The Greatest Story Ever Told. 1965.
This is a impressive though slow moving story of the life of Jesus Christ from his birth in Bethlehem to his Crucifixion and subsequent Resurrection. As it displays a very fine support cast with David MacCallum as a furtive as well as shifty Judas, Charlton Heston plays a splendid John the Baptiste, Jose Ferrer as Herod Antipas, Dorothy McGuire as Mary, Telly Savalas as Pontius Pilate, Martin Landau as Caiaphas, Gary Raymond as Peter , Joseph Schildkraut as Nicodemus, Paul Stewart as Questor and even John Wayne as a Centurion at the crucifixion. But it's main focus is Max Von Sydow playing Jesus and leading his apostles through the land and delivering his lines brilliantly from his first on screen presence right through to the end.
There are other little gems strewn throughout The Greatest Story Ever Told, moments that shine with unexpected clarity. The calling of Matthew, the betrayal and suicide of Judas, the healing of the crippled young man are just a few examples. The Last Supper is very surprising in its similarity to the way a priest consecrates the bread and wine in a modern day Mass.
Although filmed in Arizona and Utah for the desert scenes the cinematography is amazing even though at parts the background does look like paintings, this is definetly old school realistic visual effects. This was the 190 minute cut version of the original 260 minute cut I watched and happily sit through it all again.
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