Template for The Godfather (1972) and Succession. King Henry II (Peter O’Toole) has to choose an heir from Richard (Anthony Hopkins), Geoffrey (John Castle) and John (Nigel Terry). Helping set the Machiavellian tone are Henry’s wife Eleanor (Katharine Hepburn), his mistress Alais (Jane Merrow) and French King Philip II (Timothy Dalton). Cue plotting, confrontation, double-crossing, rage and lust.
Some other complications: the queen is actually a prisoner, the result of organising a failed coup against her husband, the sons participating in this attempt to overthrow their father, and with Henry willing to sacrifice his mistress in order to achieve an alliance with Philip, relations are less than cordial all round. Eldest son Richard, strong and aggressive, would be the obvious choice, and should be the only choice I would guess by law, but Henry prefers the youngest son John, who is weak, while the middle son Geoffrey is the most savvy (see if you can guess how easily these characters fit The Godfather scenario, or Succession for that matter). Geoffrey reckons that even if passed over for the top job, he will rule from behind the scenes as John’s chancellor.
This is not your normal historical picture with battles, romance and, let’s be honest, costumes, taking central stage. And there’s little in the way of rousing speeches. Virtually all the dialog is plotting. And, like Succession, there are elements of vitriol and pure comedy. In five crisp opening scenes we know everything we need to know. The King brings his family together for Xmas, the Queen freed for the occasion, to decide the succession. Richard is shown in hand-to-hand combat, the wily John leading a cavalry attack, the whiny John pouting and complaining, Alais realizing just how much a pawn she is in the game as Henry explains she is to be married off to Richard.
And if you are not the chosen one, your only chance of gaining the throne is by the back door, by having a powerful ally in your pocket, one whose armies would threaten the King, which is where Philip comes into the equation as potential kingmaker. Let the intrigue begin, especially as those who ought to be little more than bystanders – the women – have ideas of their own. “I’m the only pawn,” says Alais, “that makes me dangerous.” Despite her current status, Eleanor still owns the French province of Aquitaine and taunts her husband by revealing that she slept with his father.
The plot twists and turns as new alliances are formed between the conspiring individuals. The overbearing Henry will certainly remind you of Logan Roy, “When I bellow, bellow back.” And there is a Hitchcockian element in that we, the audience, know far more than the participants and wait for them to fall into traps. Richard is revealed as homosexual, having had an affair with Philip.
The dialogue is superb, brittle, witty, and it could have been all bombast and rage except that emotion carries the day. Henry clearly could not have wished for a better Queen than Eleanor, more than capable of standing up to him, more capable than any of his sons, and he probably wishes she was by his side rather than confined, as by law, to prison. Eleanor still retains romantic notions towards him, even as she forces him to kiss his mistress in front of her – only the audience sees the truth revealed in her eyes, not Henry who is too busy kissing. The uber-male Richard complains to Philip that he never told him he loved him.
Maternal and paternal bonds ebb and flow and throughout it all is the dereliction caused by power. A father will lose the love of the children he rejects. Or, realizing they are more powerful together than as individuals, they could turn against him. The mother faces the same fate – she risks losing the love of the ones she does not back.
Unlike Alfred the Great, the monarchs have stately castles, so the backdrops are more commanding, but once an early battle is out of the way, it is down to the nitty-gritty of plot and counter-plot. A truly satisfying intelligent historical drama.
Peter O’Toole (Lawrence of Arabia, 1962) had played Henry II before in Becket (1964) and is in terrific form. Katharine Hepburn (Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, 1967) won her second successive Oscar – and her third overall – in a tremendous performance that revealed the inner troubles of a powerful woman, Anthony Hopkins (When Eight Bells Toll, 1971) gave an insight into his talent with his first major role.
John Castle (Blow Up, 1966), Nigel Terry (Excalibur, 1981), Jane Merrow (Assignment K, 1968) and future James Bond Timothy Dalton, in his movie debut, provide sterling support, Dalton and Castle especially good as a sneaky, conniving pair.
shorter than most of the genre. But the 600-seat Odeon Haymarket in London’s West End
was an ideal venue for building word-of-mouth and it ran for over a year.
Modern audiences might bristle at the idea of woman as commodity, but women in those days were the makeweights in alliances of powerful men, though the fact that they bristle at the notion as well evens up proceedings, Eleanor in particular happy to jeopardize Henry’s ambitions in favor of her own, Alais warning Henry to beware of the woman scorned.
