Lion in Winter free for MU students at Penn Cinema on Tuesday, September 6

Penn Cinema has joined up with Millersville English and the Film Club to present arthouse cinema the first Tuesday of every month.  Millersville students can get in free to these screenings by mentioning they are with the film club at Millersville.

The September 6th film is Lion in Winter, starring Peter O’Toole and Katherine Hepburn.  This is the story of Henry II, with amazing performances by both leads.  Film starts at 7 pm.Lion in Winter photo

Henry II: “Well, what shall we hang… the holly, or each other?” 1183, and it’s Christmas at the Plantagenets: Peter O’Toole’s heavily bearded king has sprung his wife, Katharine Hepburn’s Eleanor of Aquitaine, from ten years of imposed-by-him imprisonment to negotiate the succession among his sons, Geoffrey (John Castle), Richard, later the Lion-Hearted (Anthony Hopkins in his feature debut), and John (Nigel Terry: Excalibur, Caravaggio), with King Philippe of France (future 007 Timothy Dalton in his first film) on hand to kibitz – and then the scheming, backstabbing, turn-coating, shocking revelations, and nonstop barbed quips ensue. Adapted by James Goldman from his own play, Lion won three Oscars, for Hepburn (her third, and back-to-back with Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner), Goldman, and the music by James Bond composer John Barry, with nominations for Best Picture, Director, Costumes, and for O’Toole, four years after his nomination as Henry in Becket – two of his eight non-winning nominations). Eleanor: “What family doesn’t have its ups and downs?” (Film Forum)

Film Critic Roger Ebert gave the film 4 stars (out of 4) in his review, stating:

One of the joys which movies provide too rarely is the opportunity to see a literate script handled intelligently. “The Lion in Winter” triumphs at that difficult task; not since “A Man for All Seasons” have we had such capable handling of a story about ideas. But “The Lion in Winter” also functions at an emotional level, and is the better film, I think.

Discussion led by Dr. Jill Craven follows the film.