Review of The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) by Roy S — 31 Mar 2013

A hyper-reverent production that saw the shooting of 1,136 miles of 70mm footage in four states at the greatest cost of any film ever made in America. Most of the money shows up in the film, which has some truly striking cinematography.

But the parade of dozens of famous actors is really distracting, especially John Wayne in if not the worst certainly one of the most notorious cameos of all time. Some performances such as Martin Landau's Caiaphas were quite good.

Some, such as Robert Blake, Jamie Farr, Telly Savalas, and even the man who played Jesus (Max von Sydow) went on to much greater fame later. Regardless of intent, the result is one where the viewer is always in a "where do I know her from? Is that Pat Boone? Look! Sal Mineo and Victor Buono!" mode.

The fact that the pacing of the movie is very, very slow (no doubt in a misguided effort to ramp up the veneration) gives one a lot of time to think about such things. I saw the 199 minute version, and can only wonder what the 225 minute version is like.