A giant of a movie that is sometimes lumbering, but ever watchable thanks to its uninhibited ambition, size and glamour.
Cleopatra (1963)
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work ![]()
Reviews Counted:20
Fresh:8
Rotten:12
Average Rating:5.3/10
Runtime: 4 hrs 8 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: This epic, spectacular love story of Egyptian queen Cleopatra and the Roman leaders Julius Caesar and Marc Antony has dazzled audiences with its elaborate sets, daring costumes, and thrilling sea... This epic, spectacular love story of Egyptian queen Cleopatra and the Roman leaders Julius Caesar and Marc Antony has dazzled audiences with its elaborate sets, daring costumes, and thrilling sea battle since its release, but these can't compare with Elizabeth Taylor as the mesmerizing Cleopatra, struggling to save her Egyptian empire. When this film was released, it was known as much for its opulent filmmaking as it was for its huge budget overruns--it took two years to film because of Taylor's various ailments and a major script rewrite by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, moving the shooting studio from England to Italy, and replacing the original director and the actors to play the Roman leaders--as well as the very public and tempestuous offscreen affair between costars Taylor and Richard Burton, who duplicated their romance on the silver screen as the doomed Cleopatra and her true love, Marc Antony. Despite all the hubbub surrounding the film, audiences realized that its spectacular story could not be denied, and it has remained a classic ever since. The triple-star power of Taylor, Burton, and Rex Harrison (playing Julius Caesar) radiates throughout this lengthy production, and Mankiewicz, a consummate magician at depicting the shadings of human emotion, directed this threesome in one of the most famous and gloriously powerful love triangles ever to be captured on film. [More]
Starring: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, Roddy McDowall
Starring: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, Roddy McDowall, Pamela Brown, George Cole, Hume Cronyn, Cesare Danova, Kenneth Haigh, Andrew Keir, Martin Landau, Robert Stephens, Francesca Annis, Martin Benson, Herbert Berghof, Gregoire Aslan, Richard O'Sullivan
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Screenwriter: Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Ranald MacDougall, Sidney Buchman
Producer: Walter Wanger
Composer: Alex North
Reviews for Cleopatra
Harrison, doing his waspish don act as Caesar, alone rises above mediocrity.
For four hours this moody, glossy pantomime leadenly plods on, saying much more about the hubris and excess of old-time Hollywood thinking than the burnished glories of an ancient world.
It is a surpassing entertainment, one of the great epic films of our day.
A moderately successful, generally entertaining, but overly ambitious movie.
Taylor, Burton, and Harrison are sublime in this sweeping epic of love and nations.
Cleopatra is not only a supercolossal eye-filler (the unprecedented budget shows in the physical opulence throughout), but it is also a remarkably literate cinematic recreation of an historic epoch.
This is not a film -- it's a deal, decorated with extensive publicity, but weighed down by listless direction and lots of nasal talk, talk, talk.
A giant white elephant of a movie, a bloated monument to hubris and excess.
Much maligned for various reasons, this Cleopatra may be the most expensive movie ever made, but certainly not the worst, just a verbose, muddled affair that is not even entertaining as a star vehicle for Taylor and Burton.
amazing that 20th Century Fox survived this train wreck long enough to produce Star Wars some 14 years later
...not required viewing by any means, nor is it the bomb it is sometimes made out to be...
The movie is also dotted with some battle sequences of nearly epic proportions, but they can’t make up for Cleopatra’s shortcomings in plot and acting.
Latest News for Cleopatra
October 24, 2008:
Weekly Ketchup: Catherine Zeta-Jones sings in Cleo
This week's Weekly Ketchup features new roles for Javier Bardem, Anne Hathaway, Ashton Kutcher, Naomi Watts and Catherine Zeta-Jones in a diverse batch that hits most of the... More...
April 23, 2007:
"Spider-Man 3" -- The Most Expensive Film Ever Made?
Is "Spider-Man 3" the most expensive movie ever made? Radar alleges so, adding production costs and subsequent marketing dollars into a half-billion dollar estimated... More...
December 01, 2006:
The Weekly Ketchup: A Third "Starship Troopers," Jack Black Collaborates With Michel Gondry, Tension Between Fox And Marvel Over "X-Men," And More!
In this week's Ketchup, the campy classic "Starship Troopers" may finally get a proper successor with Casper Van Dien returning for "Starship Troopers 3"... More...
More DVDs
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| 32% 32% | Terminator Salvation |
| 36% 36% | Angels & Demons |
| 95% 95% | Star Trek |
| 25% 25% | Four Christmases |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 88% 88% | Inglourious Basterds |
| 78% 78% | The Hangover |
| 49% 49% | Taking Woodstock |
| 26% 26% | The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard |
| 47% 47% | The Girl From Monaco |
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
Sponsored Links
Around The Network
- Cleopatra at Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh Links
Featured

Subscribe to RT's YouTube channel and don't miss a second of our cracking video content.

Follow Rotten Tomatoes and join us as we tweet about the week's releases.



Top Critic

