1966: A Man For All Seasons

The original poster for A Man For All Seasons, another of the great Oscar posters that is significantly more exciting than the movie it is advertising.

“You’re a constant regret to me, Thomas. If you could just see facts flat-on, without that horrible moral squint… With a little common sense you could have made a statesman.” – Cardinal Wolsey (Orson Wells) to Thomas More (Paul Scofeld), A Man for All Seasons

Is A Man For All Season the Oscariest movie of all time?

Consider its traits: Period piece. True Story. British. Moralizing. Tragic ending. I don’t think in 1966 it exactly fit the ideal of a Best Picture – look at all the musicals that had just preceded it, not to mention Oscar’s rare dip into action films like Lawrence of Arabia (albeit a British true story action film) – but none of the 1960s movies would feel as at home in a Best Picture race today than A Man for All Seasons, a movie possibly well ahead of its time in its total squareness. This picture, while not bad or anything outside of being a trifle dull, is certainly one of the more fuddy-duddy pieces to take home the trophy from this period, similar to recent winners that have led to Oscar’s lambasting as out-of-touch (well, that and the race thing).

A ragged Paul Scofeld is tortured for his beliefs, but wins an Oscar and keeps his smug sense of superiority, in A Man For All Seasons

A Man For All Seasons is the true story of Saint Thomas More, a man who gave his life to keep his conscious clean (sorry for the spoiler for the true story of a man who lived 400 years ago). When the movie opens, More (Paul Scofield) is the rare honest judge in England’s corrupt political system. More could be a bigger player, but he refuses to compromise his conscious and take bribes or give favors to the rich and powerful. Meanwhile, King Henry VIII, lacking a male heir, wishes to divorce his wife and marry a new one. The Pope refuses to annul the marriage, even though Henry has found a clever legal loophole to have it tossed aside (his wife was married to his brother previously). Henry dissolves the Catholic Church in England and starts the Church of England, with himself as head. More, who has become a Cardinal, hopes to escape Henry’s wrath by simply not saying anything about the marriage or Henry’s power play. Because of More’s status, Henry won’t let the matter rest, using a series of sycophants and suck-ups to coerce either an acceptance of the marriage or to get More to speak out against it (which would be viewed as treasonous and leave More open to a death sentence). More is imprisoned and ultimately betrayed by a former subject whose career he refused to help advance (a very young John Hurt). More, sentenced to death, finally denounces Henry’s actions in a stirring speech that seems too dramatic to be real, but apparently did happen (according to the attached documentary on the DVD).

I would be remiss in not mentioning Orson Welles as the corrupt Cardinal Wolsey who sold his soul for riches and meatloaf.,

Much like Sound of Music rested on Julie Andrews’s shoulders, Scofield carries A Man for All Seasons. I like that the movie isn’t so conventional as to have More brazenly speak his mind from the outset. He is actually kind of cowardly in his plan to not say anything and skate away unnoticed. He’s not so much a rabble rouser as an overwhelmed man trying to stay out of the fray while not sacrificing his morality, which is a different take on a commonly told story. Scofield has a weary, but smart aleck, nature to him that at least keeps him interesting, even though the character is in fact kind of a dick (he’s often smug and belligerent to people who are trying to help him). The rivalry between More and Henry is interesting in that Henry is hardly in the movie at all, save for one notable, lengthy scene between the two. The conflict exists, but we’re not sure how much is Henry’s doing and how much are people moving about trying to please their unknowable master. I liked the characterization of Henry – he’s a boisterous, unstoppable force whose so used to getting his way that he laughs off any perceived flaw and is so feared as to have all his followers readily agree with him. It really shines a light on the danger of extreme power possessed by Henry.

King Henry VIII (Robert Shaw) and Thomas More (Paul Scofield). Despite being the central conflict of A Man For All Seasons, this is the only scene the two share.

The movie tends to have flaws in plotting. Several plot threads are never explained or resolved. At the beginning of the movie, More’s daughter is being courted by a young lawyer, but More’s refuses to give his OK to the marriage because the lawyer had denounced the Catholic Church for its rampant corruption. Sometime later, we learn they are married with no explanation for why More changed his mind. In another scene, we learn Henry is making everyone take an oath of loyalty (or disloyalty to the Catholic Church) and More explains to his daughter they could still feasibly take it and not violate their conscious, depending on what the wording of the oath is. In the next scene, More is in jail, since apparently there were no loopholes in the oath, although we never get to hear the damn thing to know what the objectionable language was or how More’s daughter escaped similar imprisonment.

There are two ways to view A Man For All Season’s Oscar win. On the one hand, it seems like a reaction to the changing youth culture and nascent counter culture by rewarding a traditional movie that favored old-time values and stoic virtue. Conversely, it is a movie that champions the rejection and repudiation of corrupt authority (albeit in favor of a second corrupt authority), which actually feeds into the emerging counter-culture. Could A Man For All Seasons have actually inspired the anti-war protest and hippie mantras of the coming years? Hardly likely, and yet A Man For All Seasons ends up a pale reflection of the tidal wave of anti-authority sentiment to come.

Other Oscars: Paul Scofield, Best Actor; Fred Zinnerman, Best Director; Best Adapted Screenplay; Best Costume Design; Best Cinematography;

Box Office:$28.35 Million (Fourth for the Year)

Other notable Films of 1966: Alfie*; The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming*; The Sand Pebbles*; Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf?*; The Bible: In the Beginning$; The Good, the Bad and the Ugly; Grand Prix; Blowup; The Endless Summer; Georgy Girl; The Fortune Cookie; Batman;

*Best Picture Nominee

$Top Box Office ($34.9 Million)

1959: Ben-Hur

Even the poster is momentous!

