JULIUS CAESAR (1970) A Film Review by Ted Prigge Copyright 1997 Ted Prigge
Director: Stuart Burge Adapter: Robert Furnival Starring: Jason Robards, Charlton Heston, John Gielgud, Richard Chamberlain, Robert Vaughn
"Julius Caesar" is not one of Shakespeare's best works, but it's still an awesome piece of playwritedom. The story takes an original approach to it, showing it from the perspective of one of the major accomplices in the assasination of the great Roman leader - Brutus, who is seen as a tragic anti-hero, who is too easily influenced by some of his peers. Yes, a part of him agrees with his friend's Cassius's ideas that he is too power-hungry, but Caesa is his friend and not a bad guy at all. In one scene, we see Caesar as being totally selfless (someone hands him something about himself, and he puts it on the bottom of the pile, chosing to deal with the problems of other people before his own - this has a cruel irony since it talks about the conspiracy to kill him). And in the end, Brutus commits suicide, seeing that he has no way out, having made a tragic mistake in taking part in the assasination.
This is all in this big star adaptation of the play. But all the film has to do is do the text word for word, which all Shakespeare films do, 'cause, well, it's Shakespeare. So what the filmmaker has to do is make it original and fresh (much like Olivier, Zefferelli, or Branagh) and have great actors (like Olvier or Branagh, not Zefferelli). This certainly has the cast. Two time Oscar winner (though not at this point) Jason Robards is the protagonist, Brutus. Charlton Heston is Marcus Antony. Ubergod John Gielgud is Caesar. And Richard Chamberlain has a cameo as one of the Roman senators (or something, I forget). Too bad they all don't live up to the bard's text, proving that the names of all these great actors doesn't mean that they're ALWAYS great.
Robards is absolutely wooden in his role. He shows about two facial expressions the whole film. Yes, the guy's supposed to be in deep thought, but Robards just looks like he's looking at the cue cards the whole time. Robards is, in fact, a great actor, and he was even back in the early days (check out Leone's "Once Upon a Time in the West"). But he breathes no life into his character, and just doesn't live up to his potential as a fantastic actor, one of the best working.
Charlton Heston. Charlton is revered as one of the greats, and he is. He's a good actor, just not as good as some people make him out to be. I mean, the guy can be powerful, like in "Ben Hur" (or his cool speech he makes in Branagh's "Hamlet"). He can also be miserably hokey (i.e. "Soylent Green is made of PEOPLE!!!" or, need I say "EARTHQUAKE!!!!"). Here, he's in hokey mode. Again, the guy CAN act, and he doesn't do a bad job with the "Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears" speech. And granted, he does have to live up to Marlon Brando's Oscar nominated performance in the '55 version of it. But he's just not up to this role at this point in his life.
John Gielgud...or, as I have been calling him lately "Coolest Old Man with a Goatee"...is pretty good as Caesar for awhile. I mean, if someone asked ME who to cast as the big cheese of Rome at the time, I'd pick Gielgud. But there's one part that kills me. And it's the most essential part of the role of Caesar. The line "Es tu Brute?" is supposed to be said in shock. Brutus is like his best friend, and he turns to him after he stabs him, and asks his best friend why he has killed him along with the other jerks. It's the most powerful part of the entire play, and Gielgud just says it like he's thinks he's some great Mr. Theatre. He says it in two parts and neither of them concludes with a question mark or has any kind of feeling in it. Which is basically what this film is lacking in: feeling.
Richard Chamberlain is in this for about two seconds. He's good.
This film is not bad at all. I watched it in 10th grade English and it showed the play well. But it goes nowhere with it. It's also a more liberal adaptation in one sense (other than casting Heston): the stabbing scene is very gory. In the play, you get the idea that they all stab him simultaneoulsy. In this one, they take turns at stabbing him, and it goes on FOREVER. By the end, Gielgud is so drenched in karo syrup that I'm surprised he could even say "Es tu Brute?"
While this is a pretty good film version of the play, straightforward and fitting for classroom use, it's nothing very special. If you really want to see a great version of this, rent the one with Brando in it (he's thin in it, by the way). But in the meantime, this will do.
MY RATING (out of 4): **1/2
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