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Top 10 Movies You Didn’t Know Borrowed from Shakespeare


[Music]
William Shakespeare has been dead for
hundreds of years and faith I do not
love thee with mine eyes for dead be a
thousand-aire is no but his stories live
on even if you don’t immediately
recognize them
welcome to watchmojo.com and today we’re
counting down our picks for the top 10
movies that borrowed from Shakespeare
plays for this list we’re looking at
those films that borrowed from
Shakespearean plays but are not literal
adaptations of his work so you won’t be
seeing a young Leonardo DiCaprio running
around Verona Beach on this list
villain am i none therefore farewell
number 10 the bad sleep well based on
Hamlet dream oh you will hear the name
Akira Kurosawa several times on this
list as the famed Japanese filmmaker
practically made a career of adapting
the works of Shakespeare for Japanese
audiences one such film was the bad
sleep well loosely based on the classic
tale of murder and revenge
Hamlet today well thank God Kareena you
know give me directions in Uganda those
famous the story setting moves from
Denmark to post-war Tokyo and it’s
characters morph from kings and noblemen
into corporate tycoons John when you
haha I’m late already
I’m gonna give us on the news let’s go
up how do you go up gives you over the
holidays with the plot revolving around
a young man who wishes to expose those
responsible for his father’s death there
are several stand-ins for notable
characters from the play but
unfortunately the ending for our
protagonist remains the same come on
wake up number 9 throne of blood based
on Macbeth until you stop much meal
eventually they’ll be done tonight from
one chorus Tamil film to another throne
of blood takes its inspiration from the
Shakespearean classic Macbeth will tell
you no custom OHF I see you fucking
lucky in this case Scotland becomes
Japan although the feudal setting
remains in both and
Shakespeare’s three witches become one
fortune-telling spirit who predicts that
wishes ooh is destined for greatness as
Lord of spiderweb castle who knows
you’re Jewish there are obvious
parallels between throne of blood and
Macbeth from the scene where lady washes
ooh attempts to wash imaginary blood
from her hands to the classic image of
trees marching on the castle making this
one of course I was more bold and tragic
Shakespeare adaptations number eight
Kiss Me Kate
based on the taming of the shrew faith
the woman shot her bull she has
performed while I did act the dolt
we always thought Shakespeare could use
more tunes and the legendary Cole Porter
obliged when he penned this Broadway
musical which was then turned into a
Hollywood film brush up your Shakespeare
and the women you will wow the
connection between Kiss Me Kate and The
Taming of the Shrew is more direct in
this film we see a production company
attempting to perform the Shrew stage
show paralleling the on stage story
however is the behind-the-scenes drama
which itself is basically an adaptation
of the play in your disposition live in
Eureka with Fred and Lily standing in
for Petruchio and Catherine the film
version adds in some slapstick comedy
and several big musical numbers to tell
its battle of the sexes
and he’ll be Hey
number seven strange brew based on
Hamlet zoom in on this okay here’s how
to get free beer a get a baby mouse and
like put it in a bottle a film about a
couple of drunken Canadians starring
Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis is loosely
based on Hamlet as ridiculous as that
sounds it’s actually true it’s in the
Canadian Criminal Code a like there’s
legal precedent setting cases in law so
like give us our free beer the beer
loving twosome stumbles upon an evil
plot that sees a brewery owner murdered
by his own brother and an evil
brewmeister with the brother then
marrying his dead brother’s wife
stinking hypocrite you murdered your own
brother you had the stomach for that but
tie it to Hamlet even more the brewery
owner appears as a ghost to his daughter
and to top it all off the brewery is
named Elsinore which is the setting of
Shakespeare’s play real big a yeah of
course the film also features tainted
beer mind control and hockey hence why
we said loosely based no scientific
explanation for it it’s pointless to
worry number six my own Private Idaho
based on Henry the fourth this is my
road looks like a step fish Keanu Reeves
and River Phoenix may not be the first
actors that come to mind when casting a
Shakespeare adaptation
but once again we aren’t looking for
literal adaptations my own Private Idaho
stars Reeves and Phoenix as two gay
hustlers drifting through the American
Northwest of course the guy came oh yeah
Here I am four I’ll sue my ass though he
didn’t start out writing an adaptation
director and writer Gus Van Sant
borrowed significantly from
Shakespeare’s Henry plays most notably
Henry the fourth and wrote the character
of Scott favored as a modern reworking
of Prince Harry
a man who shuns responsibilities as he
waits for his inevitable inheritance
when I was young and you were my Street
tutor an instigator for my bad behavior
I was planning a change there was a time
when I had the need to learn from you
Bob pigeon stands in for fatherly figure
Falstaff and is similarly slighted by
