The Greatest Story Ever Told

The Greatest Story Ever Told(480P)

The Greatest Story Ever Told (Bio-Drama 1965) Max von Sydow, Dorothy McGuire, Charlton Heston & John Wayne

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Saw the cut-down version of this recently on cable, letterboxed (the only way to go!). For all the bad press it evidently got in its day, I found the color cinematography dazzling, the compositions wonderful (as we'd expect from the director of Shane and Giant), and the performances ... not too bad at all, for the most part. Many if not most of celebs who did cameos are no longer household names (or faces), so they're less jarring than they must have been in the 60s (the groaning exception, of course, being John Wayne as the Centurion). Von Sydow is fine if a bit stiff, Heston as the Baptist is a bit too stiff, Jose Ferrer is wonderful (did his son Miguel study dad's performance as Herod Antipas for his role in Traffic?), and so are most of the other key parts. If Scorcese's Last Temptation of Christ comes off as less an art film and more as another corny Hollywood biblical epic, Stevens' film comes off less as the latter and more as the former, given that one's expectations are for corn, not art. (Is that clear?) I've said previously that Scorcese's film was basically a ripoff of Pasolini's wonderful Gospel According St Matthew, and I still think that's the case so far as the basic treatment goes, but I now think that visually, as a wide-screen color film, it rips off Stevens. Greatest Story is the first Christ movie (and probably the first biblical epic) where the director obviously understood that the physical setting could be a very important part of the story - the sparse, barren landscape that people could disappear into and come back having seen visions, etc. Scorcese seems to have picked up on this too, but his visual sense isn't a jot on Stevens', for sure. I do agree that the story drags, and the whole thing is probably overlong. I was also disappointed that Stevens does so little with the final temptation and betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane. I've always felt this is the dramatic climax of the whole story - the final point of no return for Jesus - and oddly, the recent TV miniseries version, with Jeroen Krabbe as a fun modern-dress Satan, is the only one that's really grasped this, I think. Maybe some of this is among the stuff that didn't survive from the 260-minute version? Overall, I'd heartily urge George Stevens Jr., who's done such a good job of preserving his father's legacy, to consider restoring this one and letting us see it on the big screen again. It's a feast.

Some of the most powerful and overwhelming scenes ever filmed are in this George Stevens' production. I saw this film in its original roadshow engagement at the Music Hall Cinerama in Detroit Michigan in 1965. It was a truly memorable experience for me, as well as my friends who attended with me. The Lazarus sequence, prior to the Intermission, stills pacts a powerful punch. Several years later I 'witnessed' the 'shortened' version of this epic - and am still stunned as to why this was allowed to happen. The flow of the film was destroyed - e.g. the Wisemen appeared 'quickly' and then disappeared for some unexplained reason (even though we know why). How shameful for United Artists to do this. GSET is a magnificent telling of the story of Christ. Stevens created a true masterpiece. Having seen it numerous times over the ensuing years, it stills holds a special place in my heart - and helped to launch my 'love of the movies' as a teenager. Bravo George Stevens!

The new testament has so much about Jesus what does one include, and exclude? How long can you make such a film? My wife was taking her Catechism, and I rented a few film's about the Lord in order for her too understand the Bible better. She likes this film, but not as much as the 77 version. This film is inspiring for any Christian, and gives a message of hope for all of mankind. I love the casting, especially John Wayne as the centurion. Charalton Heston plays his best role, as John the Bapatist. Repent! He plays the crazy with passion John better than anyone else. Worth renting around Christmas to remember what the season truly is about. 7/10

C'mon, folks! - Let's get real - (Whether you are a devoted Christian, or a confirmed atheist, or whatever) - We all know this one's story far too well to be at all surprised with anything that we are going to be shown here. It's true. Now 52 years old (and creaking pretty badly) - This carefully staged biblical-drama (with its $20 million budget) not only took itself way too seriously (like, isn't there any room in Christianity for any humour?) - But, its final product (and its unendurable 3.5-hour running time) certainly left a whole lot to be desired, from my perspective. When it comes to overall entertainment-value - If I were given my choice of religious-themed movies - I'd certainly take Monty Python's parody "The Life Of Brian" over this laughably pretentious, self-righteous schlock any day.

