The Lion In Winter: 25th Anniversary Edition

Dysfunctional royal families are nothing new, but never has one been so scorchingly pulverized as in The Lion In Winter, James Goldman’s Oscar-winning adaptation of his own hit play. The incest, sodomy, patricide, court intrigues, and biting verbal battles of England’s Henry II (Peter O’Toole), his imprisoned consort (Katharine Hepburn), and their crown-hungry son Richard (Anthony Hopkins) make Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? look like The Brady Bunch. It all adds up to one of the most dramatically exciting historical epics ever made — and in this digitally remastered edition (especially in the wide-screen version, for those with big enough TV sets) the cinematography is a stunner. A