Themes: Political Unrest, Crowned Heads, Fall From Power
Main Cast: Charlton Heston, Jason Robards, Jr., John Gielgud, Richard Johnson, Robert Vaughn
Release Year: 1970
Country: UK
Run Time: 116 minutes
MPAA Rating: G
Plot
Except for the omission of several passages in the original play, this 1970 adaptation of Julius Caesar faithfully retells Shakespeare's account of events surrounding the assassination of Caesar in 44 B.C. The film begins when Caesar John Gielgud is at the height of his power after conquering Pompey "the Great" in a civil war. Important senators worry that Caesar means to become king, diminish their power, and abolish their beloved Roman republic. Two senators, Cassius Richard Johnson and Brutus Jason Robards, hatch an assassination plot involving other disenchanted Roman citizens. Although a soothsayer warns Caesar of trouble ("Beware the ides of March") and his own wife reports ominous signs ("A lioness hath whelped in the streets; and graves have yawn'd, and yielded up their dead"), Caesar decides to go to the senate on the ides (March 15). Upon arrival, the conspirators greet him with daggers. In his funeral oration, Mark Antony Charlton Heston extols Caesar and incites the citizens against Brutus and the other conspirators. Brutus and Cassius flee Rome with their armies, but Antony and two other sympathizers track them down with their armies. When the tide turns against the conspirators, Brutus and Cassius commit suicide. As does Shakespeare's play, the film leaves the discerning viewer wondering who was the real villain -- Caesar, because of his ambition for power, or Brutus, because of his underhanded plot to maintain the status quo. ~ Mike Cummings, All Movie Guide
Review
This 1970 Stuart Burge adaptation of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar merits the attention of moviegoers in spite of the weak performance by Jason Robards in the role of Brutus. Except for Robards, the cast performs admirably -- notably Charlton Heston as Antony, John Gielgud as Caesar, Richard Johnson as Cassius, Robert Vaughn as Casca, and Diana Rigg as Portia. Moreover, unlike the heralded 1953 version starring Marlon Brando, this rendering is in color -- a definite plus for young adults weaned on technical realism (though the earlier version has superior sets and art direction). The mixture of accents in the Burge production -- some British, some American -- does not mar the film. After all, there were regional Latin accents in the time of Caesar and regional English accents in the time of Shakespeare. Heston brings power and magnetism to his Antony performance, and his interpretation of the famous funeral oration ("Friends, Romans, countrymen . . . ") is particularly good. On the other hand, Robards' portrayal of Brutus lacks vigor and depth. That he got the role over others -- reportedly, both Orson Welles and Vaughn wanted it -- is a shame, since Brutus is one of the most important characters in the play, if not the most important. Nevertheless, Burge's overall production is a good one, capable of satisfying Shakespeare aficionados, students, and the general public. ~ Mike Cummings, All Movie Guide
Richard Chamberlain - Octavius Caesar; Diana Rigg - Portia; Jill Bennett - Calpurnia; Christopher Lee - Artemidorus; Alan Browning - Marullus; Norman Bowler - Titinius; Andrew Crawford - Volumnius; David Dodimead - Lepidus; Peter Eyre - Cinna The Post; Derek Godfrey - Decius Brutus; Michael Gough - Metellus Cimber; Paul Hardwick - Messala; Laurence Harrington - Carpenter; Thomas Heathcote - Flavius; Robert Keegan - Lucilius; Preston Lockwood - Trebonius; John Moffatt - Popilius Lena; Andre Morell - Cicero; David Neal - Cinna The Conspirator; Steven Pacey - Lucius; John Tate - Clitus; Alba - The Soothsayer; Christopher Cazenove - Servant to Antony; Robin Chadwick - Servant to Octavius; Derek Hardwick - 3rd Plebian; Ewan Hooper - Strato; Ken Hutchison; Michael Keating; Ron Pember - Cobbler; Damien Thomas - Pindarus; Michael Wynne - 4th Plebian; David Leland - Plebians; Edwin Finn - Publius; Linbert Spencer; Roy Stewart - Lepidus's Slave; Ronald Magill - Servant to Caesar
Credit
Maurice Pelling - Art Director, Robin Archer - Costume Designer, Stuart Burge - Director, Eric Boyd-Perkins - Editor, Eric Boyd Perkins - Editor, Henry T. Weinstein - Executive Producer, Anthony B. Unger - Executive Producer, Michael J. Lewis - Composer (Music Score), Michael Lewis - Composer (Music Score), Cliff Sharpe - Makeup, Julia Trevelyan Oman - Production Designer, Ken Higgins - Cinematographer, Peter Snell - Producer, Henry T. Weinstein - Producer, Anthony B. Unger - Producer, Cedric Messina - Producer, Robert Furnival - Screenwriter, William Shakespeare - Play Author
Charlton Heston had played Mark Antony once before, in an earlier film version of Julius Caesar, made in Chicago in 1950.[2] He would do so yet again, in a 1973 film version of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, which Heston directed.
