Movies-TV

THE HALLMARK OF ABRAHAM'S CAREER.

I don't even like classical music, much less Mozart, but F. Murray Abraham delivered one of the finest performances I have ever seen. Who cares if Salieri's contempt was over-exaggerated? "Amadeus" was the deserved winner of the 1984 Best Picture because of Hulce's excellence as a bawdy, immature genius and Abraham's anguish for playing such a believable "patron saint of mediocrity." If you haven't seen "Amadeus," you've missed on something great.

beware amadeus

Be aware that while the picture quality & sound on Amadeus is exceptionally good - the disc is a 'flipper'. You'll have to turn the disc over 1/2 way through the movie. No reason for this except studio laziness since even Braveheart fits on one disc side. FYI, you also have to flip Riverdance too.

Unfairness of life

Salieri is a decent, talented mediocrity. Mozart a brash repulsive genius. This is all historically very doubtful, but as a dark parable about how neither genius or talent are really rewarded works perfectly. Add to this the sumptuous sets, costumes and greatest film score ever you have a masterpiece.

Amadeus

I saw this film in the theatre when it was released and thought Tom Hulce SHOULD have received the Oscar instead of "what's his name" who went on to fame because of the Oscar. Tom was ROBBED. I purchased this video to watch on my 54" flat screen. I still think Tom should have won the Oscar! But it is still a great film about Mozart.

Excellent Choice

There is a reason this movie won 8 academy awards. The acting is superb. The costumes and casting are magnificant. It's a movie that can never be watched just once.

A perfect piece of cinema

I wouldn't stop myself saying that Amadeus is one of the finest movies ever made. It is perfect in every way.Part of it is the subject matter. It is about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the famous composer. Of course, it lends itself to be the vessel of some of the finest music ever written. Mozart was a genius, but, much like his music, his entire career was filled with superfluities. For every Don Giovanni, there is a piece that should have been forgotten. But the movie is only three hours, so it showcases only the best of Mozart.It is a very fictional movie, one in which a mediocre composer, Salieri (F. Murray Abraham), fawns over Mozart (Tom Hulce), envies his talent and plots his downfall and death. The academy loved the 1984 movie, giving it 8 Oscars including Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role for F. Murray Abraham (though I believe Tom Hulce deserves it more), Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay from the play of the same name. The reason I say that Tom Hulce deserves the Oscar over F. Murray Abraham is not because Abraham didn't give a brilliant and nuanced performance, it's that Hulce simply is Mozart. Like Ben Kingsley is forevermore the face of Gandhi and Sean Penn is Harvey Milk. There are some roles people will always be, and that is the way it is. When people think of these real people, they see these actors instead. And also, this, of course, is a period piece. But it is arguably the most interesting you will ever see. It is light, it is dark, dramatic, romantic, beautiful and human. It is balanced, and that is really what makes a perfect movie.Each piece of this film is vital. All three hours. Every second is perfect. Every note is in place. The editing is tight, genius. Each element lends itself to the whole, and to the detail. Look at the movie for pleasure, and you'll be rewarded. Scrutinize it and you'll be amazed even more. There's nothing not to love about this movie. When you sit there, after three long hours, and want even more, there's something very, very special about the movie.This is a perfect piece of cinema.

Sorry Americans

But this film displays fine European culture. A culture that Americans have never had. Even though I love this movie, the language should have been German (or, actually, Austrian) which would have given it an even more realistic feel to it. Still - to get 8 Oscars - I'm guessing that most Americans forgot, that Mozart was not American. And that none of the contents of this movie relates to USA. The references to the geography should have been more explicit. However I'm somewhat satisfied with the fact, that no attempts are made to make the movie "puritan" or cut down on Mozarts blatant behaviour. Americans are known to be hypocrits.

Why fix what ain't broke?

First of all, I want to put the issue of the so-called "Director's Cut" out of the way. It should never have been made, even with the ease of being on only one disc instead of two. The new scenes are annoying, the characters much less likable, the music is different, and though I certainly don't mind seeing more opera scenes (I adore Mozart opera), the annoying parts spoiled the whole.

So I prefer to discuss only the original release of the film.


This is not a biographical film about Mozart, but a tale told by a madman with the distorted memories and impressions of a madman. And one truth in this film is that Antonio Salieri spent his last years in a madhouse.

Very simply, this is a story of a "Fan From Hell"; an 18th century celebrity stalker who rationalizes himself into justifying his crimes. He adores Mozart because of his amazing musical gifts, and loathes him because somehow he fails to measure up to his own idealized visions of what great genius should be. Mozart is not the godlike man Salieri wishes for, but a very ordinary and human. For Salieri, this is unbearable. In his imagination, Mozart is an obnoxious, womanizing,irresponsible drunk, but even more unforgivably, has almost supernatural talent.

