Hamlet

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Franco Zeffirelli directs. David Watkin behind the camera. Ennio Morricone scores. Richard Marden cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 136 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
• 2Directed by Franco Zeffirelli, shot by David Watkin. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 3Original score by Ennio Morricone. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 4Editor Richard Marden shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 5Mel Gibson and Glenn Close and Alan Bates carry the top of the cast.
• 6Marketing tagline: "The extraordinary adaptation of Shakespeare's classic tale of vengeance and tragedy.".
• 7IMDB entry: tt0099726 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography

David Watkin

Original score

Ennio Morricone

Editing

Richard Marden

Production design

Dante Ferretti

Costume design

Maurizio Millenotti

Makeup / hair

Lois Burwell

Runtime

130 min · 2h 10m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Budget

$13,500,000

Box office

$20,700,000

Return

153% of budget

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

PG

IMDB

Hamlet (1990) ↗

Also by

Franco Zeffirelli

• 
  La Traviata

  2002 · ★ 10.0
• 
  Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci

  1978 · ★ 9.3
• 
  Don Carlo

  1992 · ★ 9.0
• 
  Carmen

  1997 · ★ 9.0
• 
  The Metropolitan Opera: La Bohème

  2018 · ★ 9.0
• 
  The Metropolitan Opera: Turandot

  2019 · ★ 9.0

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Mel Gibson in Hamlet 1990 TV trailer

  Trailer

Community reviews

What people are saying

• CinemaSerf2026-07-03
  ★ 6/10

  Initially, I was quite encouraged by the shorter duration of this tale of the Prince of Denmark, but as it unfolded I began to realise that it was usually nearer the four hour mark because there is so much detail to the plot that actually matters - and that this overly condenses much of the nuanced characterisation out of the proceedings. To be fair to Mel Gibson, he actually turns in an half decent performance at the heart of this tale of duplicity and murder. His "Hamlet" is convinced that his uncle "Claudius" (Alan Bates) has done away with his father, the king, and then married his mother "Gertrude" (Glenn Close) to legitimise his claim to the throne. Egged on by the apparition of his late dad (Paul Schofield) he becomes obsessed with seeking revenge and as that red-eyed monster takes over more of his personality, he finds himself losing not only his friends but aspects of his sanity too. That latter issue isn't just confined to "Hamlet" as his potential bride "Ophelia" (Helena Bonham Carter) also starts to lose her psychological way when encouraged by her own father "Polonious" (Ian Holm) to give the prince a bit more of a wide berth. Franco Zeffirelli has assembled quite a formidable supporting cast but try as they do, the characters of "Laertes" (Nathaniel Parker) and "Guildenstern" (Sean Murray) and "Rosencrantz" (Michael Maloney) - so crucial to offering us a degree of diversion from the intensity of the story, are all just a bit too undercooked. As to Glenn Close - well I didn't love her in this. She errs a little too much on the side of the melodramatic with her overly theatrical interpretation of a role whose complicity in the crimes of her new husband ought to be much more of a mystery than she chooses to present to us here. Now I don't think many would object to the abridging of some of Shakespeare's fondness for verbosity, and on that front the curtailing of the dialogue generally works quite well and as we draw towards the conclusion of this tragic play I began to feel that this was something more of an introductory exposition of this drama, and that perhaps it's best purpose could be to encourage us to tackle Olivier's masterclass (1948) or perhaps, now, the subsequent adaptation by Kenneth Branagh (1996) which restore more of the meat to the bones than we witness here. The production design actually reminded me somewhat of the "Lion in Winter" from 1968 and as with that, it does much of the heavy lifting that a stage presentation has to make more effort with. Is that good thing? Hmmm - I don't know; there is something more penetrating about the echoing effects of a performance against a backdrop of flats and painted scenes. Anyway, Gibson acquits himself adequately, as do Bates, Holm, Schofield and Trevor Peacock as the sparingly used but pivotal gravedigger and it's well worth a watch if you leave your purist skull out of the room.

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  Icon Productions

  US

• 

  Nelson Entertainment

  US

Key crew

• Executive ProducerBruce Davey
• EditorRichard Marden
• ProducerDyson Lovell
• AuthorWilliam Shakespeare
• Art DirectionFranco Ceraolo
• Costume DesignMaurizio Millenotti
• Art DirectionAntonio Tarolla
• Art DirectionAlan Tomkins
• Production DesignDante Ferretti
• Supervising Art DirectorMichael Lamont
• Art DirectionJim Morahan
• CastingJoyce Nettles
• Set DecorationFrancesca Lo Schiavo
• Makeup ArtistLois Burwell
• Makeup ArtistJean-Luc Russier
• Makeup ArtistEric Allwright
• HairstylistAlberta Giuliani
• Third Assistant DirectorCliff Lanning
• GafferChuck Finch
• Title DesignerMaurice Binder

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• loss of loved one
• prince
• uncle
• based on play or musical
• revenge
• murder
• spirit

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical (limited)1990-12-19PG
• Theatrical1991-01-18PG

Also known as

International titles

• Hamlet (El honor de la venganza)ES
• ГамлетSU
• AmletoIT