Thehibikiew Not even bad in a good way

FrogGlace In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

ActuallyGlimmer The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

patanellar Because it was required by my school. I never understood how this film was remade, because aren't films that are remade supposed to be good? One good thing came out of this-I got to call Romeo a sexist womanizing playboy in my essay about this. Why? Because he clearly is.

bkoganbing It took about five centuries for Shakespeare's signature play about young love to be filmed with teen lovers as Shakespeare wrote it. When Franco Zeffirelli got around to doing it as such it put all previous versions to shame. As good as MGM's version back in the studio system days with Leslie Howard and Norma Shearer, they now look arcane when viewing it today, taking nothing away from them as players.Of course this is hard casting. You have to have extraordinarily good actors and charismatic at that for the big screen. What Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey didn't have in experience they make up for in charisma. And being British they're trained in the classics at an early age. This film also gave a first big break for Michael York as Tybalt, a part that requires a lot of passion. You don't get more passionate than Basil Rathbone did in the Howard-Shearer version. But he's as arcane with the rest. York took it down a note or two and played him like a bully. I got the impression that York would be looking for fights if the Montagues and Capulets were bosom buddies.Back in Master Will Shakespeare's day all the parts in the theater were men and there sure was no such thing as typecasting. As we got more sophisticated we demanded more. What Franco Zeffirelli did was now narrow it so that juveniles would be playing juveniles or at somewhat believable kids like the players at Beverly Hills 90210 in their 20s playing high school kids.Romeo And Juliet got Oscars for cinematography and costume design and got a nomination for Best Picture and Franco Zeffirelli for Best director. Almost 50 years later it is still an impressive achievement.

Hitchcoc Having watched this film about sixty times (as an addendum for my Shakespeare students), I'm glad the kids got to see a play by the Bard. It is very visual, very colorful, with a modern twist and a beautiful Nino Rita soundtrack. The two kids who play the leads are decent actors and they give us the basics. But it is barely Shakespeare because most of the poetry is left out. It also leaves out significant plot elements that are critical to the play. This is about character development and the building suspense and angst that gets us to the conclusion. Too little and too fast. Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed this movie, but don't mix it up with a real presentation of Shakespeare. There is cutting and then there is cutting.

Desertman84 Well,what can I say.Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey together with its director Franco Zeffirelli have certainly made a classic in this cinema version of William Shakespeare's tragic play entitled Romeo And Juliet.It was released in 1968 and almost 40 years later,it remains the best film made of the said play. The versions released later and even before it still pales in comparison to it. Before I explain what makes it truly a classic,the story of the film takes place at Verona,Italy wherein there is a longstanding feud between two families: the Montague and the Capulets. Both clans get involved in a street brawl that was broken up by the Prince of the city.At night, Romeo of the Montague clan meets Juliet of the Capulet family.Both become deeply infatuated and fell in love.They pursue their romance despite the circumstance surrounding their family.Later,the get secretly married and things become complicated.When the father of Juliet arranges her to get married with the Count of Paris,she escapes from her clan and tried to remain faithful to Romeo by staying with him.But things become more complex until Juliet decided to kill herself with Romeo doing the same as well.No question that this remains the best film adaptation of Shakespeare's tragic play until this time while writing this review.There are many reasons why. First, we get to see the romance between the main characters taken seriously by the film.We can definitely feel for both Romeo and Juliet especially with the love they feel for each other and the romance that they pursue despite the feud that exists between their families.Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey did a wonderful job of portraying their characters despite their youth when the film was made.Their performances was definitely worth all the credit it deserves.Secondly,it was nice to see the story portrayed with a lot of realism especially with the actors not mere memorizing famous Shakespeare lines but rather on full emotion from the themes of joy and tragedy.It was also nice to see impressive visuals and scenes created to make it look like the time period when the story happened.Director Franco Zeffirelli deserves all the credit for it.Finally,the story was told with a lot of passion and intensity that the viewers will surely feel for it especially the lovers of the film.With these reasons stated,it truly remains the definitive Romeo and Juliet film.