When I first saw this film in 1984, I was incredibly moved by Mozart's story and his astounding music, and by the breathtaking scope of the film. Over the years, I have come to see it from the more chilling viewpoint of watching a mad celebrity stalker destroying something unspeakably beautiful because he himself cannot have it. There are chilling messages in this film, but in spite of the terrible tragedy of it all, Mozart still wins and literally gets the last laugh.

The character of Salieri is repugnant while mozart, the victim, seems sad and weak. Only Constanze, mistaken by Salieri as a brainless bimbette, is in fact the only person he is afraid of. She is smart, strong, and loyal, and comes perilously close to discovering Salieri's true nature. I loved her for her courage, and that comes close to the nature of the real Constanze, whatever may have been written about her to the contrary.

But the heart of this film is the unforgettable music of Mozart, and that is what matters. It is a film to watch and listen to over and over again.

Amadeus is amazing.

For 5 years this video sat on my mother's video shelf, while I watched every movie around it and excluded this one it gathered dust. Finally one day when I was 14 I grabbed it off the shelf in order to save myself from boredom. I unwrapped the cellephane (it had never been opened before) and popped it into the vcr and sat down waiting to be dissapointed. I remember looking at the cover and thinking it was some comic book movie. After 30 minutes of the movie I couldn't stop watching for anything. I was mesmorized by the beauty of the music and amazed at Salieri's hatred for Mozart. I'll never forget the scene where he burns his crucifix. That scene is probably one of the most memorable for me because while he's burning it I could feel his pain. All he wanted was to be heard and respected. He wanted to fill the world with the most beautiful music but to his horror that is not God's plan for him.
I have watched this movie at least 40 times and have memorized entire scenes and say them along with the movie. This is by far my favorite movie ever. Followed by Erin Brockovich and Ever After.
If you have only heard of the songs written by Mozart that Salieri plays on the piano in the asylum then you need to not only watch this movie but go to a music store and pick up a couple cds. I can not however pick a favorite tune as Danielle says in Ever After "I could no sooner pick a favorite star in the heavens." Amadeus is a haunting dramatic true telling of two lives that were both changed forever by fate. Tom Hulce is surprisingly good in the role as 'Wolfie'. Forget whatever you saw before in movies like Parenthood. He is an incredible actor and I recommend this movie to everyone. It's amazing, plain and simple.

Good play, good movie, lousy historians...

It is always very funny to see a Masterpiece made out of historical distortions.
I know that Peter Schaffer meant well by writing a play about the competition between Salieri and Mozart.
Unfortunately, history found Salieri far more successful in Austria and abroad than Mozart at that time.
Salieri was the "talk of the town", NOT Mozart...
So why is it that all of a sudden Salieri should become immensely jealous of Mozart and even go as far as to murder him for his music, if it should have been quite the opposite?
Schaffer needed a conflict situation in which to set his own Drama and add a scapegoat for the tragic death of the "brat".
This scapegoat happened to be Salieri.
Very good for someone who has never studied history of music, but what about historical accuracy? Goodbye and farewell...
Of all the enemies that Mozart made throughout his lifetime, Salieri should have been considered the less threatening of them all. He certainly didn't need it.
What about, instead, the many "close" friends, who flocked to Mozart's feasts/orgies?
Many of them were totally untalented musicians, eager to be "seen" with Mozart in order to even just be considered as such.
Couldn't one of them have had a secret wish to murder him, in order to steal his work and resell it for profit?
That would have been a true motivation for murder.
Instead we have a whimpering Salieri, who almost seems to be sexually attracted to the young Mozart and in a frenzy of jealousy, not only indirectly murders Mozart, by inciting him to "work harder" while the composer lies in bed feverish, but ultimately also attempts to committ suicide like a woman abandoned by her lover.
C'mon, not everybody is gay in this world! Let's get real for once.
Salieri who was Venetian by birth, exactly like Vivaldi, was a highly celebrated Court composer and beloved and envied for his position by everybody. Not only this, but he also had followers of his style throughout Europe.
Could a man like this really care about a newcomer like Mozart. Not really, especially because Mozart's music was only appreciated in France and in some remote corners of Germany. His popularity in those days was just limited by the fact, that he was an "Enfant prodige" and as such, more a Circus attraction than anything else.
His music was "tolerated" at best.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart became only famous after his death and not even immediately afterwards.
It took people like Schubert and Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, almost three decades later, to revive the interest in the composer's works and even then they didn't come through as masterpieces.
Beethoven was still far more popular in people's ears than Mozart.
Finally, and only after many following attempts by various parties to revive his music, did Amadeus' music make it in the "charts".
Almost a Century in fact, had past since the Maestro died and only now was his style truly admired and understood.

