The thing is: Orator in ancient rome was someone who was PAID to either, speak on behalf, or to teach the art of public speaking for the sons of wealthy roman families, usually a greek was hired for that job, So when Charlton Heston as Mark Anthony says he is not an orator, it means he isn't saying what he has to say for money, but he says it because it comes from the heart
According to Plutarch, an early Greek Roman historian of the Roman Empire, Antony did deliver a rousing funeral oration during Julius Caesar’s funeral. Shakespeare no doubt used literary license for dramatic effect for Antony’s exact speech in his tragedy play-Julius Caesar-upon which this film was based on. The oration has become a classic in public speaking.
Check out Amistad. There's an extended monologue by Anthony Hopkins that he was able to deliver in a single take (even though there are cuts in the version in the film). It impressed Stephen Spielberg so much that he went from referring to Hopkins as "Tony" to addressing him as "Sir Anthony."
Literally everyone who goes through Theater/acting school, which is most actors, can give this monologue off by heart. Not one doesn’t study Shakespeare & this is his biggest one.
@@knutdergroe9757 An odd thing to chose Brad Pitt, who influenced a great number of people with his speeches in Fight Club as an example. I could easily see many of today's actors deliver a fine speech in one take. Many of them do, it is by no means a dying art. Just because directors like to use more cuts these day doesn't mean actor's can no longer do it, what's wrong with you people.
Honor has maybe killed more humans than the lack of it. A whole lot of women and children in that number too. Honor is a piss-poor substitute for empathy and awareness. Those Senators are absolutely 'honorable men', as they care about the selfish and personal which is the root of honor; Antony names them rightly. This is the genius of Shakespeare and this speech.
@@MrBendylaw You do realise that honour is just an old-fashioned way of saying integrity right? You want people to not have integrity? In the end the people who shout loudest about empathy are usually the people who lack it themselves. They usually demand empathy for people like themselves and conveniently forget about it for their opponents. Integrity is the cornerstone of avoiding the egotistical traps of life, if you maintain your integrity (i.e. your honour) you will do what is right *despite* the selfish little voice that might tell you otherwise. Whereas the people who cry out for empathy are usually the most selfish, they have the least integrity, and are usually concerned with what they think they (and the people of their group) 'deserve'. A selfish concept since nobody inherently deserves anything in this world. Edit: also you do understand that empathy doesn't mean you care about people right? It just means to understand someone's perspective. Sociopaths can exhibit empathy, that's how they manipulate people. The word you're looking for is *sympathy* which is actually caring about someone.
@@AeneasGemini I've read it (empathy) defined as a two-faced thing, cognitive empathy being the basic ability to discern (but not necessarily connect) to another's feelings; and affective empathy being the ability to make the connection and share the feeling. When the rabbit screams in the meadow, the fox calculates upon the former, the other rabbits upon the latter. And as for sympathy, I have less regard for it. Half the sympathy I've ever seen has been as real as a three-dollar bill, and obviously, cheaply so. And anyways, it never applies to the finer moments in life. Who ever felt sympathy for the laughing child, or the victor, or the in-love, or the new mother? Only someone inwardly twisted and only willing to look at wonderful things through their own darkly ironic glass. See: 'cognitive empathy', above.
Since it is from Shakespeare they wouldn't have been able to use it for Rome. I'm guessing fear of knowing whatever they'd write would be measured against the speech from the play is why they only opted to show the eulogy's immediate aftermath. Shame, really. Purefoy is a good actor so it would have been nice if they gave him a eulogy to perform, even if it wasn't Shakespeare's dialogue.
@Sebastian But in that same series Purefoy gives a heartbreaking and eloquent speech after his defeat at Actium, which proves he was very capable of delivering that kind of emotion.
You can’t help but get swept up in the emotional rollercoaster of this, yet at the same time you can see how Antony is playing the mob and leading them to mutiny while “praising” the conspirators and looking like he’s “just defending his friend”. The cleverness of the bards writing puts the audience in the place of the mob and shows them how charismatic people can twist information and emotions to lead you to certain conclusions rather than just telling you how to think. perfectly written and acted.
By constantly refering to them as "honorable" but pointing out there crimes hes making an obvious allusion to the conspirators hiding their actions and misdeeds behind their titles.
You know, if I could wind the clock back to a time when Charlton Heston was still extant, I would very much like the opportunity to look him in the eye and shake his hand and tell him just how much I enjoyed his portrayal of Mark Antony.
"Charlton Heston, ever one of the very best classically-trained stars." May he forever rest in honorable peace. We are unlikely to ever see his kind again.
Yes, he and others from an age of players past that could project the image. For alas in these days i cannot class any "actor" an actor, but a shallow vessel of no depth.
What a kind and lovely tribute to Charlton Heston... I had the pleasure to work with him on stage at the Ahmansohn Theater in LA...I truly admired him as an actor but much more as a charming, dedicated, generous human being. I am proud to have been in his presence.
hahahahaha! Marlon Brando is an idiot of an actor! Heston was much better in this one then he was in 1950 and better then brando in this one! What a fool you are!
Brando's speech had more anger and rage that Antony would feel, but Heston's is more the tone of a clever man which we know Antony was. The debate will never be settled.
It depends on if you want a romanticized version of Caesar or the reality. The reality was that Caesar was, in fact, ambitious. He sought to destroy the Republic and become king. And Brutus was, in fact, an honorable man. He sought to save the Republic. Yet history remembers Caesar as some sort of martyr and Brutus as a betrayer. It really just goes to show you that it's those that identify with Caesar--the man who would be tyrant--that determine what we learn as history.
@@raynmanshorts9275 I think it is a stretch to call Brutus an honorable man, he was a man manipulated by Ogliarchs to give credence to murder, at this point the republic had become nothing more than a oligarchy run to benefit those that were already rich and powerful
@@raynmanshorts9275 it seems you need to learn history. of course he was ambitious. what man who is not ambitious can change a country? he was ambitious but it was all for the glory of rome, honorable raynman
Nonsense, Brando sounds like a living human who lives his lines, Heston sounds like a stilted "actor" in front of a camera. He wouldn't even have been audible in front of anything other than a sound stage. Utter fail. Brando was far superior as a true lead actor.
One of the greatest speeches of all time delivered by one of the greatest actors of all time. God rest your soul, Charlton Heston. There will never be another like you.
Yes, giving them money paid for by taking the gold mines in Gaul, for which he killed ONE MILLION people. And another million were sold into slavery, to pay for his "generosity" so he could get power. This from a population in Gaul of six million. Right before his death he planned to invade more land in the east. More people killed, slaves taken, to pay for his generosity. He filled the Senate with foreigners who'd vote like he wanted, and Romans saw their gods replaced by foreign gods due to the new masses coming to Rome. The senators who fought Caesar's power grab were what remained of the old Rome. After them came more dictators like Caesar, like the monster Caligula from his own family, and the tyrant Nero. With the Senate pushed aside one man could do whatever he wanted to the people.
And he often FORGAVE those that went against him. His old friend Pomey, who he chased all the way to Egypt. When presented with his head Caeser was furious! Not only was he a CONSOL OF ROME! But caeser dear old friend and he had plans to forgive him! To be robbed of this reconciliation…
This is what the conservative faction of Rome's senators just couldn't get over: why give lands in Italy to Roman veterans? Why leave such immense amounts of money to each Roman citizen? What is so appealing to populism that it would be worth overthrowing a "republic", or rather oligarchy, for? If Cato just understood that the power that lies among the masses, especially under leadership, was something to embrace rather than shun, he would have negotiated peace prior to Caesar even crossing the Rubicon and relied upon Roman citizens rather than his slaves and gladiators for support.
HERE WAS A CAESAR! WHEN COMES SUCH ANOTHER?! I got chills from that. The entire speech is one that would create armies, but those last words would drive men to fury.
@@ninodino444 dafuq. How is he "not real". There is surely someone named "Jesus" at one point of time. Crying out loud. Edit: Napoleon was not real, his memoirs are 19th century made up folk tales.
Heston understood the speech on a level Brando did not. He perfectly conveyed Shakespeare's intent with this speech, of how Antony skillfully manipulates the crowd with his words. Politicians for centuries after the first performance of this play have intentionally and unintentionally cribbed from this speech.
Brando's interpretation felt more like the speech of a man who truly felt every word he uttered: the rage and the passion. Heston meanwhile, seems to convey the intent of manipulation in his performance, which I do think is what Shakespeare intended.
