Boredom of the Shrew

I was gonna write about something else. But I postponed it and then forgot, so now I'm writing about this instead. Let me first say that I think Richard Burton was an amazing, one of a kind actor (and man), as was Liz Taylor. Not a man, obviously, but you know what I mean. They were both great. As was Shakey Bill. I'm a big fan of all three..

Well, that being said, I was in the mood to see some old school Burton movie and figured 'Taming of the Shrew'. I'd never seen it and about halfway through, I realized why I'd never seen it. See, it's because I usually know to stay away from crap. I'm getting quite good at that, but I still have slips and I figured, hey man, a golden couple of super-talented actors doing Shakespeare, what could go wrong? Well, a lot apparently. I don't know if it's the 50 year difference between now and the 60s or what, but holy fucking mozzarella balls, what a dreadful movie!

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Really, have you seen it? God. I mean, even the fact it had Richard Burton in it made it only slightly less bad. Slightly.

Man, what was wrong with the world in those days? Both Shakespeare's time and the 60s, I mean.

Again, I really enjoy Shakespeare, but you know, the good shit, like Hamlet and Henry IV, you know, the meaty ones with good lines. His comedies? Good Lord, most of them are horrid. Stupid plots, mildly witty dialogue and overall annoying characters. Seriously, there's this other chap in Taming of the Shrew (the one who isn't Burton and marries the other sister) and he's this happy, cheery twat you just wanna bash his skull in until it becomes scrambled eggs. And almost every one of his comedies has characters like that.

Why? What's wrong with decent, normal characters? And do we really need spontaneous bursts into song?

I think not.

I mean, I get comedy was popular demand and all, but seriously, most of them shouldn't be allowed in the same collections as the rest of the plays. There's Macbeth and then, there's this...

_{Sorry, but it's really hard to get a picture of Liz Taylor that looks less good, you know? src}

Yuck. Again, making allowances for the fact it's with gorgeous, talented people. Well, the two of them that is, the rest are just downright goofy looking.

And then there's the movie. I mean, okay, Shakespeare did that play, wasn't the best, but why not let it die? Why do we need a movie version of it? A movie version painfully faithful to the text, with annoying little songs, idiotic costumes and nothing that actually stands out. I'm sorry, but it's a very dull movie.

Oh one last question - what the fuck is up with Liz Taylor's character? I mean, I don't know if that's how it's supposed to be played out or whatever (though judging by the pictures I'm seeing on Google from other representations, yep, pretty much), but why the Hell is she attacking servants and destroying furniture like a woman possessed? Are we dealing with a difficult character or a psycho? There's a bit of a difference.

Anyway, I guess that's all I had to say. How was your day?

PS: If anyone wants me, I'll be on the balcony, throwing stools at people until Richard Burton arrives. Cheerio.

PPS: Holy Hell, I've just discovered there was a version with John Cleese in it. Is that cool or what?

Cheers.