It would take an Italian Director, Zeffirelli, to adequately film the most famous love story/tragedy in history and make it work beautifully. Filmed in Italy and actually using teenage actors to play the star-crossed lovers at the right age (for the first time ever) brought great veracity and a definite freshness to this story. The performances were uniformly outstanding and of course Nino Rota's touching sound score wove the whole thing together in a highly charged emotional work. It tends to take the viewer through the uncomfortable feeling of viewing a tragedy in the making, knowing what is to come, and being unable to do anything but helplessly watch as it comes to pass. This is the film- maker's art at its best, and it is a pity that the film did not win the Best Picture Academy Award in its year. If you have a love of Shakespeare at all this film is a simple must see.