I disagree..While Brando brought more emotion to his performance than other actors did, it did not lack in persuasive power in any way..I also like how while the crowd were contemplating what he said, the camera focused on Brando’s face, and you can see his manipulative intent on his face..I thought the 1955 film made use of the idiosyncrasies of film in fleshing out the Bard’s great play more than this version did..This version felt like the play was put on and filmed as it was while the 1955 version felt like an adaptation of the play to film..
@albion65 I saw a version of Julius Caesar with William Shatner as Antony. I know that Shatner can't compare to either Heston or Brando, but Shatner played the role in a very sly way. When he starts the "Friends Romans Countrymen" monolog, he starts off as fearful because if he had straightaway attacked Brutus and Cassius, there was every chance that he could have been torn apart by the mob, because at that moment, the fickle crowd was on the side of Brutus in believing that Caesar was ambitious. He was speaking to the crowd as though his life depended on it, because at that moment, for all intents and purposes, it DID. Shatner's Antony knows he has won the crowd over when he says, "Bear with me. My heart is there in the coffin with Caesar, and I must pause til it comes back to me." By overhearing what each citizen is saying. Then he has the mob eating out of his hands when he mentions the will. When the crowd says, "They were traitors honorable men!" At that point, Antony knew he had them, both the crowd and the conspirators, exactly right where he wanted them. Again, I don't put William Shatner on the same level as Charlton Heston or Marlon Brando, but, playing it that way was pretty damn ingenious.
He gave every roman citizen 3 months wages... The will was narratively and historically the straw that broke the camel's back in regards to caesar's deification
@@panzerlieb yes , Augusts turned a city of stones and turned into a city of marbles. He was indeed pretty good , sadly , his whole dynasty only had 2 good emperors , 1 stooge and 2 tyrants , with Caligula as the crazyiest we would ever saw.
I have to say I much prefer this version - Charlton Heston has picked up all of the nuance and subtle craftiness of this speech. THIS is a polished politician and Charlton plays him as such. Brando's performance is more theatrical, dramatic and very much suited for plays as it was written. Heston, in my opinion, takes this speech to another level.
@@abrahamgideon I disagree. There is just about the same amount of "rawness" and power in Brando's version, simply interpreted with a different style during a different era of acting. They are both great in my opinion, and it's useless to contest which version is better.
@@hairglowingkyle4572 The fact that I prefer Heston's version doesn't mean Brando is any less an actor. It probably boils down to personal preference than anything else.
In 1966, we were reading this speech in "Julius Caesar" and struggling a bit between the number of times "honorable man/men" were spoken. As 16-year-old high school sophomores, our English teacher finally explained to us that Antony was being sarcastic. Sarcasm is not unknown to high school students. After that, the speech was easier to "get". Telling my mother about this, she shared this story from her high school sophomore days in 1946. In her high school days, each student had to recite Antony's funeral oration from memory (as did we, by the way). Her boyfriend sat in the front while she recited. She got as far as, "Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears..." when her boyfriend stage whispered, "I can't get them off!" My mother collapsed in laughter and almost failed the class. She never said what their punishment was. I suspect they got sent to the principal's office.
Knowing the time, she was probably waterboarded and her boyfriend was banished to the torture dungeon, from whence he would never return, thus leading you to be born!!! 😊🎉
@cam5816 Ah, but he emerged and married the girl his family chose for him. My mother married my father, who had been in the Pacific Theater during WW II. He left high school at 17 to support his mother and sisters when his father died.
Nope. You really need a basis for comparison here. (And, Chuckie-Cheese ain't it.) Compare the great James Mason in "The Desert Fox", co-starring Jessica Tandy: ruclips.net/video/T4n48bVGom8/видео.html
@@CLASSICALFAN100 Chuck lead the Screen Actors Guild in their march with MLK on Washington, and campaigned for Hollywood's first inter-racial screen kiss (The Omega Man). I find your 'Chuckie-Cheese' comment somewhat disrespectfull. Addendum, your link is broken ...
@@johncodmore One of the first, but not the first. For one, the Kirk/Uhuru kiss on "Star Trek" preceded "The Omega Man" by several years. There's a funny comment by Heston about working with Cash on the movie's Wikipedia page in the section on the kiss.
JC conquered Gaul & **immediately** sold every man, woman & child into slavery, by a special one-time deal with the slave merchants who followed him there. Yep, he was certainly Mr. Nice Guy...
@@CLASSICALFAN100 In Roman terms, he WAS a good guy. He could simply have had them killed. But he didn't. And Roman slaves could and did buy their freedom. There are many Stele, erected by former slaves, thanking their masters for their kindness. Would someone, newly freed do such a thing if their masters had been cruel? Parents would often sell their children into slavery, knowing that they were giving them opportunities for education and housing they could never afford. So many people today simply don't understand the Roman system.
I did not know Charlton Heston until this speech by Mark Anthony. This is one of the most impressive speech delivery in movies I have seen. Also, I'm about to perform this oration to my english class and I'm thankful for this reference. Wish me luck!
Heston had a lifelong love of Shakespeare's work, and it clearly it shows here in this spirited persuasive interpretation. It is at once intimate and then the crowd is involved. skillful direction. and photography.
Which ACTUALLY reflects the intent of the words. Listen to what he is saying. Antony is brilliantly manipulating the crowd to turn against Brutus and the rest. Heston's performance reflects that intent perfectly. Brando ( a brilliant actor) might as well be yelling "Stella!!!!!" in his Antony performance.
I thought excactly the same, Brando uses extrovert expressiveness, while heston is more controlled Thus there is no better, just bits of quotes intronation and body language that you could prefer Every aspect of the director's choices (movie related/shots etc..) then it's whole new thing to add in consideration
...and easily manipulating the fickle crowd...and outright buying their loyalty at the end. So...yeah. If Ceaser's killers are 'honorable men'...so is Antony. :D
A great performance by a great actor. If you want to see another great performance by Heston, watch him in "A Touch of Evil". After Charlton Heston was hired to star in the film, he insisted that Orson Welles be hired to direct it. Welles not only directed "A Touch of Evil", he also re-wrote the script and co-starred in the film. And it's a masterpiece. With Welles and Heston and Marlene Dietrich all starring in the film, it's great beyond greatness.
Watched both versions back to back and although I seem to be in the minority with this opinion I have to say I like Heston's version better than Brando's. Brando delivers the speech with a lot of passion and power in his voice, but compared to Heston he also seems to rush through the lines a bit. What gives Heston's version the upper hand in my opinion is that he plays to the crowd more through tonal shifts between calm and soothing, rousing passion, anger and sadness. He purposefully uses his skills as a publik speaker to slowly build up to certain key points of his speech and slowly build up suspense, and thereby not only makes sure that they all cling to his every word, but also slowly changes their minds and makes it seem like it wasn't even his intention. He plays this crowd like damn fiddles and they don't even realise it. The only ones who slowly reaslise what Antony is doing are Brutus and the other conspirators. I for one found myself much more captivated by Heston's performance than by Brando's and since captivating a crowd is the main theme in this scene, I lean towards Heston.
This is as close to portraying actual Roman rhetoric and oratory skills as we have ever come. With Shakespeare's writing, and Heston's acting. Marcus Tullius Cicero considered public speaking as acting, as much as it was persuading other men.
……it was such a pleasure hearing this wonderfully spoken actor recite poetry, at a live performance. His bass voice was just mesmerising. He was an extremely well read man, humble, great dad to Fraser, & Holly. He’d just celebrated his 64th Wedding Anniversary to his beautiful wife, Lydia, when he died. They’re both gone now………RIP
@@adamdunlaptv Totally and completely disagree with you. Brando's fury is there almost from the very beginning, while Heston initially plays the critic of Ceaser only to gradually stick the knives in the back of Brutus, Cassius and the rest.
Look at the bold, rich colors and the quality of the film. This was pretty fucking impressive for 1953. You can tell they were going for this big epic so they went all in and it shows. Looks like a great movie.
I have never considered Charlton Heston a great actor, although I have enjoyed his films, but his portrayal of Mark Anthony in this Shakespeare classic was a superb piece of acting. I stayed enthralled throughout. If he did not get an Oscar for this, he should have.
Literally all Caesar had to do to win over the masses, even after his death, was "40 acres and a mule". Just shows how BAD the Senate was ignoring everyday issues for Roman citizens...
