Macbeth (1971)

"Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" - but the bodies keep piling up today, from the opening battle, to the beheading of the traitor Cawdor, to the - onscreen - murder of Duncan, to the electrifying final duel to the death (at each clash of metal on metal, and flesh on stone wall, Polanski cut a single frame of film, making the impact almost palpable). His first work after the Manson massacre of his wife and friends, Polanski's graphic adaptation of Shakespeare's tragedy of ambition, as Jon Finch's Scottish laird decides to take those witches' advice and go for the crown, was almost inevitably overshadowed at the time by the horrific parallels, but can now be seen as a striking new interpretation and one of the great film adaptations of the Bard. Produced by Hugh Hefner's Playboy Productions, with screenplay by Polanski and legendary critic/Oh Calcutta! author Kenneth Tynan, its nudity and violence earned it an X rating. With Francesca Annis, later the mother in Du! ne, as Lady Macbeth.