Romeo and Juliet (1968 film)

''Romeo and Juliet'' ( it, Romeo e Giulietta) is a 1968 coming-of-age period romantic drama film based on the play of the same name by William Shakespeare. Directed and co-written by Franco Zeffirelli, the film stars Leonard Whiting as Romeo and Olivia Hussey as Juliet. Laurence Olivier spoke the film's prologue and epilogue and dubs the voice of Antonio Pierfederici, who played Lord Montague but was not credited on-screen. The film also stars Milo O'Shea, Michael York, John McEnery, Bruce Robinson, and Robert Stephens.

The most financially successful film adaptation of a Shakespeare play at the time of its release, it was popular among teenagers partly because it was the first film to use actors who were close to the age of the characters from the original play. Several critics also welcomed the film enthusiastically. It won Academy Awards for Best Cinematography ( Pasqualino De Santis) and Best Costume Design ( Danilo Donati); it was also nominated for Best Director and Best Picture, making it the last Shakespearean film to date to be nominated for the latter category. Whiting and Hussey both won Golden Globe Awards for Most Promising Newcomers.

Plot

One summer morning in Verona, a longstanding feud between the Montague and the Capulet clans breaks out in a street brawl. The brawl is broken up by the Prince, who warns both families that any future violence between them will result in harsh consequences. That night, two teenagers of the two families—Romeo and Juliet—meet at a Capulet masked ball and fall in love. Later, Romeo stumbles into the secluded garden under Juliet's bedroom balcony and the two exchange impassioned pledges. They are secretly married the next day by Romeo's confessor and father figure, Friar Laurence, with the assistance of Juliet's nurse.

That afternoon, Juliet's cousin Tybalt, furious that Romeo had attended his family's ball, insults him and challenges him to a brawl. Romeo now regards Tybalt as family and he refuses to fight him, which leads Romeo's best friend, Mercutio, to fight Tybalt instead. Despite Romeo's efforts to stop the fight, Tybalt mortally wounds Mercutio, who curses both the Montague and Capulet houses before dying. Enraged over his friend's death, Romeo retaliates by fighting Tybalt and killing him. Romeo is subsequently punished by the Prince with banishment from Verona, with the threat of death if he ever returns. Romeo then secretly spends his wedding night with Juliet, and the couple consummate their marriage before Romeo flees.

Juliet's parents, unaware of their daughter's secret marriage, have arranged for Juliet to marry wealthy Count Paris. Juliet pleads with her parents to postpone the marriage, but they refuse and threaten to disown her. Juliet seeks out Friar Laurence for help, hoping to escape her arranged marriage to Paris and remain faithful to Romeo. At Friar Laurence's behest, she reconciles with her parents and agrees to their wishes. On the night before the wedding, Juliet consumes a potion prepared by Friar Laurence intended to make her appear dead for 42 hours. Friar Laurence plans to inform Romeo of the hoax so that Romeo can meet Juliet after her burial and escape with her when she recovers from her swoon, so he sends Friar John to give Romeo a letter describing the plan.

However, when Balthasar, Romeo's servant, sees Juliet being buried under the impression that she is dead, he goes to tell Romeo and reaches him before Friar John. In despair, Romeo goes to Juliet's tomb and kills himself by drinking poison. Soon afterwards, Friar Laurence arrives as Juliet awakens. Despite his attempts to persuade her to flee from the crypt, Juliet refuses to leave Romeo, and once the Friar flees, she kills herself by plunging his dagger into her abdomen. Later, the two families, having ended their feud, attend their joint funeral and are condemned by the Prince.