@@d3finit1on99 Octavian was Caesar's nephew , so it do share his blood , although indirectly. As Julius pointed him as his heir , he too was considered a proper Ceasar. It was when the Octavian Dynasty had broken that things goes weird
@@randomcenturion7264 The first Brutus gave the surname honorable value by deposing the tyrant Lucius Tarquinius Superbus but the last Brutus would undo that by being a quasi-tyrant himself along with a political party of tyrants by killing the man who was a threat to their power...A man who had more in common with the first Brutus than the last. He brought eternal shame and a permanent end to that line forever.
The only really great performances by Big Chuck were while he was really young, "when he was still an Actor, before he became a Star", as they say in Hollywood. Ben-Hur, Touch of Evil, some early TV, but very little else...
@gary grine I once read an interview with Heston about doing Shakespeare where he said that he thought the best actors had a responsibility to perform Shakespeare but that he didn't get far in convincing Robert De Niro that he should be doing it. I appreciate the kind of missionary impulse that makes one a noodge.
Heston's version of Marc Antony's speech is the best, better than Brando's. Heston adds the right amount of sarcasm, irony, and masculinity. Too many other versions blubber, or miss the sarcasm, and don't know where to place the fury.
Watching them back to back there is something more human about Brando's performance. When he takes pause and says "My heart lies in there with Caesar" it catches me unlike Heston's performance does. That said Heston does an amazing job that he made his own
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones; So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus Hath told you Caesar was ambitious: If it were so, it was a grievous fault, And grievously hath Caesar answer’d it. Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest- For Brutus is an honourable man; So are they all, all honourable men- Come I to speak in Caesar’s funeral. He was my friend, faithful and just to me: But Brutus says he was ambitious; And Brutus is an honourable man. He hath brought many captives home to Rome Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill: Did this in Caesar seem ambitious? When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept: Ambition should be made of sterner stuff: Yet Brutus says he was ambitious; And Brutus is an honourable man. You all did see that on the Lupercal I thrice presented him a kingly crown, Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition? Yet Brutus says he was ambitious; And, sure, he is an honourable man. I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke, But here I am to speak what I do know. You all did love him once, not without cause: What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him? O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts, And men have lost their reason. Bear with me; My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, And I must pause till it come back to me.
corvus13 yeah, Shakespeare had no problem with anachronism, wasn't there a clock that rang out in the play Julius Caesar despite clocks not even having been invented yet?
I particularly failed in love with his modulating voice, his pitch at times goes down and up in rhythmic moves with his hands (Kinesis). Great job Charlton Heston Mark Anthony. The greatest speech of all time. This is an essential lesson for all Rhetoric trainers and inspired speakers.
''I believe that charlton Heston shows great leadership. and he even looks like a great barbarian. but what ever role he is playing it is great,and that is the true and great charlton heston.
Apart from the quality of the acting in se, which is superb in both Brando's and Heston's case, the true protagonist here is rhetorics, or public speaking if you want, whose power to persuade the people's hearts and deform reality are the weapons that Anthony plans to use to, ultimately, seize power. His grievance for Caesar's violent demise sounds sincere, but he is already thinking about his own future and political career. Are Caesar's assassins honorable men? Indeed they are nought. But Anthony is playing a double game here, and the Roman people easily fall in the trap. The people wants to be deceived, the Romans used to say: vulgus vult decipi.
The phrase is; "Vulgus (Mundus) vult decipi, ergo decipiatur" "The common people (world) wants to be decieved. And therefore they will be." It's how Trump got elected.
But were they deceived, or were Brutus and Co. not so honorable after all? To me they were elitist patricians, Brutus himself being one of the biggest moneylenders in the entire empire.
@@imapseudonym1403 It's not how Trump got elected you buffoon. The establishment, which you obviously drool over, is how Trump got elected. And he'll be elected again with their antics over his term. I'll say this, with that phrase, is exactly how the establishment and their lemmings (you) are being played and deceived by Trump!
@@josephgibson5493 " The establishment" The establishment does not vote. It requires voters, and plenty of them, both ill-educated and gullible, to put someone like trump in the white house.
The quiet of the crowd as he says "I come to bury Caesar not to praise him" has so much atmosphere its amazing they make me feel like part of the crowd
Heston delivering The player king's speech In Kenneth Brannagh's Hamlet was the first time I truly understood it's dramatic implication even though I had the privilege of performing in several professional productions of Hamlet
I have to say, I loved the recent HBO "Rome" series, but was crestfallen they didn't show Mark Purefoy's Marc Antony give this speech. They just showed him finishing up, and everyone acknowledging it was a powerful oration. I guess between Chuck Heston, Marlon Brando, Orson Welles', Richard Burton, and Laurence Olivier, those were some big (and well-worn) shoes to fill.
Charlton Heston never failed to deliver in the big roles. It would have been interesting to see him play a small part, a character part. Surely one of my favourite actors. In a era of Kirk Douglas, Marlon Brando, Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck etc...these people could play huge roles.
I'm not saying that Heston was a better actor than Brando, but these were the types of roles that Heston was born to play. Brando was obviously a great actor, one of the greatest, but Heston was a better Mark Antony.
Young Brando was the bulwark of the New York Method Acting School, and you can see his artistry in Waterfront and Streetcar. By the 70's, he had lost his passion for the craft, and he was carried in The Godfather by younger, hungrier actors. By the end, he had no f***s to give, and was actually a hindrance to his films, even refusing to learn his lines or blocking. Throughout his entire career, Charlton Heston treated every role he took as if it was his first starring role, and every line as if it were the most important line in the film. He may not have had Brando's artistry, especially his early work, but he had a dedication and joy of the craft that Brando wouldn't deign to aspire to.
I think in 1950 Heston did this play live on TV. So it was at least his 2nd time around on the material (more maybe he did it in Summer Stock or college etc.)
@@811chelseafc Indeed. What satire refutes, refutes satire. What labels weak that which the mind has missed, as a bird flies a clouded draped sky, at night now less. But Dawn will break before the parapet of the Castel, if honor be sarcasm.
"I come not, friends, to steal away your hearts! I am no orator, as Brutus is, but as you know me all - a plain, blunt man that loved my friend (...) For I have neither wit nor words nor power of speech to stir men's blood, I only speak right on, I tell you that, which you yourselves do know." Oh the old "I'm not a lying, manipulating politician with fancy words, I *only say it like it is!*"-schtick was recognized even in Shakespeare's day.
I stumbled across this a few days ago. I’m become slightly obsessed with this play and speech. It has inspired me to be better in my art. To learn more about Shakespeare and history. I haven’t acted in many years but I hope to one day portray this play on stage. I missed the impact of art.
That's why I like about Shakespeare: you can have such a wide variety of subtle nuances in interpretation, that the same text feels very different depending on the artists.
I think it's so crazy that shakespeare performed plays for the poor and he knew enough about a historical story that happened over 1600 years before. How did he get this material? How did the common people know about an empire that fell over 1000 years before? It's just fascinating...
History isn't a modern thing. You'd be surprised how much of recorded history is recorded by people in ye olden times writing about previous events before their own time. One day our textbooks will serve as a cornerstone of some futuristic nations thousands of years from now
I would like to propose a hypothesis as to why, in the actual events that Shakespeare was dramatizing, the Roman crowd did, or seemed to do, a complete 180. There is no record of what Antony actually said (although some historians have suggested that maybe Appian's version is more or less accurate), but it has been recorded that the Roman crowd did go, or appear to go, from supporting Brutus, Cassius, and the other conspirators to supporting Antony, and, indeed, rioted and burned down the houses of the conspirators and forced them to flee the city. People have supposed, then, that Antony must have delivered an incredibly brilliant speech (the fact that no reliable record of it exists may have fueled this idea), but also that the Roman public, often derogated as a mob, was constantly shifting in its loyalties, without any thought or consideration; this event has always been exhibit A, if you will, for that portrayal of the Roman public. Certainly, Shakespeare interprets the Roman public that way, in this play and his other Roman plays; see, for example, the "You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things" speech at the beginning. I would like to suggest, though, that there was another reason why the Roman people did such a turnabout: after the assassination, they were afraid. The conspirators had just brutally murdered Caesar on the floor of the Senate and seemed now to be in full control of the city. No one knew where anyone else, except perhaps his closest friends and relatives, stood on the issue. Was the army, up to that point apparently loyal to Caesar, now on the side of the conspirators? If they weren't, why had they not acted to protect Caesar or avenge him? Why had Antony done nothing? People, then, tried to look like enthusiastic supporters of Brutus and Cassius not because they had genuinely turned against Caesar or because they genuinely supported the conspirators, but because they were afraid of them. Then Antony makes a pro-Caesar speech at the funeral. A few of the bravest souls shout their support, and then some more follow their example, and then everyone joins in once they realize that, in fact, there is widespread support for Caesar and widespread opposition to the conspirators. It wasn't that people changed their opinions, at least not their true opinions. It was that people realized it was safe to express and act on their true opinions. I can't prove any of this, of course, but I think it's interesting to consider.
