The Day Christ Died is a 1980 American TV movie directed by James Cellan Jones. The collaborative production by 20th Century Fox and CBS-TVdramatizes the last 24 hours of Jesus Christ's life and is based on Jim Bishop's 1957 book of the same name.[1] Bishop, who did not accept the script adaptation, had his name removed from the credits, called the film "cheap revisionist history", and even tried unsuccessfully to change the film's title.[2]The Day Christ Died was filmed in Tunisia, at a cost of USD$2.8 million.[3] It was broadcast by CBS-TV on Wednesday, March 26, 1980.[4]
Cast[edit]
- Chris Sarandon as Jesus Christ
- Colin Blakely as Caiaphas
Filmography[edit]
- Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960) - Loudmouth
- The Hellions (1961) - Matthew Billings
- The Password Is Courage (1962) - 1st German Goon
- This Sporting Life (1963) - Maurice Braithwaite
- The Informers (1963) - Charlie Ruskin
- The Long Ships (1964) - Rhykka
- Never Put It in Writing (1964) - Oscar
- The Counterfeit Constable (1964) - L'aveugle
- A Man for All Seasons (1966) - Matthew
- The Spy with a Cold Nose (1966) - Russian Premier
- Charlie Bubbles (1967) - Smokey Pickles
- The Day the Fish Came Out (1967) - The Pilot
- The Vengeance of She (1968) - George
- Decline and Fall... of a Birdwatcher (1968) - Solomon Philbrick
- Alfred the Great (1969) - Asher
- The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970) - Dr. Watson
- Something to Hide (1972) - Blagdon
- Young Winston (1972) - Butcher
- The National Health (1973) - Edward Loach
- Murder on the Orient Express (1974) - Hardman
- Galileo (1975) - Priuli
- It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet (1975) - Siegfried Farnon
- The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976) - Inspector Alec Drummond
- Equus (1977) - Frank Strang
- The Big Sleep (1978) - Harry Jones
- Meetings with Remarkable Men (1979) - Tamil
- Nijinsky (1980) - Vassili
- Little Lord Fauntleroy (1980) - Silas Hobbs
- The Dogs of War (1980) - North
- Loophole (1981) - Gardner
- Nailed (1981) - Elder Protestant
- Evil Under the Sun (1982) - Sir Horace Blatt
- Trail of the Pink Panther (1982) - Section Director Alec Drummond (uncredited)
- The World of Don Camillo (1984) - Peppone
- Keith Michell as Pontius Pilate
Filmography[edit]
- Love/Loss (2010) - Joe
- The Prince and the Pauper (1996) (TV) – King Henry VIII
- Murder, She Wrote (1988–93, TV series) – Dennis Stanton (recurring role)
- The Deceivers (1988) – Colonel Wilson
- Captain James Cook (1986, TV series) – Captain James Cook
- My Brother Tom (1986, TV series) – Edward Quayle
- The Miracle (1985) (TV) –
- Memorial Day (1983) (TV) – Marsh
- Ruddigore (1982) (TV) – Robin Oakapple/Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd
- The Gondoliers (1982) (TV) – Don Alhambra del Bolero
- The Pirates of Penzance (1982) (TV) – Major General Stanley
- Grendel Grendel Grendel (1981) (voice) – The Shaper
- The Day Christ Died (1980) (TV) – Pontius Pilate
- The Tenth Month (1979) (TV) – Matthew Poole
- Julius Caesar (1979) (TV) – Marcus Antonius
- The Story of David (1976) (TV) – Older David
- The Story of Jacob and Joseph (1974) (TV) – Jacob
- Moments (1974) – Peter Samuelson
- Keith Michell at Her Majesty's Show of the Week (1972) (TV) – Himself
- Henry VIII and His Six Wives (1972) – King Henry VIII
- The Morecambe and Wise Show (1971) (TV) – Himself/Captain Tony Snug-Fitting
- 'Wiltons' – The Handsomest Hall in Town (1970) (TV) – Music Hall Performer
- The Executioner (1970) – Adam Booth
- The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1970, TV series) – King Henry VIII
- Play of the Month (1968–69, TV series) – Caliban
- House of Cards (1968) – Morillon
- Prudence and the Pill (1968) – Dr. Alan Hewitt
- Thirty-Minute Theatre (1968, TV series) – Martin
- Hallmark Hall of Fame (1967, TV series) – John Churchill
- Soldier in Love (1967) (TV) – John Churchill
- The Bergonzi Hand (1963) (TV) – Gabriel Cordier
- The Spread of the Eagle (1963, TV series) – Marc Antony
- Dominatore dei sette mari, Il (1962) – Malcolm Marsh
- Wuthering Heights (1962) (TV) – Heathcliff
- All Night Long (1962) – Cass
- The Hellfire Club (1961) – Jason
- Dow Hour of Great Mysteries (1960, TV series) – Baron Von Ragastein
- The Gypsy and the Gentleman (1958) – Sir Paul Deverill
- True as a Turtle (1957) – Harry Bell
- Dangerous Exile (1957) – Colonel St. Gerard
- Jonathan Pryce as Herod
- Barrie Houghton as Judas
- Jay O. Sanders as Simon Peter
- Eleanor Bron as Mary
- Delia Boccardo as Mary Magdelene
- Hope Lange as Claudia (Pontius Pilate's wife)
- Oliver Cotton as John
- Rod Dana as Abenadar
The Day Christ Died | |
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Directed by | James Cellan JonesSelected filmography[edit]
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Written by | Edward Anhalt James Lee Barrett |
Music by | Laurence Rosenthal |
Cinematography | Franco Di Giacomo |
Distributed by | CBS |
Release dates
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Country | United States |
Language | English |
A QUESTION OF INTRIGUE
[FIRST Edition]
Boston Globe (pre-1997 Fulltext) - Boston, Mass.
