Saddest Movie Ever Seen in a Movie Theater...Romeo & Juliet..1968

[Stuart G]

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063518/

Staring: Leonard Whiting, Olivia Hussey
Directed by: Franco Zeffirelli

One of the greatest movies I have ever seen...brilliant in so many ways. I remember being touched by
this film when I saw it in 1968..I will never forget that feeling...and this was 52 years ago.

[underpants]

1. No spoilers

Haven’t seen it.

[Biophilic]

18. That is so bad of you. Still laughing. Wouldn't dream of letting you know the ending.

[tclambert]

24. Don't read Shakespeare, then. He gives away the whole plot of the movie.

How could he give up all the spoilers 370 years earlier? Maybe . . . time travel?

[RVN VET71]

34. I think you've hit on something.

Willie used plots and whole story lines from other people. Lear, Hamlet, Comedy of Errors, etc., etc. And it was obvious to me that he did the same thing here. Even the language he used is Zeffirelli’s.

Shameless!

[hlthe2b]

2. I loved the music. I've seen many performances of the play, but never seen the movie...

One of these days...

Ironically, I've seen just about every film version of Hamlet multiple times.

[barbtries]

31. same here.

i've watched multiple versions of Hamlet but never Romeo and Juliet. I read the play though.

[wryter2000]

3. The screenplay was pretty good

Honestly, it’s hard to make Shakespeare anything but magnificent.

[Tomconroy]

4. The movie was a big hit at the time

The 60s. When they didn't make movies from comic books.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

5. I saw it in 1968 too, with my junior year English class.

I loved and still do!

(OMG Leonard Whiting was so gorgeous!!!!)

[Ligyron]

32. So was Olivia Hussy

[rsdsharp]

35. There was somebody in the film other than Olivia Hussey?

Just kidding. Kinda. I was 14, she was gorgeous, there was nudity(!!!), however brief, and the SCHOOL took my eighth grade class to see it. Proof there is a God.

[no_hypocrisy]

6. The genius was to cast teenagers as Romeo and Juliet.

Made the film more relevant to high school students.

[Tomconroy]

7. Yep!

[regnaD kciN]

8. Try having that come out...

…when you’re just about the same age as the principal characters as portrayed in the film, and just going through puberty, first relationships or at least first crushes, and so on. It really hit with a pretty heavy emotional blow.

There was an episode of The Wonder Years where Kevin and Paul were going to the movies on a Saturday afternoon, while complaining that the only thing showing in their suburb was some love story by Shakespeare, of all people – then you see them coming out of the theater, barely holding back tears. I’m betting anyone who was that age at that specific time must have gotten a good laugh from that episode, as it was so utterly accurate. (In case you’re wondering, no, nothing ever happened with the girl I had the intense crush on at the time, neither then nor ever. )

[Walleye]

9. I saw it in 1968 in the theater. I thought it was beautiful and powerful I loved Shakespeare anyway

[AnotherMother4Peace]

10. My 7th grade nuns took our class to see it in the theater!!!

Explanation points because: "the whole 7th grade class", "our Catholic nuns", "in the theater", "brief nudity" - everything. I loved it and it was a very memorable experience, especially since my family was poor, and outings like this was very rare.

[bamagal62]

11. I loved that movie!

I had a crush on Leonard Whiting.❤️

[Mister Ed]

12. Still my favorite movie of all time. n/t

[rzemanfl]

13. I saw it at a drive-in theater in a '64 Rambler. n/t

[bahboo]

14. and...and.....

[rzemanfl]

15. I was with my pregnant wife. n/t

[bahboo]

16. aha.....not your first time at a drive n then....

[rzemanfl]

17. True. n/t

[YDogg]

21. Best response ever.

[ShepKat]

19. Agreed

I watched it at the Drive In and had the soundtrack album
I was 9 lol

[Midnight Writer]

20. Banned in my town. Quite a crusade against it. Teen sex, rebelliousness, and suicide.

The local theaters wouldn't show it, and we got lectured about it's evils in our High School. (which just made all the kids want to see it)

[tanyev]

22. Oh, gosh. My 9th grade English teacher showed it to us in class

after we read it. Late 70s. I was too young to be aware of it when it came out. Olivia Hussey wrote a memoir that came out in 2018. Very interesting.

[BigmanPigman]

23. I decided to teach my 6th graders Romeo and Juliet.

When I showed the film (VCR) I had forgotten that you can see Romeo's naked ass and I got up so fast from my desk and spun the entire TV cart around in the nick of time. Great film in every way.

[Paladin]

25. This is why I found "Shakespeare In Love" so charming.

The looks on the faces of those audience members, having just witnessed the very first performance of "Romeo and Juliet."

Good stuff...

[Mr.Bill]

26. I was in high school then.

The English Department just threw in the towel on trying to get us to read Shakespeare and just put us on busses and took us to a theater to see the movie.

[Stuart G]

27. That writer William Shakespeare also wrote a comedy: "Taming of the Shrew"

Yes...A COMEDY....!!!!!!!!...repeat.....A COMEDY

That is also a film and you will totally enjoy that one..as I did..

Stars Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton...who were really in love during that movie..
married 1964 divorced 1974 married again in 75 and got divorced again in 76

Yes Taming of the Shrew was made in 1966..the two were still in love at that time...That one too is also very happy . If you have never seen a happy Shakespeare film, watch that one..And that one too, you will never forget. And Taylor and Burton are great in that film.....YES>>>YOU GOT TO SEE..............
............TAMING OF THE SHREW......wonderful happy film....You didn't know about that one...Did you?

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061407/

[OMGWTF]

28. I went to an art house movie theater in the 1970s to watch a comedy with my friend

who said it was the funniest movie he'd ever seen. Wrong. It was this R & J instead and I blubbered so much he had to grab a big wad of napkins from the concession stand before I could leave my seat.

[mainer]

29. Shakespeare came alive in pulsing, horny glory

For all of us teens.

[LudwigPastorius]

30. My freshman year our English teacher showed...

it to us.

While I remember a few sniffles from the young women in the class, I’m afraid that all we hormonal boys took away from it was Olivia Hussey topless.

[seta1950]

33. I agree