Red Rackham You make an excellent point, drawn from real circumstances. Rome, a city and people that had gone through civil wars in which no one was safe to speak freely or openly associate with like-minded citizens, knew only too well the full cost of chaos and terror. They had witnessed the circulation of proscription lists and massacres by the score. We have only to imagine a scene of such turbulence in our own times, with the secret police moving through the crowd, denunciations rife, the government in uncertain hands, the military casting its long shadow over events, and the public in shock at a ruling class conspiracy that's just killed the head of state. And I think we can also add that Shakespeare and his audience were sufficiently familiar with these same elements through bloody contemporary conflicts around the English throne, popular unrest, religious conflict, deep factionalism and violent crackdowns by the forces of the state. Life was for many in England a precarious affair, and the history of the period is filled with episodes of betrayal, reversals of fortune, sudden shifts in popular sentiment. What strikes the casual observer as implausible, and even contemptible in the behaviour of Shakespeare's Roman mob, reflects the nature of life as it was being lived, in far from ideal conditions, by a populace trying to understand a series of rapidly unfolding, highly dangerous events. With the breakdown of constitutional order that began in the preceding century, the people have as their only political resource their identity as a mob, bound together by class interest and seeking the best possible deal from those in power. It's no wonder they vacillate. They're like an unarmed man seeking shelter on a battlefield, running one way and then another.
I remember my English teacher explaining to us when we read 'Julius Caesar' how Antony totally knew what he was doing under the smokescreen of grieving.
1:16 this little moment fascinates me so much, the entire speech is a performance but on two levels. The actor Charlton Heston performing as Mark Antony, and the character of Mark Antony performing this riveting diatribe to rouse the mob to his own ends. But the line of “he was my friend, fair and just to me” is absent that performance, Heston is still acting but he drops the guise for a moment and the character of Antony speaks honestly, you can hear the pain of loss and genuine grief in those words.
I am no orator... "continues to give one of the greatest speeches of all time"
lol classic
Indeed sir
The thing is: Orator in ancient rome was someone who was PAID to either, speak on behalf, or to teach the art of public speaking for the sons of wealthy roman families, usually a greek was hired for that job,
So when Charlton Heston as Mark Anthony says he is not an orator, it means he isn't saying what he has to say for money, but he says it because it comes from the heart
@S billings O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts, and men have lost their reason!
Humble intro to catch the crowd off guard.
"I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him."
> doubt.jpg
He said what the crowd needed to hear.
@@Agentcoolguy1 yes or else traitors like Brutus and Cassius would've been served like they have dominated the entire world
@@udgampatel8103 To be fair in real life Mark called ceaser a god and used him to further his grasp in rome.
I come to bury Jason Robards, not to praise him. His portrayal of Brutus was terrible.
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
*And Brutus is an honorable man*
SO ARE THE ALL, HONORABLE MEN
👍🏻
Lol hes so honorable that he charged poor ppl 50 interest on a loan
He looks like he's lying through his teeth right now
dont comment again
That little smile he adds when you hear, "There's not a nobler man in Rome than Antony." It basically says, "I got them right where I want them."
According to Plutarch, an early Greek Roman historian of the Roman Empire, Antony did deliver a rousing funeral oration during Julius Caesar’s funeral. Shakespeare no doubt used literary license for dramatic effect for Antony’s exact speech in his tragedy play-Julius Caesar-upon which this film was based on. The oration has become a classic in public speaking.
Such repetition of the word honourable turns its meaning entirely about-face!
And that speech is apparently even more crazy and mob inducing than this.
@@xanderalaniz2298 Is there anything extant?
Total respect to the people those days that can give a speech without any cuts.
Check out Amistad. There's an extended monologue by Anthony Hopkins that he was able to deliver in a single take (even though there are cuts in the version in the film). It impressed Stephen Spielberg so much that he went from referring to Hopkins as "Tony" to addressing him as "Sir Anthony."
Could you see Brad Pitt,
Or some other current actor do this...
Not even,
Real Acting,
With class and skill.
Literally everyone who goes through Theater/acting school, which is most actors, can give this monologue off by heart. Not one doesn’t study Shakespeare & this is his biggest one.
There were some cuts here......all films have cuts.....U have to readjust lighting just for that sake alone
@@knutdergroe9757 An odd thing to chose Brad Pitt, who influenced a great number of people with his speeches in Fight Club as an example.
I could easily see many of today's actors deliver a fine speech in one take. Many of them do, it is by no means a dying art.
Just because directors like to use more cuts these day doesn't mean actor's can no longer do it, what's wrong with you people.
"I'm starting to think that these guys aren't honorable men!"
LOL
Honor has maybe killed more humans than the lack of it. A whole lot of women and children in that number too. Honor is a piss-poor substitute for empathy and awareness. Those Senators are absolutely 'honorable men', as they care about the selfish and personal which is the root of honor; Antony names them rightly. This is the genius of Shakespeare and this speech.
But he said they were honorable
@@MrBendylaw You do realise that honour is just an old-fashioned way of saying integrity right? You want people to not have integrity? In the end the people who shout loudest about empathy are usually the people who lack it themselves. They usually demand empathy for people like themselves and conveniently forget about it for their opponents.
Integrity is the cornerstone of avoiding the egotistical traps of life, if you maintain your integrity (i.e. your honour) you will do what is right *despite* the selfish little voice that might tell you otherwise. Whereas the people who cry out for empathy are usually the most selfish, they have the least integrity, and are usually concerned with what they think they (and the people of their group) 'deserve'. A selfish concept since nobody inherently deserves anything in this world.
Edit: also you do understand that empathy doesn't mean you care about people right? It just means to understand someone's perspective. Sociopaths can exhibit empathy, that's how they manipulate people. The word you're looking for is *sympathy* which is actually caring about someone.
@@AeneasGemini I've read it (empathy) defined as a two-faced thing, cognitive empathy being the basic ability to discern (but not necessarily connect) to another's feelings; and affective empathy being the ability to make the connection and share the feeling. When the rabbit screams in the meadow, the fox calculates upon the former, the other rabbits upon the latter.
And as for sympathy, I have less regard for it. Half the sympathy I've ever seen has been as real as a three-dollar bill, and obviously, cheaply so. And anyways, it never applies to the finer moments in life. Who ever felt sympathy for the laughing child, or the victor, or the in-love, or the new mother? Only someone inwardly twisted and only willing to look at wonderful things through their own darkly ironic glass. See: 'cognitive empathy', above.
We were robbed of James Purefoy giving this speech in HBO's Rome. Absolutely robbed.
Rome was so good. I love when she places a curse on Caesar.
Since it is from Shakespeare they wouldn't have been able to use it for Rome. I'm guessing fear of knowing whatever they'd write would be measured against the speech from the play is why they only opted to show the eulogy's immediate aftermath.
Shame, really. Purefoy is a good actor so it would have been nice if they gave him a eulogy to perform, even if it wasn't Shakespeare's dialogue.
No kidding. Time was a masterpiece but seemed very rushed
Nah, doesn't have enough obscenities for the Purefoy version of M.Anthony. xD
@Sebastian But in that same series Purefoy gives a heartbreaking and eloquent speech after his defeat at Actium, which proves he was very capable of delivering that kind of emotion.
You can’t help but get swept up in the emotional rollercoaster of this, yet at the same time you can see how Antony is playing the mob and leading them to mutiny while “praising” the conspirators and looking like he’s “just defending his friend”. The cleverness of the bards writing puts the audience in the place of the mob and shows them how charismatic people can twist information and emotions to lead you to certain conclusions rather than just telling you how to think. perfectly written and acted.
By constantly refering to them as "honorable" but pointing out there crimes hes making an obvious allusion to the conspirators hiding their actions and misdeeds behind their titles.
