Romeo and Juliet

Synopsis: A feature film adaptation, much cut, and aimed at a mainstream, young audience. Beautifully photographed and costumed, the film was a huge box office success and a forerunner of the ‘teen movie’.
Language: English
Country: Great Britain; Italy
Medium: Film; Video
Technical information: Colour / Sound
Year of release: 1968
Duration: 152 mins; 13,680 feet

Director

Franco Zeffirelli

Producer

Anthony Havelock-Allan; John Brabourne

Cinematographer

Pasquale de Santis

Writer

William Shakespeare

Screenplay

Franco Brusati; Masoline D’Amico

Music

Nino Rota

Costume

Danilo Donati

Cast

Production type: Fiction Films
Historical period: Renaissance Italy
Plays: Romeo and Juliet
Subjects: Dance; Drama; Women’s studies; Shakespeare
Keywords: Shakespeare, William (1564-1616); Teen movie
Related items: Chacun son Cinèma; Kim Braden. Part Six; Romeo and Juliet: Love of the Elizabethan Era; Sex, Drugs and Rock ‘N’ Roll: The Sixties Revealed [08/12/2008]; Teenage Lovers of Verona, The

Notes: The Folger Shakespeare Library holds a photocopy of dialogue script dated July 8 1968. The Birmingham Shakespeare Library also holds a dialogue script.
General: "The importance of Zeffirelli’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ in the history of Shakespeare film cannot be overestimated ... Every film reflects the moment of its creation; with Zeffirelli’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ however, the problem is that it reflects very little else" (Michael Anderegg, Cinematic Shakespeare).

Laurence Olivier provided the dubbing voice for Antonio Piefederici (Montague).
Figures: $38,901,218 (US Gross) IMDb 2005
Awards: Academy Award 1969 - Best Cinematography and Best Costume Design.
BAFTA Film Award 1969 - Best Costume Design, Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music