James Goldman won an Oscar® for the brilliant screenplay, based on his Broadway play. It is a tad wordy, as the action is kept to a minimum, but those words are sharp as daggers. The humor is wicked and black and delivered with very dry, dead-on precision. Sparks fly and the screen sizzles whenever Hepburn and O'Toole tango, which is often. Both were nominated for Academy Awards® for their vigorous performances. She won; he didn't. There's also an infamous homo-erotic exchange between Philip of France Timothy Dalton and Richard the Lionhearted Anthony Hopkins. Both actors were making their feature-film debuts. --Rochelle O'Gorman