Never read Hamlet. Never seen it.

[MonkeyFunk]

No version of it... stage, screen. Never heard a radio broadcast of it.

Never read the play. Never read any adaptation of it.

Hamlet who?

[Omphaloskepsis]

1. Me too... I worked at a movie theater when it came out...

Fickin thing was 4+ hours long. I never watched the damn thing. I was a projectionist and it had an fucking intermission. Four plus hours.. Fuck me.. That sucked. The fucking thing made me work ten hour shifts..

[SeattleGirl]

2. Then MonkeyFunk, you must be banned from this earth!

:rofl:

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

3. Cultural opportunity:

Here's hamlet:

http://www.rinkworks.com/bookaminute/b/shakespeare.hamlet.shtml

Hope you enjoyed it.

[jpgray]

4. Some of the best Renaissance period snark in existence

And no, not the "it occureth, lo! in rusty lunar tides!" kind of period.

[skygazer]

5. Point?

[jpgray]

6. Probably to say he's never read, heard or seen Hamlet

Now get thee to a nunnery.

[MonkeyFunk]

12. Yessir

[gmoney]

7. It's actually pretty cool...

Good literary touchstone, as it's referred to all the time. For instance, the Bob and Doug MacKenzie movie "Strange Brew" is based on Hamlet, except instead of the Castle Elsinore in Denmark, it's the Elsinore Brewery that's the bone of contention. Bob and Doug are sort of folded into the story, and it's a real fun movie.

That, and the fun movie "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" is enhanced by a basic understanding of the story of Hamlet. Great idea for a play/movie, take two incidental characters from a major work and write their backstory and expand upon it.

A good weekend's viewing is the Mel Gibson "Hamlet" (I know, I know, but it's fairly digestible and a little over 2 hours. Follow that with "R & G are Dead" and then "Strange Brew."

Or you could watch a bunch of them Ernest movies again...

[ContraBass Black]

8. So, you've never seen The Lion King?

[bertha katzenengel]

9. Believe it or not, Mel Gibson was a pretty good Hamlet.

Glenn Close as Gertrude, Kate Winslet as Ophelia

I recommend it.

Kenneth Branagh's was good too. His adaptation ran the entire play, while many adaptations omit the war/Fortinbras part.

[MonkeyFunk]

11. I've been told Branagh's was great

but I've never seen it available on DVD.

[Shakespeare]

16. It's supposedly going to be released before the end of the year.

I'm in a Shakespeare academic listserve discussion group, and one of our members is "in the industry," as they say, and has been keeping us updated RE the DVD's (long, long overdue) release.

Branagh's got major balls just for doing the entire (folio) text. What a beast--but a very good one. Can't wait to watch it again.

And there are parts of the Zefferelli/Gibson Hamlet that were very good (and parts that are dreadful); I have mixed feelings about that one.

The most interesting adaptation of Hamlet I've ever seen is the BBC's, with Derek Jacobi as Hamlet and Patrick Stewart as Claudius. Instead of making Claudius an obvious villain and Hamlet an obvious hero, they make it ambiguous (and the text certainly allows for that). Fascinating.

[Tyler Durden]

21. LET ME KNOW WHEN!

A PM will do!

[Orsino]

26. That explains why I can't find it! Meanwhile, the Ethan Hawke version is great.

Modern dress. Bill Murray as Polonius. Sam Shepard as the ghost. Kyle MacLachlan as Claudius.

I give props to the Gibson version, too. He's the weak link, but he's still good.

[Shakespeare]

28. I think Helena Bonham-Carter's scenes as Ophelia after she goes mad are incredible.

So were Kate Winslet's in the Branagh Hamlet, but I think HBC portrays much better that she's being mindfucked by Hamlet AND her dad (and then we see the consequences). And I LOVE Ian Holm as Polonius.

[SecularMotion]

31. It's available on Aug. 14th

according to Poor Yorick.

http://www.bardcentral.com/

I think I'm going to go for the 4-pack.

http://www.bardcentral.com/product_info.php?cPath=21_156&products_id=1992

[Shakespeare]

33. The person who owns/runs Poor Yorick is our "informant" I mentioned...

...on the academic listserve. I need to watch my email digests more closely!

[bertha katzenengel]

41. Yes, it was. Can't wait until the DVD comes out. n/t

[HEyHEY]

10. The Chauffer did it

[Mike Daniels]

27. And everyone (well, almost) dies at the end

Hamlet in a nutshell -

Young man's inability to act decisively results in lots of deaths.

[RetroLounge]

13. Well, you should.

:hi:

RL

[montanto]

14. Never mind, its just Shakespeare.

How good could it be?

Gibson plays it pretty well i hate to admit, Brannagh is too serious IMO, and they are both way too old. Hamlet is just a kid, but where do you get a teenager to pull it off?

[Richardo]

15. Macbeth is superior...

:thumbsup:

[Reverend_Smitty]

17. and about elevendy jillion lines shorter

all told, I probably prefer Othello over both of them.

[Tyler Durden]

20. Ever see the Ian McKellan/Judi Dench version of MacBeth?

Oh my god.

$17.99 on dvd and worth $179.99.

[Reverend_Smitty]

22. I concur...

it was a most excellent version of it. But with Sir Ian and Dame Judi, how can you go wrong?

[Tyler Durden]

32. About right on that.

They could turn "Ma and Pa Kettle" into high art.

[MonkeyFunk]

19. That I've read

and seen.

It's a good 'un.

[SouthoftheBorderPaul]

30. I've always heard King Lear

was the best of the trajedies. I prefer The Bridges of Madison County.

[montanto]

39. plus a hell of a lot shorter!!

[Richardo]

40. Which is of course a contributing factor to its greatness

:D

[Tyler Durden]

18. So many GREAT quotes.

"Tho this be madness there is method in 't."

The smartest thing Polonius says in the whole play.

[ashling]

23. To be ignorant, or not to be ignorant

that is the question

[edbermac]

24. Shakespeare was a hack. The Harold Robbins of his generation.

:boring:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

25. I DON'T think so!

:nuke:

[kwassa]

29. Ever eaten it?

I have.

[Burma Jones]

34. That's good for you....

you can go and see it, or read it, without anyone requiring it of you.

[Javaman]

35. Who was euric??? nt

[tigereye]

36. why oh why?

:cry:

[VenusRising]

37. Watch Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100519/



Probably Oldman and Roth at their funniest.

[Forkboy]

38. Hamlet sounds like something for breakfast.