The Alphabet Project: R is for...

Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead (1990)

Showing events from the point of view of two minor characters from Hamlet, men who have no control over their destiny, this film examines fate and asks if we can ever really know what's going on? Are answers as important as the questions? Will Rosencrantz (Gary Oldman) and Guildenstern (Tim Roth) (or is it Guildenstern (Gary Oldman) and Rosencrantz (Tim Roth)) manage to discover the source of Hamlet's malaise as requested by the new king? Will the mysterious players (Richard Dreyfuss and company) who are strolling around the castle reveal the secrets they evidently know? And whose serve is it? Hilarity ensues.

Trivia: Richard Dreyfuss' part was to be played by Sean Connery, who abandoned the film for a bigger paycheck in The Hunt for Red October. The title comes from one of the final lines of "Hamlet", where a British ambassador enters the Danish court to find Hamlet, Claudius, Gertrude, and Laertes all dead. The ambassador's line is, "...To tell [the King] his commandment is fulfilled, that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead." The opening song at the beginning of the movie is Pink Floyd's "Seamus" (Meddle, 1971). The version included in the movie is an instrumental version. The album version has vocals. During the theatre company's performance of pseudo-Hamlet, a sound bit from Pink Floyd's "Echoes" (also from Meddle, 1971) can be heard. The sound of the rapier sword is the first note heard in "Echoes".

I don't know if I would have picked this movie if it wasn't for Ninguelosse and her wonderful blog Cinecism, well, actually, I had never heard of it before, or at least it never registered on my brain. By the way, here is her take on, as she calls it, R+G, I highly recommend that you check it out and become a regular reader, Emily, I owe you a movie (you get to pick a movie for me to watch and review since you guessed correctly). As for the movie, it was highly entertaining. The dialog is wonderful, Oldman and Roth really work great together. The premise is fun, two guys trying to figure out what is happening as a play unfolds around them, when they actually do appear in the play they say their lines and then try to figure out why they said them. During the movie you see sheets of paper blow around the two characters who are oblivious to them, even making some into paper boats and airplanes. The papers are pages from the play Hamlet. Nice touch. And a littler something to confuse you a little more, the characters have trouble all through the movie trying to figure out which one is Rosencrantz and which one is Guildenstern, well, Oldman was cast as Guildenstern and played Rosencrantz and Roth was cast as Rosencrantz and played Guildenstern. Well, I guess you will just have to watch it to figure out that one. Oh yeah, and the movie does seem to be very brown.

Next Up: "S", this week's clue: An undercover cop's life starts to blur as he starts to become addicted to the drugs...while he watches it all unfold on a screen. And now for last week's guesses:

Rob Roy - Honor made him a man. Courage made him a hero. History made him a Legend. In the highlands of Scotland in the 1700s, Rob Roy tries to lead his small town to a better future.

Rain Man - Selfish yuppie Charlie Babbitt's father left a fortune to his savant brother Raymond and a pittance to Charlie; they travel cross-country. Five minutes to Wapner!

Rosemary's Baby - A young couple move into a new apartment, only to be surrounded by peculiar neighbors and occurrences. When the wife becomes mysteriously pregnant, paranoia over the safety of her unborn child begins controlling her life.