“When the Romans were marching me to the galleys, thirst had almost killed me. A man gave me water to drink, and I went on living. I should have done better if I’d poured it into the sand!…I’m thirsty still.” – Judah Ben-Hur, discussing his unquenchable rage, Ben-Hur

Ben-Hur is perhaps the apex of the “Bigger is Better” philosophy that encapsulated many of the Best Pictures of this time frame. Ben- Hur is the sort of loud, over-the-top movie, loaded with massive sets and scenes with literally thousands of extras that would make even Michael Bay take pause. It also is a prime example of the Biblical Epic, a 1950s sub-genre that combined Bible stories with action spectacle and very long run times (like 1956’s The Ten Commandments). The two come together in Ben-Hur to create the most macho story about Jesus ever told. Of all which is a very long winded introduction to say BEN-HUR RULED IT!

Ben-Hur (aka A Tale of the Christ) is a look at what some of the other people in Judea were up to while Jesus was stirring up trouble. Charlton Heston, who never met a scene he couldn’t chew, is Judah Ben-Hur, a Judean prince. Although he was once friendly with Messala (Stephen Boyd), a Roman military commander, a rift has developed between the two due to Judea’s growing displeasure with Roman occupation. When welcoming the new Roman governor to town, Ben-Hur’s sister accidentally knocks a tile onto the governor. Suddenly Ben-Hur’s mother and sister are sent to jail and he is exiled to life as a slave rower on a battle ship. After an EPIC fight, Ben-Hur saves the life of boat commander Quintus Arrias (Jack Hawkins). Arrias adopts Ben-Hur and teaches him to chariot race. Ben-Hur finally returns to Judea after five years only to find his mom and sister are now lepers. Enraged, he challenges Messala to a chariot race (where, as Ben-Hur’s financier sheik points out “There is no law.”) Messala is killed in the demolition derby-style race, but Ben-Hur’s thirst for vengeance against Rome cannot be satiated. Throughout the story, Ben-Hur has crossed paths with an unseen peaceful figure, most notably when the anonymous man gives him water during a forced march through the desert. Finally Ben-Hur’s quasi-girlfriend convinces him to take his family to see Jesus (who is in the middle of being tried and crucified) and Ben-Hur finally learns peace. And his family is cured as an added bonus.

Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) and friend-turned-rival Messala (Stepehen Boyd). According to the book Inside Oscar, one of the movie’s five writers intentionally added homoeroticism to the relationship, but Heston was left in the dark about it.

On the one hand, the events I described seem rather insane, and to a rational person perhaps they are. It is rare, for example, that faulty architecture play such a central role to a plot or the term Chariot Death Race makes its way into a highly-respected, Oscar winning film. But Ben-Hur has such a go-for-broke aplomb about it that I couldn’t help but enjoy it. Even Charlton Heston, who is frankly, a terrible actor, brings such ridiculous bravado to his role (Is he crying? Grinning? Who can tell? Why is he so damn macho all the time?!?) that it propels the story. He’s the action hero of the Biblical age.

A still from Ben-Hur’s awesome chariot race.

In all seriousness, the movie has two magnificent action sequences – the boat battle and especially the chariot race. The chariot race – which took months to plan and five weeks to film with reportedly 15,000 extras – was a marvel of its time and is still an inspiration to movies like the pod-racer chase in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. The race is more than 15 minutes long and non-stop action. And yet, unlike many action scenes of the past (and present), I never got confused about what was going on. The director really does a great job of laying out the action in a logical, visually understandable manner. And the stunts are crazy. The battle of the boats – where the boats ram one another and the slaves’ revolt – is also quite exciting and a great triumph of pre-CGI special effects.

I felt remiss about leaving out Hugh Griffith, who won the Best Supporting Actor award, despite playing a very minor, and fairly racist, role.

Ben-Hur is not without its flaws. The movie is very long – 3 ½ hours, and after the chariot race – with about 45 minutes to go in the movie – really grinds to a halt as Ben-Hur goes on and on about his family’s fate. A lot of the middle could have probably been cut down to a 2:45 movie as well.

Ben-Hur is probably the closest approximation to today’s big budget blockbuster action movies to win the Best Picture award (Wings is an action movie of sorts, Casablanca is a thriller but doesn’t have a big fight scene). I’d hate to think of it as the Transformers of its day, since as noted the action scenes in Ben-Hur are comprehensible. Hearing it described as a Biblical epic made me dread this movie, but I was pleasantly surprised at its excitement and general craziness.

Trivia: Ben-Hur won 11 Oscars, a record which still stands to this day (Titanic and Lord of the Rings: Return of the King have tied it).

Other Oscars Won: Best Actor, Charlton Heston; Best Supporting Actor: Hugh Griffith; Best Director: William Wyler; Best Cinematography, Color; Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color; Best Costume Design, Color; Best Sound, Color; Best Film Editing; Best Effects, Special Effects; Best Music (It lost Best Adapted Screenplay!)

Box Office: $37 Million (#1 for the year)
Other Notable Movies of 1959: Sleeping Beauty, North by Northwest, Some Like It Hot, Pillow Talk, Imitation of Life, Suddenly Last Summer, On the Beach, Anatomy of a Murder*, Rio Bravo, Room at the Top*, The Diary of Anne Frank*, The Nun’s Story*

*Best Picture Nominee