Franco Zeffirelli's Oscar winning 1968 Romeo And Juliet is a revolutionary masterpiece! This is a flamboyant and very popular adaptation of the famous Shakespearean tragedy, in which actual teenagers play the leads. Two young lovers, who come from feuding families, desperately wish to stay together. They go to a gentle friar for help, and, in hopes their wedding will end the conflict, he comes up with an ingenious plot to unite them. However, when a miscommunication destroys their plans, they make a tra..
I saw this film approximately 20 times during my college years. Franco Zeffirelli's production was revolutionary for 1967, in using teenage actors for the tragic Romeo and Juliet, and his choices were perfection: the young Olivia Hussey is a heartbreakingly beautiful, vulnerable and courageous Juliet, while Leonard Whiting is a sensitive, poetically handsome and appealing Romeo. Zeffirelli's career as a director of opera is put to spectacular use here--each scene is meticulously crafted to be an ac..
