The Leopard (1963)

100% of critics liked it
(38 reviews)
87% of users liked it
(7,405 ratings)

Arguably Luchino Visconti's best film and certainly the most personal of his historical epics, The Leopard chronicles the fortunes of Prince Fabrizio Salina and his family during the unification of Italy in the 1860s. Based on the acclaimed novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, published… More Arguably Luchino Visconti's best film and certainly the most personal of his historical epics, The Leopard chronicles the fortunes of Prince Fabrizio Salina and his family during the unification of Italy in the 1860s. Based on the acclaimed novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, published posthumously in 1958 and subsequently translated into all European languages, the picture opens as Salina (Burt Lancaster) learns that Garibaldi's troops have embarked in Sicily. While the Prince sees the event as an obvious threat to his current social status, his opportunistic nephew Tancredi (Alain Delon) becomes an officer in Garibaldi's army and returns home a war hero. Tancredi starts courting the beautiful Angelica (Claudia Cardinale), a daughter of the town's newly appointed Mayor, Don Calogero Sedara (Paolo Stoppa). Though the Prince despises Don Calogero as an upstart who made a fortune on land speculation during the recent social upheaval, he reluctantly agrees to his nephew's marriage, understanding how much this alliance would mean for the impecunious Tancredi. Painfully realizing the aristocracy's obsolescence in the wake of the new class of bourgeoisie, the Prince later declines an offer from a governmental emissary to become a senator in the new Parliament in Turin. The closing section, an almost hour-long ball, is often cited as one of the most spectacular sequences in film history. Burt Lancaster is magnificent in the first of his patriarchal roles, and the rest of the cast, especially Delon and Cardinale, become almost perfect incarnations of the novel's characters. Filmed in glorious Techniscope and rich in period detail, the film is a remarkable cinematic achievement in all departments. The version that won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival ran 205 minutes. Inexplicably, the picture was subsequently distributed by 20th Century Fox in a poorly dubbed, 165-min. English-language version, using inferior color process. The restored Italian-language version, supervised by cinematographer Giuseppe Rotunno, appeared in 1990, though the longest print still ran only 187 minutes. ~ Yuri German, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: PG, 3 hr. 25 min.
Directed By: Luchino Visconti
Written By: Giuseppe Tomasi Di Lampedusa, Suso Cecchi d'Amico
Genres: Drama, Art House & International, Classics

In Theaters: Jul 15, 1963 Limited
On DVD: Jun 8, 2004
Studio: Criterion Collection

Critic Reviews

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
Stately, elegiac, ruminative, the film truly does now feel seamlessly all of a piece -- and looks glorious.
Desson Thomson, Washington Post
Watching it now, a more than 40-year-old evocation of an era now some 150 years in the past, we can still feel his ache from here.
Andrew Sarris, New York Observer
One of the greatest motion pictures of all time, as well as one of the most politically profound.
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune
The Leopard is epic filmmaking at its finest.
Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
One of the greatest of all historical costume epics.
G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle
The feeling at the end of this masterpiece -- a profound meditation on mortality, really -- is so pitch-perfect and conveys so many complexities at a very simple level that The Leopard has become one of the greatest of all epics.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Artistically drawn as if from an old master's hand.
Josh Larsen, LarsenOnFilm
Watching The Leopard is like taking an indulgent bubble bath - albeit one in which the fragrance from the soap is overwhelming.
Eric Henderson, Slant Magazine
The Leopard is more than a tad too pleased by its own spots, but in this case the source material and its director's intentions were almost accidentally an appropriate match.
Keith Uhlich, Time Out New York
Two-plus hours of engrossing machinations and opulent scenery point the way to the pièce de résistance: a 45-minute gala scene that the Almighty himself would approve as a luxuriant prelude to the Rapture.
Derek Malcolm, This is London
The film is one of the most sumptuous ever made in Europe.
Philip Kemp, Total Film
Visconti (a Marxist aristocrat) offers an elegiac meditation on the passing of a society whose feudalism he deplores but whose elegance he mourns.
, Daily Express
A feast of a film that is well worth seeing on a cinema screen.
Jeremy Aspinall, Radio Times
Visconti died in 1976, but Rotunno went on to supervise the film's restoration in the 1990s and this new print can now be seen in all its sumptuous widescreen glory.
Tim Robey, Daily Telegraph
A must.
Jay Antani, Cinema Writer
Vividly shot, beautifully acted, and paced slowly, deliberately, gathering a kind of power that only a true master can conjure"
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
Brilliant from start to finish, this lavishly mounted portrait of a bygone era is one of Visconti's (and world cinema's) masterpieces.
Sean Axmaker, Parallax View
You might say that the entire film is a dance to the music of time, but neither the music nor the steps change. They simply swap partners...
Eric Henderson, Slant Magazine
Do not go gentle into that night, Don Visconti. Rage, rage against the dying of the "Lights, camera, action!" era.
Tim Brayton, Antagony & Ecstasy
There have been plenty of movies about the conflict of the old and the new, but none seem to contain the whole world in their scope the way that The Leopard does.

