Jesus (1979)

Directors:

John Krish
Peter Sykes

Writer:

Barnet Bain (screenplay)

Release Date:

19 October 1979 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Family

Tagline:

The man you thought you knew

Plot:

Jesus of Nazareth,the son of God raised by a Jewish carpenter. Based on the gospel of Luke in the New...

Plot Keywords:

Gospel Of Luke | Miracle | Crucifixion | Christian Film | Christianity

Cast

Brian Deacon	...	Jesus
Rivka Neuman	...	Mary
Joseph Shiloach	...	Joseph
Niko Nitai	...	Simon Peter
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mosko Alkalai	...	Matthew
Kobi Assaf	...	Philip
Eli Cohen	...	John the Baptist
Eli Danker	...	Judas Iscariot
Peter Frye	...	Pontius Pilate
Nisim Gerama	...	Thomas
David Goldberg	...	Judas (son of James)
Timothy Mark Hanson	...	Rich Young Ruler
Richard Kiley	...	Narrator / Luke
Miki Mfir	...	Simon the Pharisee
Yitzhak Ne'eman	...	James
Richard Peterson	...	Herod
Milo Rafi	...	Simon Zelotes
Gad Roll	...	Andrew
Michael Schneider	...	Father of epileptic boy
Alexander Scourby	...	Narrator
Daud Shah	...	Adam
Talia Shapira	...	Mary Magdalene
Shmuel Tal	...	John
Michael Warshaviak	...	Bartholomew
Leonid Weinstein	...	James (son of Alphaeus)

Also Known As:

The Jesus Film (USA) (alternative title)
The Jesus Movie (USA) (video title)

Runtime:

117 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | Finland:S | USA:G

Company:

Inspirational Films

Trivia:

The man playing the corpse of Jesus later became a seminarian because of the film.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: After laying the body in the tomb, the actor under the burial shroud can clearly be seen breathing.

Quotes:

Jesus: Forgive them father, for they don't know what they do.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Passion: Films, Faith & Fury (2006) (TV)

JESUS

After opening with the expected quotation from John 3:16, the video Jesus bases its plot solely on the gospel of Luke, remaining rigidly faithful to the gospel and rarely adding conversations that you can not find in Luke. That makes for a far less controversial route than would occur if incorporating variations from the other three gospels that differ slightly from each other.

In a sense the choice of filming only the gospel of Luke has its strengths, as it appeals to a larger audience and presents Jesus Christ in his best. The richest parables are told here, with a larger overview of Christ's life, but the film focuses mainly of Christ's public ministry and glosses over his birth and his questioning of the priests in the temple at the age of 12. It also portrays Christ in the most positive way on the cross, as his final words in the Luke version are `Father! Into your hands I commend my spirit.'

Besides using the scripture from Luke straightforwardly, the filming locations add authenticity to the production. It appears to be straight from Jerusalem without any other settings. The scene leading to the Crucifixion does appear to take place on the actual Via Delorosa and thus provides much realism.

Even though the movie was great script and settings it is hurt by the lack of emotion. Movie seems fake in the sense of how the actors act. From the beginning starting with the narrator he has no emotion just reading the words causing it to be dull. Nothing was surprising as it was dull and you knew what was coming next if you had read the book of Luke.

The movie was just plain, plain text and plain acting. Being from 1979 you cannot expect a great video production but they could spice up the acting. After seeing what is easily the greatest Jesus movie ever made (The Passion of Christ) it is hard to be impressed but I was not expecting to be. In general it's a below average movie, had the best setting possible and the script already written just with the poor mellow dramatic acting decreased it value.