Product Details

• Format: NTSC
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005JNHV
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #559,970 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Looking for Richard" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Engaging and Informative, August 1, 2004

By 

Scott FS (Sacramento, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Looking for Richard [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I really like looking behind the scenes of making a film - or, as in this case - putting on a play.

I've been searching for this film for quite a while, and I'm glad it is again available. It's a must-see for students of acting, Shakespeare, or both.

Al Pacino is faced with mounting a free production of Richard III in Central Park. Along the way, he has to assemble his crew of actors and actresses, coordinate the production, and try to get his arms around one of the Bard's more difficult plays.

There is a world of difference in reading Shakespeare, and watching it on stage. I think we've all done penance reading Shakespeare, with mixed results. I've found the language in the abstract (i.e. simply reading the play) to be difficult. Seeing it on stage (or screen) adds the visual element, that makes it more understandable. (After all, the plays were meant to be seen, not read.)

This is a film that will bear watching over and over again. Follow it by watching the play itself.

Highly recommended.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great look at Shakespeare, June 20, 2005

By 

Michael Snyder (Newnan, GA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Looking for Richard (DVD)

Some reviewers have complained about this film. This is a documentary that illustrates how Shakespeare can be seen as both art and history, both as literature and as entertainment. One reviewer called it an introductory for grade school children. That's exactly the point. "looking for Richard" is an introductory to the complexities and richn ess of Shakespeare and those who act and perform his plays. Certainly the general audience at "The Rose" and "The Globe" were not scholars, teachers or students of English literature or history. Few were alive in 1600 that lived in the days of the last Plantagenet and the first Tudor. To them, history was oral and immediate. Historical accuracy is not high on the Bard's priorities or of in those of his audiences. What matters is the interplay of characters, the tone and thrust of its plot and the relevance to its audiences. Thus there is a correlation between those Renaissance English audiences and most American audiences. How many Americans even know what the "War of the Roses" was about? Most would link it to the Mike Douglas/Kathleen Turner movie before a period of desperate political and military conflict, full of violence and treachery, ambition, greed and pride, in England which almost wiped out the old noble families and set the stage for Henry the VIII and Elizabeth Rex. The play uses the "historical" background to explore these issues. It has also been described as a piece of Tudor propaganda, written to buttress Elizabeth's legitimacy on the throne by painting the loser of the last conflict of the war as a villain, defeated by the hero, her grandfather. All this background and the richness of human emotion contained in the play come forth from this documentary like effort. Given the time constraints it does the best it can to set the stage and then draws you into the art of Shakespeare, as being as relevant today as in the reign of Elizabeth. Yes, it has its flaws, but there is no comparable effort out there that will enage a group of American teenagers and, maybe, just maybe, inspire a couple to give the Bard a second look. Keep in mind that something caught Kurasawa's attention to inspire him to produce so many Shakespeare plays within the context of Japanese history and myth, so maybe this will do the same for someone in our generation.

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars everyone should see this, February 28, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Looking for Richard [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Few people know that Al Pacino "did" Shakespeare before moving on to the big Hollywood roles we know him for. This film is intelligent, witty, and downright entertaining. In fact, there's two stories being told: in one sense, the film is an abridged version of Shakespeare's Richard III; simultaneously this is the story of the actors, directors, and producers concerns in producing a Shakespearean play. Production is interpretation, and people have made their entire careers interpreting Shakespeare in wildly abstract ways. "Looking for Richard" is far from wildly abstract. As a graduate student in literature, and specifically, Shakespeare, I can say that this film succesfully put into layman's terms many of the issues that are discussed by scholars in elitist terms. It's fun and offers a glimpse of what those wildly abstract literary scholars truly love, but not so oft express. As to another reviewer who cautioned that this play ignores the historical inaccuracy of the play, I offer "so what"- this movie and play are not about history. Highly recommend