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 the film three-and-a-half stars out of four and wrote that the film "is almost aggressive in its cool detachment. It defies us to care, it forces us to remain detached about its stately elegance." He added, "This must be one of the most beautiful films ever made." Vincent Canby of "The New York Times" called the film "another fascinating challenge from one of our most remarkable, independent-minded directors." Gene Siskel of the "Chicago Tribune" gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four and wrote, "I found 'Barry Lyndon' to be quite obvious about its intentions and thoroughly successful in achieving