Richard III
Director: Laurence Olivier
Year Released: 1955
Rating: 3.0
Sir Larry takes on the story of the crazed "hunchback" king (actually, it was a bad case of scoliosis) as he manipulates and murders on his way to the throne. As one of the greatest interpreters of the Bard, it's a marvel to watch Olivier limp and seethe in the all-consuming title performance; as a film, this doesn't escape the trappings of the stage until the Battle of Bosworth Field, when Richard, horseless, meets his end. While I am hardly an expert on Shakespeare, this particular work of his always felt a bit overloaded to me - Willie's anti-hero Richard is allowed to basically get away with absolutely everything for such a long time and is so purely malevolent that it's always seemed odd he doesn't get his comeuppance much sooner ... although me trying to pick apart Shakespeare is like me trying to chop apart the Mendenhall Glacier with an ice pick.
