Da'ud Bob's Movie Review
for
  March 2025


This month we're looking back to a review of a famous actor's look at the workings of putting on a Shakespeare play, which was first published exactly 27 years ago, in March 1998. Enjoy!



I'd missed seeing this one when it first came out in the theaters.  Admittedly, it was only playing in the "arts" theaters, and not for all that long, so there was some excuse for me there.  But it had intrigued me, so I was glad that it's made it out on videotape.  So we went down to the local Videos R Us, grabbed a copy off the shelf, and took it home to watch.  It was interesting.  It was educational.  It jumped around a fair bit, but that didn't seem to matter very much.  What really did matter, was that here was a modern actor and filmmaker helping to explain Shakespeare to the modern world, getting inside the characters in the play, watching the process of actors becoming their characters.  And so it is that this month, Da'ud Bob reviews Al Pacino's documentary of his production of Richard III, looking for richard.

Starring Al Pacino as Richard III and as Al Pacino (in a Scent of a Woman gimme cap), Alec Baldwin as George, Duke of Clarence, Kevin Spacey as Buckingham, Wynona Rider as Anne, Kevin Conway as Hastings, Harris Yulin as King Edward, Estelle Parsons as Margaret, and Aidan Quinn as Richmond, this documentary is done in a very un-documentary style, and is the story of Al Pacino's production of Richard III by William Shakespeare.  So it contains clips of: Pacino's thoughts regarding the play, the characters, the motivations, and how to present them to a modern audience; interviews with various actors regarding both Shakespeare in general and Richard III in particular; the actors learning about their characters, their motivations, and discussing (and arguing!) about how those characters should be portrayed; "man on the street" interviews about Shakespeare; all interspersed with scenes from the production.  Complex?  Very.  Interesting?  Say, rather, fascinating!

There were a lot of good points.  Pacino carrying, or pretending to attempt to carry, the big book of Shakespeare's works.  Iambic pentameter as an anteater.  (No, really!  Not literally, but really.)  Many of the costumes.  Much of the fancy armor.  Watching the process of actors learning and becoming Shakespeare's characters.  The coins on Edward's eyes after his death were a nice touch.  (I don't know that it was a period or documentable touch, mind you, but it was a nice touch.)  Interviews about Shakespeare by, among others, Kevin Kline, James Earl Jones (who told a wonderful tale of his first experience hearing Shakespeare), Kenneth Branagh, Derek Jacobi, Sir John Gielgud, Vanessa Redgrave, and F. Murray Abraham.

The only negative comment I can really make is that the costumes for Richard III came from a variety of time periods, many of which were not the last half of the 14th Century.

Zero breasts.  1½ gallons of blood.  25 dead bodies (mostly at Bosworth Field).  Al Pacino rolls.  Lies roll.  (Trippingly off the tongue, as it were.)  Dagger fu.  Sword fu.  Arrow fu.  Police fu.  ("He says we need a permit.")  Gratuitous mariachi band.  Gratuitous pigeon droppings.  Gratuitous visit to the new Globe Theater in London while it was still under construction.  Academy Award nomination to Al Pacino for taking a camera out on to the streets of New York to interview passersby about Shakespeare; for "I'm getting $40 a day and all the donuts we can eat on this project"; and for "Irony is really only hypocrisy with style."  A paltry 42 on the Vomit Meter.  3½ Stars.  Da'ud Bob says "Check it out!"




Upcoming movies and miniseries to watch for!


A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight
2025		 A century before the events of Game of Thrones, two unlikely heroes wandered Westeros... a young, naïve but courageous knight, Ser Duncan the Tall, and his diminutive squire, Egg. Set in an age when the Targaryen line still holds the Iron Throne, and the memory of the last dragon has not yet passed from living memory, great destinies, powerful foes, and dangerous exploits all await these improbable and incomparable friends. A(nother) Game of Thrones prequel. Streaming on Max.
Highlander
2026		 Starring Henry Cavill. This is a remake of the 1986 original starring Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery that no one I know of is asking for. "An immortal Scottish swordsman faces off with other immortal warriors in order to obtain a coveted ability." Director Chad Stahelski confirmed the movie will be using Queen's soundtrack from the original but "Probably in a different way than you think, but hardcore yes." [Da'ud Bob says, "How about no?"]
The Odyssey
July 17, 2026		 A new film version of the epic poem by Homer. Directed by Christopher Nolan, and starring Matt Damon as Odysseus, with Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Charlize Theron, John Leguizamo, and more.


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