Richard III (1995) on Netflix
After a civil war, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, helps his brother Edward take England's throne. Richard wants the crown and moves against his brother George, Duke of Clarence.
- Netflix4.2/5
- IMDb7.3/1016,477 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes96%
Trailer
Plot summary
In a Britain of the late 1930s, the Yorkist field marshal Richard, Duke of Gloucester, ends a civil war by assassinating Henry, the Lancastrian king, and Prince Edward, his son. Richard's elder brother Edward takes the throne. Richard, whose arm is withered, wants the crown for himself. He sets King Edward against their other brother, George, Duke of Clarence, who is imprisoned under a sentence of death. Richard also deceives Lady Anne Neville, the widow of Prince Edward, and marries her. Queen Elizabeth, the king's wife, pleads for George's life.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Richard III (1995)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- A T-34 tank from the film, originally in service with the Czech army, was sold after filming and installed by its new owner on a plot of land in Bermondsey, London, at the corner of Mandela Way and Page's Walk. Nicknamed "Stompie", it was regularly repainted by graffiti artists until it was removed in 2022.
- Richard Loncraine recalled that Robert Downey Jr., who played Rivers, was "in a pretty bad way" while the film was being made: well-mannered but "not always quite with us", though his performance did not suffer.
- Rather than aiming for accuracy to the play, Richard Loncraine chose locations for their modernist architecture, using the exterior of Bankside Power Station to portray the Tower of London.
- Ian McKellen cast Robert Downey Jr. as Rivers after enjoying working with him on the film Restoration earlier the same year.
- The 1930s-style swing song "Come Live with Me", performed by Stacey Kent at the ball celebrating Edward IV's triumph, is an original Trevor Jones composition whose lyrics were adapted from Christopher Marlowe's poem "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love", written a century after the events depicted.
- Ian McKellen portrayed the Woodvilles as Americans, alluding to Edward VIII's marriage to Wallis Simpson, and showed Richard's largely ahistorical deformities as a withered arm evoking German Kaiser Wilhelm II's Erb's palsy.
