For those of you who are unfamiliar, it tells the story of King Henry II and his family gathering for Christmas and debating who will succeed him when he dies. What proceeds is two and a quarter hours of him, his wife, his three sons, his mistress, and the King of France, all plotting, backstabbing, and manipulating each other.
The film has a great script and is remarkably well acted. It, of course, doesn't hurt to have Peter O'Toole in it. I'm not sure I've ever seen a performance by him that I didn't love. And it speaks volumes about this cast that Katherine Hepburn is in it, and I'm saying this stuff about somebody else.
On the subject of Peter O'Toole: For those of you keeping score, this movie earned him Oscar nomination #3 of 8 (none of which he won). It's also the second of those in which he played King Henry II (the first being Becket). Now, I know what you're thinking: "This must be a sequel." You're wrong. The two movies were made by different directors, with different screenwriters adapting plays by different playwrights, and they were produced by different studios. They have nothing to do with each other, aside from the fact that Peter O'Toole plays the same historical figure in both. I think if you made a movie about Henry ii you were legally obligated to have O'Toole play him. Or maybe Peter O'Toole just sent out ads to casting directors informing them of his unique gift for playing that particular English King. "Making a movie about Henry II? Try O'Toole!"
It's also fun to see famous actors before they were really famous. This has two: Anthony Hopkins and Timothy Dalton. They're both pretty well known now. When this came out, they were not. It was the first feature film for both. Aw, Lil' Anthony Hopkins! (and/or enormous, bearded Anthony Hopkins)
I love movies and plays about old English Kings. One thinks of Kings and thinks they should be stately, regal, and dignified. But in movies like this, they never are. There's always devious plotting and political intrigue. It sort of seems like most of English royal history has been composed of trying to figure out who to murder, blackmail, or discredit so that you can become/stay king. Oh, and, in their downtime, they might govern the country.
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