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The Lion in Winter

The Lion in Winter

1968
Drama, History
2h 14m
1183 AD: King Henry II's three sons all want to inherit the throne, but he won't commit to a choice. They and his wife variously plot to force him. (imdb)
Your probable score
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The Lion in Winter

1968
Drama, History
2h 14m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 70.48% from 762 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(762)
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Rated 15 Apr 2011
44
6th
Feels a bit like Albee rewriting Shakespeare. I seem to be in the minority on this one, but I found it quite overwrought and tedious. Practically everything gets tiresome, and quickly... the backbiting sarcasm, the pompous score, the calculated bits of raunchy content or dialogue, the endless scheming, and most of all the blustery ACTING! that plagues every performance. There are occasional moments of intriguing drama and a number of nicely crafted lines, but they are lost in a sea of ham.
Rated 30 Jun 2007
85
89th
Outstanding film full of witty lines, superb acting (Katherine Hepburn lightens the screen like no one ever did) and excellent production. It's amazing to follow the intricate story and the way it unfolds, all due to the masterful screenplay.
Rated 26 Jul 2009
82
75th
So much devilish good fun. Hardly anything compares the the experience of watching these two fantastic performers having at each other with one hell of a witty script. Possibly each's finest performance.
Rated 14 Jun 2008
86
77th
"Lion" bears the good and ill of its stage origins. It does seem stagebound at times, but it also bursts with an unafraid love of language. It loads up great tumblers of words, allowing gifted actors to lavish in them. This is the era when O'Toole was prospering with riveting bouts of emotive shouting, and it's quite thrilling to see Katherine Hepburn shearing away familiar mannerisms. The dialogue is first rate, but the storytelling sometimes gets bogged down in its layers of castle intrigue.
Rated 17 May 2009
70
34th
The epitome of plays mal-adapted for a vastly different medium, only in small parts is it realized in any way. In an attempt to make complex and deep characters they end up looking cheap farcical abominations that not even the most insightful person could unravel. The acting is a mixed bag, the script is equally hot/cold, and at times the cinematography is stunning, but seldom they are.
Rated 16 Jan 2011
68
36th
Very good, but no masterpiece. The script is deft, and Hepburn and Hopkins are both magnificent. I also love that it inhabits its period so well; it looks right, and despite some (deliberate) anachronisms, none of the characters have the modern attitudes so often pasted onto films like this. O'Toole, as usual, tries too hard, and his great moments of wry intelligence are too often marred by histrionic grandstanding that comes out of nowhere; the more I watch him, the less sense he makes to me.
Rated 03 Apr 2014
30
18th
I absolutely detested the script. It is full to overflowing with venomous personal attacks. By the end I was completely sick and tired of every single character. A horrible collection of nasty wicked people. This was apparently written as a huge jab at nobility, because it portrays a sick family of self consumed backstabbers constantly plotting to kill one another. It is entirely unrealistic and unconvincing. However the acting was superb, it's the story and script I disliked.
Rated 13 Jul 2011
81
84th
You'd think that more than 2 hours of devious people plotting against each other and hurtling insults would get boring, but surprisingly, it didn't. Not when the venom is spat in such an eloquent way. A few powerhouse performances kept my attention to the screen. Just a shame that the cinematography is a bit unremarkable.
Rated 12 Feb 2010
15
7th
There was little-to-nothing enjoyable about this movie.
Rated 02 Apr 2008
70
61st
Unapologetically filmed theatre, and a masterpiece of the genere. I'm just not such a fan of the genere.
Rated 05 Jul 2010
86
66th
One of the most fucked up family dramas you will see. Great writing and some stellar acting but I bet it's more watchable on stage. I grow more and more skeptical of play to movie adaptations the more I see. Few are done really well and the best of them have very different scripts. That being said, this stands up to the test of time and is a well-deserved classic.
Rated 10 Nov 2012
75
77th
Somewhat wobbly, dramatically, but the caliber of the acting - whatever one thinks of big performances - pretty much makes this a must-see. Hepburn (who won an Oscar) is one scary, talented lady, but also the one, I'd say, who at times goes most over-the-top. O'Toole's tour-de-force as the king I shall never forget, and I also very much enjoyed the work by Anthony Hopkins and Timothy Dalton.
