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Franco Zeffirelli is about as good of a straight adaptation of William Shakespeare’s fame play that the screen will ever get. It is filled with the youthful exuberance that the tale of star-crossed lovers deserves. Winning Oscars for its lush cinematography and costume design, the film features amazing performances from its newcomer leads. Having been teens themselves during the making, they embody the passion of first love.

Leonard Whiting plays Romeo with a poetic soul. He’s not much interested in the feud between his family, the Montagues, and the Capulets. His cousins Mercutio (John McEnery, 1990’s HAMLET) and Benvolio (Bruce Robinson, THE STORY OF ADELE H) convince him to crash the Capulets masquerade party with them. The party is to celebrate the arranged engagement of Juliet (Olivia Hussey, BLACK CHRISTMAS) to Count Paris (Roberto Bisacco). But she quickly forgets her fiancée after meeting Romeo (whom also quickly forgets his never seen girlfriend Rosalind). Tybalt (Michael York, CABARET) discovers the Montagues presence and is itching for a fight. In spite their families, Romeo and Juliet are willing to give up everything for love and aiding them in their mission are Friar Laurence (Milo O’Shea, THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO) and Juliet’s brash nurse (Pat Heywood, BATTLE OF BRITAIN).

Thinking about its release in the late 1960s, the story of young lovers being torn about by the wars of their elders has a resonance to its era. Romeo and Juliet in many ways represent the ideals of the hippie movement, putting love first and defying their parents’ rules. Like its controversial era, the film courted controversy as well. Major cuts in the text had purists upset, but most viewers (outside of possibly the famed balcony sequence) will hardly notice what was trimmed. Additionally, a nude scene featuring the teenage stars raised some eyebrows.

When I think about the film, my thoughts always go back to the ideal image of love. Whiting and Hussey were inspired choices, seemingly born to play these roles. Attractive and passionate with the right kind of innocence, they make use believe in love at first sight. Nino Rota’s romantic score sets the perfect tone. It feels just right — just emotional enough, never maudlin. In the spirit of love, Feffirelli includes a great deal of fun and joking, leaving in Mercutio’s speech on Mab, the queen of dreams, and the raunchy sex talk between the nurse of the Montague boys. Even Mercutio and Tybalt’s duel has a playful nature until it turns bad.

In his Great Movie review, Roger Ebert states that ROMEO AND JULIET has been called the first romantic tragedy, but it doesn’t actually fit the classic definition of a tragedy because Romeo and Juliet are innocents not brought down by their flaws. I’d beg to differ. Juliet for sure is an innocent, but their fates begin to spiral downward the moment Romeo brashly seeks revenge against Tybalt. This rash decision starts the ball rolling, which leads to the admittedly contrived, but poetic, double suicide ending. The headfirst passion of youth that we love in Romeo is also part of his undoing, as much as the feuds of the elders. Dying at the hands of your most charming quality only makes the story even more romantically tragic.

Feffirelli understands the passion and folly of youth. He even has fun with Romeo whining about being banished. When it comes to Shakespeare, most complaints poke fun at the plot contrivances. Misunderstandings and overheard conversations are the stuff of sitcoms nowadays. But never do the best dramas today better Shakespeare’s attention to character. When Romeo looks upon Juliet placing her hand on her cheek and says, “Oh, to be a glove upon that hand,” we get that youthful longing. Feffirelli gets it too, evidenced in every decision he makes from the cast to the costumes to the music to the photography. When Shakespeare is done right, the emotional truth behind the poetic dialogue bursts forth. You don’t have to understand every word to relate to two average kids in love.

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