Romeo and Juliet (1968 film)

Romeo and Juliet
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Franco Zeffirelli
Screenplay by	Franco Brusati Masolino D'Amico Franco Zeffirelli
Based on	Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
Produced by	John Brabourne Anthony Havelock-Allan
Starring	Leonard Whiting Olivia Hussey Milo O'Shea Michael York John McEnery Natasha Parry Pat Heywood Robert Stephens
Narrated by	Laurence Olivier
Cinematography	Pasqualino De Santis
Edited by	Reginald Mills
Music by	Nino Rota
Production companies	BHE Films Verona Produzione Dino de Laurentiis Cinematografica
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	March 04, 1968 (Royal Film Performance) March 05, 1968 (U.K.) October 8, 1968 (U. S.) October 19, 1968 (Italy)
Running time	138 minutes
Countries	United Kingdom Italy
Language	English
Budget	$850,000[1]
Box office	$38.9 million[2]

Romeo and Juliet (Italian: Romeo e Giulietta) is a 1968 period romantic tragedy 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 the actor Antonio Pierfederici, who played Lord Montague, but was not credited on-screen. The cast 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.^[3][4] 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 be nominated for Best Picture to date. 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 become deeply infatuated. 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 first cousin Tybalt, furious that Romeo had attended his family's ball, insults him and challenges him to a brawl. Romeo 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 badly 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, however, sees his banishment as worse than the death penalty, as Verona is the only home he has known and he does not want to be separated from Juliet. Friar Laurence eventually convinces Romeo that he is very lucky and that he should be more thankful for what he has. Romeo then secretly spends his wedding night together with Juliet and the couple consummate their marriage before Romeo flees.

Juliet's father and mother, 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 forty-two 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 attend their joint funeral and are condemned by the Prince.

Cast[]

Production[]

Casting[]

Paul McCartney of The Beatles has stated that he was considered by Franco Zeffirelli for the role of Romeo. Although Zeffirelli does not mention it in his autobiography, McCartney provided plenty of details on this account (including meeting with Olivia Hussey and exchanging telegrams with her) in his co-written autobiography.^[5] In April 2020, McCartney referred to his discussions with Zeffirelli on The Howard Stern Show.

The director engaged in a worldwide search for unknown teenage actors to play the parts of the two lovers. 16 year-old 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.^[6] Leonard Whiting was 17 at the time, and Olivia Hussey was 16, 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.^[7]

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.^[7]

Filming locations[]

Set in a 14th century Renaissance Italy and filmed in varying locations:^[8]

• 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 Cinecitta 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.^[9] According to Leonard Whiting and Roberto Bisacco, Zeffirelli cut the scene because he felt it unnecessarily made Romeo less sympathetic.^[10] Another scene, where Romeo and Benvolio learn about the Capulet ball by intercepting an invitation, was also filmed but cut, though promotional stills still survive.

Because the film was shot MOS, 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.

Reception[]

The film earned $14.5 million in domestic rentals at the North American box office during 1969 (equivalent to $79.12 million in 2019).^[11] It was re-released in 1973 and earned $1.7 million in rentals (equivalent to $7.62 million in 2019).^[12]

Film critic 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".^[13]

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.".^[14]

Awards and nominations[]

Award	Category	Nominee(s)	Result
Academy Awards	Best Picture	John Brabourne and Anthony Havelock-Allan	Nominated
	Best Director	Franco Zeffirelli	Nominated
	Best Cinematography	Pasqualino De Santis	Won
	Best Costume Design	Danilo Donati	Won
British Academy Film Awards	Best Direction	Franco Zeffirelli	Nominated
	Best Actor in a Supporting Role	John McEnery	Nominated
	Best Actress in a Supporting Role	Pat Heywood	Nominated
	Best Art Direction	Renzo Mongiardino	Nominated
	Best Costume Design	Danilo Donati	Won
	Best Film Editing	Reginald Mills	Nominated
	Best Film Music	Nino Rota	Nominated
David di Donatello Awards	Best Director	Franco Zeffirelli	Won
	Golden Plate Award	Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting	Won
Directors Guild of America Awards	Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures	Franco Zeffirelli	Nominated
Golden Globe Awards	Best English-Language Foreign Film	Romeo and Juliet	Won
	Best Director – Motion Picture	Franco Zeffirelli	Nominated
	Best Original Score – Motion Picture	Nino Rota	Nominated
	Most Promising Newcomer – Male	Leonard Whiting	Won
	Most Promising Newcomer – Female	Olivia Hussey	Won
Laurel Awards	Top Drama	Romeo and Juliet	Nominated
	Top Cinematographer	Pasqualino De Santis	Nominated
	Top Male New Face	Michael York	Nominated
	Top Female New Face	Olivia Hussey	Nominated
Nastro d'Argento	Best Director	Franco Zeffirelli	Won
	Best Cinematography – Color	Pasqualino De Santis	Won
	Best Costume Design	Danilo Donati	Won
	Best Score	Nino Rota	Won
	Best Production Design	Lorenzo Mongiardino	Won
National Board of Review Awards	Top Ten Films	Romeo and Juliet	Won
	Best Director	Franco Zeffirelli	Won
Thessaloniki International Film Festival	Honorary Award		Won

