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Billy Budd (1962)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers:
Release Date:
12 November 1962 (USA)
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Tagline:
TERENCE STAMP A new face! A new talent! A great new star discovery! more
Plot:
Billy is an innocent, naive seaman in the British Navy in 1797. When the ship's sadistic master-at-arms is murdered, Billy is accused and tried. full summary | add synopsis
Awards:
Nominated for Oscar.
Another 7 nominations
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NewsDesk:
(3 articles)
"Come and Kneel Before Zod!"
(From FilmExperience. 22 July 2009, 3:53 PM, PDT)
Terence Stamp: Recognizing The General
(From Hollywood Outbreak. 16 December 2008, 10:30 AM, PST)
(From FilmExperience. 22 July 2009, 3:53 PM, PDT)
Terence Stamp: Recognizing The General
(From Hollywood Outbreak. 16 December 2008, 10:30 AM, PST)
User Comments:
Admirable stab at Melville fable (warning: reveals plot points)
more (37 total)
Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Robert Ryan | ... | John Claggart, Master d'Arms | |
| Peter Ustinov | ... | Edwin Fairfax Vere, Post Captain | |
| Melvyn Douglas | ... | The Dansker, sailmaker | |
| Paul Rogers | ... | Philip Seymour, 1st Lieutenant | |
| John Neville | ... | Julian Ratcliffe, 2nd Lieutenant | |
| David McCallum | ... | Steven Wyatt, Gunnery Officer | |
| Ronald Lewis | ... | Enoch Jenkins, maintopman | |
| Lee Montague | ... | Squeak, Mr. Claggart's assistant | |
| Thomas Heathcote | ... | Alan Payne, maintopman | |
| Ray McAnally | ... | William O'Daniel, maintopman | |
| Robert Brown | ... | Arnold Talbot, maintopman | |
| John Meillon | ... | Neil Kincaid, maintopman | |
| Cyril Luckham | ... | Hallam, Captain of Marines | |
| Niall MacGinnis | ... | Captain Nathaniel Graveling, Rights of Man | |
| Victor Brooks | ... | Amos Leonard, First Mate, Rights of Man |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
119 min
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Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (RCA Sound Recording)
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Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
Favorite film of actor Jeff Bridges.
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Quotes:
Captain Vere:
You know Seymour, there are some men who cannot stand too much perfection. They see it as a disease, which must be stamped out at it's first rash showing.
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Movie Connections:
Version of Beau travail (1999)
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FAQ
This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.more (37 total)
Message Boards
Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Billy Budd (1962)| Recent Posts (updated daily) | User |
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| The movie is so much better than the book! | yyss6688 |
| watching The Sopranos Series 4, episode 11 or 12 | dtatroom |
| Billy Budd on DVD | waitoa |
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Peter Ustinov is generally a lot better at being a raconteur, chat-show guest and portly, engaging presenter of documentaries than film director, but this adaptation of Melville's short novel (note that the screenplay is based on a previous stage version) is surprisingly gripping. Terence Stamp, in his first movie role, is excellent as the benign life-force, Billy. Pressganged into service aboard a Royal Navy Man'o'War (clunky symbolism - the ship Billy leaves is called the "Rights of Man"), he soon wins over the crew with his guileless respect for justice and fair play. Robert Ryan is superb as Claggart, although perhaps this actor's tremendous capacity for sheer charmless evil overbalances the plot. When Claggart is struck down by the momentarily enraged Billy, he dies with a smile on his face, a detail which isn't in the book. It makes Claggart into a malevolent genius, when Melville wrote him as a preternaturally bitter and empty man. But that's showbiz for you.
There's a lovely scene between Stamp and Ryan, presumably missed by those who refuse to recognise the latter's genius, in which Billy almost manages to win Claggart over; you can see Ryan's eyes getting almost misty (he was a great eye actor) as he contemplates the spectacle of his own bleakness compared to Billy's warmth. But then, as he suddenly growls "You would charm me, too. Get away!" it's as if he suspected Billy if coming onto him. Remarkable touch.
John Neville and David McCallum are fine as the officers with tortured consciences; Ustinov has to carry off the difficult moral turnaround, kind of the opposite of what Fonda spends a whole film doing in "Twelve Angry Men", and has seldom acted so well. Perhaps in the book he's a less significant character, but for dramatic purposes the role obviously needed expanding, and it's done with taste and restraint. Supporting roles are all finely rendered, with Melvyn Douglas especially red-eyed and gravelly as the religious Dansker. Good stuff. And unusually for an adaptation, a sizable chunk of the dialogue is authentic Melville.