Becket (1964)

King Henry II of England comes to terms with his affection for his close friend and confidant Thomas 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 | england | friendship | based on play | king henry ii | 

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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)

Opening Weekend USA:

$7,912, 28 January 2007

Gross USA:

$149,327

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$149,327

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

Richard Burton initially turned this movie down because he felt the idea of him playing a saint would cause the press to have a field day. He also said he would be more suited to playing Henry II.

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Goofs

Contrary to one of the film's central plot lines, Thomas Becket was a Norman (Thomas Bequet), not a Saxon. Jean Anouilh admitted he discovered this after having finished his play, having based it on the outdated 1825 work "The History of the Conquest of England by the Normans", by Augustin Thierry; but he decided that it made a better story the way he had written it.

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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

Referenced in Secret Agent: Don't Nail Him Yet (1964)

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Soundtracks

Dies Irae
(Medieval Latin Hymn)

User Reviews

Burton and O'Toole In The Grand Manner

Like most dramas by Jean Anouih (1910-1987), BECKET essentially sets two larger-than-life characters against each other in a relationship fueled by widening ideological rifts. In this instance, the rift is between the holy and the secular. King Henry II of England, who--frustrated by the frequent interference of the Roman Catholic Church in his rule--manages to have friend Thomas Becket appointed as Archbishop of Canterbury. He expects Becket to act on his behalf--and is shocked when Becket undergoes a spiritual transformation and takes his office seriously.

The 1959 play was tremendous successful throughout Europe, in England, and in the United States. In 1964 it reached the screen with Richard Burton as Becket, Peter O'Toole as Henry II, such notables as John Gielgud as Louis VII of France. The film was extremely well-received and received numerous critical accolades, particularly for Burton and O'Toole. It was not, however, widely available to the home market until this 2007 MPI DVD release.

In a technical sense, BECKET looks better than ever; the transfer is very crisp and the picture likely looks better here than it did on the 1964 big screen. At the same time, however, it is very evident that this is a film that really is best seen on the big screen, where the larger than life characters and their ideological battles have the advantage of a scope to equal their nature. It also has a slightly stagey quality, most often in the script, which doesn't quite manage to shed the theatrical trappings of the original.

Even so, there's a great deal to admire, and the leading actors are most certainly chief among them. Burton and O'Toole wench, brawl, argue, and explode with invective with complete conviction; it would be hard, if not impossible, to say which gives the better performance here. Gielgud is particularly memorable in his brief appearance as Louis VII--and Sian Philips, Pamela Brown, and Martita Hunt make the most of their relatively small roles as well.

The DVD has several notable bonuses. I personally found the interviews with Richard Burton, archival footage from 1967 and 1977, slightly over rated--but the "featurettes" on editor Anne V. Coats and composer Laurence Rosenthal are excellent, and the DVD commentary by O'Toole is consistently fascinating. I personally find the film as a whole a bit dry--Coats, tellingly, makes the comment that if the producers had put just a bit more money into BECKET it would have an undeniable masterpiece--but fans of the film will find this particular package an extremely welcome one.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer