The Leopard (1963)
94%RT Audience Score: 89%
Awards & Nominations: Nominated for 1 Oscar
10 wins & 6 nominations total
Lavish and wistful, The Leopard features epic battles, sumptuous costumes, and a ballroom waltz that competes for most beautiful sequence committed to film.
The Leopard is a cinematic masterpiece that will transport you to a world of opulence and grandeur. Burt Lancaster’s performance as the titular character is nothing short of fantastic, and the lavish sets and costumes will leave you in awe. It’s a long film, but every minute is worth it, especially the 45-minute gala scene that will make you feel like you’re right there in the ballroom. If you’re looking for a movie that will make you feel like royalty, The Leopard is the one for you.
Production Company(ies)
Titanus Société Nouvelle Pathé Cinéma Société Générale de Cinématographie
Distributor
20th Century Fox
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Palazzo Valguarnera Gangi, Piazza Croce dei Vespri, Palermo, Sicily, Italy
MPAA / Certificate
PG
Year of Release
1963
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby
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Aspect ratio:NA
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Runtime:2h 45m
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Language(s):Italian, Latin, French, German
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Jul 15, 1963 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Jun 8, 2004
Genre(s)
History/Drama
Keyword(s)
The Leopard, PG, History, Drama, 2h 45m, directed by Luchino Visconti, written by Suso Cecchi d’Amico, Pasquale Festa Campanile, Enrico Medioli, Massimo Franciosa, Luchino Visconti, starring Burt Lancaster, Claudia Cardinale, Alain Delon, Paolo Stoppa, Rina Morelli, Romolo Valli, produced by Goffredo Lombardo, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Scott Tobias, Variety Staff, Ty Burr, Eric Henderson, Keith Uhlich, Derek Malcolm, Joanne Laurier, Dwight MacDonald, Lee Cassanell, Sean Axmaker, Cole Smithey, epic battles, sumptuous costumes, ballroom waltz, unification of Italy, aristocratic Sicilian family, social changes, political clout, war hero nephew, beautiful daughter, maintained comfort, Lavish, wistful, regret, crumbling empire, Don Fabrizio, wrong side of history, magnificent film, splendidly acted, large cast, munificently outfitted, engrossing machinations, opulent scenery, sumptuous, regional authenticity, fine drama, Tolstoy, tragic figure, harsh realities, revolutions, clarity, dying nobility, brash, young replacements, revolutionaries, sympathy, costumes, locations, fantastic cast, restrained, spectacular film
Worldwide gross: $272,898
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $2,997,158
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,316
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 326,844
US/Canada gross: NA
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend:
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Claudia Cardinale – Angelica Sedara, Bertiana
Alain Delon – Tancredi Falconeri
Paolo Stoppa – Don Calogero Sedara
Rina Morelli – Princess Maria Stella Salina
Romolo Valli – Father Pirrone
Director(s)
Luchino Visconti
Writer(s)
Suso Cecchi d’Amico, Pasquale Festa Campanile, Enrico Medioli, Massimo Franciosa, Luchino Visconti
Producer(s)
Goffredo Lombardo
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Nominated for 1 Oscar
10 wins & 6 nominations total
Academy Awards
All Critics (48) | Top Critics (22) | Fresh (47) | Rotten (1)
The film aches with regret over a crumbling empire, but its feelings are complicated by the wise prince, who recognizes his place on the wrong side of history.
December 11, 2013
Scott Tobias
AV Club
TOP CRITIC
A magnificent film, munificently outfitted and splendidly acted by a large cast dominated by Burt Lancaster’s standout stint in the title role.
February 23, 2012
Variety Staff
Variety
TOP CRITIC
The film is a long, rich sigh at the end of the day, one that only Don Fabrizio can hear.
November 24, 2011 | Rating: 4/4
Ty Burr
Boston Globe
TOP CRITIC
The Leopard is more than a tad too pleased by its own spots, but in this case the source material and its director’s intentions were almost accidentally an appropriate match.
December 30, 2010 | Rating: 3/4
Eric Henderson
Slant Magazine
TOP CRITIC
Two-plus hours of engrossing machinations and opulent scenery point the way to the pièce de résistance: a 45-minute gala scene that the Almighty himself would approve as a luxuriant prelude to the Rapture.
December 22, 2010 | Rating: 5/5
Keith Uhlich
Time Out
TOP CRITIC
The film is one of the most sumptuous ever made in Europe.
September 1, 2010 | Rating: 5/5
Derek Malcolm
London Evening Standard
TOP CRITIC
Visconti’s epic is a work of astonishing proportions. The breadth and depth of his treatment of the subject matter is on a scale almost unimaginable in recent cinema.
March 1, 2021
Joanne Laurier
World Socialist Web Site
To transpose a book into a movie means to destroy the form of the original in order to re-create the effect in another medium… Visconti has preserved the form without apparently suspecting it had any meaning.
August 13, 2019
Dwight MacDonald
Esquire Magazine
Lancaster’s portrayal is fantastic throughout. The man bleeds gravitas from his bewhiskered face to his shiny shoes… Even though the sets are some of the most spectacular and lavish ever committed to celluloid, he manges to usurp them.
November 5, 2018 | Rating: 5/5
Lee Cassanell
CineVue
[Burt Lancaster’s] confidence, his gravitas, and his understated cat-like grace as he walks through the world as if he owned it, creates a character of great authority and even greater melancholy.
January 5, 2018
Sean Axmaker
Stream on Demand
[VIDEO ESSAY] Lancaster’s every movement and facial expression transmits the text and subtext of his Italian character with a sense of regional authenticity that is beguiling.
December 10, 2013 | Rating: A+
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com
A fine drama that Tolstoy would endorse, remarkable for relying not on conflict between the uncle and the nephew but rather on their thorough devotion to each other.
June 13, 2013 | Rating: 81/100
Dan Jardine
Cinemania…
Plot
In the 1860s, a dying aristocracy struggles to maintain itself against a harsh Sicilian landscape. The film traces with a slow and deliberate rhythm the waning of the noble home of Fabrizio Corbero, Prince of Salina (the Leopard) and the corresponding rise to eminence of the enormously wealthy ex-peasant Don Calogero Sedara. The prince himself refuses to take active steps to halt the decline of his personal fortunes or help build a new Sicily, but his nephew Tancredi, Prince of Falconeri, swims with the tide and assures his own position by marrying Don Calogero’s beautiful daughter Angelica. The climatic scene is the sumptuous 40-minute ball in which Tancredi introduces Angelica to society.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Burt Lancaster’s portrayal as Prince Don Fabrizio Salina is “fantastic throughout” and he “bleeds gravitas from his bewhiskered face to his shiny shoes.”
Luchino-Visconti.jpg
