{"id":202,"date":"2007-02-24T13:46:27","date_gmt":"2007-02-24T17:46:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/?p=202"},"modified":"2009-09-10T22:10:46","modified_gmt":"2009-09-11T02:10:46","slug":"becket-1964-movie-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/?p=202","title":{"rendered":"Becket (1964) &#8211; Movie Review"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_203\" style=\"width: 470px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-203\" class=\"size-full wp-image-203\" title=\"becket\" src=\"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/becket.jpg\" alt=\"Bosom buddies: Peter O'Toole and Richard Burton galavant together in the lavish &quot;Becket&quot;\" width=\"460\" height=\"276\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/becket.jpg 460w, https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/becket-300x180.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 460px) 100vw, 460px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-203\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bosom buddies: Peter O&#39;Toole and Richard Burton galavant together in the lavish &quot;Becket&quot;<\/p><\/div>\n<h1><em><span style=\"color: #003300;\">Dictum Meum Pactum<\/span><\/em><\/h1>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">[xrr rating=4.5\/5]<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-style: normal;\"><strong><em>Becket<\/em>.<\/strong><\/span><\/em><strong> Starring Richard Burton, Peter O\u2019Toole, John Gielgud, Donald Wolfit, Martita Hunt, Pamela Brown, Si\u00e2n Phillips, Felix Aylmer, Gino Servi, and Paolo Stoppa. Music by Laurence Rosenthal. Cinematography by Geoffrey Unsworth, B.S.C. Edited by Anne V. Coates, A.C.E. Screenplay by Edward Anhalt, based on the play by Jean Anouilh. Directed by Peter Glenville. (A Paramount Release of a Hal Wallis Production, 1964. Re-released by MPI Media Group\/Slowhand Cinema Releasing, 2007. Color, 148 minutes. MPAA Rating: Not Rated.)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Say what you want about Martin Scorsese, auteur of the dark anti-hero aesthetic: The man\u2019s clearly <em>in love<\/em> with Hollywood\u2019s Golden Age. He\u2019s put himself on the line almost two decades helming the Film Foundation, bringing public attention to the need for film preservation. Without their efforts, such masterworks as <em>Lawrence of Arabia, How Green Was My Valley, On the Waterfront <\/em>and<em> Rear Window<\/em> might have been lost to movie audiences forever. Now, thanks to them and Academy Film Archive director Michael Pogorzelski\u2019s painstaking restoration, the 1964 Romantic classic <em>Becket<\/em> has been re-released in all its pomp, pageantry, and Technicolor glory.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Fresh off his brilliant turn in <em>Lawrence of Arabia,<\/em> Peter O\u2019Toole gives a bombastic, explosive performance as hated Norman King of England, Henry II. Legendary Welsh actor Richard Burton plays his enforcer, Thomas \u00e0 Becket, with cool-headed erudition in one of his finest screen roles.<\/p>\n<p>Whether looting among the Saxons, taking liberties with wenches, or even having his wife taken from him by Henry, Becket\u2019s a loyal pal and reliable stooge. Then, one day, trying to pull one over on the pesky clergy, Henry devises a brilliant scheme to install his drinking buddy as Archbishop of Canterbury.<\/p>\n<p>But what begins as a fun romp in the \u201cbuddy picture\u201d tradition, the movie veers into the sublime when Becket begins to understand the enormous gravity and honor required by his office. Transformed from yes-man into his own man, he refuses to render the things Holy before God to O\u2019Toole\u2019s spoiled brat of a Caesar, driven to betray Becket by an unrequited love that dare not speaketh its name.<\/p>\n<p>A fascinating study of integrity in the face of corruption, <em>Becket<\/em> is an unforgettable Medieval epic from the same decade that gave us <em>A Man for All Seasons<\/em> and <em>The Lion in Winter <\/em>(also starring O\u2019Toole). Experience the grandeur of a bygone era when \u201cover the top\u201d meant <em>\u201clarger than life.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><em><span style=\"color: #003366; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\">Robert L. Jones is a photojournalist living and working in Minnesota. His work has appeared in\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-style: normal; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\"><span style=\"color: #003366; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\">Black &amp; White Magazine<\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #003366; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\">,\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-style: normal; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\"><span style=\"color: #003366; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\">Entrepreneur<\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #003366; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\">,\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-style: normal; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\"><span style=\"color: #003366; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\">Hoy! New York<\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #003366; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\">, the New York\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-style: normal; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\"><span style=\"color: #003366; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\">Post<\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #003366; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\">,\u00a0<\/span><\/em><span style=\"color: #003366; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\">RCA Victor\u00a0<\/span><em><span style=\"color: #003366; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\">(Japan)<\/span><\/em><em><span style=\"color: #003366; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\">,\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-style: normal; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\"><span style=\"color: #003366; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\">Scene in San Antonio<\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #003366; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\">,\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-style: normal; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\"><span style=\"color: #003366; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\">Spirit Magazine<\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #003366; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\">\u00a0(Canada),\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-style: normal; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\"><span style=\"color: #003366; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\">Top Producer<\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #003366; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\">,\u00a0 and the Trenton\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-style: normal; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\"><span style=\"color: #003366; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\">Times<\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #003366; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\">. Mr. Jones is a past entertainment editor of\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-style: normal; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\"><span style=\"color: #003366; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\">The New Individualist<\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #003366; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\">.<\/span><\/em><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 Dictum Meum Pactum \u00a0[xrr rating=4.5\/5] Becket. Starring Richard Burton, Peter O\u2019Toole, John Gielgud, Donald Wolfit, Martita Hunt, Pamela Brown, Si\u00e2n Phillips, Felix Aylmer, Gino Servi, and Paolo Stoppa. Music by Laurence Rosenthal. Cinematography by Geoffrey Unsworth, B.S.C. Edited by Anne V. Coates, A.C.E. Screenplay by Edward Anhalt, based on the play by Jean Anouilh. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,15,47,35,3,77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-buddy-movies","category-classic-movies","category-costume-dramas","category-dramas","category-mreview","category-religious-dramas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=202"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":490,"href":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202\/revisions\/490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonesing4movies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}