his adopted family in the end I’m afraid
if I shared your wine I might catch this
awful disease you appear to have number
five ten Things I Hate About You
based on the taming of the shrew you’re
gonna pay me to take out some chick hmm
one of the better-known adaptations of a
Shakespearean play this film showcases
several up-and-coming actors including
Heath Ledger Julia Stiles and Joseph
gordon-levitt
that was until she kissed me well it may
seem like another ridiculous 90s
highschool movie the film is basically
an exact version of The Taming of the
Shrew Ledger needs to woo style so her
sister can date as she is not allowed to
start seeing boys until the stubborn
Stiles does but she’s a mutant what if
she never dates and you’ll never date
oh I like that wait a second did Will
Shakespeare basically paved the way for
high school angst comedy thus the basis
of its appeal either way with the
identical plot and even character names
that are nods to Shakespearean names and
places this is a clever and
well-thought-out reworking I know
Shakespeare’s a dead white guy but he
knows the shit so we can overlook that
number for Forbidden Planet based on The
Tempest look at the color of that sky
yeah but I’ll still take blue I don’t
know I think a man could get used to
this so far we’ve seen settings of
classic Shakespearean plays change to
Tokyo Canada
and an American high school but what
about outer space
attention got to the crew now hear this
we are now entering the atmosphere of
Altair for considered one of the best
science fiction films of the 1950s
Forbidden Planet follows a father and
daughter who are stranded on a remote
planet and are eventually discovered by
a group of sailors near astronauts well
gentlemen if I can be of any help to you
and your preparations for the homeward
voyage I thank you sir but unfortunately
circumstances may keep us here for a
while
a love story unfolds as does the
chronicle of a man who’s able to control
the elements these gentlemen have
expressed very kindly concern over the
amount of Liberty you have here Liberty
I’ve explained to them that you have my
permission to visit earth whenever you
choose essentially until a drastic
change at the end the plot mimics that
of The Tempest proving that Shakespeare
is universally great literally your to
arbitrary commander perhaps I do not
choose to be dictated to in my own world
dr. Morbius a scientific find of this
magnitude has got to be taken under
unitedplanet supervision no one man can
be allowed to monopolize it number three
Ron based on King Lear what do you got
dude I miss alone my children eat
oysters as we’ve already learned akira
kurosawa clearly respected classic
English literature
the third Kurosawa film to make our list
Ron is essentially a reworking of King
Lear Raja other way go Emison canal
gallo Indian legal Naruto once again
with Japan as its backdrop the story
tracks an aging warlord as he decides to
abdicate in favor of his three sons
anyone with knowledge of the play knows
that things go downhill from there with
the sons competing for supremacy
nobody’s yokai see the wolf Ohio father
emo telesco you know what a soup
vegetable with obviously shared themes
and allusions between the play and the
film Ron does not end on a high note
although it did prove to be an
appropriate end to a career as the last
epic on Akira Kurosawa’s resume
[Music]
number two Westside story based on Romeo
and Juliet it seems like borrowing the
plot from a classic Shakespeare play and
adding in catchy show tunes is a recipe
for success in West Side Story the story
of two star-crossed lovers destined to
be separated is a tale of two groups
divided by race instead of Verona we get
New York City’s Upper West Side instead
of the Montagues and Capulets we get the
sharks and jets instead of a balcony we
get a fire escape there is one more
significant change however where Juliet
meets her end along with her love Maria
survives but forcing her to live out her
days without the love of her life is
just as tragic as the original ending
how many can I kill Chino Oh many I
still have one bullet left for me before
we unveil our number one pick here are
some honorable mentions oh oh oh
[Applause]
telegram number one The Lion King
based on Hamlet
[Music]
most of you probably already know by now
that The Lion King is loosely based on
Hamlet scar kills his brother Mufasa
while making it look like an accident
and essentially banishes Mufasa son
Simba in order to secure the throne no
one ever means for these things to
happen while these three characters
clearly represent Hamlet’s father
Claudius and Hamlet himself we also get
the inclusion of the sidekicks Timon and
Pumbaa who are based on Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern you gotta put your past
behind you
of course as it’s Disney the good guys
win and only the evil characters die at
the end
which is only a slight change from the
blood-soaked conclusion of Shakespeare’s
classic tragedy
[Music]
do you agree with our list what’s your
favorite Shakespearean adaptations yeah
like I said before mr. Graham going away
is such sweet sorrow for more great top
10s published every day be sure to
subscribe to watchmojo.com happy trails
see you bye now
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