CAST AND CREW

DIRECTOR
Al Pacino

WRITING CREDITS
William Shakespeare (play)
Al Pacino (narration)
Frederic Kimball (narration)

CAST
Penelope Allen Queen Elizabeth/Herself
Gordon MacDonald Dorset
Madison Arnold Rivers
Vincent Angell Grey
Harris Yulin King Edward IV/Himself
Alec Baldwin George, Duke of Clarence/Himself
Al Pacino Richard III/Himself
Timmy Prairie Prince Edward

RELATED LINKS
imdb

Al Pacino's long anticipated directing debut (his first-ever movie, THE LOCAL STIGMATIC, remains a tantalizing chimera) is a bit of this and a bit of that. If it doesn't precisely add up to greatness, it's still a highly entertaining look behind the scenes as Pacino and friends -- including Alec Baldwin, Kevin Spacey and a frightfully miscast Winona Ryder -- prepare a production of Shakespeare's Richard III, from chaotic initial readings to full-costume performance.

Pacino, who's so often described as "intense" that the adjective has become a de facto part of his name, is a real delight to watch: Simultaneously goofily loose and totally focused, he's the galvanizing force behind both the film and the production within the film.

Pacino's muscular, man in the street take on Shakespeare in general and the murderous monarch in particular contrasts nicely with the observations of Derek Jacobi, Vanessa Redgrave and John Gielgud, who hold up the high-toned British end of things in interviews that are shrewdly interspersed with the action. That the film is a must for Pacino fans goes without saying; the surprise is how generally enjoyable it all is.