The Lion in Winter | | Cast : | Peter O'Toole, Katharine Hepburn, Anthony Hopkins | | Director : | Anthony Harvey (II) | | Studio : | MGM/UA Video | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen | | Released Date : | October 30, 1968 | | DVD Released Date : | June 19, 2001 | | Language : | French (Subtitled), English (Dubbed), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 14, 2005 | | Summary | What a Family!! | Content
 | This film based upon the Play is just wonderful and from what I have seen is a very accurate about the Henry II and his extremely troublesome family.It has so many great lines and complex characters that it just overwhelms ones senses.
("I could of conquered all of Europe But I had Women in my Life!" or "Anything can happen if dead carpenters can rise from the Dead")
I have seen this film several times now and maybe I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer. But I always find something new and wonderful in this film. I can not recommend this film high enough to those who like the Middle Ages and the Father of the English Common Law! Mr. O'toole and Ms. Hepburn were never better than here. Even if they did not look like the originals.
(Henry was Fatter and Eleanor was was not so skinny either.) |
| Rating | | | Date | August 06, 2005 | | Summary | "It's the way I register dispair..." | Content
| So says Queen Eleanor when the King Henry notes that, amid the disasters of her life; her treacherous children and her imprisonment at the hands of her husband; she is still smiling.
I was in high school when The Lion in Winter was released. I had not so long before saw Becket, also starring O'Toole (with Richard Burton), and was looking forward to a much more action-oriented, swash-buckling movie than The Lion in Winter. So I recall being disappointed with the endless talking which didn't make sense to me, and the dark scenes.
Well, that was in my impatient, impetuous youth. Now that we live in the DVD age these old gems can be brought out for reappraisal. The film requires a certain level of maturity and patience to be appreciated, but once that threshold is reached the rewards of this movie are rich and manifold.
The film rates as one of my all-time favorites. I respect the Halliwell Film and Video Guide (which, happily, is very grudging with the stars), but it grossly underrates this wonderful movie (it gives one star, when it should rate at least three).
The main problem of the story is transitioning the monarchy from an aging king to a successor. The way this up-for-grabs power struggle effects the characters is brilliantly presented in dialog and acting. The King tries out one decision out after another: first one prince, then another will inherit the throne, then, realizing that all of his sons display varying levels of treachery, the King decides he needs a new heir. He will go to Rome for a divorce so he can remarry to have more sons. But that won't work since all the princes and the Queen threaten to revolt.
The King's dithering has a corrosive effect has on the characters which is fascinating to watch. The trust and distrust of each individual, the loyalty or betrayal to the King and the current favorite causes great volatility in the alliances between characters.
The story is, finally, a tragedy. It's the tragedy of growing old, of realizing that one doesn't live forever and will never know, much less control, how the world will turn out when one is gone. The tragedy of being shunted aside (as is the imprisoned Queen), of seeing your children not live up to your expectations and then become disloyal. The tragedy for two of the three princes not chosen to rise to the throne.
At the end of the story, nothing is decided. Life will go on as before. The Queen is on her way back to jail. But the King and Queen have learned that they are companions in their mutual tragedy. In the midst of this sorrow the lighthearted way they part brings a tear to the eye.
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| Rating | | | Date | August 06, 2005 | | Summary | Hard to take after all these years | Content
| By far the worst part of this mess is the writing - the LANGUAGE, for gawds sake - EMBARRASSING. Pure 1960s post-playboy sexual liberation titillation. Eleanor of Aquitaine declaiming about sex in history. Right!
Then there's the heavy-handed scenery-chewing scream to the rafters ham acting. Don't know who does the the worst here, O'Toole bull-bellowing or Hepburn as the aging cocktail party diva (all she needed was a cigarette holder, my deah.
Even the makeup was hideous, especially Kate's, so mid-20th century garish, but then it always was in 1960s wide-screen "pageants".
Whatever else this monstrosity is it is the very opposite of Shakespeare. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 26, 2005 | | Summary | You're Still My Lady... | Content
| Welcome to the world of the Plantagenets. At Christmas Court, Peter O'Toole and Katharine Hepburn portray Henry II and Eleanor of Acquitaine trying to select a successor to the throne. Now this is what can be truly called..'Acting'..in all its' senses. They both bring such strength and believability to their respective roles that you really feel what the twelfth century court could have been like.
After all the fights, plots and vicious verbal battles are thrown around, you still feel the love, care and respect that Henry and Eleanor had for one another. This is the kind of movie that should make anyone want to learn more about Medieval History. A one of a kind movie that shouldn't be missed. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 23, 2005 | | Summary | King Lear Retold | Content
| It is Christmastime in medieval England. King Henry II of England (Peter O'Toole) summons his family. What appears to be an innocuous holiday is anything but that. For the House of Henry II Plantagenet is a dysfunctional and quarrelsome one, and the ageing monarch wishes to appoint a suitable heir to the throne amidst this background.
Queen Eleanor of Aquataine (Katharine Hepburn), whom Henry has imprisoned for many years, connives to install her favourite son, Prince Richard the Lionheart (Anthony Hopkins). Henry would be amenable to this except that Richard had a homosexual relationship with King Philip of France (Timothy Dalton), and consequently he favours Prince John (Nigel Terry), his teenage, albeit half-witted son. Prince Geoffrey (John Castle), the aloof and least loved heir, plays a cat-and-mouse game with his parents and brothers simply for the pleasure of tormenting them. It is a tempestuous situation to say the least, yet therein lies the beauty of "Lion in Winter".
To witness the exchange of dialogue and brinkmanship between O'Toole and Hepburn is hypnotic, as are the performances of a young Anthony Hopkins and Nigel Terry. You can't help but be consumed and drawn into this royal family's emotional roller-coaster and feel sympathetic for their plight. Timothy Dalton (aka James Bond), in a rather lacklustre performance, makes his film debut in this film. But it is Hepburn and O'Toole who hold this film together.
The script, costumes, scenery and photography are excellent. Although, I am inclined to agree with the director, Anthony Harvey, the film's weakness lies in the occasional zoom shot. But then, I don't suppose many viewers would notice it unless it was called to their attention.
Anthony Harvey's scene by scene account, which may be heard while the movie plays, is an insightful footnote into his editing, directing style and rapport with his actors. He sheds light on how he created the mood for merry olde England; how he let the camera roll allowing the actors to perform at length uninterrupted; and how the actors prepared for their roles and worked as a family.
Suffice it to say, "Lion in Winter" is King Henry II's winter of discontent. It is one man's tragic realisation in the winter of his life that he can only survive so long as he is politically and physically strong. There can never be -- and history shows there never was -- any compromise for Henry II. It is this honest and realistic depiction of his life and family that makes the story for "Lion in Winter" so compelling, so fantastic.
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