Becket (1964)

King Henry II of England comes to terms with his affection for his close friend and confidant Thomas à Becket, who finds his true honor by observing God's divine will rather than the king's.

Director:

Peter Glenville

Writers:

Jean Anouilh (play), Lucienne Hill (play)

Stars:

Richard Burton, Peter O'Toole, John Gielgud

Won 1 Oscar. Another 13 wins & 23 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Richard Burton	...	Becket / Thomas Becket
Peter O'Toole	...	His King / King Henry II
John Gielgud	...	King Louis of France / King Louis VII of France
Gino Cervi	...	the Cardinal / Cardinal Zambelli
Paolo Stoppa	...	the Pope / Pope Alexander III
Donald Wolfit	...	Bishop Folliot
David Weston	...	Brother John
Martita Hunt	...	Empress Matilda
Pamela Brown	...	Queen Eleanor [of Aquitaine]
Percy Herbert	...	Baron
Siân Phillips	...	Gwendolen (as Sian Phillips)
Inigo Jackson	...	Robert de Beaumont
Felix Aylmer	...	Archbishop of Canterbury
Niall MacGinnis	...	Baron
Christopher Rhodes	...	Baron

Storyline

Debauched King Henry II installs his longtime court facilitator Thomas Becket as the Archbishop of Canterbury, assuming that his old friend will be a compliant and loyal lackey in the King's ongoing battles with the church. But Becket unexpectedly finds his true calling on the ecclesiastical side, and aligns himself against the king's selfish wishes, causing a rift and an eventual showdown not only between the two men, but also the institutions they represent.

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Plot Keywords:

religion | thomas becket | king henry ii | england | liberty of conscience | 

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Taglines:

An age of rampant lusts, abandon, runaway passions. An age brought bristling to life by two of the most exciting stars of our time!

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | History

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some sexual content and violence

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English Latin Welsh

Release Date:

11 March 1964 (USA)

Also Known As:

Бекет

Filming Locations:

Alnwick Castle, Alnwick, Northumberland, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$3,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$9,164,370, 31 December 1964

Company Credits

Production Co:

Wallis-Hazen, Paramount Film Service, Keep Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

148 min

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (Westrex Recording System) Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Queen Eleanor was in actuality perhaps the wealthiest and most powerful woman in Europe, and hardly the figure portrayed in the play. Although here she remarks that she will complain to her uncle the emperor, she was not related to Frederick Barbarossa. Complaining to Frederick would have been awkward for a devout Catholic anyway, as he had himself been excommunicated in 1160 and was in a power struggle with the pope, establishing several rival antipopes before reconciling with Rome in 1177. Eleanor also says she will protest to her father, but her father died when Eleanor was 15, long before she met Henry.

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Goofs

Henry's court is depicted as being in England. In fact, Henry II's primary residence and capital was Chinon, nearly 186 miles (300 kilometers) southwest of Paris. England was only one land in Henry's empire, which included most of modern day France.

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Quotes

[first lines]
King Henry II: Well, Thomas Becket. Are you satisfied? Here I am, stripped, kneeling at your tomb, while those treacherous Saxon monks of yours are getting ready to thrash me. Me - with my delicate skin. I bet you'd never have done the same for me. But - I suppose I have to do this penance and make my peace with you. Hmm. What a strange end to our story. How cold it was when we last met - on the shores of France. Funny, it's nearly always been cold - except at the beginning, when we were friends....

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Connections

Remade as Prana Mithrulu (1967)

User Reviews

Towering performances by 2 actors at the zenith of their powers.

My comments here tend to be Misremembrances of things past. I know I saw "Becket" decades ago while I must have been suffering from a periodic bout of reviling Richard Burton. Having recently seen "Cleopatra" again, I will forgive myself. Still, there are movies that I've enjoyed - "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" and "The Night of the Iguana", to name 2 - so I thought I'd give "Becket" another try.

Historical movies are among my favorites, although the IMDB parameter of not spoiling restricts me from discussing plot. But this is a movie that made me click on here to see who directed it...since directing Burton and O'Toole must have been like being a meterologist tracking a tornado and a hurricane. Their synergy is astounding...but whereas O'Toole launches himself on occassion into a thespian stratosphere it is Burton's performance that is incandescent. There are scenes..."inner monologues" - queries to God, where the ribald Burton is transformed into a man illuminated by a spiritual puzzle - he cannot believe that he is becoming who he is becoming - and it is Burton's challenge to share that bewilderment with us.

Well, I'm comforted that I can now stretch the glory days of historical film-making at least to "Becket." Any film in which John Gielgud, Martita Hunt, Felix Aylmer and Pamela Brown are "supporting" - how do I put it, "supporting" performances such as these are most other actors' triumphs. The costumes and sets are sumptous. Finis.