Absolutely brilliant

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

To make a long story (187 minutes) short, Burt Lancaster is the leopard of the title, a Sicilian aristocrat of 1860, who watches the world change around him. There was a revolution in Sicily in 1860, too, with the rebels led by Garibaldi trying to unite Italy at the expense of the local nobility like Lancaster. He's disturbed by it all. And why shouldn't he be? For God's sake, they want to substitute the Italian tricolor flag we're familiar with today -- green, white, and red -- for Lancaster's family flag -- white with a golden lily. That's HIS flag, man, and he doesn't want to see it replaced with some rag representing the hoi polloi. And on top of that, he's middle-aged and seems to be growing more obsolescent by the day.Visconti wanted an all-Italian cast and evidently made it clear to Lancaster that he didn't fit the role. An argument ensued, after which the two got along much better, or seemed to. This was an epic movie and a lot of money was at stake.It must be said that Lancaster is figure instead of ground. He stands out if only because of his bushy hair and impressive mutton chop whiskers. But it must also be said that it sounds queer to hear Italian coming from Burt Lancaster's New York bred speech organs, especially when it's someone else's voice. He really doesn't have that much to say. He's taciturn, gruff, commanding, aloof.Yet he has one memorable scene. Everyone in this movie is concerned with appearances. They're always stopping in front of a mirror and patting their faces with a handkerchief, or smoothing out their mustache or something, ladies and gents alike. Towards the end, Lancaster stops in front of a mirror and stares at his own face for a long time. His features are expressionless. He seems to be looking into another temporal sphere -- the past or the future -- and his eyes water as the tiny rivulet of a tear becomes barely perceptible on his rough cheek.There's some humor too. Not much. All of these tiny Sicilian villages seem to have a raggedy band ready to play as the prince's entourage enters the town, and all the bands, maybe a dozen men all together, seem to feature not one but three tubas. Now, a tuba is a preposterous instrument to begin with, and to have three of them flatulating and burping along behind a pompous march is funny in itself, a perfect score for a silent Charlie Chaplin comedy.Then there's a scene in which a cheerfully corrupt mayor is reading out the fake results of an election. (Lancaster kept his vote open and everybody's vote was counted the same.) The wind keeps blowing out the candles and the band begins to play, on and off, and he turns red with exasperation while trying to keep up a proud front.Visconti makes good use of the wide screen. Each frame looks like a colorful painting. But it's long, and the themes are mostly understated. You have to pay attention. It could have profitably been chopped by twenty minutes or so.

In 1860 Garibaldi and his volunteers conquered Sicily, defeating the Bourbons and setting the stage for Italian unification. In The Leopard, Visconti's adaptation of a great Italian novel, a noble Sicilian family, led by pater familias Don Fabrizio Salina (Burt Lancaster), faces this crucial event and its aftermath.The film is impeccable, gorgeously shot with a great eye for colors, lighting and composition, luscious costumes and set design, a marvellous soundtrack by Nino Rota.In one of the great examples of serendipitous casting in cinema history, Burt Lancaster was imposed upon Visconti by the production, much to the director's distrust: it turned out to be the best performance of Lancaster's career, as he perfectly embodied proud, educated, fiery, sensual Prince Fabrizio. Alain Delon plays his nephew Tancredi, the happy-go-lucky youngster who falls for beautiful social climber Angelica (a young and radiant Claudia Cardinale), daughter of nouveau riche Calogero Sedara (Paolo Stoppa). Every supporting performance is gold, with my favorite probably being Romolo Valli as keen, quietly disapproving priest Padre Pirrone.The Leopard is about the entropic dissolution of life - rituals and divertissements like the famous ballroom scene are the last moments of a dying breed which is either desperately trying to adapt to a new world or tragically oblivious to it. With a sensitivity worthy of Tolstoy, the novel and the movie follow Fabrizio, torn between his intense physicality and a painful understanding of time running out for both himself and his class. The last waltz is for death itself."We were the leopards, the lions, those who take our place will be jackals and sheep, and the whole lot of us - leopards, lions, jackals and sheep - will continue to think ourselves the salt of the earth."10/10

I do not know many films where an established English or American star is in a foreign film either speaking the specific language or dubbed over while all other actors are speaking their own language, but that is the case with this Italian film from the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die. Basically, set in the 1860's, against the Sicilian landscape a dying aristocracy, led by the Prince of Salina, Don Fabrizio Corbero (Burt Lancaster), he is also known as The Leopard, and the film traces the slow waning of his noble home. We see how he turned from peasant and rose to become the enormously wealthy prince he is, but with the decline of his empire and personal fortunes he refuses to take steps and halt this or rebuild Sicily, but assuring his own position to marry Don Calogero's beautiful daughter Angelica (Claudia Cardinale) is the nephew, Tancredi, Prince of Falconeri (Golden Globe nominated Alain Delon). Angelica is introduced to society by Tancredi in the climactic sumptuous forty minute ball, but in the end the conclusion is unclear whether Don Calogero recovers his empire or any of his personal fortune. Also starring Paolo Stoppa as Don Calogero Sedara, Rina Morelli as Princess Maria Stella Salina and Romolo Valli as Father Pirrone. It is obvious that Lancaster has been dubbed over by an Italian voice, but he otherwise gives a good confident performance being the head of the family and of the aristocracy, I admit I did not really know everything that was going on, because it involved political stuff, like about the republican movement or whatever, but the performances and costumes are well done, and I know it is a most watchable period drama. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Costume Design. Very good!

Italian film that takes place in 1860. A revolution is sweeping over Sicily to overthrow the government. Burt Lancaster plays a prince who realizes a change is coming and his way of life is over. It also deals with his nephew Tancredi (Alain Delon) joining the revolution and his romancing of Angelica (Claudine Cardinale).VERY long but fascinating. It came to America in 1963 and was cut by 30 minutes--it's 3 hours and 15 minutes. Also it was shown in washed out color prints. It was fully restored in 1983 and that's the version I saw. It looks incredible. The film is in rich color with absolutely breath-taking settings. I have never seen such beautiful color cinematography! There's also a great music score by Nino Rota which perfectly matches the images. The story is long and drags at times (a sequence between Tancredi and Angelica in a deserted mansion should have been cut) but I was never really bored. There was ALWAYS something to look at. The acting varies. Delon was a little too lightweight for this role but Cardinale was good. Best of all was Lancaster. He's dubbed but is magnificent. His face perfectly shows what his character is going through. This is an Academy Award winning performance. So very long but never dull. Just incredible. A true classic!