List Price: $9.99You Pay Only: $6.99 You Save: $3.00 (30%)Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Audience Rating: G (General Audience)
Binding: DVD
Brand: HUSSEY,OLIVIA
EAN: 9780792165057
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
ISBN: 0792165055
Label: Paramount Home Video
Manufacturer: Paramount Home Video
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Paramount Home Video
Region Code: 1
Release Date: May 23, 2000
Running Time: 138 minutes
Sales Rank: 1387
Studio: Paramount Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: October 08, 1968
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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet was unique in its day for casting kids in the play's pivotal roles of, well, kids. Seventeen-year-old Leonard Whiting and 15-year-old Olivia Hussey play the titular pair, the Bard's star-crossed lovers who defy a running feud between their families in order to be together in love. Typically played on stage and in previous film productions by adult actors, the innocent look and rawness of Whiting and Hussey resonated at the time with a burgeoning youth movement from San Francisco to Prague. The tragic romance at the center of the story also clicked with anti-authority sentiments, but even without that, Zeffirelli scores points by validating the ideals and passions of strong-willed adolescents. Less successful are scenes requiring the actors to have a fuller grasp of the text, though the best thing going remains the unambiguous duel between Romeo and Tybalt (Michael York). Lavishly photographed by Pasquale de Santis on location in Italy, this Romeo and Juliet brought a different tone and dimension to a story that had become tiresome in reverential presentations. --Tom Keogh
Product Description:
Shakespeare's classic play of tragic love between members of opposing families.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: PG
Release Date: 12-DEC-2003
Media Type: DVD
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Cupid, He Rules Us All
In 1968 Franco Zeffirelli wowed critics and audiences alike with his filmed version of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. He cast two unknown actors in the title roles. Romeo was played by Leonard Whiting, who captured the angst and anti-war sentiment of his generation while juxtaposing it with his all-consuming passion for Juliet. And Olivia Hussey plays Juliet to perfection by endowing her with innocence, naivety, intelligence and loving conviction. The rest of the cast is also superb especially John McEnery who lends a manic energy to Mercutio, Milo O'Shea who plays the difficult role of Friar Laurence, Pat Heywood who is spectacular as the Nurse, Michael York as the violent Tybalt and Bruce Robinson plays the loyal Benvolio. The film features a phenomenal score composed by Nino Rota. The production design is fantastic and the costumes are all lavishly created and provide the film with a sense of authenticity (even if not historically accurate). The fight choreography, though simple when compared to today's standards, is exciting and well rehearsed.
"Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes...
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whose misadventur'd piteous overthrows...
Do with their death bury their parents' strife."
For those few who aren't familiar with ... Read More
Rating:  - Beautifully Casted, Adept Cinematography, Soundtrack Moving and the words wonderfully rendered
It is written somewhere, possibly Homer or Plato, (possibly Oscar Wilde) that Poets are in-love with love, that is to say, the "Ideal of LOVE"... because the truly moving love poems, plays and stories that have been penned over the last 500 years, have something in common: most begin with so much passion; as in all good tales, there is a major conflict, but the Love is Real, ending in tragedy and tears. Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is one such tale.
"Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved."
- William Shakespeare
Sonnet CXVI
This is true romance and love from the depths of the soul - true love is unmoved...through out time.
The Sonnets are most likely the most heart-felt lines about Love and Devotion ever written.
My point is Romeo and Juliet expresses this Love without any political agenda - though finally ending ... Read More
Rating: - Romeo & Juliet DVD
After having shown the VHS version to my students for years, I finally bought the DVD to show via projector. What a difference it makes to have the subtitles! Very happy with my purchase.
Rating: - Artistry that will touch your heart
I do not use the term "Masterpiece" lightly. So when I attach that title to Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet please believe that it is heartfelt. I first saw this film upon it's release in 1968. I was 15. Shakespearian productions held little interest for me. The language was strange and from what I'd seen the acting seemed stiff. But after seeing the trailer I was intrigued. Perhaps it was the youthful players or the exciting action. For whatever reason I anticipated Rome & Juliet's release. I even found a paperback edition of the complete works of the Shakespeare and read the play, struggling to understand Elizabethan English but I finally succeeded. When the day of the film premiered in my town I eagerly attended. During the following two and a third hours I felt such emotion radiating from the audience and myself that I sat captivated. The costumes, beautiful soundtrack and sets made me feel as if I was haunting Verona's streets and allies. As the film ended sniffles and sobs accompanied the credits. Most left before the 2nd feature began. I sat, not wanting to exit into the real world until my cheeks dried. When I finally walked into the Sun I returned much richer for the experience. Romeo & Juliet led me to timeless classics and gave me an escape from the realities of 1968. So impressed was I that English and Elizabethan Literature became my major two years later when I entered College. Even today, four decades from that tumultuous time I watch this Masterpiece with moist eyes, my breath ... Read More
Rating: - Romance Explosion
This is one of the finest performances of Romeo and Juliet on film. These youthful actors embody the spirit of Shakespeare's young lovers!
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