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IMDbPro

The Greatest Story Ever Told

  • 19651965
  • GG
  • 4h 20m
IMDb RATING
6.5/10
11K
YOUR RATING
The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
Watch Official Trailer
Play trailer3:30
1 Video
53 Photos
BiographyDramaHistory
An all-star, large scale epic movie that chronicles the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.An all-star, large scale epic movie that chronicles the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.An all-star, large scale epic movie that chronicles the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.
IMDb RATING
6.5/10
11K
YOUR RATING
    • George Stevens
    • David Lean(some scenes)
    • Jean Negulesco(some scenes)
  • Writers
    • Fulton Oursler(book)
    • Henry Denker(source writings)
    • James Lee Barrett(screenplay)
  • Stars
    • Max von Sydow
    • Dorothy McGuire
    • Charlton Heston
    • George Stevens
    • David Lean(some scenes)
    • Jean Negulesco(some scenes)
  • Writers
    • Fulton Oursler(book)
    • Henry Denker(source writings)
    • James Lee Barrett(screenplay)
  • Stars
    • Max von Sydow
    • Dorothy McGuire
    • Charlton Heston
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 138User reviews
    • 30Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 5 Oscars

    Videos1

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 3:30
    Watch Official Trailer

    Photos53

    Max von Sydow in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
    Max von Sydow in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
    Max von Sydow and John Considine in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
    John Wayne, Max von Sydow, Michael Ansara, Richard Bakalyan, and Marc Cavell in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
    Max von Sydow, Michael Anderson Jr., Burt Brinckerhoff, John Considine, Jamie Farr, David McCallum, Gary Raymond, and Tom Reese in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
    John Wayne and Max von Sydow in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
    Max von Sydow, Michael Anderson Jr., John Considine, David McCallum, and Tom Reese in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
    Martin Landau, Telly Savalas, Victor Buono, Johnny Seven, Paul Stewart, and Ron Whelan in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
    Charlton Heston in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
    John Wayne in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
    Max von Sydow in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
    "The Greatest Story Ever Told" Max Von Sydow as Jesus 1965 United Artist

    Top cast

    Edit
    Max von Sydow
    Max von Sydow
    • Jesus
    Dorothy McGuire
    Dorothy McGuire
    • The Virgin Mary
    Charlton Heston
    Charlton Heston
    • John the Baptist
    Michael Anderson Jr.
    Michael Anderson Jr.
    • James the Younger
    Carroll Baker
    Carroll Baker
    • Veronica
    Ina Balin
    Ina Balin
    • Martha of Bethany
    Pat Boone
    Pat Boone
    • Angel at the Tomb
    Victor Buono
    Victor Buono
    • Sorak
    Richard Conte
    Richard Conte
    • Barabbas
    Joanna Dunham
    • Mary Magdalene
    José Ferrer
    José Ferrer
    • Herod Antipas
    Van Heflin
    Van Heflin
    • Bar Amand
    Martin Landau
    Martin Landau
    • Caiaphas
    Angela Lansbury
    Angela Lansbury
    • Claudia
    Janet Margolin
    Janet Margolin
    • Mary of Bethany
    David McCallum
    David McCallum
    • Judas Iscariot
    Roddy McDowall
    Roddy McDowall
    • Matthew
    Sal Mineo
    Sal Mineo
    • Uriah
      • George Stevens
      • David Lean(some scenes) (uncredited)
      • Jean Negulesco(some scenes) (uncredited)
    • Writers
      • Fulton Oursler(book)
      • Henry Denker(source writings)
      • James Lee Barrett(screenplay)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Telly Savalas shaved his head bald for his role as Pontius Pilate. He kept his head shaved for the rest of his life.
    • Goofs
      Throughout the film there are shots of snow on the ground and snow on the mountains of Utah. Israel rarely gets any snow.
    • Quotes

      Jesus: Do not weep for me; weep for yourselves, and for your children. For a time is coming when men will say "blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore a child." And they will say to the mountains "fall on us," and to the hills "cover us," for if these things are done when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?

    • Alternate versions
      Original Cinerama version ran 260 minutes, subsequently cut over the years. The shortest version runs 141 minutes. Numerous versions have been shown on television. Network television print has only the main cast credits at the beginning and the technical credits at the end shown page-by-page (not "rolled up" as most prints), including a credit for "Cinerama". The most common version of the film shown today runs 195 minutes with all the credits rolled up at the beginning, and the end titles showing only the words "Released through United Artists". That particular version has been available on home video and cable TV.
    • Connections
      Edited into He Walks in Beauty: The George Stevens Production 'The Greatest Story Ever Told' (2001)
    • Soundtracks
      Hallelujah Chorus
      (uncredited)

      from "The Messiah"

      Music by George Frideric Handel

    User reviews138

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    Holds up rather well, actually
    Saw the cut-down version of this recently on cable, letterboxed (the only way to go!). For all the bad press it evidently got in its day, I found the color cinematography dazzling, the compositions wonderful (as we'd expect from the director of Shane and Giant), and the performances ... not too bad at all, for the most part. Many if not most of celebs who did cameos are no longer household names (or faces), so they're less jarring than they must have been in the 60s (the groaning exception, of course, being John Wayne as the Centurion). Von Sydow is fine if a bit stiff, Heston as the Baptist is a bit too stiff, Jose Ferrer is wonderful (did his son Miguel study dad's performance as Herod Antipas for his role in Traffic?), and so are most of the other key parts.

    If Scorcese's Last Temptation of Christ comes off as less an art film and more as another corny Hollywood biblical epic, Stevens' film comes off less as the latter and more as the former, given that one's expectations are for corn, not art. (Is that clear?) I've said previously that Scorcese's film was basically a ripoff of Pasolini's wonderful Gospel According St Matthew, and I still think that's the case so far as the basic treatment goes, but I now think that visually, as a wide-screen color film, it rips off Stevens.

    Greatest Story is the first Christ movie (and probably the first biblical epic) where the director obviously understood that the physical setting could be a very important part of the story - the sparse, barren landscape that people could disappear into and come back having seen visions, etc. Scorcese seems to have picked up on this too, but his visual sense isn't a jot on Stevens', for sure.

    I do agree that the story drags, and the whole thing is probably overlong. I was also disappointed that Stevens does so little with the final temptation and betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane. I've always felt this is the dramatic climax of the whole story - the final point of no return for Jesus - and oddly, the recent TV miniseries version, with Jeroen Krabbe as a fun modern-dress Satan, is the only one that's really grasped this, I think. Maybe some of this is among the stuff that didn't survive from the 260-minute version?

    Overall, I'd heartily urge George Stevens Jr., who's done such a good job of preserving his father's legacy, to consider restoring this one and letting us see it on the big screen again. It's a feast.
    helpful•15
    3
    • laursene
    • Apr 16, 2001

    Details

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    • Release date
      • April 9, 1965 (United Kingdom)
      • United States
      • English
    • Also known as
    • Filming locations
      • Arches National Park, Utah, USA
    • Production company
      • George Stevens Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • 4 hours 20 minutes

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