But this tinkering is in the cause of creating a drama that speaks easily and directly to our own age. The actors work so hard to give the language clear and natural readings that they sacrifice much of its poetic sound. Zeffirelli and Christopher De Vore, freely plucks lines from one scene and drops them in another the words are Shakespeare's, though they are not necessarily where Shakespeare put them. Zeffirelli's 1968 'Romeo and Juliet' so popular and artistically successful, is not for philosophers or purists. Zeffirelli's sometimes slick but always lucid and beautifully cinematic version of the play.Īt the start, the windswept medieval castle on a cliff jutting out to the sea suggests a classical 'Hamlet.' But this naturalistic, emotionally-charged interpretation, the same approach that made Mr. He is a visceral Hamlet, tortured by his own thoughts and passions, confused by his recognition of evil, a Hamlet whose emotions are raw yet who retains the desperate wit to act mad. Mel Gibson's Hamlet is strong, intelligent and safely beyond ridicule.

Zeffirelli did the actor, though, was to make that cockeyed connection. It leads to jokes about 'Lethal Bodkin' or 'Mad Hamlet, the Road Warrior.' The scene, when you think about it, is 'to be or not to be' with a vengeance, but it doesn't lead directly to Shakespeare. Gibson puts a gun to his head and comes close to suicide. The greatest disservice Franco Zeffirelli did Mel Gibson was to tell interviewers he was inspired to cast 'Hamlet' after seeing 'Lethal Weapon.' There, as a grief-stricken cop who does a mean Three Stooges impression, Mr.

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