You know, if I could wind the clock back to a time when Charlton Heston was still extant, I would very much like the opportunity to look him in the eye and shake his hand and tell him just how much I enjoyed his portrayal of Mark Antony.
Agreed..the best speech ...The best play by shakespeare ..
“Telling you how to think…”
How can one get this close to the answers and in five words completely miss the target?
That’s exactly what my English teacher said. We were studying figurative language;).
"Charlton Heston, ever one of the very best classically-trained stars." May he forever rest in honorable peace. We are unlikely to ever see his kind again.
Yes, he and others from an age of players past that could project the image. For alas in these days i cannot class any "actor" an actor, but a shallow vessel of no depth.
What a kind and lovely tribute to Charlton Heston... I had the pleasure to work with him on stage at the Ahmansohn Theater in LA...I truly admired him as an actor but much more as a charming, dedicated, generous human being. I am proud to have been in his presence.
we have to keep antiquity alive
It was my privilege to have met Charlton Heston several times and even sit with him during a luncheon. I cried when he passed. A great man.
And Charlton was an honorable man
His heavy, deep voice fits for shakespeare. What a powerful performance.
Have you seen him in Branagh's Hamlet? A supporting role only, and he stole the show.
ruclips.net/video/ta9_16_um1k/видео.html
great actor
@@ewaldseiland8558 I just watched your link. Fantastic!
He was great as the Player King, too. Sorry he didn't do more Shakespear, he could have made it a career.
Ikr!, Loved his performance in Ben Hur!
This is what a Natural 20 Charisma check looks like.
+Tarik360 Agreed
The Dice Gods have spoken
Check out Marlon Brando giving the speech. THAT'S natural charisma!
hahahahaha! Marlon Brando is an idiot of an actor! Heston was much better in this one then he was in 1950 and better then brando in this one! What a fool you are!
Both are good
Brando's speech had more anger and rage that Antony would feel, but Heston's is more the tone of a clever man which we know Antony was.
The debate will never be settled.
It depends on if you want a romanticized version of Caesar or the reality. The reality was that Caesar was, in fact, ambitious. He sought to destroy the Republic and become king. And Brutus was, in fact, an honorable man. He sought to save the Republic. Yet history remembers Caesar as some sort of martyr and Brutus as a betrayer.
It really just goes to show you that it's those that identify with Caesar--the man who would be tyrant--that determine what we learn as history.
@@raynmanshorts9275 I think it is a stretch to call Brutus an honorable man, he was a man manipulated by Ogliarchs to give credence to murder, at this point the republic had become nothing more than a oligarchy run to benefit those that were already rich and powerful
Love Brando but Heston delivers the speech better
@@raynmanshorts9275 it seems you need to learn history. of course he was ambitious. what man who is not ambitious can change a country? he was ambitious but it was all for the glory of rome, honorable raynman
Nonsense, Brando sounds like a living human who lives his lines, Heston sounds like a stilted "actor" in front of a camera. He wouldn't even have been audible in front of anything other than a sound stage. Utter fail. Brando was far superior as a true lead actor.
One of the greatest speeches of all time delivered by one of the greatest actors of all time. God rest your soul, Charlton Heston. There will never be another like you.
Or as Heston put it "When comes such another!"
Well, there was Marlon Brando before him.
He is no way close to marlon brando.
Absolutely true Darryl. I double that 👍
Surprised he never ran for president!
3:38 the delivery of that “who you all know are honourable men” is just hilariously and perfect
Antony :- _"I want to make a small speech. Nothing more"._
Brutus :- _cool_
Antony :- *(I'm about to end this man's entire career)*
Here was a comment. When comes such another?
Bruh....
Why memes are great. They can fit every occasion.
y do to persuade the audience ? Is it mostly a logical-reason based persuasion, or mostly emotional ?
Life
Something to note: Caesar was *insanely* popular among the masses because of his generosity to the common people of Rome.
Yes, giving them money paid for by taking the gold mines in Gaul, for which he killed ONE MILLION people. And another million were sold into slavery, to pay for his "generosity" so he could get power. This from a population in Gaul of six million. Right before his death he planned to invade more land in the east. More people killed, slaves taken, to pay for his generosity. He filled the Senate with foreigners who'd vote like he wanted, and Romans saw their gods replaced by foreign gods due to the new masses coming to Rome. The senators who fought Caesar's power grab were what remained of the old Rome. After them came more dictators like Caesar, like the monster Caligula from his own family, and the tyrant Nero. With the Senate pushed aside one man could do whatever he wanted to the people.
And he often FORGAVE those that went against him. His old friend Pomey, who he chased all the way to Egypt. When presented with his head Caeser was furious! Not only was he a CONSOL OF ROME! But caeser dear old friend and he had plans to forgive him! To be robbed of this reconciliation…
This is what the conservative faction of Rome's senators just couldn't get over: why give lands in Italy to Roman veterans? Why leave such immense amounts of money to each Roman citizen? What is so appealing to populism that it would be worth overthrowing a "republic", or rather oligarchy, for? If Cato just understood that the power that lies among the masses, especially under leadership, was something to embrace rather than shun, he would have negotiated peace prior to Caesar even crossing the Rubicon and relied upon Roman citizens rather than his slaves and gladiators for support.
HERE WAS A CAESAR! WHEN COMES SUCH ANOTHER?!
I got chills from that. The entire speech is one that would create armies, but those last words would drive men to fury.
Eloquently put!
Caesar was the greatest man in history -
until Jesus Christ, and since then, and forevermore none greater
@@Atlantis1789 Jesus is not real
@@ninodino444 lol, lmao
@@ninodino444 dafuq. How is he "not real". There is surely someone named "Jesus" at one point of time. Crying out loud.
Edit: Napoleon was not real, his memoirs are 19th century made up folk tales.
Heston understood the speech on a level Brando did not. He perfectly conveyed Shakespeare's intent with this speech, of how Antony skillfully manipulates the crowd with his words. Politicians for centuries after the first performance of this play have intentionally and unintentionally cribbed from this speech.
Brando's interpretation felt more like the speech of a man who truly felt every word he uttered: the rage and the passion. Heston meanwhile, seems to convey the intent of manipulation in his performance, which I do think is what Shakespeare intended.
I disagree..While Brando brought more emotion to his performance than other actors did, it did not lack in persuasive power in any way..I also like how while the crowd were contemplating what he said, the camera focused on Brando’s face, and you can see his manipulative intent on his face..I thought the 1955 film made use of the idiosyncrasies of film in fleshing out the Bard’s great play more than this version did..This version felt like the play was put on and filmed as it was while the 1955 version felt like an adaptation of the play to film..
This was his 2nd attempt actually he played mark Anthony a year earlier than Marlon Brando....
i agree with every word my friend@@dianrongyu1326
@albion65
I saw a version of Julius Caesar with William Shatner as Antony. I know that Shatner can't compare to either Heston or Brando, but Shatner played the role in a very sly way. When he starts the "Friends Romans Countrymen" monolog, he starts off as fearful because if he had straightaway attacked Brutus and Cassius, there was every chance that he could have been torn apart by the mob, because at that moment, the fickle crowd was on the side of Brutus in believing that Caesar was ambitious. He was speaking to the crowd as though his life depended on it, because at that moment, for all intents and purposes, it DID. Shatner's Antony knows he has won the crowd over when he says, "Bear with me. My heart is there in the coffin with Caesar, and I must pause til it comes back to me." By overhearing what each citizen is saying. Then he has the mob eating out of his hands when he mentions the will. When the crowd says, "They were traitors honorable men!" At that point, Antony knew he had them, both the crowd and the conspirators, exactly right where he wanted them. Again, I don't put William Shatner on the same level as Charlton Heston or Marlon Brando, but, playing it that way was pretty damn ingenious.
I was always amazed at how quickly Mark Anthony flipped the hearts and minds of the populace. The Bard really understood human nature.
"I have neither wit nor words"
*gives rousing and memorable speech*
"...but as this House commands me..."
Senate. "It's just words..."
Antony. "I have here Caesar's will..."
Senate. *sweats profusely*
Jason 🤣🤣🤣
Missing the point. The will was just a useful oratorical prop. Anthony would have gotten them riled up without it.
The majority of the Senate loved Caesar
The Senate should have known the power of words. The Senate had Cicero after all.
He gave every roman citizen 3 months wages... The will was narratively and historically the straw that broke the camel's back in regards to caesar's deification
"Here was a Caesar! WHEN COMES SUCH ANOTHER!"
