Must See Movie...

Best movie of this year hands down!

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Becket (1964) 7/10 Was pleasantly surprised by this lesser known biographical fiction. Synopsis made it seem extremely boring. Procrastinated on seeing it, regret that now. At 2.5 hours, it is noteworthy that I felt like it ended too soon. Obvious that Peter O'Toole started in theater, he overacts, his voice level is a tad higher than all the other characters, and it seems like he is yelling all the time. Not sure I liked that; this is not to say his performance was necessarily inferior, but that it was better suited for the stage. Director did take liberties with historical facts, the most prominent one being that Becket was not even a Saxon, but a Norman. This was actually quite a significant detail in the film, referenced more than once. The writer of the play that this film is based on did figure that out, but decided to leave it in because it made for a better story. Well, of course it does, but it also makes for a more historically inaccurate one. This is regrettable, for I feel as if it could have been as good with the facts accurate. Two phenomenal actors. Two phenomenal characters. They do not try to outshine each other, but Richard Burton easily wins this one. A man at first uncertain and then a little ambiguous with his loyalties, with a tendency to convince everyone, himself included, that he does not care about anyone or anything. His acting was such that I could see him as an ideal King. The supporting performances were all on point, although I do wish there was some more character exploration and explanation on various relationships that were merely touched upon, such as Henry & his mother Matilda, Henry & his wife Eleanor, Henry & his son Henry III, Becket & Lady Gwendolen, whom he obviously has feelings for. The relationship between King Henry II & Becket is mostly seen as platonic, but Henry does use the word "love" a few times. Because of censors at the time of the filming (homosexuality was still illegal), little more was shown. This is a disappointment. "Yes, I loved him. And I still do... I am as useless as a woman. So long as he is alive I tremble, I shake. I am the king, yet I shake. Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?... My heart!" #FilmReview

Not everyone likes this film, especially not today, for its overburdened architecture of artificial stylishness, which conveys very little realism from the middle ages, i.e. the 12th century. Others find this to be the very most prominent asset of the film: the towering stylishness, like a Gothic cathedral, and very much of the action is indeed within the cathedral, the Gothic heaviness and solemnity actually recalling the splendour of Eisenstein's 'Ivan the Terrible'.The real flaw of the film is actually something completely different, and that's not the fault of the film. It is based on Jean Anouilh's play, and Jean Anouilh unfortunately succeeded in ruining many great stories and dramas by adjusting them to his own preferences. His 'Anna Karenina' for example in Julien Duvivier's version with Vivien Leigh is a disaster, turning Tolstoy's great novel into a Zola-kind of naturalistic sordidness concentrating on negative destruction only. Here Anouilh's dramatization departs from reality, almost disfiguring the drama by sensationalization. On the other hand, many writers have dramatized this murder in the cathedral, among others Tennyson and T.S.Eliot, and they have all failed to hit at the truth. In this version at least the true relationship between Henry and Becket and its tragedy is near enough to be convincing.What saves the film is the splendid acting, above all by Peter O'Toole, seconded by Richard Burton, but also by Donald Wolfit as the angry bishop and the ladies Pamela Brown and Martita Hunt, wife and mother. This is filmed theatre at its very best, and to this comes the splendid staging with glowing impressive colour all the way, leading up to the glorious finale of their last meeting on horseback on the shores of France.It's a splendid film in spite of its overburdened insistence on being overdone, I saw it now for the third time, and it is better than ever.

something magic defines Becket. the source is not the acting, the music, the costumes, atmosphere. but the silence. it does force to the fight for honor, to loyalty, to the friendship and to the final word of king. it is the heart of tension and the drawing of lead characters. Richard Burton does one of his memorable roles. but his role is like a coat for two. his Thomas Becket is great, convincing, touching, profound, vulnerable and profound human for the science of Peter O ' Toole to discover his Henri II as the runner to his precise destiny. it seems be the film of two great actors and that is its high virtue. but its status of memorable movie has deeper roots. because it becomes more than a remarkable play adaptation and sustain a generous message in brilliant manner. story of power and faith, it is good support of reflection about politics and its necessary limits.

. . . Richard Burton seems to be lamenting as title character Saint Thomas BECKET. But his producer Hal Wallis' insistence of substituting prayer for action whenever possible (since "talk is cheap") made BECKET's potentially epic story more like the lame "Best Picture" of 1963, TOM JONES, than the grand Best Pic of 1962, which had Burton's BECKET co-star Peter O'Toole in the title role as LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. Where LAWRENCE featured lots of young blood and eye candy, Wallis drowned Burton in a sea of old and\or ill-favored actors, making BECKET more of an EXCALIBER or Polanski MACBETH-type show than true competition for Audrey Hepburn's "Best Picture" triumph of 1964, MY FAIR LADY. The fact that BECKET's low-budget talk fest STILL managed to snag 12 Oscar Noms proves that the penny-pinching Wallis snagged defeat from the jaws of victory in regard to Hollywood's top prize. If Prince Hal had just hired a sword-master, he could have had ill-fated Brother John parry a thrust or two of the baron's with the silver cross before being Shish-Kabobbed. Viewers get the sense that most of BECKET's "action" is occurring off-screen. Oscar voters and the American public preferred to see Audrey lip-syncing.