Adams' "Becket" DVD review

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A fairly well-written take on MPI's Becket DVD by Discland's Michael Adams, although he's dead wrong in saying that Peter O'Toole's performance as Henry II "doesn't come close to matching" his work in Lawrence of Arabia. The former is O'Toole's crowning achievement.

comment #1

jeffmcm says ...

'Dead wrong', eh? I'd say the point is at least arguable, and I'd still vote for Lawrence because, as glorious as O'Toole's performance is in Becket, he's not really playing a 'character' as he indeed is in Lawrence, but rather he's playing an outsize version of himself. Which isn't bad, but it suggests less discipline.

comment #2

Jayne Gacey says ...

jeffmcm, what in 45 years of media exposure has led you to believe that the real Peter O'Toole is a loud, brash, jealous, childish and sexual creature like Henry II? He may have burned a hole in his guts boozing and whoring across Europe, but he's always struck me as more quiet and reserved in real life.

I will agree that Lawrence is his finest hour. I've always felt that Burton was the best thing about Becket. Don't you wish Wells had been around in '65 to beat the drum against Rex Harrison? "Lazy whore Rex Harrison has just signed on to star in Disney's Doctor Doolittle, but by all means, give him the Oscar, it's fine..."

comment #3

alan says ...

I've always preferred O'Toole's Henry II of The Lion in Winter to that of Becket.

comment #4

alan says ...

Actually I should reword my last post - I've loved O'Toole's Henry II in The Lion in Winter for years. I finally saw Becket when the new DVD was released just a few weeks ago, and I found myself fairly underwhelmed.

I was a bit disappointed with the movie itself after all of the great things I've read about it over the years. I just didn't find it very compelling for some reason, and I love British history. I'll watch it again, and maybe my opinion will change.

Also, I was a bit shocked at how overtly gay the movie is. Yes, I was expecting some subtext, but I was not expecting Brokeback Castle.

comment #5

nemo says ...

I first saw "Becket" in a movie theater in 1965 when I was 12, one of the first adult movies I went to on my own, and I was really shocked back then at how overtly gay it was.

I was beginning to read about the ancient Greeks at that age, and was beginning to realize that not every society in history had a horror of homosexuality. I don't know how gay or bi the real Henry II was, but his son, Richard the Lion-Hearted, was obviously gay -- no bi about it -- to everyone who knew him. He strictly preferred men. He was played this way by the young Anthony Hopkins in "The Lion in Winter" several years later, when O'Toole played the older Henry II. Richard's open gayness is not something you would learn from any of the many Robin Hood movies.

When I finally saw "Becket" again a few months ago, what struck me was how much Henry II resembled our current president. Too much power has an infantalizing effect on a person.

Just look at Henry's sulking petulance early in the film when Becket is trying to persuade the church to give up its resistance to Henry. That sulk and that pout is Bush all over. O'Toole knew something about powerful men when he played that role.

Both Henry and George are great big babies who can't take hearing "no" from anyone, but who, unlike real babies, unfortunately have the power to crush those who resist them.

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