The film so holy it turned Telly Savalas bald.
In 1965, director George Stevens'
The Greatest Story Ever Told portrayed the life of Jesus and his miracles from Nativity to Resurrection. For a plot synopsis you might as well just read
The Bible. While
Story was not the first of its ilk, this broad epic scope is one of the notable features of this film and was something the creators wanted to play up. The then-unknown (in the U.S.)
Max Von Sydow was cast as Jesus, but the rest of the cast and crew was filled with big names, some coming in for short cameos. It had actors like
Claude Rains,
Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall,
Sidney Poitier,
Donald Pleasence, the oft-commentated-on
John Wayne as the Centurion at the crucifixion and the aforementioned Telly Savalas, who shaved his head for his role as Pontius Pilate in this film and then decided never to grow it back. David Lean (Mr. Epic Sweeping Landscapes) and Jean Negulesco even added exterior shooting in the great open spaces of the US to add a more epic feel than
Real Life Israel could offer.
All these attempts at Biblical epicness had their downsides. Some felt that the cameos distracted from the atmosphere of the setting, that going to the wide lands of Utah was trying to be "bigger than Jesus," and that nearly four hours were spent on retelling an all too well-known tale. The film arrived in theatres at the tail end of the era of Biblical period epics such as
The Ten Commandments,
Ben Hur and
The Robe and it was on a quest to be bigger and more epic than anything that came before. Perhaps its grandness cost it some humanity.
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