Read all 20 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

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Featured Audience Ratings

Bob S

A great big sigh of a movie. Beautiful and moving.
Tim S

Luchino Visconti's The Leopard is just as fantastic as I've always heard it was. I picked up the Criterion Blu-ray of this a while back and I'm just now getting around to watching it. An absolutely lush film with big open landscapes and vistas as the backdrop to a story… More
Luchino Visconti's The Leopard is just as fantastic as I've always heard it was. I picked up the Criterion Blu-ray of this a while back and I'm just now getting around to watching it. An absolutely lush film with big open landscapes and vistas as the backdrop to a story about the old generation succumbing to the new. I've only seen the Italian version of this (more or less the director's cut), and the one thing I really missed was Burt Lancaster's voice. It grabs hold of you when he speaks and you want to hear everything that he has to say, so judging his performance via an overdub was a little bit tricky. It's fabulous, of course, as is the rest of the cast's. The film is also a bit of an art film without a clear-cut story. The visuals are vastly more important than the story, I think, but the performances are so good that it doesn't matter. Everything about it is striking. Most will complain about having to read subtitles or sitting through its leisurely three hour running time, but if you can invest yourself in it, you'll find The Leopard to be a very beautifully melancholy work.
Carlos M

Visconti's leisurely paced three-hour epic is a deeply sad and nostalgic meditation on mortality and the passing of an era. A sumptuous historical drama, so rich in nuances and beautifully acted, and it culminates on an unforgettable extended ballroom scene.
Ross C

"If we want things to stay the same, everything must change." An epic period drama about the Sicilian aristocracy during the unification of Italy that gives you a lot of time to contemplate the social changes of the time whilst you take in the beautiful views of Sicily and… More
"If we want things to stay the same, everything must change." An epic period drama about the Sicilian aristocracy during the unification of Italy that gives you a lot of time to contemplate the social changes of the time whilst you take in the beautiful views of Sicily and sumptuous balls.
Jeremy S

One of the greatest films of all time by one of the greatest directors of all time Visconti.
Stella D

for things to stay the same, everything must change. another epic about the collapse of the aristocracy and the death of all that's graceful and beautiful in life? set against the backdrop of garibaldi's campaign to free sicily from the bourbons, it's interesting for… More
for things to stay the same, everything must change. another epic about the collapse of the aristocracy and the death of all that's graceful and beautiful in life? set against the backdrop of garibaldi's campaign to free sicily from the bourbons, it's interesting for several reasons. visconti, who was an italian count and a marxist, brings great melancholy and depth to the story as well as extraordinary lavish set pieces like the 45 minute ball that closes the film. and i think he couldn't have done it with anyone but his leading man, burt lancaster. i'm sure europeans were scandalized when the american 'cowboy' was cast as a sicilian prince because the producers insisted on an international star and olivier wasn't available. burt more than rose to the occasion, with his regal bearing and the tragic humanity in those marvellously expressive eyes. he's magnificent and it's hard to imagine anyone else could be better. then there's alain delon and claudia cardinale at the height of their respective beauty and a rousing score by nino rota. if you're into historical costume drama, u could do alot worse. i watched the restored italian version 3:15; the english version is i believe 40 mins shorter
Pierluigi P

sad and overwhelming. superb Burt Lancaster. exquisite from the art department, to Visconti's elegant narration.
Lanning :

Burt Lancaster was Visconti's umpteenth choice to play the Prince. Funny how that works in the movie biz. This is definitely Lancaster's movie. Everyone, including Delon, takes a back seat to Lancaster's portrayal of a member of the waning aristocracy, almost begging… More
Burt Lancaster was Visconti's umpteenth choice to play the Prince. Funny how that works in the movie biz. This is definitely Lancaster's movie. Everyone, including Delon, takes a back seat to Lancaster's portrayal of a member of the waning aristocracy, almost begging for the end to come. A great character study.
Lauren D

It was pretty lame. I'm not even really sure what it was about and I only watched it because Alain Delon was in it and he was the only good thing about it.
Emily B

A gorgeous Italian epic. Beautiful in everyway from the acting, to the grand visuals and to the superb Nini Rota score. My first Visconti film, I'm definitely looking forward to discovering his other works.
Patrick D

Some aspects of this film were amazing and I really loved the ball room scene leading up to the end. BUT, and I know I'll sound like a philistine, it was 3hrs+, and to add more to my philistinosity (i know it's not a real word) I kinda feel you can tell a story in 2hrs or… More
Some aspects of this film were amazing and I really loved the ball room scene leading up to the end. BUT, and I know I'll sound like a philistine, it was 3hrs+, and to add more to my philistinosity (i know it's not a real word) I kinda feel you can tell a story in 2hrs or less, accept for some occasion, the Leopard not being one. I felt much like an early, and much more refined and well versed Peter Jackson, Visconti was a little too self indulgent with this one. I mean what film maker wouldn't want to have their films over 3hrs? I know I would, but I understand that not everyone wants to see me masturbate onto celluloid. This although is not to said this is a bad movie, it's quite brilliant, I think.

Read all 11 featured audience ratings

Cast

            Burt Lancaster as Prince Fabrizio Salina

            Alain Delon as Tancredi

            Claudia Cardinale as Angelica Sedara

            Paolo Stoppa as Don Calogero Sedara

            Rina Morelli as Maria Stella

            Serge Reggiani as Don Ciccio Tumeo

            Romolo Valli as Father Pirrone

            Ottavia Piccolo as Caterina

            Ivo Garrani as Col. Pallavicino

            Lucilla Morlacchi as Concetta

            Leslie French as Cavalier Chevalley

            Pierre Clémenti as Francesco Paolo

            Carlo Valenzano as Paolo

            Ida Galli as Carolina

            Terence Hill as Count Cavriaghi

            Olimpia Cavalli as Mariannina

            Marino Masé as Tutor

            Brook Fuller as Little Prince

            Giuliano Gemma as Garibaldino General

            Marie Bell
            
            Vittorio Duse
            
            Tina Lattanzi
            
            Marcella Rovena
            
            Amalia Troiani
            
            Giovanni Materassi
            
            Alberto Carlo Lolli
            
            Carlo Palmucci
            
            Dante Posani
            
            Stelvio Rosi
            
            Alina Zalewska
            
See full cast

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