''Romeo and Juliet'' ( it, Romeo e Giulietta) is a 1964 film directed and written by

Riccardo Freda Riccardo Freda (24 February 1909 – 20 December 1999) was an Italian film director. He worked in a variety of genres, including sword-and-sandal, horror film, horror, ''giallo'' and spy films. Freda began directing ''I Vampiri'' in 1956. The f ...

Production

Riccardo Freda maintained that it was himself who had the idea to adapt ''

Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetim ...

'', having been an admirer of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

since his youth and that he convinced

Goffredo Lombardo Goffredo Lombardo (15 May 1920 – 2 February 2005) was an Italian film producer. He was the son of the producer Gustavo Lombardo and took over control of the company Titanus after his father's death in 1951. Selected filmography * ''Chain ...

who had gone bankrupt after the production of ''

Sodom and Gomorrah Sodom and Gomorrah () were two legendary biblical cities destroyed by God for their wickedness. Their story parallels the Genesis flood narrative in its theme of God's anger provoked by man's sin (see Genesis 19:1–28). They are mentioned frequ ...

'' to create the production company Imprecine and set up a co-production deal with Spain for this film and '' Genoveffa di Brabante''. Other sources such as

Stefano Della Casa Stefano is the Italian form of the masculine given name Στέφανος (Stefanos, Stephen). The name is of Greek origin, Στέφανος, meaning a person who made a significant achievement and has been crowned. In Orthodox Christianity the ac ...

state that Freda was commissioned to shoot a Shakespeare adaptation by the Spanish company Hispamer Films, and accepted only as it would allow him to make a period drama, which he could inject elements of his favourite genre, the adventure film. The film reinvents the Montague and Capulets as land and cattle owners with disputes over land pastures. Minutella had suggested that the elements are borrowed from

Sergio Leone Sergio Leone (; 3 January 1929 – 30 April 1989) was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter credited as the pioneer of the Spaghetti Western genre and widely regarded as one of the most influential directors in the history of cin ...

's Westerns of the period, which Italian film critic and historian Curti stated was impossible as the films were only released days apart from each other.

Geronimo Meynier Geronimo Meynier (5 July 1941 – 23 January 2021) was an Italian film actor who starred in Italian cinema of the 1950s and 1960s. He debuted in ''Amici per la pelle'' in 1955 at age 14. His last film was in 1968. The Italian actor Geronimo Meyn ...

was cast as Romeo in the film, which was his final acting role. Originally,

Brett Halsey Brett Halsey (born Charles Oliver Hand, June 20, 1933) is an American film actor, sometimes credited as Montgomery Ford. He appeared in B pictures and in European-made feature films. He originated the role of John Abbott on the soap opera ''The ...

was going to play the lead, with Halsey stating that Freda planned to shoot the film in English in four weeks and feared he would not have adequate time for rehearsal and turned down the role, which led to Freda and him not speaking for years. ''Romeo and Juliet'' was shot in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

and

Ávila Ávila (, , ) is a city of Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Ávila. It lies on the right bank of the Adaja river. Located more than 1,130 m abov ...

Ruggero Deodato Ruggero Deodato (born 7 May 1939) is an Italian film director, screenwriter, and sometime actor. His career has spanned a wide-range of genres including peplum, comedy, drama, poliziottesco and science fiction, yet he is perhaps best known fo ...

was an assistant director on set, and claimed that "Freda was a genius. I learned a lot from him. He was an intelligent person, cultured, and even a bit nasty on the set. He mistreated the crew, and to film a good chase on horseback, he did not hesitate to cripple the horses, even though he owned a stable... he always came up with ideas which I hadn't thought of, both on set as in the editing room."

Release

''Romeo and Juliet'' was released in Italy on 28 August 1964 where it was distributed by

Titanus Titanus is an Italian film production company, founded in 1904 by Gustavo Lombardo (1885–1951). The company's headquarters are located at 28 Via Sommacampagna, Rome and its studios on the Via Tiburtina, 13 km from the centre of Rome. Lomb ...

. The film grossed 50 million

Italian lire The lira (; plural lire) was the currency of Italy between 1861 and 2002. It was first introduced by the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy in 1807 at par with the French franc, and was subsequently adopted by the different states that would eventually f ...

domestically, which Curti described as "disappointing" and that the film "remained virtually unknown abroad." A few years later director

Franco Zeffirelli Gian Franco Corsi Zeffirelli (12 February 1923 – 15 June 2019), was an Italian stage and film director, producer, production designer and politician. He was one of the most significant opera and theatre directors of the post-World War II era, ...

directed his own adaptation of ''

'', which Freda commented on later stating that "No one harmed Shakespeare more than Zeffirelli".

References

Footnotes

Sources

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External links

* {{Romeo and Juliet Films based on Romeo and Juliet Films directed by Riccardo Freda Films scored by Bruno Nicolai Italian drama films Spanish drama films Films shot in Italy Films shot in Spain 1960s Italian films