Director Anthony Harvey (Dutchman, 1966 ) was deservedly Oscar-nominated. James Goldman (Robin and Marian, 1976) won the Oscar for his screenplay based on his Broadway play which had not been in fact a runaway Broadway hit, only lasting 92 performances, less than three months. John Barry (Zulu, 1963) was the other Oscar-winner for his superb score.
The Magnificent 60s 
I watched this movie every Christmas on TV as a kid. It’s so hammy and so much fun. Still enjoyed it the last rewatch a couple of years ago.
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First time I’ve ever seen it. No idea why I’ve avoided it. Probably initially realised I would be short-sold since historical epics back in the day had lots more action. Maybe later because I didn’t fancy Hepburn as an English/French queen. Glad I finally caught up with it.
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SCTV did a brilliant send-up of the whole genre:
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No excuses required for this, a good old fashioned historical epic with top talent. Maybe unfashionable now, but as your say, a story that updates year on year without anyone being conscious of doing it…
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Inheritance is an age-old theme and this had stayed very fresh.
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Here are some bits:
“James Goldman’s play, The Lion in Winter, opened on 7 Feb 1966 in Boston, MA, and on 3 Mar 1966 at the Ambassador Theatre on Broadway in New York City. Reviews were mixed, and the Broadway run was set to end, after only ninety-two performances, on 21 May 1966, according to a 5 May 1966 LAT item. The following year, a 16 Aug 1967 Var news item announced that Martin Poll had acquired film rights, and planned to produce the film through his Marpol Productions. James Goldman was brought on to adapt his own script. The 6 Dec 1968 LAT noted that Goldman initially turned down the job, on the grounds that he had never written a screenplay.
A “Just for Variety” column in the 21 Nov 1968 DV stated that four major film studios declined the project, but Embassy Pictures’ Joseph E. Levine “snapped it up” within two days of hearing Poll’s plans. The 20 Sep 1967 Var confirmed Levine’s involvement, and announced the casting of Peter O’Toole and Katharine Hepburn in the roles of “King Henry II” and “Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine,” originated onstage by Robert Preston and Rosemary Harris. O’Toole was thirty-five at the time of his casting, and had to be aged to play the fifty-year-old King Henry II. Coincidentally, a few years earlier, O’Toole had been nominated for an Academy Award for his portrayal of a young King Henry II in Becket (1964, see entry).
In the 20 Sep 1967 Var, the project was described as “suddenly-put-together” after production on The Ski Bum, a Poll-Levine collaboration also set to star Peter O’Toole, was postponed. The Ski Bum was ultimately released in 1971 (see entry). In the meantime, “key technical personnel and production crew” who were initially assembled to work on The Ski Bum were transferred to The Lion in Winter crew.
The budget was listed as $1.5 million in a 29 Nov 1967 Var article. However, later sources, including the 8 Nov 1968 LAT and 21 Nov 1968 DV, cited a production cost of $4 million. Due to a devaluation of the British pound in late 1967, filmmakers were expected to save roughly $200,000 by shooting overseas. Poll, who was paid a producer’s fee, was also set to receive 5–7.5% of the worldwide gross. Meanwhile, O’Toole’s salary was listed in a 1 May 1968 Var item as $1 million – a number that would have constituted one-quarter of the $4-million budget estimate.
O’Toole aided in the casting process, as noted in the 21 Nov 1968 DV. The actor reportedly reached out to repertory directors with whom he was friends, and flew to meet the actors they recommended.
Principal photography was originally scheduled to begin on 1 Nov 1967 in Dublin, Ireland. The twelve-week-shoot was due to be in conflict with Katharine Hepburn’s next project, The Madwoman of Chaillot (1969, see entry), slated to begin shooting on 15 Jan 1968. The potential conflict grew when filming on The Lion in Winter was delayed several weeks. Ten days of rehearsals at the Haymarket Theatre in London, England, preceded the 27 Nov 1967 start of production, as confirmed in various sources including an 8 Dec 1967 DV production chart.
