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Becket

DVD Release

  • Release Date: 2007
  • Commentary with Peter O'Toole
  • Theatrical trailer
  • Still gallery
  • Interviews with editor Anne V. Coates and composer Laurence Rosenthal
  • Archival interviews with Richard Burton
  • TV spot

  • Rating: StarStarStarStar
  • Genre: Historical Film
  • Movie Type: Historical Epic, Biography
  • Themes: Faltering Friendships, Crowned Heads, Crisis of Conscience
  • Director: Peter Glenville
  • Main Cast: Richard Burton, Peter O'Toole, John Gielgud, Donald Wolfit, Martita Hunt
  • Release Year: 1964
  • Country: UK
  • Run Time: 148 minutes

Plot

A high-class costume drama with a substantive historical basis, Becket is the true story of the friendship between King Henry II (Peter O'Toole) and Thomas à Becket (Richard Burton), a royal courtier and confidant whom Henry appoints as Archbishop of Canterbury. As Becket takes his duties with the Church seriously, he finds himself increasingly at odds with the King, who finally orders the death of his once-close companion when he continues to defy the throne. Burton is very good and O'Toole is even better: both men were nominated for the Best Actor Oscar, while Edward Anhalt's screenplay, based on the stageplay by Jean Anouilh, won for Best Adapted Screenplay. The basic theme of separation of church and state still reverberates today, while the top-notch production values ensure Becket's place as one of Britain's better historical epics. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

Review

In 1964, Peter O'Toole and Richard Burton were the two biggest British film acting stars, and they were paired in an historical epic about the friendship between King Henry II (O'Toole) and Thomas à Becket (Burton). The film, directed flawlessly if staidly by Peter Glenville, was based on a bitterly sardonic stage play by Jean Anouilh. The movie is less edgy and features much talk and little action, even though its bloody climax was already well-known from history. Burton and O'Toole are great sparring partners, displaying tremendous acting talent. They and John Gielgud, who played French king Louis VII, were Oscar-nominated but didn't win; screenwriter Edward Anhalt won an Oscar for adapting the play. Becket emblematizes the serious, stagey historical dramas of the 1950s and 1960s. Glenville's short directing career would end a few years later. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

Cast


Pamela Brown - Queen Eleanor; Gino Cervi - Cardinal Zambelli; Paolo Stoppa - Pope Alexander III; David Weston - Brother John; Felix Aylmer - Archbishop of Canterbury; Inigo Jackson - Duke of Leicester; Sian Phillips - Gwendolen; Veronique Vendell - Pretty French Girl; Gerald Lawson - English Peasant; Jennifer Hilary - Peasant's Daughter; Riggs O'Hara - Prince Henry; John Phillips - Bishop of Winchester; Frank Pettingell - Bishop of York; Hamilton Dyce - Bishop of Chichester; Linda Marlowe - Farmer's Daughter; Geoffrey Bayldon - Brother Philip; Graham Stark - Pope's Secretary; Victor Spinetti - French Tailor; Niall MacGinnis - Baron; Percy Herbert - Baron; Christopher Rhodes - Baron; Peter Jeffrey - Baron; Patrick Newell - William of Corbeil; Edward Woodward - Clement

Credit

Edward Anhalt - Screenwriter; Jean Anouilh - Screenwriter; Jean Anouilh - Play Author; John Bryan - Production Designer; Maurice Carter - Production Designer; Anne V. Coates - Editor; Margaret Furse - Costume Designer; Peter Glenville - Director; Laurence Rosenthal - Composer (Music Score); Geoffrey Unsworth - Cinematographer; Hal B. Wallis - Producer

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Wikipedia: Becket (film)


Becket
Becket_Poster.jpeg
Original film poster
Directed by Peter Glenville
Produced by Hal B. Wallis
Written by Edward Anhalt
Jean Anouilh (play)
Starring Richard Burton
Peter O'Toole
John Gielgud
Donald Wolfit
Martita Hunt
Pamela Brown
Siân Phillips
Music by Laurence Rosenthal
Cinematography Geoffrey Unsworth
Editing by Anne V. Coates
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date(s) Flag of the United States 11 March 1964
Running time 148 min
Country Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom
Language English
Budget US $3,000,000 (estimated)
IMDb profile

Becket is a 1964 film adaptation of the play Becket or the Honour of God by Jean Anouilh made by Hal Wallis Productions and released by Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Peter Glenville and produced by Hal B. Wallis with Joseph H. Hazen as executive producer. The screenplay was written by Edward Anhalt based on Anouilh's play. The music score was by Laurence Rosenthal, the cinematography by Geoffrey Unsworth and the editing by Anne V. Coates.

The film stars Richard Burton as Becket and Peter O'Toole as King Henry II with John Gielgud, Donald Wolfit, Martita Hunt, Pamela Brown, Siân Phillips, Felix Aylmer, Gino Cervi, Paolo Stoppa, David Weston, and Wilfrid Lawson.

