Word: tybalt
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Zeffirelli makes them exuberantly violent. When Romeo and Tybalt square off for battle, they crouch like street fighters, foils in one hand, poniards in the other. None of that crossed-swords jazz. This is a rumble, man. In the turnabout of dramatic history, Romeo and Juliet has become, in a sense, an adaptation of West Side Story. It is probably one of the best productions ever given the play...
Nevertheless, by sheer theatrical intensity, the film transcends its specious materials. Under Robert Wise's driving direction, its set pieces are socko and incessant. Natalie Wood has the right dark glow as the Latin heroine; Richard Beymer is winsome as the hero, and as a tan teen Tybalt and a nubile Nurse of anything but the usual Shakespearance, George Chakiris and Rita Moreno are strikingly slummy. On-screen as onstage, Stephen Sondheim's lyrics sting like a tongueful of tamales. Leonard Bernstein's music, as usual spinelessly eclectic, fails (as the whole film fails) to merge...