Romeo and Juliet (1968) review

(9/10)

I've always loved the tragic, romantic story of Romeo and Juliet, and this film personifies it in such a way that it nearly outdoes the original play.

PLOT:In Verona, there are two families that hate each other with a passion that always end up disturbing the peace with their fights: the Montagues and the Capulets. One day, young Romeo Montague (Leonard Whiting) is invited to a feast held by the family of Capulet. While there, he meets the beautiful young Juliet Capulet (Olivia Hussey) and they basically fall in love at first sight. From here, they decide to get married and be together forever; however, their families are enemies. They have to keep their partnership a secret and get around their family feud along with other new twists. It's a really good plot executed brilliantly.



ACTING:The acting in here was excellent. Everyone did an awesome job! The two leads, Leonard Whiting as Romeo and Olivia Hussey as Juliet, played the roles respectively and had great chemistry as the star-crossed lovers. Other shining roles would be Milo O'Shea as Friar Lawrence, Michael York as Tybalt, John McEnery as Mercutio, Pat Heywood as the Nurse, Natasha Perry as Lady Capulet, Paul Hardwick as Lord Capulet, and Laurence Olivier as the Narrator. There really wasn't a bad performane in the film, but these in particular stood out.

SCORE:The score in here was wonderful. The score was made up of several love themes and a beautiful rendition of "What Is A Youth?" that could send chills down your spine. It really added to the romantic feeling of the film.



OTHER CONTENT:This film is pleasing to all lovers of the play/story. It keeps the original dialogue and uses it in a way to help others understand better, The visuals fit the time period greatly and are pleasing to those who look out for it. The dialogue and situations follow the play almost all the way except for a couple parts. However, the parts it leaves out are vital battles and situations that made the play even better. It's still, overall, a really great film adaption of the play and I loved it.

OVERALL,an awesome film with a brilliantly-executed plot, excellent acting, wonderful score, original dialogue, fitting visuals, and lots of accuracy to the original play, but it leaves out some important parts that would have made it better.