MY REVIEW: "The Greatest Story Ever Told" is the greatest story ever, but it wasn't told accurately.
First, some positive remarks. The music was very moving. It had an all-star cast like you wouldn't believe. John Wayne played the Roman Soldier who crucified Jesus and said, "Surely this man was the Son of God" after Jesus died. Sidney Portier was the Samaritan compelled by the Romans to carry Jesus's cross to Calvary when He fell for the 3rd time. Charlton Heston was John the Baptist. Telly Savalas was Pontius Pilot. Pat Boone plays the Angel in Jesus's tomb after the Resurrection (great scene).
See the full list of stars on IMDB. The costumes and sets were also done well.
COMMENT: Before I critique this movie...imagine that you have read every Harry Potter novel, but the movies made about the books were very different than the details in the stories. You would not be happy with them. That is how I view movies made about Jesus.
MY CRITIQUE: IMO, this movie was a theatrical production, not an accurate story of Jesus. I will explain as we go along. When Christ is born, we see no Angels announcing the message to the Shepherds who go see baby Jesus. When Joseph is warned by an Angel that King Herod wants to kill Jesus, we don't see an Angel, but only hear a voice saying, "Take the child and flee."
Max Von Sydow played the role of Jesus as an adult. Throughout the whole movie, all he did was walk, and walk, and walk with his disciples, preaching and teaching. When he wasn't walking, he was sitting teaching and preaching. We see little or no interaction with key figures mentioned in the 4 Gospels. NO miracles of catching fish, NO feeding the multitudes, NO walking on water, NO dining with sinners and tax collectors. We barely see 4 miracles of healing. That's it! More details below...
MINOR DISCREPANCIES: In the movie, Jesus meets His first 3 Disciples amongst the people that John the Baptist has been baptizing and preaching to by the Jordan River. Jesus approaches them, asks their names, and they say, Andrew, Peter, and John. Jesus invites them to follow him. ACCORDING TO SCRIPTURE: John the Baptist saw Jesus and said, "Look the Lamb of God!" and Andrew and John followed after Jesus. Then Andrew went and told his brother Peter, who was actually named 'Simon', but Jesus gave him the name of Peter (or Cephas, which means Peter).
Throughout the entire movie, Jesus only performed 4 miracles, and even those were undermined. FIRST MIRACLE: Jesus heals a lame man while in a Temple in Capernaum, but where and how it was done was not Scripturally accurate. WHAT HAPPENED IN SCRIPTURE: There was a lame man who was healed, but it was not in a Temple. Jesus told the man to take up his mat and walk, and he was instantly healed. Jesus also healed a man in the Temple, but it was a man who was possessed by a demon.
SECOND MIRACLE: Jesus healed a blind man in Nazareth, his home town. In the scene we see the blind man's face...suddenly hands cover his eyes, then they are removed. The man is supposedly healed, but it's difficult to tell, because he does not get excited or say anything to that affect. WHAT HAPPENED IN SCRIPTURE: In Jerusalem there was a man who was blind. Jesus took dirt from the ground and spit in it and made mud, then he put the mud on the man's eyes and told him to go wash. When the man washed his eyes, he could see. He was so excited that he told everyone, including the Pharisees when they asked him.
THIRD MIRACLE: The third miracle is supposed to be about the woman who had an issue of blood, played by Shelley Winters. She runs up to Jesus who is walking among thousands of people, and slaps her hands on his chest, then yells, "I'm healed!" WHAT REALLY HAPPENED: According to Scripture, Jesus was walking in a large crowd. There was a woman who had a hemorrhage for 12 years. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him and touched the hem of his cloak, and she was instantly healed. Jesus then stopped and said, "Who touched my garments?" The woman, frightened, confessed that it was she. Jesus said, "Daughter, your faith has made you well..."
FOURTH MIRACLE: The fourth miracle is when Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. However, we never actually see Lazarus, except for a few seconds from a very far distance, where he is only as large as a pinhead.
MAJOR DISCREPANCIES: In the movie, after Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus, he threw himself into a pit of fire at the Temple in Jerusalem. ACCORDING TO SCRIPTURE: "Judas went away and hanged himself." Matthew 27:5
JESUS QUOTES: WRONG TIMES, WRONG PLACES: In the movie, Jesus quotes scripture in the wrong times and wrong places! This was ridulous!
EXAMPLES: While fasting alone in the desert for 40 days, Jesus stands high upon a rock and proclaims, "All the tribes of the earth shall see the Son of Man coming in the cloud of heaven in power and great glory."
That never happened!
WHAT SCRIPTURE SAYS: When Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately and asked when the sign of His coming would be at the end of the age. Jesus told them many things, including, "And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory."