Soundtrack[]

Two releases of the score of the film, composed by Nino Rota, have been made.^[15][16]

"Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet" The film's love theme was widely disseminated, notably in "Our Tune", a segment of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)'s disc jockey Simon Bates's radio show. In addition, various versions of the theme have been recorded and released, including a highly successful one by Henry Mancini, whose instrumental rendition was a Number One success in the United States during June 1969.^[17]

There are two different sets of English lyrics to the song.

• The film's version is called "What Is a Youth?", featuring lyrics by Eugene Walter, and sung by Glen Weston. This version has been released on the complete score/soundtrack release.
• An alternate version, called "A Time for Us", featuring lyrics by Larry Kusik and Eddie Snyder. This version has been recorded by Johnny Mathis, Andy Williams and Shirley Bassey for her 1968 album This is My Life. Josh Groban performed "Un Giorno Per Noi", an Italian version of "A Time for Us". Jonathan Antoine, classically trained tenor from Great Britain, performed "Un Giorno Per Noi" as one of the tracks on his second solo album, "Believe", which was released in August 2016. A third version is called "Ai Giochi Addio", featuring lyrics by Elsa Morante and sung in the italian version by Bruno Filippini who plays the minstrel in the film, has been performed by opera singers such as Luciano Pavarotti and Natasha Marsh.

In popular culture[]

• Thom Yorke cites the film as one of the inspirations for the Radiohead song "Exit Music (For a Film)", which was written specifically for the ending credits of the 1996 film William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet. Said Yorke, "I saw the Zeffirelli version when I was 13, and I cried my eyes out, because I couldn't understand why the morning after they shagged, they didn't just run away. The song is written for two people who should run away before all the bad stuff starts. A personal song."
• Kevin and Paul go to see the film in the episode "Wayne on Wheels" in season three of The Wonder Years.
• Celine Dion referenced this film, in particular the "hand dance" scene, in the video for her 1992 single "Nothing Broken but My Heart".
• In Season 4 Episode 14 "A long Walk to Pittsburgh (Part 2)" of Boy Meets World, after Topanga and her parents have moved to Pittsburgh, she runs away and makes her way back to Cory's home in Philadelphia. Cory's parents then phone Topanga's parents who in turn send Topanga's Aunt Prudence, who lives in Philadelphia, to pick her up. Cory tells Topanga that maybe Aunt Prudence "will be on our side.... Maybe she'll realize that we're Romeo and Juliet, we belong together." Topanga tells him that "my aunt has never been in love, never been married and wouldn't even know who Romeo and Juliet were." At which point Aunt Prudence enters the room, played by Olivia Hussey.
• Japanese manga artist Rumiko Takahashi referenced the Zeffirelli film in two of her manga and anime works. In one episode of Urusei Yatsura, devious troublemaker Ryoko Mendou invites the series' male protagonist, Ataru Moroboshi, to have a "Romeo and Juliet" rendezvous with her, and wears a dress based on Hussey's from the film. Later, Takahashi's Ranma 1/2 featured a storyline in which the lead characters, Ranma Saotome and Akane Tendo, are cast as Romeo and Juliet in a production of the play at their high school. Takahashi designed Ranma and Akane's costumes for the play with Whiting and Hussey's outfits in the Zeffirelli film in mind.^[18]
• Director/screenwriter Bruce Robinson claims Zeffirelli made unwanted sexual advances during the film's production.^[19] Robinson fictionalized this incident in dialogue from his first film, Withnail & I, where Withnail reads from a newspaper: "Boy Lands Plum Role for Top Italian Director. 'Course he does! Probably on a tenner a day, and I know what for! 2 pound 10 a tit and a fiver for his arse!"

See also[]

• 1968 in film

References[]

Notes

Further reading

• "Virtuoso in Verona" — 1968 review in Time (magazine)

External links[]

• Comprehensive webpage on Romeo & Juliet at the Wayback Machine (archive index), featuring magazine articles and film reviews (archived).
• Romeo and Juliet at IMDb
• Romeo and Juliet at the TCM Movie Database
• Romeo and Juliet at AllMovie
• Romeo and Juliet at Rotten Tomatoes