As secular as Hollywood is, the entertainment industry recognizes the dramatic impact, and box office lure, of Jesus' tale. TIME scanned a century of Messiah movies.
What It’s a Wonderful Life is to Christmas, and Yankee Doodle Dandy to Independence Day, this 6hr. 26min. Franco Zeffirelli miniseries is to Easter: definitive TV entertainment for a holiday, or holy day. Anthony Burgess’ script is the fullest standard text, from which more extravagant versions like Pasolini’s, Martin Scorsese’s and Mel Gibson’s are encouraged to meander freely. In Robert Powell, Zeffirelli found the Jesus of a million dining-room icons: agate-blue eyes, cheeks that didn’t need to be sucked in for that dishy ascetic look, a strength to match the facial sensitivity. Supporting him are stars of varying aptness: Laurence Olivier rolling his eyes as Nicodemus, Rod Steiger spuming as Pilate. Olivia Hussey (Juliet in Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet) plays Jesus’ mother and the much older Anne Bancroft plays Magdalene; the casting director must have mixed up the two Marys.
In the scourging scene, the lashes snap and sting; the soldiers wind up for their work like Olympic discus throwers. There’s no earthquake at Jesus’ death, only rain. Zeffirelli suggests that the response to a Savior’s death would be the tears of angels, not the rumblings of subterranean spirits.
This revisioning of the Gospels by the immortal British comedy sextet was greeted by howls of Catholic protest — or, as Hollywood calls it, free publicity. In the Python reading, Brian (Graham Chapman) is an ordinary Israelite who is mistaken for Jesus and crucified. The climax is a mob scene: 139 people are to be crossed up, and this perpendicular Golgotha gang displays all manner of traditional English class snobbery, transported to Palestine. Eric Idle has a few good bits as a series of incorrigibly sunny prisoners. “See,” he tells Brian as their crosses are planted, “not so bad when you’re up.” Idle tops this with the immortal, blithely idiotic music-hall cheerer-upper, “The Bright Side of Life,” making Life of Brian that rare Crucifixion movie you could hum your way home from. Words to live and die by:
Life’s a piece of s—t
When you look at it.
Life’s a laugh and death’s a joke, it’s true.
You’ll see it’s all a show.
Keep ‘em laughing as you go.
Just remember that the last laugh is on you
And always look on the bright side of life.
Always look on the right side of life.
Richard Dawson, the wisecracking British entertainer who was among the schemers in the 1960s sitcom “Hogan’s Heroes” and a decade later began kissing thousands of female contestants as host of the game show “Family Feud” has died. He was 79.
As we prepare for the Game of Thrones finale, we recognize Joffrey and nine other baddies who showed us that terrible, horrible things can come in small packages