LAZARUS: In the movie, Jesus is visiting Lazarus, a wealthy man, at his home. During the conversation, Jesus tells Lazarus to give up his earthly possessions (paraphrasing) and tells him that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to go to heaven. There is a whole discussion about this between Lazarus and Jesus. Then Jesus gives the example of the woman who gave 2 pennys, which was all that she had.
Jesus said these things at different times, but NOT TO LAZARUS! (Lazarus is the man Jesus raised from the dead.)
CONVERSATION ACCORDING TO SCRIPTURE: While ministering to the multitudes in Judea, a young man came to Jesus and asked what he had to do to obtain eternal life. Jesus told him to obey the Commandments. The man said he did. Then Jesus told him to sell all of his possessions, give the money to the poor, and follow Him. When the young man heard this, he went away very grieved, for he had much property. Then Jesus said, "Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." Matthew 19: 19-24
WOMAN WITH 2 CENTS, ACCORDING TO SCRIPTURE: While at the Temple in Jerusalem, Jesus observed how the multitudes were putting money into the treasury. A poor woman came and put in two cents. Jesus called His Disciples and said, "Truly I say to you, this widow put more in than all the contributors...for they put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all show owned..." Mark 12:41-44
ADULTEROUS WOMAN: In the movie, in Capernaum a woman is chased by a crowd. They corner her in front of Jesus, accuse her of adultery, and want to stone her to death. Jesus tells the crowd, "You have judged her rightly. She is guilty of adultery. Let him who is among you cast the first stone." After the crowd disperses, Jesus asks what her name is and she says "Mary Magdelene".
This is wrong: The adulterous woman was NOT Mary Magdelene!
ACCORDING TO SCRIPTURE: Jesus was at the Temple in Jerusalem and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery to Him. They were testing him, so they might have grounds to accuse him. When they asked Jesus what to do, He said, "Let he who is without sin, let him cast the first stone." When the crowd dispersed, Jesus said to her, "Woman where are your accusers?" There were none, so Jesus said, "Go and sin no more." This was NOT Mary Magdelene. We never know the name of the adulterous woman. MARY MAGDELENE: Jesus delivered Mary Magdelene of being possessed by seven demons. Luke 8:2
BEHEADING OF JOHN THE BAPTIST: In the movie, King Herod proclaims arrogantly that he is going to kill John the Baptist and then we see a man with a sword and hear the sound of a beheading. Salome gets no credit. It shows her dancing around in the background when Herod says he's going to kill John, but nothing about her is ever mentioned, not even her name.
This did not happen this way!
ACCORDING TO SCRIPTURE: King Herod did not want to kill John. On his birthday, King Herod begged his wife's daughter, Salome, (his Stepdaughter) to dance for him as he was smitten with her. He promised to give her anything she wanted up to half his kingdom, so Salame danced for him. When she was done, Salome told King Herod that she wanted the head of John the Baptist on a platter. (Her mother put her up to it.) King Herod was very grieved, but he kept his word, so they would not say the King's word is no good.
KING HEROD AND THE PHARISEES: In the movie, King Herod is constantly incited against Jesus to the point where, during the Passover he sends out a legion of Roman soldiers to the Temple in Jerusalem to apprehend Jesus. The Roman soldiers storm the crowd of hundreds that are gathered at the Temple in Jerusalem listening to Jesus preach, so everyone runs and hides. After everyone has fled, it shows the body of the lame man that Jesus healed, as if he'd been trampled or murdered. The focus was on Herod's hatred of Jesus, not the Pharisees.
This did NOT happen!
ACCORDING TO SCRIPTURE: The Pharisees were the ones who had it out for Jesus. This was barely noted in the movie. According to scripture, the Pharisees were responsible for having Jesus arrested and crucified. The Jewish Priests and Roman Soldier's secretly arrested Jesus during the middle of the night when He and His Disciples were in the Garden of Gethsemane. They were led to Jesus in the Garden by Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed Him.
There's a LOT more discrepancies, but I have listed enough.
REVIEWS: One of the Critic Reviews said, "God is unlucky in The Greatest Story Ever Told. His only begotten son turns out to be a bore." That was probably due to the lack of miracles, happenings, and relationships. "And its inability to connect with audiences discouraged production of Biblical epics for years". Reviews on Wikipedia listed
HERE.
RECOMMENDATION: For those of you who are not into Scripture, you will probably enjoy this film. I did when I was young, before I had my first Bible. But if you want to know what really happened when Jesus walked this earth, watch "Jesus of Nazareth"!
I know he did some time traveling but I didn't realize he went that far back.