Author: | Alex Keneas Newsday |
Date: | Mar 26, 1980 |
Start Page: | 1 |
Martin Manulis, who produced the movie, puts it this way: "If you're getting into documentation, the Gospels were written years after Jesus' life . . . Is it not odd that something as crucial as the midnight trial of Jesus before the Sanhedrin is mentioned in Luke, Mark and Matthew, but not in John? There could also be such discrepancies in historical record."
Judas, too, has been reinterpreted. Manulis says, "We've learned that 30 pieces of silver was not a great deal of money, and if he came from a family of leather workers, he would be rather well off. What made Judas turn? If you follow a leader who then disappoints you, you can easily become disenchanted. We decided that he lost his belief in Jesus as the Messiah, because Jesus wouldn't fight the Romans." Some Bible scholars agree.
In the traditional scenario, the Sanhedrin deliver Jesus to a [Pilate] who's more perplexed than anything else. (That's the way Rod Steiger played him in Zeffirelli's epic "Jesus of Nazareth.") Here it's not so much the formal Sanhedrin that condemns Jesus for blasphemy, punishable by death, instead it's a kangaroo court. Nicodemus and other members who would be sympathetic to Jesus have been kept out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQSvHOiVuxAJudas, too, has been reinterpreted. Manulis says, "We've learned that 30 pieces of silver was not a great deal of money, and if he came from a family of leather workers, he would be rather well off. What made Judas turn? If you follow a leader who then disappoints you, you can easily become disenchanted. We decided that he lost his belief in Jesus as the Messiah, because Jesus wouldn't fight the Romans." Some Bible scholars agree.
In the traditional scenario, the Sanhedrin deliver Jesus to a [Pilate] who's more perplexed than anything else. (That's the way Rod Steiger played him in Zeffirelli's epic "Jesus of Nazareth.") Here it's not so much the formal Sanhedrin that condemns Jesus for blasphemy, punishable by death, instead it's a kangaroo court. Nicodemus and other members who would be sympathetic to Jesus have been kept out.
This is the most depressing film on Jesus Christ that I already viewed.
Not only the most depressing, but I force (I don't eat Passion of the Christ of Mel Gibson, it is clear).
Until today I don't understand which was the intention of the producing of do a film as this, different from all the other films on Christ done already.
Here in this film Jesus (Chris Sarandon) it is just shown as human man, and no divine, that it is determined until the end in accomplishing his/her mission.
It is also with physical lines (little accepted by most of the people) like Jesus it was very probably: a brunet man, of dark brown eyes, of rustic appearance, and not of hair blond or brown clear, of delicate face and of blue eyes as most imagines, in short, in this film Jesus is shown as a natural man from Palestine of the first century of ours was and not with European lines, as they were Franco Zeffirelli's Jesus in "Jesus of Nazareth" and of "King of Kings."
And he was not shown like a solemn Jesus, reverent as it was in the other films, but a more human Jesus totally naked of any divinity.
The same I say of Last Supper scenes and prayer in the garden of Gethsemani.
In the scenes of the judgment, of the flagellation, Jesus is treated with such a ferocious hate shown never in other films.
Jesus is viewed as somebody that has be punished severely and dead the more quickly in a more intense way than in other films.
I remember of the scene, in that Caiaphas tells Jesus soon at the end of the judgment: "And you don't forget that you are a Jew! "
It is also of the scenes In that king Herod says for Jesus: "You are not a king of anything!!! Monarch of anybody!!! That more ridiculous king you would be!!!! "
And all make fun of Jesus.
Before "Passion of the Christ" of Mel Gibson, this had been the most violent film on the last of Jesus that it had already viewed. In this film Jesus is treated with end hate, contempt and ridiculed in such a cruel and merciless way that he left me very impressed and it finishes completely defeated, treated as the vilest and despicable of all the criminals.
I didn't like one bit of this film.
This film is very depressing, revolting and sad...
Description: Runtime: 142 min || Country: USA || Language: English || Color: Color (DeLuxe) || Sound Mix: Mono
Cast
Chris Sarandon - Jesus Christ Colin Blakely - Caiaphas; Eleanor Bron - Mary; Barrie Houghton - Judas; Hope Lange - Claudia; Jonathan Pryce - Herod; Jay O. Sanders; Keith Michell - Pontius Pilate
Credit
Gianni Quaranta - Art Director, James Cellan Jones - Director, Barry Peters - Editor, Martin Manulis - Executive Producer, Laurence Rosenthal - Composer (Music Score), Lionel Newman - Musical Direction/Supervision, Tarak Ben Ammar - Production Designer, Franco di Giacomo - Cinematographer, Martin Manulis - Producer, Edward Anhalt - Screenwriter, James Lee Barrett - Screenwriter