Looking for Richard -- Pacino does Shakespeare

[Augustus 3061]

Did I do a thread about this on Shaggy, or maybe even here that I forgot about?  Apologies if so.  I know I started a thread about this on some message board or another.

 

Anyway, I came across this years ago, and decided to watch a little out of curiosity.  Pacino gets a troupe of actors together, and they travel about performing some scenes from Shakespeare's Richard III, with Pacino as Crookback.  Don't know what I was expecting, but I was floored.

After the greatness of Michael Corleone and a few other films, Pacino devolved into this loud guy that he seemed to play in every movie after that, so I guess I thought it'd be comical to see him performing Shakespeare, the last thing in the world I expected out of him.

He wasn't just "good" as Richard III, he was absolutely outstanding, and he delivered the "Now is the winter of our discontent..."  soliloquy better than I've ever heard.  Ever.  I really couldn't believe it.

 

And there were other surprises, as well.  Alec Baldwin as Gloucester turned out to be a natural with Shakespearean dialogue.  And there was a lot of cool behind-the-scenes stuff with the actors, rehearsals, etc.

Later on, I saw Pacino as Shylock, and I thought it had its moments, but mostly he was back to being this loud, boisterous old Jew that he seemed to be in so many other films.

Curious if anybody else saw this, and what your thoughts were, as I've yet to find one person amongst my family and friends who ever saw this.  

And as long as I've got you here, here's a joke I saw on twitter after they found Rich III's grave several years ago:

Richard III:  Henry Tudor said he was going to build a carpark in Leicester, and I told him, "Over my dead body."

[Trey3216 15380]

5 hours ago, Augustus said:

Did I do a thread about this on Shaggy, or maybe even here that I forgot about?  Apologies if so.  I know I started a thread about this on some message board or another.

 

Anyway, I came across this years ago, and decided to watch a little out of curiosity.  Pacino gets a troupe of actors together, and they travel about performing some scenes from Shakespeare's Richard III, with Pacino as Crookback.  Don't know what I was expecting, but I was floored.

After the greatness of Michael Corleone and a few other films, Pacino devolved into this loud guy that he seemed to play in every movie after that, so I guess I thought it'd be comical to see him performing Shakespeare, the last thing in the world I expected out of him.

He wasn't just "good" as Richard III, he was absolutely outstanding, and he delivered the "Now is the winter of our discontent..."  soliloquy better than I've ever heard.  Ever.  I really couldn't believe it.

 

And there were other surprises, as well.  Alec Baldwin as Gloucester turned out to be a natural with Shakespearean dialogue.  And there was a lot of cool behind-the-scenes stuff with the actors, rehearsals, etc.

Later on, I saw Pacino as Shylock, and I thought it had its moments, but mostly he was back to being this loud, boisterous old Jew that he seemed to be in so many other films.

Curious if anybody else saw this, and what your thoughts were, as I've yet to find one person amongst my family and friends who ever saw this.  

And as long as I've got you here, here's a joke I saw on twitter after they found Rich III's grave several years ago:

Richard III:  Henry Tudor said he was going to build a carpark in Leicester, and I told him, "Over my dead body."

[Augustus 3061]

😃  Yeah, it was appropriate in that role, obviously.

And to be fair to Pacino, I watched some of MoV after creating the thread, and my comments were unfair to him.  He was damned good as Shylock, too.