help Fred, Ringo gathers his mates and the five take off for Pepperland. On the way they must navigate through the Sea of Time, the Sea of Science, the Sea of Monsters, the Sea of Nothing, the Sea of Heads and the Sea of Holes, which turns into the Sea of Green. In the Sea of Nothing, they encounter Jeremy Hilary Boob, the Nowhere Man whom the Beatles let join them onboard the submarine.

The Beatles and Jeremy Hilary Boob in the Sea of Holes.

After landing in Pepperland, the Beatles see that the landscape has been turned into miserable wasteland. The group dresses like Sgt. Pepper’s band and go to steal instruments from the high tower where the Blue Meanies have stored all the instruments they’ve stolen. They almost get away with it, but Ringo accidentally steps on a bagpipe. With the alarm sounded, the Beatles flee, retrenching themselves and sing “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”, which sends the Blue Meanies into retreat. The chief Blue Meanie retaliates, sending Glove after them, but John defeats it by singing “All You Need is Love.” The residents of Pepperland, revitalized, take up arms against the Blue Meanies and chase them back to the Blue Mountains from whence they came. The color is restored to Pepperland and the thorns turn into flowers.

The Blue Meanies.

Ringo frees the original Sgt. Pepper band by using a hole, from the Sea of Holes, to allow them to escape from the bubble they’ve been imprisoned in. There are some further skirmishes with the Blue Meanies, including their multi-headed dog, but as is always the case, the Beatles are victorious. When the chief Blue Meanie tries to kill Jeremy, he is instead transformed. When John offers friendship, the chief Blue Meanie has a change of heart.

With everyone singing and happy, the movie changes to the live-action appearance of the Beatles. When John sights “newer and bluer meanies in the vicinity of this theater”, the group sings a reprise of “All Together Now” to ward them off.

The Beatles make a brief appearance at the end of Yellow Submarine.

The animation for Yellow Submarine was markedly different from what had come before. The film’s art director, Heinz Edelmann, had been a pioneer in the psychedelic style. There was a prominent use of photographic images as backgrounds, vibrant colors and there was no effort made to completely feel the frame with animated images. The film reminds many of the art work popularized by Peter Max, though he had nothing to do with the film. Many characters were created for the film that had nothing do with the Beatles or their songs. Included amongst them are the Blue Meanies, the Apple Droppers, the multi-headed dog, the Lord Mayor, Old/Young Fred and Jeremy.

An example of some of the animation from Yellow Submarine.

The animated Beatles were based on the Beatles in their 1967 promotional film for their single “Strawberry Fields Forever.” And while Beatles music is obviously prominent throughout, only four songs were original to the movie, though not necessarily were written for it. The soundtrack gave the Beatles a chance to use songs that they mostly had sitting around: “Only A Northern Song” George’s ode to then Beatles music publisher Northern Songs; “It’s All Too Much”, another Harrison song which dates from the Pepper sessions; “Hey Bulldog” which dates from earlier in the year before the group’s sojourn to India; and “All Together Now” recorded during the Magical Mystery Tour sessions.

The animated Beatles with the Lord Mayor of Pepperland.

The soundtrack includes snippets of songs from several Beatle albums, including 1965’s Rubber Soul: “Think for Yourself” and “Nowhere Man”; 1966’s Revolver: “Yellow Submarine”, “Eleanor Rigby” and “Love You To”; 1967’s Sgt. Pepper: “Lucy In the Sky with Diamonds”, “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”, “With a Little Help From My Friends” and “When I’m Sixty Four” as well as the single “All You Need Is Love” and its B-side “Baby You’re a Rich Man”. George Martin composed the score music that was featured on the B-side of the original soundtrack album released after the film’s release. A digitally remastered soundtrack featuring only Beatles songs was released in 1999 to coincide with the release of the film on DVD. However, it was the original soundtrack that got the digital remaster treatment in 2009.

The film proved to be quite popular and spawned a second wave of Beatles-related merchandise and memorabilia, the first since the old days of Beatlemania. There was even more merchandise created when the film was finally released on DVD.

In many ways it’s hard to call Yellow Submarine a Beatles film; they did not do the voices or have anything to do with the production. However, it is still infused with their spirit and is based on their music. It is worth noting that this is the last time a happy Beatles group would be featured on celluloid.

For other Beatles films, see our Beatles Film Review Hub: http://trophyunlocked.blogspot.com/2014/02/review-hub-beatles-on-film.html