This review is from the perspective of a Shakespeare fan, so it focuses on how this film adapts the play.
This is a playful softcore comedy version of Romeo And Juliet. It actually begins at the Globe Theatre, where a drunk and rowdy audience demands to see Romeo And Juliet. They threaten to burn the theatre down if the play doesn't start immediately, a joking reference to the fact that the Globe Theatre did in fact burn down (though during a production of Henry The Eighth rather than Romeo And Juliet). The characters are each introduced while in the middle of various sexual acts. The characters include six maids. Gregory fondles Lady Capulet's ass in the first scene. The sword fight is between Gregory and Balthasar, performed to the cheering of the crowd of the playhouse. The Prince stops them, saying it's the third time they've disturbed the streets. There is the repeated joke of the location of the play as "beautiful downtown Verona." When we're introduced to Juliet, we see her having sex with the Prince. She of course doesn't want Romeo to find out. The action of the play is often interrupted by jokes. Like this one: "If a captain of a ship had a first mate by the name of Monty and he glued his door shut, could you say, 'Cap, you let Monty glue you in'?" There is a wonderful period-type song playing during the scene with Juliet and the Prince (and again later), whose lyrics refer to Juliet as a "wanton country maid." The song also mentions "golden showers" (though there are no such scenes in the film). Juliet tells the Nurse that she's certain Romeo is faithful to her. She then says, "Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?" And the film cuts to Romeo fondling Lady Capulet, so clearly the filmmakers had no idea what the word "wherefore" means. Anyway, Capulet arranges the marriage between Juliet and Paris, although Paris is gay. And there is a scene in the dungeon of the Capulet house, where a naked woman is being whipped for stealing Lady Capulet's scarves. When Balthasar asks Gregory for a kiss, Gregory turns to the camera and says, "Willie never wrote this." Indeed. We do get the balcony scene, and interestingly, as far as the dialogue goes, this is the most faithful scene. However, while Romeo stands in the garden beneath Juliet's balcony, it's revealed that another woman is going down on him. Meanwhile, someone is under Juliet's dress, going down on her. When Romeo delivers his line about being a glove on her hand so he could touch that cheek, he touches the butt cheek of the woman in the garden. Then there is a long and extremely boring orgy scene with the servants. Romeo goes to the Friar to ask him to wed him to Juliet. He tells the Friar he killed Tybalt (but we didn't have the scene of the fight - in fact, there doesn't seem to be a Tybalt or a Mercutio in this film), so he'll be banished from "beautiful downtown Verona." The Friar fools around with the Nurse, and gives her the message to give to Juliet. Juliet is so distraught by the news that she takes the Nurse to bed. Capulet comes into Juliet's room to let her know she'll be wed to Paris the next day. Friar goes to Juliet to give her the sleeping potion, leaving Romeo and the Nurse along, and because this was shot in the late 1960s, the Nurse shouts, "Sock it to me." Romeo. along with the rest of the folks in beautiful downtown Verona, hears that Juliet is dead and goes to her tomb. He finds the vial of the sleeping potion, and thinking it poison, swallows what is left. He falls next to the coffin. Montague and Capulet enter the tomb, see the two dead, and lift Romeo's body into the coffin with Juliet and put the lid on the coffin. After they leave, we hear Romeo and Juliet awake, and that's the end of the film.
By the way, I'm in the middle of a three-year Shakespeare study, and I've posted a blog entry with reviews of a dozen or so film adaptations of Romeo And Juliet, as well as short blurbs about Romeo And Juliet-related books. The site is Michael Doherty's Personal library on blogspot, and the entry is titled, "Shakespeare Study: The Tragedy Of Romeo And Juliet."
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