{"id":2925,"date":"2005-03-26T11:10:00","date_gmt":"2005-03-26T11:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/03\/easter-movies-and-zeffirellis-afterthought\/"},"modified":"2005-03-26T11:10:00","modified_gmt":"2005-03-26T11:10:00","slug":"easter-movies-and-zeffirellis-afterthought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/03\/easter-movies-and-zeffirellis-afterthought.html","title":{"rendered":"Easter movies and Zeffirelli’s afterthought"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Happy Easter to those of you on the western liturgical calendar!<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been on the eastern calendar since meeting my wife just over two years ago, and while the two calendars do occasionally sync up \u2014 as they did last year \u2014 it is more common for Holy Week to come a wee bit later for the Orthodox than it does for Catholics and Protestants. (This year, Pascha takes place way off on May 1!) So, with all this Easter buzz in the air outside my church but no celebration of it inside my church just yet, I naturally think of movies \u2014 specifically, of watching life-of-Jesus movies.<\/span><\/p>\n

Two years ago, I watched Nicholas Ray\u2019s <\/span>King of Kings<\/a><\/i> (1961) \u2014 the first major studio film about the life of Christ produced since the silent era \u2014 and was so distracted by how much of the movie Jesus was <\/span>not<\/i> in that I began <\/span>timing the length of his appearances<\/a>; and yes, it turns out he is in less than half of that film\u2019s running time. Less than half! Apparently the filmmakers were so unsure how to depict Christ that they did so as little as possible.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last year, of course, was the year of <\/span>The Passion<\/a><\/i>, and I ended up watching or re-watching lots of other Jesus movies as well, as research for the various <\/span>Passion<\/i>-themed articles I was working on. I specifically remember <\/span>sitting through<\/a> all six-and-a-half hours of Franco Zeffirelli\u2019s mini-series <\/span>Jesus of Nazareth<\/a><\/i> (1977) just so I could add a paragraph on that film to <\/span>my essay<\/a> on subjective and objective perspectives in Jesus films \u2014 and take it from me, that mini-series was <\/span>not<\/i> meant to be seen all in one sitting!<\/span><\/p>\n

Zeffirelli\u2019s film has its fair share of detractors \u2014 such as <\/span>Lloyd Baugh<\/a>, who says Zeffirelli \u201cthoroughly banalized\u201d the Jesus story \u2014 but even its fans are generally agreed on one thing: the film\u2019s treatment of the Resurrection is pretty darn lame. I was reminded of this several days ago, and so I dug up some quotes that I had typed up a couple years ago which indicate that, yes, the resurrected Christ was pretty much an afterthought in Zeffirelli\u2019s film.<\/span><\/p>\n

Zeffirelli himself, on pages 95-97 of <\/span>Franco Zeffirelli\u2019s Jesus: A spiritual diary<\/a><\/i>, says he prepared and shot a resurrection scene, \u201cBut on film it lacked all credibility and veered our project toward the perilous shores of a Hollywood epic.\u201d Somewhere along the way, a windstorm ruined his plans, too, I think. Then, on page 115 (and my notes may be a tad garbled here), there is this bit:<\/span><\/p>\n

A few days before the finished print of the film, right there on the deadline, Zeffirelli started to rummage through the hundred and thirty hours of footage in a desperate search for a solution. . . . he found a photographic test of Jesus\u2019 leave taking of the disciples after the Resurrection, a test shot a Meknes in the apostles\u2019 hideaway, forgotten in that enormous heap of material. Suddenly, everything turned around: those few feet of film offered the simplest solution, honest and clear. It is the consoling farewell of Jesus to his disciples and to us all, and his exhortation not to fear, since he is with us for all days until the end of time.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So he definitely ran out of time, and possibly out of money as well. Interestingly, this description of the resurrection scene as a very-last-minute replacement is corroborated by an article from the October 1994 issue of <\/span>Harper\u2019s<\/i> that I also added to my notes way back when \u2014 but it wasn\u2019t until this past week that it dawned on me that, since the article in question was based on a book, I should probably check and see if the library had a copy, and see if the book had any more details.<\/span><\/p>\n