This is a very bad movie. Not bad like an Ed Wood epic but just plain bad and tedious. Terrible acting by all concerned, snail-like pacing, heavy handed intrusive musical score and a ridiculous script. I find it hard to believe that contemporary audiences sat through four hours of this dreadful bilge. Christianity would not exist today were Jesus the boring lox portrayed here.

After making his outstanding A PLACE IN THE SUN, Stevens boasted he could take a B-western, film it with quality, and turn it into a classic. The outcome was SHANE, which of course was not a B-western to begin with, but... How sad that George Stevens would take the life of Jesus Christ, lavish high production standards on filming it, and turn it into possibly the most boring big production ever made. Every aspect of this dreadful film misfired. Max Von Sydow was such a fine actor, but his portrayal of Jesus was so flat that had Jesus actually been the pathetic sad sack portrayed herein, we would have no Christian faith today. Underlining the mess was Stevens idea to overload his cast with big stars playing puny roles. The worst example is one of my favorites, John Wayne, herein playing a Centurian during the Crucifixion. This was supposed to be a solumn moment, but there we have John Wayne looking foolish and silly in his Centurian costume, scouling as if to say, What am I doing here? John Wayne's role lasted under 60 seconds, but it provided the movie with the right to use the name of Hollywood's all time biggest star. That is crass. This awful film played off Jesus like Pharisees, asking staggering advanced prices for reserved seat showings, knowing full well the project was virtually critic-proof. What critic would condemn the life of Christ. Good grief, I don't myself feel quite right in telling it here, like it is.

Anyone who's read any of my reviews of most musicals and/or epics will most likely know that I only watch them so that I can trash-talk them a la "Mystery Science Theater 3000". "The Greatest Story Ever Told" would be perfect fodder for that show. Among my heckling remarks were: "Son, when you reign..." - "...you'll pour." "All the tribes on the earth..." - "...she had to come to mine." "Hosanna!" - "Oh, Hosanna, don't you cry for me! We got a new religion and it's gonna set us free!" Sorry if I offend religious people, but having been raised without religion, I take none seriously (Bill Maher's documentary "Religulous" pretty much displays my opinion of organized religion, although I think that Maher could have done better). As for the characters. First off, it makes no sense to cast white people like Max von Sydow and Claude Rains as biblical figures. The stories took place in the Middle East, so they should have all been at least swarthy; Sidney Poitier, Jamie Farr and Michael Ansara (Barbara Eden's then-husband) were the only cast members who looked accurate. Apparently, when someone asked George Stevens why he cast so many top stars - among them Carroll Baker, Pat Boone, Angela Lansbury, Roddy McDowall, Dorothy McGuire and John Wayne - in small roles, Stevens asserted that in later years people wouldn't know who these actors/actresses are and would judge the whole movie on its merits. Well, I know who most of these people are/were. One of the things that I judge is that the movie comes across as a lead weight. And that Charlton Heston turns John the Baptist into a real wise guy, and that it's hard to watch Telly Savalas as Pontius Pilate and not think of Savalas's other roles. In my opinion, the important thing to understand about Jesus is that he was basically a revolutionary. Judea was a hierarchical society with the colonizing Romans collaborating with the king and the religious institution, and then along comes this carpenter who starts speaking for the masses. The fact that people wanted to free murderer Barrabas goes to show that in a frenzied-up society, a revolutionary is considered more dangerous than a murderer. I actually didn't learn the story of Jesus until my parents and I went to Paris when I was ten. Going to the museums and seeing the paintings depicting biblical scenes, my mom decided that she'd better explain to me what the story was. For the record, by the age of five, I could identify the people behind the Bugs Bunny cartoons (Mel Blanc, Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, etc). Long story short, I don't recommend this movie, unless it's for a film class. Also starring Michael Anderson, Joanna Dunham, Van Heflin, Martin Landau, David McCallum, Donald Pleasance and Shelley Winters.