11 thoughts on “TBT: Romeo and Juliet (1968)

  1. In my elder years, I have grown impatient of the follies of youth… downright curmudgeonly, I confess. But when I saw this film when it first came out, when I was one of Them, it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. Even then, knowing nothing of the costumer’s art, I loved the costumes!

    Apropos of nothing, probably, Olivia Hussey went on in her later career to play Mary, Mom of Jesus in JESUS OF NAZARETH.

    1. I would LOVE to see this on the big screen! I’ve seen it many times, but only on TV. Beautiful, but I can only imagine how stunning it was in the original.

  2. I made a golden cap like that for a ball in like 1997. could never get that image out of my mind. love this!

  3. I saw it on a big screen when I was 15 and I was a complete sobbing mess after, with a huge crush on Romeo. :) And I had read the play, my friends who didn’t know they the ending was completely distraught. Wonderful movie! :)

  4. They cheated: they used real Italy, real castles, and god help us all if the Italians, surrounded by history and leaders of cutting-edge fashion, can’t get their Renaissance right! Swords were spot-on, too. To this day, theatrical costumers refer to that headpiece as a “Juliet cap.”

    1. ‘They cheated’ LMAO! Well maybe… A little.
      Actually the first to cheat was William, who put the 2 young lovers in Verona in the original script. Greetings from Italy.
      PS. The movie was on air today.

  5. This was the first Shakespeare film I ever saw–I was eight, and it set my life on its current path. There’s a stunning extra in the Capulet ball–from the way the camera lingers on her, I assume she’s supposed to be Rosaline, for whom Romeo crashed the party–in dark blue and gold, with layer upon layer of fabric. There’s another one, who Benvolio vainly tries to chat up, who is a straight-up Botticelli! She’s in peach, with a cream veil and beatific expression. As beautiful as these costumes are, though, just imagine slogging around in them in an Italian summer!
    And there is one hilarious 1960s interloper: in the first scene of Tybalt and his guys, one dude has a total Sgt. Pepper mustache!

    1. You are so right about all of the above. I totally agree, I have always thought that woman at the ball, the one who is besotted by the minstrel, looks straight out of a painting=. Oh, and he looks a bit like Ringo Starr, IMO – and I’m sure that’s not a mistake!!

  6. RIP John McEnery

    The obits came out a day or two ago: he died on April 12th. He was so great in this film: for me he will always be Mercutio. And I learn from the Time obit that he played the duel-and-death scene while suffering from pneumonia and barely able to stand!

  7. Surely this should be filed under fifteenth century, rather than sixteenth? The costumes look pretty solidly 1480s or so as far as I can tell.

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