Barry Lyndon (1975)
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94% of critics liked it
(50 reviews) -
90% of users liked it
(42,060 ratings)
With ornate imagery reminiscent of paintings from the story's 18th century period, Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray's novel depicts the rise and fall of a sensitive rogue in the British aristocracy. Young Irishman Redmond Barry (Ryan O'Neal) leaves home to… More With ornate imagery reminiscent of paintings from the story's 18th century period, Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray's novel depicts the rise and fall of a sensitive rogue in the British aristocracy. Young Irishman Redmond Barry (Ryan O'Neal) leaves home to seek his fortune after apparently killing an English officer in a duel. Through a series of mishaps and accidents, Barry winds up fighting with the Prussian army in the Seven Years' War under the command of Capt. Potzdorf (Hardy Kruger); at war's end, Potzdorf enlists Barry to spy on a shady Chevalier (Patrick Magee). Instead, Barry joins up with the Irish Chevalier to flee Prussia and live as gamblers among Europe's elite. Wishing to climb even higher, Barry soon meets the beautiful Lady Lyndon (Marisa Berenson), marrying her for her fortune after her older titled husband dies. Her son Lord Bullingdon (Leon Vitali), however, despises the upstart Barry, and, regardless of how his mother may feel, sees to it that the re-named Barry Lyndon will never be able to stake his claim to the entrenched aristocracy. Coming after Kubrick's esteemed hits 2001 (1968) and A Clockwork Orange (1971), Barry Lyndon opened with high expectations and met with decidedly mixed responses to its restrained tone. Even with Oscar nominations for Best Picture and Best Director (and wins for Cinematography, Art Direction, Costumes, and Adapted Score), Barry Lyndon was a box office failure, as mid-'70s audiences increasingly turned away from such narrative challenges as its epic length and muffled emotions. Since then, Barry Lyndon has gained in stature, taking its place among the formidable artistic achievements of Kubrick's career. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi
- Directed By
- Stanley Kubrick
- Written By
- Stanley Kubrick
- Genres
- Drama, Classics
- In Theaters
- Jan 1, 1975 Limited
- On DVD
- Jun 29, 1999
- Studio
- Warner Bros.
Critic Reviews
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Wally Hammond, Time Out
One of cinema's most heartfelt and sustained (it runs over three hours), if cynical, visions of an individual's powerlessness.
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Jim Ridley, Village Voice
Stanley Kubrick's magisterial Thackeray adaptation now stands as one of his greatest and most savagely ironic films, not to mention one of the few period pieces on celluloid so transporting that it seems to predate the invention of cameras.
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, Variety
Ryan O'Neal's excellent performance captures the shallow opportunism endemic to the title character who is brought down as much by his own flaws as by the mores of the ordered social structure of 18th-century England.
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Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
All of Stanley Kubrick's features look better now than when they were first released, but Barry Lyndon, which fared poorly at the box office in 1975, remains his most underrated. It may also be his greatest.
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Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Barry Lyndon isn't a great success, and it's not a great entertainment, but it's a great example of directorial vision: Kubrick saying he's going to make this material function as an illustration of the way he sees the world.
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Cast
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Ryan O'Neal
as Redmond Barry (Barry Lyndon)
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Marisa Berenson
as Lady Lyndon
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Patrick Magee
as The Chevalier
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Hardy Kruger
as Capt. Potzdorf
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Steven Berkoff
as Lord Ludd
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Gay Hamilton
as Nora Brady
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Leonard Rossiter
as Capt. Quin
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Godfrey Quigley
as Capt. Grogan
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Arthur O'Sullivan
as Highwayman
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Diana Koerner
as German Girl
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Marie Kean
as Mrs. Barry
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Frank Middlemass
as Sir Charles Lyndon
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Murray Melvin
as Reverend Runt
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Philip Stone
as Graham
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Leon Vitali
as Lord Bullingdon
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Dominic Savage
as Lord Bullingdon as Child
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David Morley
as Brian Lyndon
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André Morell
as Lord Wendover
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Michael Hordern
as Narrator
- John Bindon
- Roger Booth
- Jonathan Cecil
- Peter Cellier
- Geoffrey Chater
- Patrick Dawson
- Bernard Hepton
- Barry Jackson
- Wolf Kahler
- Patrick Laffan
- Ferdinand "Ferdy" Mayne
- Hans Meyer
- Liam Redmond
- Pat Roach
- George Sewell
- Anthony Sharp
- John Sharp
- Harry Towb
- John Sullivan
- Frederick Schiller
- Billy Boyle
- Roy Spencer
- Anthony Dawes
- Diana Korner



