Customer Reviews

The Lion in Winter [VHS]

5 star:		(182)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Yes, this movie is a period piece. But this movie, adapted from a wonderful play,is at the end of the day a powerful tale of an acutely dysfunctional family. Set during the Christmas season in 12th century England, this story is powerfully scripted and superbly acted by everyone. Peter O'Toole gives his tour de force performance as Henry II, a world-weary monarch intent on maintaining supremacy and establishing his legacy. Katherine Hepburn, in what is the among the finest movie performances I have ever seen, plays his deadly foil (and oh yes, estranged wife) Queen Eleanor of Acquitaine, who is determined to thwart his plans. The issue: which of their surviving children will inherit the throne of England, and marry Alais, the sister of the King of France? The pawns in this game are Alais and the English Princes, Richard the Lionhearted (Anthony Hopkins), John (Nigel Terry of Excalibur fame), and Geoffrey. Then of course, there is the wild card, the teenage French monarch, Philip (Timothy Dalton).

In this movie you have all of the themes of familial dysfunction: the vitriol and wistfulness of an estranged couple, the frustrations of the "model" eldest child, the resentment of the neglected middle child, the eccentricities of the overindulged youngest child, a May-December affair triggered by a mid-life crisis, holiday depression, and it goes on and on. This movie is so adept at exploring these topics that it makes "American Beauty" (a good film in its own right) seem almost sophomoric.

What makes this movie stand out is the writing. There is no other movie this side of "The Godfather" that has contained such enjoyable dialogue and character development. The dialogue in this movie is outstanding ("It's not the power I feel deprived of, it's the mention that I miss"; "Give me a little peace/A little? Why so modest? How about eternal peace? Now there's a thought.")

I doubt there will ever be another movie that will be so skillful in weaving together historical material, political intrigue, and slice-of-life issues into so seamlessly. This is one of my 10 favorite movies. Please rent it, and if you can find it, buy it.

Could not resist adding my praise for such a superior motion picture. Set in a violent, unstable time of frequent wars and unrelenting political machinations, "The Lion In Winter" captures a vivid 12th Century reality. A story set in the latter part of the reign of England's Henry II (Peter O'Toole), it explores the convoluted dynamics of royal family politics and medieval intrigue. Eleanor of Aquitaine (Katharine Hepburn), Henry's Queen, is released from her confinement in an English castle to join Henry at the Christmas court in France (at this time, Henry ruled large parts of modern France as well as England). Eleanor was confined due to her support of Henry's sons in their uprising against him. Henry does not want a reoccurence. Their sons included Richard, the Lion-Hearted (Anthony Hopkins) and the Magna Carta's King John, who are also at the Christmas court. A truly amazing cast of characters are propelled by magnificent performances and just about the best written dialogue ever put on film. Miss Hepburn's Eleanor won her an Academy Award for best actress. A terrific accompaniment to the movie is Alison Weir's recent book "Eleanor Of Aquitaine". Eleanor was the wife of two kings, the mother of three kings, the great-grandmother of two saints and lived through two Crusades. A fascinating woman, she lived into her 80s, outliving eight of her ten children. Henry succeeded in building and holding together an empire that stretched from Scotland to the south of France.

How much do I love "The Lion in Winter"? Let's just say that if man and DVD union were legal in the state of Nevada, I'd rush over to the new Hooter's Casino Chapel and get a quickie marriage to it. We'd live happily for a time and rear three supremely ungrateful children--the oldest of which would bear a striking resemblance to Hannibal Lecter. Someday, though, I know a Deluxe version DVD is going to come out with lots of great features. I'm going to need to upgrade! But instead of just throwing my old copy of "The Lion In Winter" away, I'd banish it to someplace where I wouldn't have to look at it anymore. Occasionally, though, I'd feel nostalgic--especially around the holidays--I'd cart it out to spend time with the family.

Seriously, "The Lion in Winter" is my favorite movie of all time. This is a brilliant film adaptation of a brilliant play, and I cherish it as perhaps the most literate film ever made! The screenplay won a well deserved Oscar, for this movie soars on its dialogue. It is merciless, gut-wrenching, hysterical, powerful and wickedly intelligent entertainment. The verbal bloodbaths, the vicious head games, the intentional cruelty--never has a Christmas been so entertaining. Don't be put off by the pedigree of talent involved with this film. It is not a staid, dignified chamber piece, NO! It is all out family warfare. It is also bitterly funny and uncompromising to the end.

