By Robert Willmann
Back when putting together a movie was an attempt to create art rather than using a cookie cutter to make one, the film Jesus of Nazareth appeared as a production from Britain, directed by Franco Zeffirelli. A group of real actors and actresses starred in the movie, names that were not together in any other film: Robert Powell (as Jesus), Laurence Olivier, Ernest Borgnine, Anne Bancroft, James Earl Jones, Claudia Cardinale, James Farentino, Stacy Keach, Donald Pleasence, Christopher Plummer, James Mason, Anthony Quinn, Fernando Rey, Rod Steiger, Peter Ustinov, and others. For a group like this to be in one production was unheard of, before it was made, or since. Watching them perform doubles the effect of the story.
Six hours long, the movie also appeared as a four-part series. Here is a citation to watch the entire film.
http://rumble.com/v4m3u35-jesus-of-nazareth-full-movie-hd-english.html
Anthony Burgess did some of the scripts. That film is a long long distance from Clockwork Orange.
R.I.P. Pope Francis, not unexpected … but an appropriate date at which the pilgrim was taken off the stage, it feels:
https://tinyurl.com/pilgrim-of-the-cross
Wonder what our religious culture warriors think about the coincidence. Belatedly, a Happy Easter or better Easter Monday to all the pilgrims.
Robert Willman,
Thanks for posting this. I will make time over the week to watch it.
Thank you, Mr. Willmann. I have not seen this all the way through and I should revisit it.
Pasolini’s “The Gospel According to St. Matthew” is a classic and rightfully so.
1961’s “King of Kings,” mocked as “I Was a Teenage Jesus” because it featured another vividly blue-eyed Redeemer, Jeffrey Hunter, is actually not so bad, with distinctive visuals and a fine score by Miklós Rózsa.
For Hollywood camp there’s always “The Robe” (“We gotta find out where He holes up a night.”)
I hope everyone had a pleasant Easter Sunday.