Julius Caesar (1970) - film review

On his return to Rome after crushing his enemy Pompey in a civil war, the emperor Julius Caesar is greeted as a hero by the populace.  One man who is not happy over Caesar’s return is the senator Cassius, who fears that the emperor will use his latest victory to strengthen his position and weaken the senate.  Cassius persuades Brutus, Caesar’s most faithful ally, that the emperor must be slain for the good of Rome.  Once the deed has been done, Mark Anthony extols Caesar’s virtues and turns the people of Rome against the men who killed him.  Brutus and his fellow conspirators flee with their armies, aware that what Mark Anthony seeks is nothing less than bloody retribution on the battlefield...

This version of Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar is generally considered vastly inferior to the one that was directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz in 1953 (featuring a young Marlon Brando in the role of Mark Anthony) but is visually more daring and is let down only by some major casting errors.  The film was directed by Stuart Burge, who had previously helmed a well-regarded adaptation of Othello, with a blacked-up Laurence Olivier in the title role.  It is faithful to Shakespeare’s original text, with only a few minor trims and alterations, and, whilst it feels stagy in its first half, it has greater visual impact when the location shifts to the countryside outside Rome for the impressively staged battle sequences.  The sets and costumes are authentic and give the film a lavish but not showy look, enhancing rather than detracting from Shakespeare’s play.

The star-studded cast is a somewhat hit-and-miss affair, including actors who could hardly be improved on and some who should never, on the strength of their performances in this film, be let anywhere near Shakespeare again.  In the former category are John Gielgud and Richard Johnson, who are superlative as Caesar and Cassius respectively, the only portrayals that can honestly be termed compelling.  Diana Rigg, Jill Bennett and Robert Vaughn are welcome additions to the mix, even if they are only on screen for a few minutes.  At the other end of the spectrum we have Charlton Heston struggling (and failing) to make us give a damn about Mark Anthony and Jason Robards who looks like he is acting in his sleep.  Fortunately, there are enough actors who can recite Shakespeare with making it sound like a shopping list to counteract the soporific qualities of Robards’ performance, but Heston’s mannered posturing and inability to inject any vitality into his part is enough to put most people of Shakespeare for life.

© Alex Sullivan 2011

Write a review for this film...

What do you think of this film?