"Amadeus" is a totally fictionalized tale that may have some symbolism in it, but that's all it is.
I understand artistic licence to a point, but then my ethical instinct kicks in, and revulsion and rebellion sets in.
Like in "Immortal Beloved", a piece of [junk] unworthy of any true "follower" of Beethoven, this is totally unworthy of any true connaisseur of Master Mozart or even Master Salieri.
Hollywood will naturally praise its so-called "works of art", but only a completely illiterate [person] would agree with them.
Hollywood has never produced any true Culture, just pure hype and Entertainment, just like young Mozart loved to do and in so far, this movie may be a mirror depiction of what Hollywood is all about: superficiality and no substance.

If you like this kind of spectacle, then you're more than well served in this, otherwise very well-done, filmed version of an abstract, almost surrealistic and totally unbelievable tale of two musicians who loved to hate each other (when would they ever have found the time to compose anything with so much mayhem?).

If instead, you are like me, a person with common sense and respect for "true" and well-written Biographies and History, then you will either take it as a purely "amazing stories" episode, a bit overstreched maybe, but watchable, or you will keep your fingers away of this one and go on listening directly to Mozart's or Salieri's music and make the necessary comparisons. You will be much better informed and immensely appreciate the intensity of both Composers.

I only would wish, just once in my lifetime, that a director or a writer could come up with a faithful Biography of such talented musicians.

I am a director and an actor myself and truly believe that such endeavor is still feasable, but certainly not through the intrusion of Hollywood or Broadway producers, who only care about making a fast buck with anything they touch.

Art is Art, Culture is Culture, History is History and making money is totally another game...

Just upgraded my vote

When I first saw this film I voted 9 as I wasn't 1000% smitten by it. But I have just seen it again and consider it one of my favourite films of all time. A feast for the ears and eyes. Mozart's music is, of course, incomparable. For a purists, not doubt, the speech-over some of the music would be annoying, but I found the soto voce comments helped to make sense of the pieces and to combine them into an integral part of the whole film.

More historical accuracy would have done more justice to the movie

This movie was one of the best Hollywood has ever produced. I do not have to repeat the salient features one more time, as scores of reviewers already did that.

However, what disturbed me was this. This movie was based on historical facts. I am very sad to say that, the director, to elevate Mozart's greatness, went great lengths to put down Maestro Salieri to the extent that he showed Salieri having difficulty in composing a small welcome march to Mozart. That was the height of inaccuracy. No one becomes a court composer for nothing. Salieri did produce some of the great compositions of his time.

Based on Mozart's allegations of victimization, lot of research went in to find the truth behind them and found that Salieri was jealous but at no point he thwarted Mozart's chances of ascending into the greatness or gaining opportunities. In fact, the movie rightly portrayed that most of Mozart's financial problems, and missed opportunites were due to his lifestyle.

My point is this: Mozart would still stand great, and he was the best original musician the world has ever witnessed even when you set historical facts straight.

Classy musical account of Mozart makes a remarkable stage play.

AMADEUS lives up to its wholesome beauty by paying tribute to classic musicals that are all but gone. Milos Foreman must have survived this massive undertaking in earning another batch of golden Oscars. The sound of classical music is rich and lively enough to consider this true to art. Seriously, folks, it does come up a wee short from being an authentic masterpiece, but it does translate as a satisfying and amusing stage play filled with lavish sets and costumes. It's only the movies, really.Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide described this as "fatally overlong". If you're casual enough to belong in the martini crowd or just like going out to see operas, then chances are your time is going to be spent perfectly well. And yes, even the entire family will like this one, despite getting a little crude on occasion. Unlike THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (that one was great, but it just seemed too long), it is fully satisfying and the talented stage performances make this one to appreciate. We should also examine Mozart's life and love of music, which bodes strongly for a lengthy picture. The film's total magic is in the directing talents of Milos Foreman.AMADEUS is a wondrous spectacle of harmony and ambition from centuries ago, and like I said before, it isn't an all-out cinematic masterpiece. While not for those who lack interest in classical music, it is a hungry feast for some. Hey, I may not be a fan of public television, so why waste some pledge money when this movie sticks to your mind in years to come.