Katherine Hepburn gives her finest performance in an Oscar winning role, and not to overstate it--but I think its one of the greatest film performances ever. Really. Peter O'Toole is dynamic and engaging, and every member of the cast is in fine form. It's especially interesting to see a young Anthony Hopkins and Timothy Dalton, complete with shocking (by 1968 standards) references to homosexuality. Sadly, it's John Castle, as neglected middle child Geoffrey, who often gets overlooked in reviews of this film. Geoffrey, the child who no one claims, is easily the most worthy and most intelligent--yet his cry for attention manifests itself as cold-hearted manipulation. Middle child syndrome has never been so diabolically on point.

Through the years, I have made everyone I know watch this film. It is surprisingly contemporary. We see similar examples of family dysfunction every day in film and TV. But they aren't usually Royals, and they aren't as psychologically challenging. This is GRAND, FUNNY entertainment--and if you fashion yourself sophisticated and literate, this is a perfect movie. Even if you just like popcorn movies, you can enjoy this as extreme comedy.

Perfection.... KGHarris, 10/06.

Without a doubt, if you are a lover of history and intrigue, then this video will be worth its weight in gold to you. Kate Hepburn and Peter O'Toole both should have won Oscars hands down (unfortunately, Cliff Robertson beat O'Toole, and Hepburn had to share her Oscar with Babs in Funny Girl). Hepburn is the definitive Eleanor of Aquitaine - a handsome, regal queen who is as devious, witty, and intelligent as her perfectly matched husband, Henry II, king of England, played to the absolute hilt by Peter O'Toole (his mannerisms and voice in this film recall Brian Blessed, pitching his voice to the balcony and gesturing broadly). Just to hear the Great Kate speak this dialogue is a treat for fans of the play ("Henry, I have a confession to make . . I don't much like our children."); and fans of British actors will enjoy seeing Anthony Hopkins as Richard and Timothy Dalton as Philip, king of France. I, for one, instantly developed a crush on the young actress who plays Alais, Jane Merrow (one wonders why she didn't make more films). Some may also recognize John Castle as Geoffrey; he also appeared almost 10 years later as Postumous in the BBC production of "I, Claudius". A story that, much like a soap opera, will keep you riveted until the very end (even if you know your history and you already know what's going to happen); I for one got a kick out of hearing certain characters seemingly pour their hearts out, only to see them five minutes later come clean and say it was merely an act. The dialogue is witty and yet extremely literate - the only drawback for me, personally, is that supposedly this film is the favorite of Sylvester Stallone (groan) - that in and of itself makes me ashamed to say that I find it a flawless, entertaining, imaginative look at the court of Henry II.

I am a History Major specializing in the Medieval Period of Europe (500-1450AD)and was recommended this classic film to see by a History Professor. WOW! I was supremely impressed by not only the outstanding acting by the immortal Katherine Hepburn and Peter O'toole but also the accuracy of the drama portrayed. The political infighting between Eleanor of Aquitaine and King Henry II of England is brilliantly presented as well as the supporting cast of Richard The Lionheart (Sir Anthony Hopkins) and King Phillipe of France (Timothy Dalton). The range of emotion is shown from humor, which is biting, to dispair shown superbly by both O'Toole and Hepburn. From the first scene to the last, this movie will keep the viewer rivoted. I can't recommend this film highly enough. The musical score by John Barry is fantastic as well. The Lion In Winter is well worth 5 stars and more.

It is the Christmas season of the year 1183 and England's wise but mercurial king, the aging Henry II, greatest figure in Europe since the death of Charlemagne, does what any good father would: he gathers his feuding family together for the holidays. Ah, but this is not merely any royal family, it is the Plantagents, a clan into whose roiling hearts treachery and violence have been bred as a way of life. There is Henry's oldest surviving son, Richard, later King Richard the Lionhearted, a cruel man who lives for war. There is also Henry's middle son, the cold, calculating Duke Geoffrey, and lastly, Henry's favorite, the spineless, conniving brat of the brood, the seemingly foolhardy but inwardly clever teenaged John, whom Henry wishes to one day succeed him as king. And above all this there is the greatest woman of the twelfth-century, Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, Henry's wife, whom Henry has locked away in a castle for much of the recent past, revenge for one of Eleanor's many attempts to wrest the kingdom from her much younger husband, a man she loves and hates with vying, passionate emotion. So into the mix they all go, each of these four dangerous individuals wishing to either wear the crown or see that a favored child does so.

