1968: The Lion in Winter

Screenplay by James Goldman
Adapted from the play The Lion in Winter by James Goldman

It's December 1183, and King Henry II decides to let his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, temporarily return from imprisonment to join him and their three sons at his castle for Christmas. Henry wants their youngest son, John, to inherit the throne, but Eleanor is in favor of Richard, their oldest surviving son. The middle son, Geoffrey, is overlooked by both his parents. Meanwhile, King Phillip II of France shows up demanding that his sister, currently Henry's mistress, marry Henry's heir to fulfill the terms of a previous agreement between Henry and Louis VII, who was Phillip's father and Eleanor's ex-husband. Much family drama ensues.

This play is almost entirely made up of phenomenally witty, snarky dialogue. Given that both the play and screenplay were written by the same person, it should come as no surprise that the movie is the same way. It's not exactly, 100% word-for-word the same, but it's pretty darn close. Like maybe 98%. The film does add a couple of action scenes: for example, we see each of the brothers exhibiting his unique skill (or lack thereof) on the battlefield at the beginning, which was not in the play, but introduces their characters quite nicely. The film also adds several scene changes, a few minor characters, and many extras, but otherwise it's exactly like the play. And it works. Most plays aren't meant to be directly transposed onto the screen, but apparently this one was, although in the hands of a lesser cast it might have failed. Not to take any due credit away from the brilliant writing, but Katharine Hepburn was born to play this version of Eleanor, and I could not read the play without hearing her voice say those lines. And the rest of the cast is fabulous as well. Apparently the play flopped when it was first on Broadway, but this film led to its revival. Of course, I never saw the original production, but I can believe that the film breathed new life into the story.

There's not much else to say about this winner. It's probably the most faithful adaptation I've encountered so far, and it works well. I would highly recommend checking this movie out if you haven't seen it, although you might have to watch it a few times before you fully understand everything that's going on (I certainly did).

Stay tuned for Midnight Cowboy, based on the novel by James Leo Herlihy. When I watched this for my Best Picture project, I said I didn't think I would be watching it again any time soon, and sure enough, it's been over 7 years and I haven't seen it since. So I'm interested to see if my opinion of the movie changes, either because of time or because the book influences my opinion.