Amadeus (1984)
Average Rating: 8.6/10
Reviews Counted: 72
Fresh: 69 | Rotten: 3
A lavish, entertaining, powerful film about the life and influence, both positive and negative, of one of Western culture's great artists.
Average Rating: 8.2/10
Critic Reviews: 15
Fresh: 14 | Rotten: 1
A lavish, entertaining, powerful film about the life and influence, both positive and negative, of one of Western culture's great artists.
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Average Rating: 3.9/5
User Ratings: 154,588
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Movie Info
For this film adaptation of Peter Shaffer's Broadway hit, director Milos Forman returned to the city of Prague that he'd left behind during the Czech political crises of 1968, bringing along his usual cinematographer and fellow Czech expatriate, Miroslav Ondrícek. Amadeus is an expansion of a Viennese "urban legend" concerning the death of 18th century musical genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. From the vantage point of an insane asylum, aging royal composer Salieri (F. Murray Abraham) recalls the
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Cast
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F Murray Abraham
Antonio Salieri -
Tom Hulce
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart -
Elizabeth Berridge
Constance Mozart -
Simon Callow
Emanuel Schikaneder -
Roy Dotrice
Leopold Mozart -
Christine Ebersole
Katerina Cavalieri -
Jeffrey Jones
Emperor Joseph II -
Charles Kay
Count Orsini-Rosenberg -
Kenny Baker
Parody Comendatore -
Lisbeth Bartlett
Papagena -
Barbara Byrne
Frau Weber -
Martin Cavani
Young Salieri -
Roderick Cook
Count Von Strack -
Patrick Hines
Kappelmeister Bonno -
Nicholas Kepros
Archbishop Colloredo -
Philip Lenkowsky
Salieri's Servant -
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Herman Meckler
Priest -
Cynthia Nixon
Lorl -
Brian Pettifer
Hospital Attendant -
Douglas Seale
Count Arco -
Miroslav Sekera
Young Mozart -
Karl-Heinz Teuber
Wig Salesman -
Vincent Schiavelli
Salieri's Valet -
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Jonathan Moore
Baron Van Swieten -
John J. Strauss
Conductor -
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All Critics (73) | Top Critics (16) | Fresh (76) | Rotten (3) | DVD (29)
The subject of artistic creation is typically handled badly in the movies.... [Amadeus] treats the subject of creativity in a fresh way.
Top CriticA grand movie entertainment.
On a production level and as an evocation of a time and place, Amadeus is loaded with pleasures.
Peter Shaffer's shrewdly orchestrated cultural evening gets a steady, dignified, moderately dull treatment from Milos Forman.
The entire cast speaks in horribly intrusive American accents, but Forman makes some perceptive connections between Mozart's life and work.
It is arguably the best motion picture ever made about the process of creation and the creator.
Milos Forman's opulent drama is sheer quality.
... brought a new popular interest in the music of Mozart and turned the classical composer into a pop-culture figure...
Great movie, but not quite true to history.
Milos Forman's Amadeus (Warner Brothers, $35.99) gloriously recreates the life and times of one of classical music's most famous composers.
A witty and highly imaginative historical fiction, well adapted by screenwriter Peter Shaffer from his own hit play. [Blu-ray]
...a film one can appreciate for its acting and for its visual splendor, to be sure, but also for the sheer exuberance of its music making. (Blu-ray Edition)
...if the director, the producer, and the writer approved of the added scenes, I'm not going to complain. One way or the other, Amadeus remains a great film.
Milos Forman's well-crafted adaptation of Peter Shaffer's superior play turns out to be a very entertaining film, although it lacks the inventiveness of the original production.
When Amadeus deals with the music -- and with the theme of greater and lesser talents in conflict -- it frequently justifies its reputation.
[A] grandiose masterpiece.
Such a wonderful mix of sight and sound, of humor and drama, of love and hate, of ugliness and beauty.
Two amazing performances cap a stellar work of musical imagination and creative artistry.
A smart, intelligent, and sumptuous entertainment, and for a change a Hollywood movie that captures the essence of genius and creativity, in this case Mozart's music and Salieri's sponsorship, without resorting to visual or verbal cliches.
Audience Reviews for Amadeus
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Constance Mozart: Half the house. You'll never see a penny. I want it here in my hand.
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: [dirty] Stanzi manzi...I'll put it here in your hand...
- Constance Mozart: [gasps] Stop it! You won't put a thing in my hand until I see some money!
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- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Will you stay with me while I sleep a little?
- Antonio Salieri: I'm not leaving you.
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: [laughs] I'm so ashamed.
- Antonio Salieri: Of what?
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: I was foolish, I...I thought you did not care for my work, or me. Forgive me...forgive me.
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- Antonio Salieri: How... Did my work please you?
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: I never knew that music like that was possible!
- Antonio Salieri: You flatter me
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: No, no! One hears such sounds, and what can one say but... 'Salieri.'
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- Emperor Joseph II: Too many notes.
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- Antonio Salieri: On the page it looked nothing. The beginning simple, almost comic. Just a pulse, bassoons and basset horns, like a rusty squeezebox. Then suddenly; high above it, an oboe, a single note, hanging there unwavering, till a clarinet took over and sweetened it into a phrase of such delight! This was no composition by a performing monkey! This was a music I'd never heard. Filled with such longing, such unfulfillable longing. It seemed to me that I was hearing the very voice of God.
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- Antonio Salieri: I will speak for you, Father. I speak for all mediocrities in the world. I am their champion. I am their patron saint.
Discussion Forum
| Topic | Last Post | Replies |
|---|---|---|
| Amadeus vs One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest :Which do you like best? | 2 months ago | 1 |
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Foreign Titles
- Amadeus (DE)
- Amadeus (UK)