Newly restored prints of Becket are being re-released in 30 theaters in the U.S. in early 2007, following an extensive restoration from the film's YCM separation protection masters. The film was released on DVD in May, 2007. The new film prints carry a Dolby Digital soundtrack.

Background and production

The original French play on which the film is based was given its first performance in Paris in 1959. It opened on Broadway with Laurence Olivier as Becket and Anthony Quinn as King Henry II in a production directed by Peter Glenville, who later went on to direct the film version. The play opened in London in a production by Peter Hall with Eric Porter and Christopher Plummer.

The film was made at Shepperton Studios, England and on location at Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle and Bamburgh Beach in Northumberland.

Peter O'Toole went on to play Henry II once more in The Lion in Winter (1968) with Katharine Hepburn as Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine. Siân Phillips, who plays Gwendolen, was Peter O'Toole's wife at the time of filming.

The film enjoyed great popularity because of a stellar cast expertly directed and filmed with superb dialogue. Without being overly pedantic, the story line effectively monitors the transformation of Thomas Becket (a Saxon protege and facilitator to the carousing Norman king, Henry) from an opportunistic libertine into a truly religious Prince of the Church who, in spite of himself, begins to be guided by honor, dignity and a new found sense of faith and duty. He does so to the great chagrin and ire of King Henry, who elevated Becket to Archbishop of Canterbury in order to have a close confidante in this position that he could completely control. Instead, Becket becomes a major thorn in his side in a jurisdictional dispute. Much of the plot concerns Henry, the "perennial adolescent" as described by the Bishop of London, who finds his duties as king and his stale arranged marriage to be oppressive. Early in the film, we see him escaping them through drunken forays onto the hunting grounds and local brothels. He is increasingly dependent on Becket, a Saxon commoner, who arranges these debaucheries when he is not busy running Henry's court. This foments great resentment on the part of Henry's Norman noblemen, who distrust and envy this Saxon upstart, as well as the queen and queen mother, who see Becket as an unnatural and unseemly influence upon the royal personage.

Henry finds himself in continuous conflict with the elderly Archbishop of Canterbury, who opposes the taxation of Church property in order to support Henry's military campaigns in France ("Bishop, I must hire the Swiss Guards to fight for me - and no one has ever paid them off with good wishes and prayer!"). During one of his campaigns in coastal France, he receives word that the old bishop has "gone to God's bosom". In a burst of inspiration, Henry exercises his prerogative to pick the next Archbishop and informs an astonished Becket that he is the royal choice.

Shortly thereafter, Becket sides with the Church, throwing Henry into a fury. One of the main bones of contention is when Thomas excommunicates Lord Gilbert, one of Henry's most loyal stalwarts, for seizing and inadvertently killing a priest who had been accused of sexual indiscretions with a young girl. Gilbert then refuses to acknowledge his transgressions and seek absolution.

The King has a dramatic secret meeting with the Bishop of London in his cathedral ("I have the Archbishop on my stomach, a big hard lump"). He lays out his plan to remove the troublesome cleric through scandal and innuendo which the position-conscious Bishop of London quickly agrees to (thus furthering Henry's already deep contempt for church higher ups). These attempts fall flat when Becket, in full ecclesiastic garb, confronts his accusers outside the rectory and routes them causing Henry to laugh and bitterly note the irony of it all, "Becket is the only intelligent man in my entire kingdom...and he is against me!" Becket escapes to France where he encounters the conniving King Louis (played to the max by the great John Gielgud). King Louis sees in Becket a means by which he can further his favorite pastime, tormenting the arrogant English. Becket gets to Rome, where he begs the Holy Pontiff to allow him to renounce his position and retire to a monastery as an ordinary priest. The Vatican is a hotbed of intrigue and political jockeying. The Pope reminds Becket that he has an obligation as a matter of principle to return to England and take a stand against civil interference in Church matters. Becket yields to this decision and asks Louis to arrange a meeting with Henry on the beaches at Normandy. A shaky truce is declared and Becket is allowed to return to England.

The remainder of the film shows Henry rapidly sinking into drunken fixation over Becket and his perceived betrayal. The barons worsen his mood by pointing out that Becket has become a folk hero among the vanquished Saxons who are ever restive and resentful of their Norman conquerors. There are comical fights between Henry and his frumpy consort, Eleanor of Aquitaine, his dimwitted son/heir apparent, and his cold-blooded mother, who repeatedly reminds her son that his father would have quickly had someone like Becket done away with for the sake of the realm. During one of his drunken rages he shouts out, "Can no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?" His faithful barons hear this and proceed quickly to Canterbury, where they put Thomas and his Saxon deputy, Brother John, to the sword. A badly shaken Henry then undergoes a penance by whipping at the hands of Saxon monks.

The film concludes with Henry publicly proclaiming Thomas Becket a saint and that the ones who had killed him will be justly punished.

Awards and nominations

The film received 12 Academy Award nominations, including Best Actor for both Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole and Best Supporting Actor for John Gielgud. It won the Best Screenplay Award for Edward Anhalt.

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