Rusalka's twenty-fourth film review: A bawdy genius

Of course, when Amadeus came out in the theaters, it was hailed as a triumph on just about every level. It followed the prototype of big, splashy epic-like films of the early to mid-1980's (Gandhi, Out of Africa, Chariots of Fire) but this one was a bit different from all the others. Not only was it a film about a real person, the back-bone of the film itself was its music. And what glorious music it is!Amadeus was based on the stage play of the same name by British playwright Peter Shaffer. It opened in New York in 1980 and starred Tim Curry as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It won the 1980 Tony Award for Best Play and so it would only be a matter of time before Hollywood would come to call.
Everything about the life story of Mozart cries out to be told in a grand epic-like film style and structure. From the origins of Mozart's travails as he attempts to be Court Composer to Emperor Joseph the II of Austria to the writing of what some consider his finest work, the Requiem mass, it's all here. Of course, as we all (should) know by now, much of Amadeus as both play and film is highly fictionalized. Shaffer does a grand thing by having us want to believe the fact that Antonio Salieri actually kills Mozart, but in the end it is up to our imaginations to wonder if we are seeing the truth or not.Recently, the Director's Cut was released with an additional twenty minutes of footage cut from the original (1984) release. If anything, the newly recovered footage draws out the story, but it also puts a bit more meat onto the bones of the life of whom many people think is the world's greatest composer of classical music. We leave the theater (or the couch) feeling sated in our quest but always wondering could it have been true...or is this merely a great fiction just sculpted to look as if it was meant to be true.Amadeus was nominated for eleven Academy Awards, winning eight including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Direction, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Set and Costume Design, Best Sound and Best Makeup. It was also nominated for Best Cinematography and Best Film Editing.My rating: 3 and a half stars

My favorite film!

For the sheer quality of filmmaking, Amadeus represents the pinnacle of filmmaking. F. Murray Abraham gave one of the best performances ever captured on screen. The costumes, scenery, and story are captivating and brilliant. One of the best films ever made.

Simply Great

Amadeus is in my opinion the second best film of all time, next to Casablanca. It is truly flawless. The story centers around Antonio Salieri. A composer who has basically worshiped Mozart since they were both children. He is the court composer and Mozart will come and play for the king. Salieri finally has a chance to meet him. When he does he learns the truth about Mozart. That he is a bumbling sex obsessed twenty year old teenager, who is far more talented that Salieri. He of course doesn't like this very much and plots to kill Mozart, while never wanting to stop listening to his music. The performances are completely brilliant. F. Murray Abraham and Tom Hulce play the two lead rolls perfectly. The direction and the technical aspects are also just flawless. The Cinematography is the best ever filmed. This movie is flawless.

Response

I'm writing this more than anything as a response to the comments about Tom Hulce's accent, the use of English, etc.1. As was already mentioned by another post, the English is used every time the characters "should" be speaking German, and so it was done in the songs as well.2. As for the accent, I don't see why this is such an issue. The American accent is a dialect of English spoken in North America, granted. But who cares? That doesn't make Mozart sound any less European. With an English accent, I argue that he'd sound no more Austrian. It's well-known that the characters in this movie, although all speaking German, should represent a huge variety of dialects and accents, not least of which would be Salieri's, who, lest we forget, was an Italian.Other than that, I think the film is outstanding. Yes, I realize there are plenty of historical inaccuracies, but why is that a problem? It isn't a history presentation, it's a movie.

stick to the theatrical version

There is a reason a lot of footage ends up on the cutting room floor and it is my opinion that the additional footage in this director's cut should have stayed there. While the scenes do give some additional background information, they are sometimes tedious and therefore slow down the pace of the movie.

W-O-W

This movie was absolutely astounding!!!! I loved it... The costumes, the scenery, the actors and actresses... Just amazing! And the music... Indescribable! I loved how they put this together...

I've been studying Mozart for a while... And I won't make any assumptions, but most of the facts were true I believe. Of course I haven't been researching his life for years and years... But most of it is quite accurate my by studies. : )

I know Mozart was in fact very spontaneous and loved to 'live life' as he told his father in his letters. He also did love women as well. He ALSO was witty and had a very 'wicked' sense of humor. Tom Hulce played him with just the PERFECT amount of eccentricity! It was great!

I LOVE THE LAUGH TOM HULCE GAVE HIM!!!


Ahahaha!!! Ha! Ha..! Ha... Ha?

***** 5 STARS!

Brilliance...sheer brilliance!

Come on people...this is by far and away one of the best movies of all time! I firmly believe that no matter what the other reviewers say, this movie is spectacular! It is not historically accurate. It wasn't intended to be. This movie is fiction based on the life of Mozart through the eyes of a jealous Salieri. I myself am a professional classical musician, and can tell you what the music history books say. Please see this movie as what it was intended for.

This is a brilliant masterpiece, from the impeccable musical score (that is sure to send chills up and down your spine!) to the actors splendid performances. It is entertaining and witty, and gives you some insight into the world of a genius. It is a joy to watch over and over again.