NEVER!!!
Augustus is pretty good
rezandra rizky exactly, there is never a shortage of tyrants. But only the smartest prevail. Augustus was pretty smart.
@@panzerlieb yes , Augusts turned a city of stones and turned into a city of marbles.
He was indeed pretty good , sadly , his whole dynasty only had 2 good emperors , 1 stooge and 2 tyrants , with Caligula as the crazyiest we would ever saw.
@@phantasosxgames8488 2 good is himself and Claudius, yes? Tiberius, Caligula, and Nero were all tyrants. Which was the stooge?
I have to say I much prefer this version - Charlton Heston has picked up all of the nuance and subtle craftiness of this speech. THIS is a polished politician and Charlton plays him as such. Brando's performance is more theatrical, dramatic and very much suited for plays as it was written. Heston, in my opinion, takes this speech to another level.
٨٨
True there is a rawness and honesty in Heston's performance that is lacking in Brando's.
@@abrahamgideon I disagree. There is just about the same amount of "rawness" and power in Brando's version, simply interpreted with a different style during a different era of acting.
They are both great in my opinion, and it's useless to contest which version is better.
@@hairglowingkyle4572 The fact that I prefer Heston's version doesn't mean Brando is any less an actor. It probably boils down to personal preference than anything else.
In 1966, we were reading this speech in "Julius Caesar" and struggling a bit between the number of times "honorable man/men" were spoken. As 16-year-old high school sophomores, our English teacher finally explained to us that Antony was being sarcastic. Sarcasm is not unknown to high school students. After that, the speech was easier to "get". Telling my mother about this, she shared this story from her high school sophomore days in 1946. In her high school days, each student had to recite Antony's funeral oration from memory (as did we, by the way). Her boyfriend sat in the front while she recited. She got as far as, "Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears..." when her boyfriend stage whispered, "I can't get them off!" My mother collapsed in laughter and almost failed the class. She never said what their punishment was. I suspect they got sent to the principal's office.
Knowing the time, she was probably waterboarded and her boyfriend was banished to the torture dungeon, from whence he would never return, thus leading you to be born!!! 😊🎉
@cam5816 Ah, but he emerged and married the girl his family chose for him. My mother married my father, who had been in the Pacific Theater during WW II. He left high school at 17 to support his mother and sisters when his father died.
This is honestly the best delivery of this monologue and it needs more attention.
Hestons acting made this film, Robarts (bless him) almost killed it.
Brando's performance was leagues above this one
@@Badpoison1 Very funny
Damien Lewis' delivery of this speech is also exceptional
@@Badpoison1 No it wasn't.
Charlton Heston, one of the classiest men ever to grace Hollywood. What a voice and what an actor. In my opinion, he was the best.
Nope. You really need a basis for comparison here. (And, Chuckie-Cheese ain't it.) Compare the great James Mason in "The Desert Fox", co-starring Jessica Tandy: ruclips.net/video/T4n48bVGom8/видео.html
@@CLASSICALFAN100 the fuck kind of a response is that?
@@CLASSICALFAN100 Chuck lead the Screen Actors Guild in their march with MLK on Washington, and campaigned for Hollywood's first inter-racial screen kiss (The Omega Man). I find your 'Chuckie-Cheese' comment somewhat disrespectfull. Addendum, your link is broken ...
Yes he was best
@@johncodmore One of the first, but not the first. For one, the Kirk/Uhuru kiss on "Star Trek" preceded "The Omega Man" by several years. There's a funny comment by Heston about working with Cash on the movie's Wikipedia page in the section on the kiss.
Damn Heston made me mourn for Caesar!
JC conquered Gaul & **immediately** sold every man, woman & child into slavery, by a special one-time deal with the slave merchants who followed him there. Yep, he was certainly Mr. Nice Guy...
@@CLASSICALFAN100 The rules of ancient warfare were rough.
@@CLASSICALFAN100 In Roman terms, he WAS a good guy. He could simply have had them killed.
But he didn't.
And Roman slaves could and did buy their freedom. There are many Stele, erected by former slaves, thanking their masters for their kindness. Would someone, newly freed do such a thing if their masters had been cruel?
Parents would often sell their children into slavery, knowing that they were giving them opportunities for education and housing they could never afford.
So many people today simply don't understand the Roman system.
As you should.
Methinks there is much wisdom in his sayings.
I did not know Charlton Heston until this speech by Mark Anthony. This is one of the most impressive speech delivery in movies I have seen. Also, I'm about to perform this oration to my english class and I'm thankful for this reference. Wish me luck!
Good luck
Brilliant actor . An American icon. Greatly missed but not forgotten.
Heston had a lifelong love of Shakespeare's work, and it clearly it shows here in this spirited persuasive interpretation. It is at once intimate and then the crowd is involved. skillful direction.
and photography.
As do I. Also, I'm glad that he never tried to put on a British accent. It would have ruined it all.
Brando's version had the rage & explosiveness of a young man, Heston's version is more devious & calculating
Ya u got it.
I agree, (set looks absolutely beautiful too.)
He is more believable.
And the great part is, that each version had a little of the other thing.
Which ACTUALLY reflects the intent of the words. Listen to what he is saying. Antony is brilliantly manipulating the crowd to turn against Brutus and the rest. Heston's performance reflects that intent perfectly. Brando ( a brilliant actor) might as well be yelling "Stella!!!!!" in his Antony performance.
I thought excactly the same, Brando uses extrovert expressiveness, while heston is more controlled
Thus there is no better, just bits of quotes intronation and body language that you could prefer
Every aspect of the director's choices (movie related/shots etc..) then it's whole new thing to add in consideration
"Honourable men" my arse! I love Anthony's speech, so incredibly damning of the assassins without once insulting them outright.
...and easily manipulating the fickle crowd...and outright buying their loyalty at the end.
So...yeah. If Ceaser's killers are 'honorable men'...so is Antony.
:D
8 years ago?
@@playeatsquizzes yes 8 years is a very long time.. i wonder if hes alive.. i mean in good health?
@@dclark142002 have we considered that caesar was a supporter of the lower classes for a reason?
Charlton Heston really did this speech justice--had not seen this till now. Thanks!
A great performance by a great actor. If you want to see another great performance by Heston, watch him in "A Touch of Evil". After Charlton Heston was hired to star in the film, he insisted that Orson Welles be hired to direct it. Welles not only directed "A Touch of Evil", he also re-wrote the script and co-starred in the film. And it's a masterpiece. With Welles and Heston and Marlene Dietrich all starring in the film, it's great beyond greatness.
& don't forget Janet Leigh
Watched both versions back to back and although I seem to be in the minority with this opinion I have to say I like Heston's version better than Brando's. Brando delivers the speech with a lot of passion and power in his voice, but compared to Heston he also seems to rush through the lines a bit.
What gives Heston's version the upper hand in my opinion is that he plays to the crowd more through tonal shifts between calm and soothing, rousing passion, anger and sadness. He purposefully uses his skills as a publik speaker to slowly build up to certain key points of his speech and slowly build up suspense, and thereby not only makes sure that they all cling to his every word, but also slowly changes their minds and makes it seem like it wasn't even his intention. He plays this crowd like damn fiddles and they don't even realise it. The only ones who slowly reaslise what Antony is doing are Brutus and the other conspirators.
I for one found myself much more captivated by Heston's performance than by Brando's and since captivating a crowd is the main theme in this scene, I lean towards Heston.
Both absolutely superb, and yet quite different, interpretations.
I like Brando's main speech but Heston's overall performance in this scene.
Give Braggnath due justice.
Completely agree. I don’t understand the pacing at all in Brando’s
I completely agree! I find this one miles ahead of Brando's. Much more contrast - gives me chills.
This is the best funeral oration there is.
This is as close to portraying actual Roman rhetoric and oratory skills as we have ever come. With Shakespeare's writing, and Heston's acting.
Marcus Tullius Cicero considered public speaking as acting, as much as it was persuading other men.
I'd recommend you to watch Marlon Brando as Antony. Even better than Heston.
