Romeo and Juliet (1968 film)

One summer morning in Verona, Veneto, 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.

The film earned $14.5 million in domestic rentals at the North American box office during 1969 (equivalent to $79.12 million in 2019).[9] It was re-released in 1973 and earned $1.7 million in rentals (equivalent to $7.62 million in 2019).[10]

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".[11]

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.".[12]

Two releases of the score of the film, composed by Nino Rota, have been made.[13][14]

"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.[15]

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.

• 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.[16]
• Director/screenwriter Bruce Robinson claims Zeffirelli made unwanted sexual advances during the film's production.[17] 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!"

Notes

Further reading

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

• 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