(The musical and movie are, of course, both brilliant.) The characters followed the beats of Shakespeare’s story, mostly, but spoke in present-day language. The 1961 film version of “West Side Story,” which is of course an updated, musical version of “Romeo and Juliet,” set the action in 1950s New York and cast the two warring families as gangs, one American and one Puerto Rican, fighting over turf. That version is a good one and it’s one of the last movies to adapt the story traditionally.īesides that, movies adapting Shakespeare’s play around that time and after seemed to need some kind of gimmick. The most remembered film adaptation today may be the 1968 movie starring Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey (which also seems to be the version everyone watches freshman year of high school), which was directed by prolific Shakespeare helmer Franco Zeffirelli. Just about every person who passed through freshman year of American high school knows the story of "Romeo and Juliet." Warring families, two teenagers meet at a party, missed messages, poison, dagger, curtain.Īnd isn’t that kind of the problem by now? Movie adaptations of the play have been inexhaustible, to say nothing of the stage versions. 19, and an off-Broadway incarnation starring Elizabeth Olsen set for an Oct. The story of two star-crossed lovers seems to be everywhere at the moment, with a new film version adapted by “Downton Abbey” creator Julian Fellowes opening this week, a Broadway version of the show starring Orlando Bloom having opened Sept.
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