Rated 04 Sep 2009
72
68th
Witty written story and excellent acting, but the theatrical output tested my buttocks. And ultimately it was a merry-go-round.
Rated 01 Apr 2010
85
66th
Fine acting, a witty well-constructed screenplay, but the result is a talk-heavy movie that never really MOVES.
Rated 26 Dec 2010
25
31st
somewhat witty dialogue but uninteresting
Rated 14 Aug 2007
80
95th
Great Performances. Very bleak settings and story about getting exactly what you wanted and finding out that it isn't all you expected.
Rated 11 Dec 2013
74
77th
"There's everything in life but hope."
Rated 08 Sep 2012
90
81st
Features superb acting by Peter O'Toole and Katherine Hepburn that kept me riveted, yet the writing is dated and the swordplay obviously fake. Overall a great film with several flaws.
Rated 17 Sep 2013
89
72nd
Superb dialogue & delivery especially Hepburn
Rated 02 Feb 2008
85
90th
Amazing performances - just look at the cast!
Rated 09 Feb 2013
77
73rd
I'm not a big fan of older history, and mainly watched this for the performances. They are great, but this film is also much more absorbing than I thought it would be.
Rated 19 Jan 2014
73
79th
Beautifully written for sure - it does a respectful job of digesting its Shakespearean influence - and the cast is exemplary. It's very hard to pinpoint why I didn't like this more than I did. Some things about it seemed excessive, and I'm not sure what.
Rated 25 Aug 2017
91
91st
Superb dialogue & delivery especially Hepburn
Rated 25 Jul 2012
96
94th
1019: great strong drama. strong dialogues and a theatrical performance!
Rated 25 Jan 2010
100
91st
Excellent cast and ingenious study of the deviousness that runs through a family.
Rated 12 Apr 2012
80
73rd
O'Toole and (especially) Hepburn give massive performances, making the poor standard of some of the supporting cast (the king's mistress, the youngest son John) stand out really badly. The film's constantly over the top emotional register, and the way the French king disappears without resolving his story, are also flaws, but O'Toole and Hepburn are just so much damn fun to watch.
Rated 22 May 2016
84
82nd
Great performances live up to a great script. But then, it is based on a great play. EJ 44, IF 40.
Rated 19 Mar 2018
91
77th
Sharper and wittier than your average period piece, The Lion in Winter is a tale of palace intrigue bolstered by fantastic performances from Peter O'Toole, Katharine Hepburn, and Anthony Hopkins in his big-screen debut.
Rated 24 May 2009
95
97th
Awesome. Richard Burton, Catherine Hepburn. Can't beat it.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
100
91st
If this is the one with Richard Burton, then it is a MUST SEE.
Rated 18 Jul 2010
80
82nd
An epic drama with magnificent writing and performances.
Rated 01 Aug 2013
80
95th
Stunning.
Rated 19 May 2008
100
96th
All-time favorite.
Rated 17 Oct 2012
89
85th
perfect script, good acting, "a loving famly"
Rated 16 Dec 2010
91
65th
An endless parade of witty insults, debauchery and backstabbing! The ending is perfect.
Rated 05 Oct 2010
65
59th
Positively moistmaking dialoge and two massive central perfomances by Peter O'Toole (not Richard Burton, you inbred douchenozzles down the page) and Katharine Hepburn are almost enough for me to forgive the much too stagy nature of the production. Almost. Handled differently by someone with a better understanding of cinema would have possible resulted in a masterpiece, but as it stands we just have some ridiculously good acting immortalized and that's pretty much it.
Rated 14 Jul 2008
73
70th
The non-stop arch dialogue uttered by historical figures that would never, ever have spoken such things makes this a camp classic in a category all its own. Whether one finds it enjoyable depends on ones mood, I think. Hepburn gives a fantastic performance, I must say.
Rated 02 Feb 2008
88
83rd
I enjoy the play...more...but this was still pretty good.
Rated 20 Apr 2018
85
66th
An excellent alternative for those who can't stand It's A Wonderful Life. Dysfunctional family Xmas reunion at its medieval best. Why isn't it on any Xmas movies lists?
Rated 07 Dec 2018
9
93rd
Very rare in how its fun and smart quotient is off the charts. This should be a most fitting antidote for modern careless pop fare of the like of GAME OF THRONES and its poisonous, unnecessary and ridiculous fixation on violence, sex-as-torture and many forms of gross-out, petty shock stuff.
Rated 05 Oct 2020
80
81st
#4600
Rated 30 Dec 2022
71
95th
Intelligent, well written, wonderfully complex, masterfully acted by Peter O'Toole and Katherine Hepburn. Utterly absorbing.

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