Called together to celebrate the festive season, Henry's family hosts a rival king, the cerebrally-adept Philippe Auguste of France, barely more than a boy but clearly quite taken with being king. It is to Philippe's lovely sister, Alais, that Henry's son Richard is nominally betrothed, but whom Henry has amorally made his mistress for the past several years. Philippe arrives with a demand: marry his sister to Richard at once---in effect making his future nephew king of England---or return those substantial French territories Philippe's father turned over to Henry as Alais' dowry. In an odd twist of feudal legalities, Henry, himself a king, is also a vassal of Philippe, even though there is the curious fact that Henry controls virtually as much of France as Philippe himself does. In their negotiations Henry dismisses Philippe as an inexperienced boy, and Philippe in return explains the cruel math of their situation, that simply put, time is on his side, and all he has to do is wait for Henry, a lion in winter, to die. When the two monarchs reach an impasse on the matter of Princess Alais, Philippe is only too ready to deal with Henry's plotting sons and wife, and the deal-making, each scheming side trying to gain better terms than the other, is a thing of great beauty to behold: like a venomous dance of dueling cobras.

In one poisonously-contested night the lives of each of the six principle figures of The Lion In Winter will be irrevocably changed, and how they all reach their end-points is an intricate tale well worth seeing. The performances in this production are without flaw, the dialogue is spoken in a rapid-fire pace simply unseen in films today---"When the king's off his arse, no one sleeps!"--- and the settings, all created in an age before computerized digital effects, are on a sweeping scale.

In the end one gets the sense that Henry, a man who conquered everything but time itself, a force against which no one is safe, was THEE man of his age, as Caesar was before him, Leonardo later was in his, or Bonaparte farther along. And yet we watch as despite all his stubborn brilliance the world Henry has made closes in on him through the course of one familial betrayal after another. Though The Lion In Winter ends on what passes for an optimistic note, anyone familiar with English history of the time knows, as Henry did not, what came next, and that shadow this knowledge casts across the near-jollity of the closing scene makes the conclusion all the more poignant.

Simply one of the greatest films that will ever be shot.

This sharply portrayed and picturesque film is no less than a stunning masterpiece! Finely capturing the gusting momentum of a kingdom and its contending rule, all the while bootying the intricacies of family passion & strife, this movie grasps all by masterfully portraying it within the frame of a Christmas holiday spent at the beauteous castle of Chinon.

The year is 1183, and Henry II, insatiate King of the British Empire summons forth his family: his wife - Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, and their surviving sons Richard, Geoffery, and John. They meet at Chinon - and like every gathering of this family must always have been, this meeting is momentous ~

James Goldman wholeheartedly deserved the Oscar he won for this screenplay -- for, not only is it in tune to every orchestral note of this history, but it is also precise as a dagger in its eloquence ~~ I've rarely heard a more masterful script portrayed on film!

Such a prodigious screenplay must needs have a brilliant cast and musical score to give it flesh and blood -- and herein you'll find it most heartily delivered! Katharine Hepburn is absolutely stellar in her portrayal of perhaps one of the most fascinating women in history: the much-acknowledged "Queen of Love" throughout Europe before she became Queen of France, fighting in the Crusades alongside her husband Louis VII of France - and then Queen of England, wife of Henry II, who had imprisoned her for many years for joining her sons in plots against him. Henry would free her at times for such holiday family gatherings as this.

Hepburn's scenes with Peter O'Toole, as Henry, are pure electrically-charged art! As King and Queen, parents to the three aspired heirs to the throne, they lay blame and conspire against each other, and their sons will stop at nothing to acquire what they each feel that they deserve: succession to the throne. To add to this tangled web of deceit are the young King Phillip of France and his sister, Alice, who had been raised in the household of King Henry, betrothed to Richard since her infancy. While Eleanor and her sons each plot with the French King, Henry openly exhibits his ongoing love affair with Alice~~

The chemistry of this well-casted drama is flawless - every line spoken a masterpiece of wit and daring. This movie is a rare find, indeed!

In the film that awarded Katharine Hepburn with her third Oscar, The Lion in Winter is a brilliantly scripted motion picture by James Goldman from his own play. As the AFI's most respected actress of her generation, Ms. Hepburn plays the role of Eleanor of Aquitaine with fiery determination and is one of the most astonishing performances you'll ever witness - past, present, or future.