And so, this week, I picked up Earl Shorris\u2019s <\/span>A Nation of Salesmen: The Tyranny of the Market & the Subversion of Culture<\/a><\/i>. And the first thing I noticed was that this book was badly, badly edited. I had only looked at a couple of pages before I spotted some awkward grammatical errors, and then I discovered the reason I couldn\u2019t find <\/span>Jesus of Nazareth<\/i> in the index was that Shorris had erroneously called the film <\/span>The Life of Jesus<\/i> \u2014 an error that <\/span>Harper\u2019s<\/i> had corrected in their version of this story.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, anyway, the book didn\u2019t really have anything that the article didn\u2019t have, but for those of you who have not yet come across this info, here are the relevant excerpts, taken from pages 207-211 of the book:<\/span><\/p>\n

If the chairman of the board of General Motors hadn\u2019t been a religious man, it might never have happened, and the effect on a television production of its many markets might not have been so clear. The time was the 1970s. As his reign neared its end, the chairman must have realized something about rich men and the eye of a needle, for he agreed to pay, out of the pockets of the stockholders, the entire production and broadcast costs for a television production of The Life of Jesus<\/i>. . . .<\/p>\n

When Protestant fundamentalists in the United States got wind of the Vatican\u2019s veto power over the script, they began a national campaign against the mini-series. Thousands of letters were sent to General Motors promising never again to buy their products, if the corporation went ahead with the \u201cpapist\u201d project. It fell to Waldo E. McNaught to deal with the Protestant protest. After one particularly difficult day, he telephoned me to complain. \u201cThe things I do for this goddamned corporation,\u201d he began. \u201cToday, I was down on my knees praying.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ever the vendor, taking the role of straight man, I asked, \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong with that?\u201d<\/p>\n

And he said, in a voice made tremulous by outrage, \u201cWith a Protestant!\u201d<\/p>\n

Propelled by fears for the future of American industry, McNaught, the chairman\u2019s assistant John McNulty, and I went to London to have a look at the film, which was by then in the form of a rough cut, still lacking some opticals, music, and so on, but with all the voice tracks laid in. . . .<\/p>\n

Within moments, the telephone rang. McNaught picked it up in his bedroom. \u201cShorris,\u201d he shouted, \u201cit\u2019s for you. It\u2019s that dame from NBC.\u201d<\/p>\n

I answered the phone in the other room. The woman from NBC asked, \u201cHow did you like the film?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell\u2026,\u201d I said, dragging out the word, not wanting to offer a comment until McNaught, McNulty, and I had been able to compare notes, \u201c\u2026I just got here. We were going to talk.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a piece of shit,\u201d the woman from NBC said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou think so?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSure, it\u2019s a piece of shit, but it\u2019ll get great reviews. No critic is going to attack The Life of Jesus<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know more about that than I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I just wanted you to know. We\u2019re going back to New York tonight. I\u2019ll see you there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSure.\u201d<\/p>\n

McNaught had been listening on the other phone. He came into the parlor wearing his Alice-in-Wonderland smile. \u201cIt\u2019s so good to hear from our benefactors at NBC. And what is your opinion, Mr. Shorris?\u201d<\/p>\n

I had made notes about more than a few scenes; the most memorable of them had to do with the scourging of Jesus. Rod Steiger in the role of Pontius Pilate looks at the actor (since forgotten) who plays Jesus, and says of this bedraggled blue-eyed blond young Englishman, \u201cEcce homo!\u201d then turns to the camera and explains, \u201cBehold the man.\u201d The woman from NBC had been correct about the quality of the film. But that had been clear from the beginning. What I had noted during the screening was a series of anti-Semitic statements, all of them gratuitous.<\/p>\n

I made my case to the men from General Motors, saying as I recall, in a good-humored way, that if the film were to be presented without deleting or modifying those scenes, I would never again work for General Motors, nor would I even speak to anyone, meaning them, who worked for the corporation. McNaught raised his eyebrows and pursed his lips, mocking my earnestness. McNulty merely nodded. He is a tall man, fair, and with a rather large nose for a leprechaun. \u201cDid cha see anything else wrong?\u201d he asked, Saint Thomas Aquinas speaking in the accents of Ireland and the farthest reaches of the borough of Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo. I don\u2019t think so.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDid cha see anything wrong with the ending?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo. Was there something wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah,\u201d he said in several syllables, \u201cthey didn\u2019t resurrect \u2018im.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, my God!\u201d<\/p>\n

He paused for a moment, and then said for the only time in the twenty years that I\u2019ve known him, \u201cAhem.\u201d<\/p>\n

