Classic film 'Romeo and Juliet' shown on the big screen

Franco Zeffirelli's “Romeo and Juliet” will be shown on the big screen at the Whitefish Performing Arts Center on Sunday at 2 p.m.

The 1968 film based on Shakespeare’s classic love story features Leonard Whiting as Romeo and Olivia Hussey as Juliet. 

 It won Academy Awards for Best Cinematography and Best Costume Design; it was also nominated for Best Director and Best Picture. Laurence Olivier spoke the film's prologue and epilogue.

Roger Ebert wrote that Zeffirelli’s adaptation of "Romeo and Juliet" is “the most exciting film of Shakespeare ever made ... it has the passion, the sweat, the violence, the poetry, the love and the tragedy in the most immediate terms I can imagine. It is a deeply moving piece of entertainment, and that is possibly what Shakespeare would have preferred.”

Tickets are $5 for students, $7 for seniors and $9 for adults. 

The film is a Singer & Simpson Production, presented by Don K Subaru as a benefit for the Steinway Fund. 

Rated PG with a run time of two hours and 18 minutes.