Cast

;The House of Montague
* Antonio Pierfederici as Lord Montague
*Esmeralda Ruspoli as Lady Montague
* Leonard Whiting as Romeo
* Bruce Robinson as Benvolio
* Keith Skinner as Balthasar
*Roberto Antonelli as Abram

;The House of Capulet
*Paul Hardwick as Lord Capulet
* Natasha Parry as Lady Capulet
*Olivia Hussey as Juliet
*Michael York as Tybalt
* Dyson Lovell as Sampson
*Richard Warwick as Gregory
* Pat Heywood as The Nurse
* Roy Holder as Peter

;Others
*John McEnery as Mercutio
*Milo O'Shea as Friar Laurence
*Robert Stephens as The Prince of Verona
*Roberto Bisacco
*Paola Tedesco as Rosaline ''(uncredited)''
*Bruno Filippini as Leonardo, the singer ''(uncredited)''
*Laurence Olivier as the chorus and voice of Lord Montague ''(uncredited)''

Production

Casting

Paul McCartney has said he was considered by Franco Zeffirelli for the role of Romeo. Although Zeffirelli does not mention it in his autobiography, McCartney provided details on this account (including meeting with Olivia Hussey and exchanging telegrams with her) in his co-written autobiography. In April 2020, McCartney referred to his discussions with Zeffirelli on ''The Howard Stern Show''.

Zeffirelli engaged in a worldwide search for unknown teenage actors to play the parts of the two lovers. Anjelica Huston was in the running for Juliet, but her father, the director John Huston, withdrew her from consideration when he decided to cast her in his own film, ''A Walk with Love and Death''. Leonard Whiting was 17 at the time, and Olivia Hussey was 15, and Zeffirelli adapted the play in such a way as to play to their strengths and hide their weaknesses: for instance, long speeches were trimmed, and he emphasized reaction shots.Landazuri, Margarit
"Romeo and Juliet (1968)"
TCM.com

Laurence Olivier's involvement in the production was by happenstance. He was in Rome to film '' The Shoes of the Fisherman'' and visited the studio where ''Romeo and Juliet'' was being shot. He asked Zeffirelli if there was anything he could do, and was given the Prologue to read, then ended up dubbing the voice of Lord Montague as well as other assorted minor roles.

Filming locations

The film is set in a 14th century Renaissance Italy and filmed in varying locations:
*The balcony scene: at the Palazzo Borghese, built by Cardinal Scipione Borghese in the 16th century, in Artena, 40 km southeast of Rome.
*The interior church scenes: at the Romanesque church of San Pietro, Tuscania in the town of Tuscania, 90 km northwest of Rome.
*The tomb scene: also in Tuscania.
*The palace of the Capulets' scenes: at Palazzo Piccolomini, built between 1459–62 by Pope Pius II, in the city of Pienza, in Siena province.
*The duelling scenes with swords were filmed in the old Umbrian town of Gubbio.
*The film also has some scenes filmed in Montagnana.
*The street scenes: Also in Pienza, and on the Cinecittà Studios backlot, Rome.

Editing

During post-production, several scenes were trimmed or cut. Act 5, Scene 3, in which Romeo fights and eventually kills Paris outside Juliet's crypt, was filmed but deleted from the final print. According to Leonard Whiting and Roberto Bisacco (without sound), all dialogue and Foley effects had to be looped during editing. A separate dub was created for the Italian release, with Giancarlo Giannini dubbing Whiting and Anna Maria Guarnieri dubbing Hussey, and Vittorio Gassman as narrator.

Release and reception

''Romeo and Juliet'' premiered on 4 March 1968 during the Royal Film Performance, and was widely released in the United Kingdom the next day. It was later released on 8 October 1968 in the United States, and on 19 October in Italy. The film earned $14.5 million in domestic rentals at the North American box office during 1969 (equivalent to $ million in ). It was re-released in 1973 and earned $1.7 million in rentals (equivalent to $ million in ).

Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a "Fresh" score of 95% based on 37 reviews, with an average rating of 7.9/10; it is accompanied by the consensus: "The solid leads and arresting visuals make a case for Zeffirelli's ''Romeo and Juliet'' as the definitive cinematic adaptation of the play." Roger Ebert of the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' wrote: "I believe Franco Zeffirelli's ''Romeo and Juliet'' is the most exciting film of Shakespeare ever made".

Awards and nominations

Soundtrack

Two releases of the score of the film, composed by Nino Rota, have been made.

The film's " Love Theme from ''Romeo and Juliet''" was widely disseminated, notably in " Our Tune", a segment of the British Broadcasting Corporation
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