Amadeus Movie Review 1984

Entertaining adaptation by Shaffer of his play about the intense rivalry between 18th century composers Antonio Salieri and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Abraham's Salieri is a man who desires greatness but is tortured by envy and sorrow. His worst attacks of angst occur when he comes into contact with Hulce's Mozart, an immature, boorish genius who, despite his gifts, remains unaffected and delighted by the beauty he creates while irking the hell out of everyone around him. Terrific period piece filmed on location in Prague; excellent musical score, beautiful sets, nifty billowy costumes, and realistic American accents for the 18th century Europeans.

Distribution

Facets Multimedia, Inc., 1517 W. Fullerton Ave., Chicago, IL 60614, Phone: (773)281-9075, Toll-free: 800-331-6197, Fax: (773)929-5437, Email: sales@facets.org, URL: http://www.facets.org

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 158 minutes.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Historical Drama, Period Piece: 18th Century, Adapted from a Play, Biopics: Musicians, Special FX Wizards: Dick Smith

Screenplay

Peter Shaffer

Cast

F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce, Elizabeth Berridge, Simon Callow, Roy Dotrice, Christine Ebersole, Jeffrey Jones, Kenny Baker, Cynthia Nixon, Vincent Schiavelli

Cinematography

Miroslav Ondricek

Director

Milos Forman

Music

John Strauss

Other

Michael Chandler, Nena Danevic, Karel Cerny

Producer

Saul Zaentz, Orion Pictures

Awards

Oscars 1984: Actor (Abraham), Adapt. Screenplay, Art Dir./Set Dec., Costume Des., Director (Forman), Makeup, Picture, Sound; AFI 1998: Top 100; Cesar 1985: Foreign Film; Directors Guild 1984: Director (Forman); Golden Globes 1985: Actor--Drama (Abraham), Director (Forman), Film--Drama, Screenplay; L.A. Film Critics 1984: Director (Forman), Film, Screenplay.