It's Christmas 1183 and King Henry II, portrayed magnificently by Peter O'Toole, must decide who will succeed him as heir to the throne of England. Always engaging and epic in scope, in two plus hours watch as a family in love and at war with each other completely unravels itself. Change the time, place, settings, and costumes and this film would be as topical today as it was back in 1183.

This is an absolute must-see film for anyone who loves a well-crafted, articulate story and performances that soar into the outer stratosphere.

The film also features Sir Anthony Hopkins as Henry's eldest son, Richard the Lionhearted and Timothy Dalton as King Philip of France. One of the other highlights of the film is the award-winning period musical score created by John Barry.

This is where I fell in love with the written word. More importantly, it's where I recognized that acting gave life to these words. James Goldstone's brilliant screenplay and the sharp direction of Anthony Harvey (a long time editor for Stanley Kubrick with Dr. Strangelove and Lolita to his credit)brought these characters to life for me. The film (like the original play)centers around Christmas. Henry, King of England, is being circled by his vulturous children Richard The Lion Hearted (Anthony Hopkins in his first film role), Jeffrey and John. During the holidays Henry always trots out his Queen (Katherine Hepburn) for show. They despise each other almost as much as they love one another. Queen Elenanor is pushing for the brutal Richard to be king while King Henry has been grooming his sniveling pouting son John. Everybody over looks the manipulative Jeffrey (who, ironically enough is the most like both his parents).

Peter O'Toole and Katherine Hepburn light up and burn the screen with their powerful and withering performances. Hopkins plays Richard as a stiff, stoic individual which is perfect for the character. His best scenes include the interaction between O'Toole and Hepburn. Nigel Terry (who later starred as King Arthur in John Boorman's Excalibur)displays a spoiled and petulant character to John. Lord knows why Henry wants him to be King. Timothy Dalton (also in his first role and a long way from James Bond)brings a cat like grace to King Philip of France. He's hardly recognizable to those who know him from the Bond films.

What transpires is the Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolfe of the 12 century (yes, amazon says this, too but they're not the only ones to realize it). The witty, barbed dialog does occasionally crowd the little bit of action in the film but the dialog is so witty and well delivered that it doesn't matter.

Very little has been said by John Barry's uncharacteristic score. Best known for his Bond film scores, Barry delivers a musical score rich with the traditional music of the time but also oddly contemporary given the music that inspired him. It's a brilliant score that, sadly, was not recognized as such when the film was first released.

Given that Harvey got his start as film editor for Kubrick, I would have expected a film that was rich in the use of montage; instead Harvey's unobtrusive use of editing only enriches the scenes. Douglas Slocombe's cinematography demonstrates why he's the master that Spielberg and other contemporary directors have used over the years. His natural use of light and shadow enriches the drama adding an additional subtext to the project.

The DVD transfer has a fair amount of analog artifacts in the way of scratches and spots on the film this despite the fact that this is a fresh print drawn from the original negative. Still, the colors are vibrant and dance across the screen capturing your attention. The mono sound is very good although there is a considerable amount of tape hiss and other analog artifacts. That's not a problem though as the use of No Noise or one of the other digital filter systems might have robbed the music and dialog of some of its vitality.

There isn't an insert card nor is there much in the way of extras. Harvey provides an enlightening commentary on the film and the original theatrical trailer is included as well. There really didn't need to be many extras to make this film an essential addition to a DVD collection.

Lion in Winter has it all--marvelous acting, great dialog, compelling characters, and a terrific story. It deals with the family of Henry II of England (the aging "Lion") and his estranged wife (is "estranged" the right word? He's had her in prison for years) Eleanor of Aquitaine--two of English history's most intriguing characters. Look for a young Anthony Hopkins as the future Richard I and Timothy Dalton as the even younger king of France.

The movie is set at a Christmas court at Chinon at which Henry, Eleanor, their surviving sons Richard, Geoffrey, and John, and Richard's fiancee (who is Henry's mistress and the French king's sister) are all present as the family deals with their complicated interrelationships as well as the question of who will be king after the aging Henry dies and how they will respond to the French king's visit. Historically, they did not gather at Chinon for a court that year, but the backstory, relationships, and agendas within this family are presented accurately. This is a film to treasure.