Talk to any Shakespearean actor. They will tell you Brando was a fine actor BUT not Shakespeare. Heston was the real deal.
shigsho Brando’s is lightyears better
Cool
Shakespeare wasn't even close to Roman rhetoric
……it was such a pleasure hearing this wonderfully spoken actor recite poetry, at a live performance. His bass voice was just mesmerising. He was an extremely well read man, humble, great dad to Fraser, & Holly. He’d just celebrated his 64th Wedding Anniversary to his beautiful wife, Lydia, when he died. They’re both gone now………RIP
William Shakespeare wrote this speech so well, like he was there to witness it himself
Brando is more powerful and theatric, Heston feels much more natural! Both are good.
hairypolack I prefer Heston's 'friends, Romans, countrymen' but Brando's 'Cry Havoc' is astonishing.
Heston is not natural in this. He's pushing all over. No nuance or moment before. It's all contrived. It doesnt compare to Brando. Not even close.
Heston's is much much better than Brando's.
True
@@adamdunlaptv Totally and completely disagree with you. Brando's fury is there almost from the very beginning, while Heston initially plays the critic of Ceaser only to gradually stick the knives in the back of Brutus, Cassius and the rest.
Look at the bold, rich colors and the quality of the film. This was pretty fucking impressive for 1953. You can tell they were going for this big epic so they went all in and it shows. Looks like a great movie.
This movie was made in 1970
The best Mark Antony's Speech and act in all Julius Cesar play history. Nobody can play it better than him. It is the top level of this character.
I have never considered Charlton Heston a great actor, although I have enjoyed his films, but his portrayal of Mark Anthony in this Shakespeare classic was a superb piece of acting. I stayed enthralled throughout. If he did not get an Oscar for this, he should have.
Brando was nominated for an Academy Award for his Anthony. I don't think Heston was.
@@johnbrady6276 Heston did win an Oscar for Ben Hur.
You didn’t think he was a great actor ? In the words of Heston “ poor miserable bastards” ! 😂
"I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke......but I shall low-key disprove what Brutus Spoke"
Literally all Caesar had to do to win over the masses, even after his death, was "40 acres and a mule". Just shows how BAD the Senate was ignoring everyday issues for Roman citizens...
Flawless. Absolutely flawless.
I regret not appreciating this in secondary school. What a powerful speech. This is how you work a mob ...
Jan. 6, 2012: "We're gonna WALK to the Capitol..."
this is a masterpiece of instigation
Chuckles...
Employing reverse psychology.
Here is Caesar! When come another!?
Octavian: actually now that you asked, hi I’m Caesar
@@d3finit1on99 Octavian was Caesar's nephew , so it do share his blood , although indirectly.
As Julius pointed him as his heir , he too was considered a proper Ceasar.
It was when the Octavian Dynasty had broken that things goes weird
No! I am Caesar!
We all need a friend like Mark Antony
"aNd Brutus iS aN hOnOURable mAn"
pfft, Brutus became a damn meme
@@heloise_flores His name is now a byword for gross violence and betrayal.
Talk about getting dealt a bad hand by history.
@@randomcenturion7264 The first Brutus gave the surname honorable value by deposing the tyrant Lucius Tarquinius Superbus but the last Brutus would undo that by being a quasi-tyrant himself along with a political party of tyrants by killing the man who was a threat to their power...A man who had more in common with the first Brutus than the last. He brought eternal shame and a permanent end to that line forever.
I don't think that Shakespeare himself had ever imagined such a scene to be acted in this extraordinary fashion as it was preformed by Heston.
How many times and with what strange accents shall this, our scene, be reenacted?
Heston was also memorable in Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet as the elder player.
The only really great performances by Big Chuck were while he was really young, "when he was still an Actor, before he became a Star", as they say in Hollywood. Ben-Hur, Touch of Evil, some early TV, but very little else...
@@CLASSICALFAN100 He was 46 when he did this, and watching this scene again confirms to me that this was a great performance.
@gary grine I once read an interview with Heston about doing Shakespeare where he said that he thought the best actors had a responsibility to perform Shakespeare but that he didn't get far in convincing Robert De Niro that he should be doing it. I appreciate the kind of missionary impulse that makes one a noodge.
Shakespeare's articulate words and Charlton Heston's magical voice, diction and delivery. Absolutely fantastic!!!
" Here was a Caesar. When comes such another ?! " What a friend Antony is, 💗 worth dying for
Heston's version of Marc Antony's speech is the best, better than Brando's. Heston adds the right amount of sarcasm, irony, and masculinity. Too many other versions blubber, or miss the sarcasm, and don't know where to place the fury.
good points
Tim Penfield and of course the inimitable Charlton Heston voice.
Watching them back to back there is something more human about Brando's performance. When he takes pause and says "My heart lies in there with Caesar" it catches me unlike Heston's performance does. That said Heston does an amazing job that he made his own
User Discretion only Heston has captured the fury. All others dodder
Perhaps Brando was too monotonously Stanley Kowalski Stanislavski Scorpio furious.
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answer’d it.
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest-
For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men-
Come I to speak in Caesar’s funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
He hath brought many captives home to Rome
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
You all did see that on the Lupercal
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And, sure, he is an honourable man.
I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once, not without cause:
What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him?
O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason. Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me.
Thank you😘
I assure you, snow always melt.
Very nice
Awesome
Didn’t the Romans use cremation?
I wish the costuming wasn't so horrible. The population in Rome at the time of Caesar did not dress like 12th century European peasants.
thank you
The population in Rome at the time of the Shakespearean production dressed like 15th century European peasants.
corvus13 yeah, Shakespeare had no problem with anachronism, wasn't there a clock that rang out in the play Julius Caesar despite clocks not even having been invented yet?
they sure look like peasants hehe
@EnlightenedThinker1 actually it was Alexander the Great that spun popularity in shaving beards.
I had to learn this speech for drama class about one year ago, I don’t think I will ever be able to forget it again
I particularly failed in love with his modulating voice, his pitch at times goes down and up in rhythmic moves with his hands (Kinesis).
Great job Charlton Heston Mark Anthony.
The greatest speech of all time. This is an essential lesson for all Rhetoric trainers and inspired speakers.
''I believe that charlton Heston shows great leadership. and he even looks like a great barbarian. but what ever role he is playing it is great,and that is the true and great charlton heston.
The person is such an amazing actor !
Apart from the quality of the acting in se, which is superb in both Brando's and Heston's case, the true protagonist here is rhetorics, or public speaking if you want, whose power to persuade the people's hearts and deform reality are the weapons that Anthony plans to use to, ultimately, seize power. His grievance for Caesar's violent demise sounds sincere, but he is already thinking about his own future and political career. Are Caesar's assassins honorable men? Indeed they are nought. But Anthony is playing a double game here, and the Roman people easily fall in the trap. The people wants to be deceived, the Romans used to say: vulgus vult decipi.
The phrase is;
"Vulgus (Mundus) vult decipi, ergo decipiatur"
"The common people (world) wants to be decieved. And therefore they will be."
It's how Trump got elected.
But were they deceived, or were Brutus and Co. not so honorable after all? To me they were elitist patricians, Brutus himself being one of the biggest moneylenders in the entire empire.
@@imapseudonym1403 It's not how Trump got elected you buffoon. The establishment, which you obviously drool over, is how Trump got elected. And he'll be elected again with their antics over his term. I'll say this, with that phrase, is exactly how the establishment and their lemmings (you) are being played and deceived by Trump!
@@josephgibson5493 " The establishment"
The establishment does not vote. It requires voters, and plenty of them, both ill-educated and gullible, to put someone like trump in the white house.
@@imapseudonym1403 even today they are . Except it is easier to fool them .
The quiet of the crowd as he says "I come to bury Caesar not to praise him" has so much atmosphere its amazing they make me feel like part of the crowd
A film to be remembered lifetime. Charles Heston's acting is beyond comparison.
Heston delivering The player king's speech In Kenneth Brannagh's Hamlet was the first time I truly understood it's dramatic implication even though I had the privilege of performing in several professional productions of Hamlet
heston is so elegant. wonderful actor rip #41
I have to say, I loved the recent HBO "Rome" series, but was crestfallen they didn't show Mark Purefoy's Marc Antony give this speech. They just showed him finishing up, and everyone acknowledging it was a powerful oration.
I guess between Chuck Heston, Marlon Brando, Orson Welles', Richard Burton, and Laurence Olivier, those were some big (and well-worn) shoes to fill.
A great speech delivered by one of the greatest actors! Charles, how could you be so perfect!
Charlton Heston never failed to deliver in the big roles. It would have been interesting to see him play a small part, a character part. Surely one of my favourite actors. In a era of Kirk Douglas, Marlon Brando, Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck etc...these people could play huge roles.
