Franco Zeffirelli chose popular action hero Mel Gibson to play the title role in this naturalistic, fast-paced adaptation of Shakespeare’s most filmed play. Gibson plays Hamlet as a man of action, albeit one beset with contradictions. Zeffirelli presents the setting of Elsinore as austere and bleak, with the open spaces of the castle seeming huge and virtually deserted. The talented cast also includes Glenn Close as Gertrude, Alan Bates as Claudius and Ian Holm as Polonius.

USA, 1990, Drama, 135 mins, Director: Franco Zeffirelli