Review of Becket (1964) by Jeff L — 05 Jan 2014

A tremendously full and witty historical costume drama. And it manages to be so without falling into complete melodrama (although sometimes it gets close, though not in a bad way: melodrama has its place, and in the hands of great actors like Burton and O'Toole, melodramatic scenes further the plot in convenient ways.) Those who would cynically complain about its overly grandiose caricatures, theatrical sets and pompous dialogue fail to understand the aesthetic and literary point of epic costume drama. It is not a documentary. It's a dramatic biopic that manages, though bravado acting and plump dialogue, to explain in 2+ hours an astonishingly complicated story. And it manages to hit the mark. You could spend 100 hours studying the personalities and the political, religious and historical intrigue of the "Becket" controversy, and still come nowhere near as clear and generally accurate understanding as this film provides.

And Burton and O'Toole, at the top of their game, is great fun to watch!