DonAlberto I've always felt naturally inclined, drawn towards characters who, for various reasons, are caught between two worlds: one which is fading away but still pulls these characters down with it; the other, which is about to be born, tugs at the same characters but in the opposite direction, in a attempt to show them the light of the new world. There's one difference, though. We almost can feel, sense or touch the new world because, in due time, will replace the old one. It's as if we could reach out our hand and stroke its smooth surface as to reassure us of its perfection. And there are plenty of good examples of this both in literature and in cinema. The Artist, for instance, is a great French film that depicts a former actor of great success when movies were silent but who is now struggling to make a living after the arrival of sound to the cinema industry.Fabrizio Corbera, Prince of Salina, Sicilian to the bone, is yet another man torn apart between two worlds, in this case the Sicily he is so proud of and Italy, a country which has been unified thanks to Garibaldi and his red shirts. Burt Lancaster isn't Italian but I couldn't care less. To me he was born to play this role, this aristocrat that Guissepe Tomasi di Lampedusa so masterfully described in his book Il Gatopardo. So much so that, to this day, the stands as one of the more appealing and decaying characters in the history of Literature. I'm yet to read the book or to poor over it, because I'm going to dip into it and never want to come back out. Other actor such as Claudia Cardinale (Angelica) and French up and coming actor Alain Delong ( Prince of Salina's nephew) were given important roles which helped their careers take off. It's difficult to argue with the decision, isn't it?Visconti does a great job and like buskers on the street, juggles many diverse elements to show us a world where decay is ever-present, where the Prince isn't contradictory in mentioning both the damage endogamy has brought to aristocracy and the lack or fragility of ideals of the new class in power. A world where he stands alone above the rest. His intelligence enough to carry him so far, but a world he doesn't want to be a part of. The last scene is just perfect: he walks away down and dark ally, leaving the world he new behind, a world that is nothing but shreds.

adrian-43767 I have only ever seen the Italian version of IL GATTOPARDO, with English or Portuguese subtitles, never the English version. Knowing Burt Lancaster's rich voice and seeing his lips move to some Italian actor dubbing him (the same applying to Alain Delon) costs my rating a star. Apart from that, it is a visually lush, superbly photographed, acted, and choreographed work directed by the great Luchino Visconti. It boasts perhaps the longest and most famous ballroom sequence in the history of the cinema, some well choreographed street battles, and it does a convincing period reconstruction job.Delon and Cardinale are breathtakingly beautiful, but under the surface they are driven by greed and other designs that reflect the cracks in the outward grandeur, splendor and beauty of the aristocracy in Sicily just before its demise. The leopard of the title, Prince Salina (Lancaster), is "straddled over two worlds and cannot leave either" - ultimately, he cannot change his spots, and must accept fate with what nobility, grace and dignity he can muster. And he does.Lancaster's role is generally regarded as one of his career's best, possibly supplanted only by his far smaller, and more cynical, part in "Atlantic City" and - a personal choice - his role in "Trapeze". Only a great visionary like Visconti could have sensed in the American symbol, mostly used as gunfighter in Westerns or a pirate in swashbucklers, Lancaster, the potential to play a Sicilian aristocrat. It is to Visconti's, and Lancaster's, credit that the latter imbues his performance with a perception, a sense of belonging, that perhaps few expected at the time, and even now leaves me wondering at the marvel and mimetic depth of human talent.Visconti's careful, sensitive and well-informed direction ultimately unites this rather long work, giving it a magnificence that even the best Hollywood-produced epics found hard to convey.It is a masterpiece one should see at least once in this life.

petra_ste In 1860 Garibaldi and his volunteers conquered Sicily, defeating the Bourbons and setting the stage for Italian unification. In The Leopard, Visconti's adaptation of a great Italian novel, a noble Sicilian family, led by pater familias Don Fabrizio Salina (Burt Lancaster), faces this crucial event and its aftermath.The film is impeccable, gorgeously shot with a great eye for colors, lighting and composition, luscious costumes and set design, a marvellous soundtrack by Nino Rota.In one of the great examples of serendipitous casting in cinema history, Burt Lancaster was imposed upon Visconti by the production, much to the director's distrust: it turned out to be the best performance of Lancaster's career, as he perfectly embodied proud, educated, fiery, sensual Prince Fabrizio. Alain Delon plays his nephew Tancredi, the happy-go-lucky youngster who falls for beautiful social climber Angelica (a young and radiant Claudia Cardinale), daughter of nouveau riche Calogero Sedara (Paolo Stoppa). Every supporting performance is gold, with my favorite probably being Romolo Valli as keen, quietly disapproving priest Padre Pirrone.The Leopard is about the entropic dissolution of life - rituals and divertissements like the famous ballroom scene are the last moments of a dying breed which is either desperately trying to adapt to a new world or tragically oblivious to it. With a sensitivity worthy of Tolstoy, the novel and the movie follow Fabrizio, torn between his intense physicality and a painful understanding of time running out for both himself and his class. The last waltz is for death itself."We were the leopards, the lions, those who take our place will be jackals and sheep, and the whole lot of us - leopards, lions, jackals and sheep - will continue to think ourselves the salt of the earth."10/10

Ignacio Migueles (ignacio-mig14) Seriously, what spoiler could I possibly write if not a single thing happens in this condemned 3 hours long colossal bore? Oh, pardon me ladies and gentlemen, I meant in this work of art. Sure, I'm not an intellectualoid, and I don't want to pretend I am by giving a 10 to this film in a website either. I just go out, read books, watch TV and been in a museum so, unfortunately, I already knew how aristocrats and rich people lives and behaves before watching this film, and I've also seen big houses, paintings, nice costumes, people smoking cigars, and dancing at a ball before!!! It seems like some reviewers never heard of those things and discovered them all of a sudden from a 1963 movie. Well, good for you, but I wanted a film with a plot, a soul, some depth to fill the nice wrapper for 185 MINUTES (20 would have been more than enough), not just this "moving paintings" that has put me to sleep from the first minute. If you have sleep problems I strongly recommend you to watch this film, is the best cure you'll possibly find in the entire world. Lancaster, Delon, Cardinale.. what a waste of actors and tape. User richieburt has made the perfect review of this, and I agree with it 100 percent. If you're really interested, watch this movie just to learn how rich and boring people lived and still lives. But don't wait for a plot, or an interesting love triangle. You'll have the disappointment of your life. Here's the progression:Minutes 0 to 4: Opening credits.Minutes 4 to 10: People praying the same prayer over and over.Minutes 10 to 25: A man leaving a house.Minute 25.....another Mass... a dinner... never-ending ball....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.