Two months of mostly interior shooting took place at Ardmore Studios in Bray, Ireland, according to the 29 Nov 1967 Var. As noted in a 27 Dec 1968 Var article, shortly into filming, a six-day-per-week, “breakless” schedule (known to Europeans as a “French schedule”) was enacted to allow “uninterrupted working hours” between 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. Instead of lunch breaks, which often resulted in creative lulls according to Poll, cast and crew were provided a buffet service. The “round-the-clock” schedule was expected to continue in Arles, France, where production was set to relocate the week of 31 Jan 1968, according to a Var item published that day. Prior to the move, “hurricane force winds” caused damage to sets at Ardmore, which had cost $100,000 to build. Repairs, including fixes to “two wind-cracked towers,” were completed on a rushed schedule. In Arles, interior and exterior scenes were filmed at the Montmajour Abbey, which stood in for the Chinon Castle, as stated in a 14 Feb 1968 Var brief. Improvements were made on the 10th-century structure, including added facades, walls, arches, and doorways. Art director Peter Murton estimated that $100,000 in enhancements were added to the abbey, and local authorities reportedly planned to retain the changes and, subsequently, increase admission fees for tourists.
Three weeks of filming in Arles were followed by a week in Tarascon, France, where riverboat sequences depicting the arrival of Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine at Chinon Castle were shot, according to the 21 Feb 1968 Var. In early Mar 1968, cast and crew were scheduled to film sequences at a castle in Carcassonne, also in the south of France. On 6 Mar 1968, Var reported that Hepburn had recently completed her work on the picture. Filming continued through 5 Apr 1968, according to a 1 May 1968 Var brief. Final battle sequences were scheduled to be shot in Wales, as stated in the 13 Mar 1968 Var.
An item in the 18 Mar 1968 DV noted that actor Anthony Hopkins broke an arm during a jousting scene shot in Southern France. The grueling shoot also caused director Anthony Harvey to suffer exhaustion and a case of jaundice, according to the 6 Dec 1968 LAT.
During production, an item in the 13 Dec 1967 DV reported that The Lion in Winter would be Embassy Pictures’ first roadshow release, and a booking had already been scheduled at the Warner Beverly Hills Theatre in Los Angeles, CA. However, when the film opened in Los Angeles, the 17 Dec 1968 LAT review noted it was playing exclusively at the 4 Star Theatre on Wilshire Boulevard. Months prior to release, Embassy was acquired by the Avco Corporation. The 4 May 1968 NYT detailed Avco’s plans to gain control over Embassy via a stock purchase of $40 million. The newly formed Avco Embassy Pictures Corp. thus distributed the picture, which opened on 30 Oct 1968 at the Lincoln Art Theatre in New York City, grossing $23,178 in its first six days, as stated in the 6 Nov 1968 Var. A benefit screening at the same theater was scheduled to take place on 13 Nov 1968, to raise money for the Girls and Boys Service League, according to a 1 Nov 1968 NYT brief. A Los Angeles premiere, benefitting the UCLA Foundation Children’s Fund, was set to follow on 17 Dec 1968 at the 4 Star Theatre, the 8 Nov 1968 LAT reported.
Although the 134-minute picture was initially released without an intermission, by late Nov 1968 Avco Embassy decided to add one. The 25 Nov 1968 DV stated that, henceforth, altered reels would be provided to exhibitors. Avco Embassy was said to have based its decision on feedback from “some exhibitors and other industry personnel” who claimed that intermissions added “class” to roadshow presentations. The 15 Apr 1969 DV quoted Poll as saying that he and Levine had disagreed over the intermission; however, Poll agreed to add the break in the spirit of compromise.
The Lion in Winter received largely positive reviews and was commercially successful. On 19 Mar 1969, DV noted that the film, showing in seventy-one theaters at that time, had taken in $5 million in U.S. box-office receipts, to date. Academy Awards went to John Barry for Music (Original Score – for a motion picture [not a musical]), James Goldman for Writing (Screenplay – based on material from another medium), and Katharine Hepburn for Best Actress. Hepburn shared the award with Barbra Streisand, who won for Funny Girl (1968, see entry), in the first tie for that award in the ceremony’s forty-one-year history, according to a 16 Apr 1969 NYT brief. Academy Award nominations also went to Peter O’Toole for Best Actor, Margaret Furse for Costume Design, Anthony Harvey for Directing, and Martin Poll for Best Picture. The Lion in Winter was named Best English-Language Film of 1968 by the New York Film Critics Circle, as noted in the 31 Dec 1968 DV, and Best Film by the Foreign Language Press Association, which also named Harvey Best Director, and O’Toole Best Actor, according to the 28 Mar 1969 NYT. Harvey won the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Award for Best Feature Direction, as reported in the 24 Feb 1969 DV, and the picture was chosen for the inaugural Senior Scholastic Merit Award from Scholastic magazine, according to a brief in the 22 Jan 1969 Var.”
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