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I enjoy Alfred Newman's score to this film, on the Ryko 3 disc set. I was thinking about renting it from Netflix even though it's not available on Blu-ray, just DVD. Wondering just how awful the film (may) be, as I've heard stories. And then there's George Steven's Blonde, Blue-eyed Jesus portrayed by Max von Sydow, who I'm sure must look ridiculous? Is the film a total slog-fest?
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If you're okay with schlocky (too long) films with staggeringly great scores, you should definitely check it out.
I actually liked it better than the Passion (the violence gets too cartoony after awhile imo), King of Kings (though the latter has some excellent highlights).
Not as good as Jesus of Nazareth.
Also, if you would like to see a Bible movie where they spend extra time getting the actual quotes in, this is for you.
I have to warn you: I'm a Christian so please take this with the standard grain of salt +
GSET 6.5 out of 10
KoK 5.5
JoN 9
Passion 6
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Actually, there is a staggeringly brilliant sequence in the film where the camera is ploughing through the Jerusalem market. It goes almost silent and all you see is the squalor amidst the selling - I mean, everything is happening right there in front of you. It just makes this gigantic poetic statement as it goes along. You couldn't top that scene if you tried.
I agree.
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Posted: |
May 11, 2018 - 11:47 AM
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By: |
Graham Watt
(Member)
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Talk about a loaded question! The film is slow-moving and often lacking in dramatic urgency, especially toward the end, when U.A. pulled the plug. It is also, thoughtful, reverent, and a frequent delight to eye and ear.
You make it sound even better than it actually is, Rozsaphile! All the ingredients I want, with the exception - perhaps - of "lacking in dramatic urgency"... although, come to think of it, I do get a bit fed up with a surfeit of dramatic urgency.
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The Hallelullah at the end was a big bummer for me and dragged the whole movie down a star. I think Alfred was right to freak out over it; he'd already written something for that that fit the rest of the score and film, and the Handel totally sabotaged the overall feel of the film. All my opinion.
To be completely honest, I'd rather hear Alfred's score rather than ANYthing by Handel.
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Definitely not as bad as some people make it out to be, though the sluggish pace does cause some issues, and the butchering of Newman's score did not help. Granted I've never seen the premiere version, though it's certainly a good movie.
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The Hallelullah at the end was a big bummer for me and dragged the whole movie down a star. I think Alfred was right to freak out over it; he'd already written something for that that fit the rest of the score and film, and the Handel totally sabotaged the overall feel of the film. All my opinion.
To be completely honest, I'd rather hear Alfred's score rather than ANYthing by Handel.
It is a good film, one which I think is easily underrated because it was enormously expensive (so there were high, high expectations) and filled with lots and lots of cameos and big name actors, which is less distracting today as many modern audience members would not know who many of these people were.
It is also the movie with the most spot on John the Baptist (Charlton Heston).
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Posted: |
May 11, 2018 - 6:51 PM
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By: |
gsteven
(Member)
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While often visually stunning (see it on the largest screen you can), the use of literal scripture quotes in the script becomes tiresome. Other moments--Shelley Winter's "I'm cured!" and all the cameos, the doltish character of James of Younger, the aged Virgin Mary, the crude studio set for the end of The Slaughter of the Innocents (what's with the close up of the doorway at the end of the scene, leading to...nothing?), the "sound montages" that don't jive with the visual imagery (yes, the market scene), even the dreary and oppressive Roman architecture set design (I think Romans a little had more style that this, but perhaps this is an aesthetic point), the agile young Uriah and the infirm Old Aram reaching the gates of the temple complex AT THE SAME TIME--disappoint. Newman's music alone (compromised as it is) is the film's greatest attribute.
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I actually liked it better than the Passion (the violence gets too cartoony after awhile imo), King of Kings (though the latter has some excellent highlights).
Not as good as Jesus of Nazareth.
For years, I avoided Mel Gibson's THE PASSION because I'm not nuts about seeing somebody tortured to death, so I just saw it this year. I found it to be deeply engrossing and a powerful movie. But not an easy watch, it is quite violent.
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