Check out his speech in Wayne's World 2.
That was spectacularly well done. Thank you for posting this!
My god, is it real or just an acting, he made it so real, Real Mark Antony
A Coup d Etaite that failed because they forgot to shut dowm the tv station.
Tut! Were it further off, I'd shut it down!
This speech gives me chills!
'This was the most unkindest cut of all'
'I am no orator, as Brutus is', Oh yes you are, this is as great a speech as ever was.
I'm not saying that Heston was a better actor than Brando, but these were the types of roles that Heston was born to play. Brando was obviously a great actor, one of the greatest, but Heston was a better Mark Antony.
That debate will never end. i prefer chuck in this role but both were magnetic.
i have to agree, put Heston in a toga and he kicks ass.
I fear there will a worst come in his place.
Young Brando was the bulwark of the New York Method Acting School, and you can see his artistry in Waterfront and Streetcar. By the 70's, he had lost his passion for the craft, and he was carried in The Godfather by younger, hungrier actors. By the end, he had no f***s to give, and was actually a hindrance to his films, even refusing to learn his lines or blocking.
Throughout his entire career, Charlton Heston treated every role he took as if it was his first starring role, and every line as if it were the most important line in the film. He may not have had Brando's artistry, especially his early work, but he had a dedication and joy of the craft that Brando wouldn't deign to aspire to.
Brando in his biography said that his was unskilled to the role. Heston is much better than Brando. My opinion.
I think in 1950 Heston did this play live on TV. So it was at least his 2nd time around on the material (more maybe he did it in Summer Stock or college etc.)
a reason to love mark antony's speech :
sarcasm ! :D
meh, sarcasm is for the weak minded
More like irony
So says CastelDawn. And CastelDawn is a strong minded man
@@811chelseafc Indeed. What satire refutes, refutes satire. What labels weak that which the mind has missed, as a bird flies a clouded draped sky, at night now less. But Dawn will break before the parapet of the Castel, if honor be sarcasm.
@@CastelDawn "Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, but the highest form of intellect" Voltaire.
The man knows how to present a closing argument.
"And sure Brutus is an honourable man"
Next level of satarism!! 😂
" Here was a Caesar, When comes such Another"
NEVER !!!
Hopefully soon.
"I come not, friends, to steal away your hearts! I am no orator, as Brutus is, but as you know me all - a plain, blunt man that loved my friend (...) For I have neither wit nor words nor power of speech to stir men's blood, I only speak right on, I tell you that, which you yourselves do know."
Oh the old "I'm not a lying, manipulating politician with fancy words, I *only say it like it is!*"-schtick was recognized even in Shakespeare's day.
Except Mark Antony was actually an honest, and honorable man.
@@robertsmalls2293 That's debateable.
@@Rasbiff Not really, no. Not everything is debatable.
I stumbled across this a few days ago. I’m become slightly obsessed with this play and speech. It has inspired me to be better in my art. To learn more about Shakespeare and history. I haven’t acted in many years but I hope to one day portray this play on stage. I missed the impact of art.
Real nostalgia is repeating this knowing it wasn’t your role in high school yet somehow you can.
saw it in high school english. what a brilliant scene. heston rocks this so hard.
What a performance. I liked this 100x better than I do Marlon Brando's version
That's why I like about Shakespeare: you can have such a wide variety of subtle nuances in interpretation, that the same text feels very different depending on the artists.
mark antony! you did quite JUSTICE WITH CAESAR by AWARDING THESE BLOODY **HONOURABLE MEN!!**
Without a doubt Charlton Heston was one of the greatest actors of all time. 🎭🤔
I think it's so crazy that shakespeare performed plays for the poor and he knew enough about a historical story that happened over 1600 years before. How did he get this material? How did the common people know about an empire that fell over 1000 years before? It's just fascinating...
They read Plutarch
History isn't a modern thing. You'd be surprised how much of recorded history is recorded by people in ye olden times writing about previous events before their own time. One day our textbooks will serve as a cornerstone of some futuristic nations thousands of years from now
because the story of Rome was popular even in medieval times
An excellent performance.
what a showman..look at how he baits the crowd 'my heart lies there with caesar, i must pause...' Shakespeare knew his stuff.
Marcus Antonius/Mark Anthony really ate his spinach before delivering this speech to upstage Brutus.
The fact this speech wasnt in the show Rome is a great travesty, watching James deliver this speech would have been earth shattering.
I can't understand half of this dude's speech but I can feel the shit and I love it.
I would like to propose a hypothesis as to why, in the actual events that Shakespeare was dramatizing, the Roman crowd did, or seemed to do, a complete 180. There is no record of what Antony actually said (although some historians have suggested that maybe Appian's version is more or less accurate), but it has been recorded that the Roman crowd did go, or appear to go, from supporting Brutus, Cassius, and the other conspirators to supporting Antony, and, indeed, rioted and burned down the houses of the conspirators and forced them to flee the city. People have supposed, then, that Antony must have delivered an incredibly brilliant speech (the fact that no reliable record of it exists may have fueled this idea), but also that the Roman public, often derogated as a mob, was constantly shifting in its loyalties, without any thought or consideration; this event has always been exhibit A, if you will, for that portrayal of the Roman public. Certainly, Shakespeare interprets the Roman public that way, in this play and his other Roman plays; see, for example, the "You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things" speech at the beginning. I would like to suggest, though, that there was another reason why the Roman people did such a turnabout: after the assassination, they were afraid. The conspirators had just brutally murdered Caesar on the floor of the Senate and seemed now to be in full control of the city. No one knew where anyone else, except perhaps his closest friends and relatives, stood on the issue. Was the army, up to that point apparently loyal to Caesar, now on the side of the conspirators? If they weren't, why had they not acted to protect Caesar or avenge him? Why had Antony done nothing? People, then, tried to look like enthusiastic supporters of Brutus and Cassius not because they had genuinely turned against Caesar or because they genuinely supported the conspirators, but because they were afraid of them. Then Antony makes a pro-Caesar speech at the funeral. A few of the bravest souls shout their support, and then some more follow their example, and then everyone joins in once they realize that, in fact, there is widespread support for Caesar and widespread opposition to the conspirators. It wasn't that people changed their opinions, at least not their true opinions. It was that people realized it was safe to express and act on their true opinions. I can't prove any of this, of course, but I think it's interesting to consider.
Red Rackham You make an excellent point, drawn from real circumstances. Rome, a city and people that had gone through civil wars in which no one was safe to speak freely or openly associate with like-minded citizens, knew only too well the full cost of chaos and terror. They had witnessed the circulation of proscription lists and massacres by the score. We have only to imagine a scene of such turbulence in our own times, with the secret police moving through the crowd, denunciations rife, the government in uncertain hands, the military casting its long shadow over events, and the public in shock at a ruling class conspiracy that's just killed the head of state. And I think we can also add that Shakespeare and his audience were sufficiently familiar with these same elements through bloody contemporary conflicts around the English throne, popular unrest, religious conflict, deep factionalism and violent crackdowns by the forces of the state. Life was for many in England a precarious affair, and the history of the period is filled with episodes of betrayal, reversals of fortune, sudden shifts in popular sentiment. What strikes the casual observer as implausible, and even contemptible in the behaviour of Shakespeare's Roman mob, reflects the nature of life as it was being lived, in far from ideal conditions, by a populace trying to understand a series of rapidly unfolding, highly dangerous events. With the breakdown of constitutional order that began in the preceding century, the people have as their only political resource their identity as a mob, bound together by class interest and seeking the best possible deal from those in power. It's no wonder they vacillate. They're like an unarmed man seeking shelter on a battlefield, running one way and then another.
You gentle romans ~
the thing with shakespere is with every actor that plays brings their own nuances in their act for shakespere can be interpreted on many ways.
I remember my English teacher explaining to us when we read 'Julius Caesar' how Antony totally knew what he was doing under the smokescreen of grieving.
We used to memorize and present this speech in class when in high school.
Felt nostalgic though
1:16 this little moment fascinates me so much, the entire speech is a performance but on two levels. The actor Charlton Heston performing as Mark Antony, and the character of Mark Antony performing this riveting diatribe to rouse the mob to his own ends. But the line of “he was my friend, fair and just to me” is absent that performance, Heston is still acting but he drops the guise for a moment and the character of Antony speaks honestly, you can hear the pain of loss and genuine grief in those words.