I watched Hamlet this weekend so of course afterwards I had to watch Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. This was my favorite movie when I was a senior in high school, I read Hamlet in English and felt like I was the only one in class who got the jokes right away, which made "R&G are Dead" so enjoyable.
If you haven't seen it yet-you must.
The two friends of Hamlet (minor characters) are sent for by the king to get to the root of the his madness, hilarity ensues.
All the moments they are present for (in Hamlet proper) are included but I delight in the humorous escapades of the duo behind the familiar scenes. Existentialism, early scientific discoveries and physics are discussed by the dim = always good for a laugh.
Richard Dreyfuss as the player was a favorite too. "You caught us on the very edge of decadence, by this time tomorrow we might have forgotten everything we ever knew." as well as "You can't have love and rhetoric with out the blood--blood is compulsory". and "Lucky thing we came along." "For us?" Rozencrantz asks. "Also for you." concedes Dreyfuss the Player.
Here is a snippet.
11 comments:
My senior English teacher let us watch R and G after finishing Hamlet. We watched the Mel version of Hamlet, too.
Yeah, its shorter than Branaugh's but more managaeble for the classroom setting.
That was bizarre. But funny. I'll have to watch that sometime.
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I love that version of R&G. Did you know Tom Stoppard directed it himself? And though it's imperfect, of the filmed Hamlet's I've seen, the Zeffirelli is my favorite.
Angie-right on-it is good stuff.
Th-I did, I waited ages to find out what else he would do-and then once 'Shakespear in Love' came out, I never saw it.
I like the Zeffirelli because it's concise, great shooting locations, cast, etc. Oh and I like Morricone's score too.
I've never seen R&G. But I'll have you know that after reading this post I put it in my Netflix instant que so I can watch it one of these days.
Any other good movie recommendations?
Lisa- it's a good one-different but very funny, hmm what else do you like that I would recommend? You like Irish related stuff-Darby O'Gill and the Little People, and I will do another post about an unexpected movie/musical tomorrow.
Hamlet is up there as my top Shakespeare play (though it is tied with King Lear and Merchant of Venus). And I have absolutely loved R&G since the first time I saw it.
I remember one night driving up and down the Wasatch Front trying to find a video store...any video store that had it for rental or purchase so I could show it to some of my friends who hadn't seen it (it was rented out of both my local shops). Sadly, I didn't find a copy that night. But I did later (finally) get a copy from ebay.
Okie-yeah it took forever but my sis found a video copy for me-now I need to get it on DVD.
I could go for some humor right about now. Responsibility is taking up to much of my time lol. I just may go find this movie and rent it. I loved that version of Hamlet btw.
Void-you really ought to get a kick out of it-truly worth tracking down.
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