Barry Lyndon Barry Lyndon Barry Lyndon is a 1975 British-American period drama film by Stanley Kubrick, based on the 1844 novel "The Luck of Barry Lyndon" by William Makepeace Thackeray. It stars Ryan O'Neal, Marisa Berenson, Patrick Magee, Leonard Rossiter and Hardy Krüger. The film recounts the early exploits and later unraveling of a fictional 18th-century Irish rogue and opportunist who marries a rich widow to climb the social ladder and assume her late husband's aristocratic position. Kubrick began production on Barry Lyndon, after his 1971 film, A Clockwork Orange. Kubrick had originally intended to direct a biopic on Napoleon, but lost
Barry Lyndon at a three-hour slide show for art-history majors." This "air of disappointment" factored into Kubrick's decision for his next film – Stephen King's "The Shining" – a project that would not only please him artistically, but also be more likely to succeed financially. In recent years, the film has gained a more positive reaction. it holds a 94% "Certified Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 64 reviews, nine of which are from the site's "top critics." Roger Ebert added the film to his 'Great Movies' list on 9 September 2009, writing, "Stanley Kubrick's 'Barry Lyndon,' received indifferently in 1975,