Hamlet

Hamlet set in the pre-Civil War American South (more or less). Claudius, looks vaguely like a recent US president and talks with an Arkansas drawl. Polonius and Ophelia are Black; Polonius is the mansion's major-domo. Rosencrantz & Guildenstern dress, look, and talk like a couple of Mafiosi. The Ghost is a hoot. Hamlet, who speaks with a Midwestern accent, tends to mumble a bit

The text is straight Shakespeare--not a scene or even a line seems to be missing.

The strange thing about this pastiche is that it's engaging and actually works.

I have watched many versions of Hamlet. Some good and some bad. But this is the first Hamlet where I practically understand all of Hamlet's soliloques! Campbell Scott's performance as Hamlet really won me over. He plays Hamlet as a sensitive young man trying to come to grips with his father's untimely death and his mother's hasty marriage to his uncle. When this Hamlet sees the ghost of his father, he pretty much goes mad. And I mean, not just playing mad, but going mad.

There is something in the way that Campbell Scott saids his lines that makes me totally understand what Hamlet is feeling. Often times, I don't understand everything that Hamlet saids, but this time, I understood practically everything!

The rest of the cast is very good, especially Blair Brown who plays the queen.

I've watched this movie two times because I was fascinated by Campbell Scott's great performance. This was one of the few movie rentals that I've enjoyed in a long time.

Anyone who likes Shakespeare's work will love this version.

And I think I've seen the lot, from Olivier through Gibson to Branagh. If Scott Campbell misses perfection, it's by a hair. Apart from the fact that American English is better suited to Shakespeare (historically, I mean - the posh British King's English didn't arrive until 1710 when German George I came to the throne - and it's a crying shame that this version leaves out the best example of a pun that only works in American English, Hamlet's "tropically" - a pun on "trap") - I think that Campbell hits that delicate balance between being both someone we like and side with, and also an irritating, spoiled brat. It's an amazing job. Best performance I have ever seen. Hats off.

Among the few reservations (to the film, not to Campbell)is that the film lets the ghost interfere with Hamlet's assassination in the prayer scene. I believe the abortive murder here is entirely due to Hamlet's invalid subterfuge - his father would prefer to have his brother bumped off whenever. I don't think Ophelia should be present when Hamlet is exposed as her father's murderer.

However, two things make up for this in full: that we have a blood-soaked Hamlet making jokes about Polonius' death (which displays Hamlet as the self-absorbed brat Shakespeare intended him to be), and we expose Hamlet's final betrayal of his father when he signs the entire kingdom off to Norway (the ghost appears also in the final scene, looking very dismayed). Hamlet never avenges his father, not in Shakespeare, a fact that has been overlooked for 400 years, but this version suggests it.

But the best feature of the film is Scott's performance. I don't think anyone can take Hamlet, or Shakespeare for that matter, further in the direction of naturalistic acting. All stilted pronunciation and over-articulated syllables that we are frequently served are banished from this production; Scott could have spoken his lines on a bus, and no fellow passengers would suspect that they were Shakespeare. Scott's fast.talking, neurotic and endearingly gawky Dane is the best Hamlet I ever saw.

I collect Hamlets. My premise is it doesn't have to be an uncut "eternity" version to get a good score. This is the best Hamlet I have on my shelf. At 3 hrs (vs the uncut 4), it's just right - not much lost, & a whole lot better than the 2 hr versions.

Campbell Scott plays Hamlet as a man teetering on the brink of insanity. The amazing thing is that he does this in a generally quiet way. He doesn't depend on yelling or racing around to form the character.

Bar none, I have never seen a better Horatio than John Benjamin Hickey. Author Kurt Vonnegut referred to Horatio as a "sane & decent man," & that's exactly how Hickey plays him. He's loyal but softly outspoken, a wonderful contrast to Rosencrantz & Guildenstern. Watch him in the last few moments of his Prince's life as he gently rocks Hamlet in his arms.

This version avoided two of my pet peeves: Ophelia is not jail bait & Gertrude really was old enough to be Hamlet's mother. It makes me crazy when a 30 year old Hamlet has a 15 yr old Ophelia & a 35 yr old Mom! All in all, this one of the best composite casts I've seen. The approach is definitely different from versions that are more physical (Mel Gibson) or "faithful" to the Bard (Nicol Williamson), but when I first saw this I fell in love with everything except the annoying piano score. There are bits of action unique to this production that will make you catch your breath. I won't give you the details; don't want to ruin the surprises.

Enjoy!

In Shakespeare's play, not only Hamlet has more than one side. But here, the supporting characters are one-dimensionalized. Polonius, who a generation ago was often played as too silly, is played as too dignified; his speech seems not to wander but to march triumphantly on thin air. Claudius misses the chance in the prayer scene to show a private self appreciably unlike his public self. And Ophelia does the mad scene without any development or continuity of feeling. It's a good contrast to Hamlet's madness-- he's possessed; she's, as it were, dispossessed-- but that's all it is; neither she nor anyone else really counterbalances Campbell Scott's Hamlet. It's a good, energetic, intelligent but lonely performance.