The error, which had gone unnoticed by Anthony Burgess, Franco Zeffirelli, the Vatican, NBC, and even the egg-shaped lord himself, had been spotted by Jack McNulty. At his insistence, the producers reassembled the necessary members of the cast on location in North Africa and filmed a new ending, leaving no doubt that Jesus had been resurrected.<\/p>\n

The egg-shaped lord and the operatic director had demonstrated once again that unlike other salesmen, those who run the film and television industries are not only willing but able to move heaven and earth to satisfy the desires of their customers.<\/p>\n

Nothing satisfied the Fundamentalists, however. They mounted a great campaign of letters and postal cards. Along with the opinions of the woman from NBC and other crtiics, the Fundamentalists finally won out. A few days before the program was to be broadcast, Roger B. Smith, heir apparent to the chairman\u2019s job, totaled up the amount of money GM spent on NBC. Then he called the network. The ironclad contract evaporated, NBC sold the show to Procter & Gamble at distress sale prices, and The Life of Jesus<\/i> went on the air as scheduled, with some emendations and a new, happier ending.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I am not sure that these two accounts can be reconciled in every single detail \u2014 the Zeffirelli book does not appear to indicate whether the failed Resurrection sequence was attempted during principal photography or in re-shoots \u2014 but if anyone has ever wondered why the Resurrection sequence in this mini-series is so much less than what it could have been, well, now you know.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Happy Easter to those of you on the western liturgical calendar! I\u2019ve been on the eastern calendar since meeting my wife just over two years ago, and while the two calendars do occasionally sync up \u2014 as they did last year \u2014 it is more common for Holy Week to come a wee bit later […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nEaster movies and Zeffirelli's afterthought<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Happy Easter to those of you on the western liturgical calendar!I've been on the eastern calendar since meeting my wife just over two years ago, and while\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/03\/easter-movies-and-zeffirellis-afterthought.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Easter movies and Zeffirelli's afterthought\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Happy Easter to those of you on the western liturgical calendar!I've been on the eastern calendar since meeting my wife just over two years ago, and while\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/03\/easter-movies-and-zeffirellis-afterthought.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FilmChat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2005-03-26T11:10:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter T. Chattaway\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Peter T. Chattaway\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/03\/easter-movies-and-zeffirellis-afterthought.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/03\/easter-movies-and-zeffirellis-afterthought.html\",\"name\":\"Easter movies and Zeffirelli's afterthought\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2005-03-26T11:10:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2005-03-26T11:10:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/5759ddf28b81af08b29eb15b4e071fde\"},\"description\":\"Happy Easter to those of you on the western liturgical calendar!I've been on the eastern calendar since meeting my wife just over two years ago, and while\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/03\/easter-movies-and-zeffirellis-afterthought.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/03\/easter-movies-and-zeffirellis-afterthought.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/03\/easter-movies-and-zeffirellis-afterthought.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Easter movies and Zeffirelli’s afterthought\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/\",\"name\":\"FilmChat\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/5759ddf28b81af08b29eb15b4e071fde\",\"name\":\"Peter T. Chattaway\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c4b809df092b410d749a6995bcf4f3e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c4b809df092b410d749a6995bcf4f3e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Peter T. Chattaway\"},\"description\":\"Peter T. Chattaway was the regular film critic for BC Christian News from 1992 to 2011. In addition to his award-winning film column for that paper, his news and opinion pieces have appeared in such publications as Books & Culture, Christianity Today, Bible Review and the Vancouver Sun. He has also contributed essays to the books Re-Viewing The Passion: Mel Gibson\u2019s Film and Its Critics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), Scandalizing Jesus?: Kazantzakis\u2019s The Last Temptation of Christ Fifty Years on (Continuum, 2005) and The Bible in Motion: A Handbook of the Bible and Its Reception in Film (De Gruyter, 2016).\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/author\/peterchattaway\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Easter movies and Zeffirelli's afterthought","description":"Happy Easter to those of you on the western liturgical calendar!I've been on the eastern calendar since meeting my wife just over two years ago, and while","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/03\/easter-movies-and-zeffirellis-afterthought.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Easter movies and Zeffirelli's afterthought","og_description":"Happy Easter to those of you on the western liturgical calendar!I've been on the eastern calendar since meeting my wife just over two years ago, and while","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/03\/easter-movies-and-zeffirellis-afterthought.html","og_site_name":"FilmChat","article_published_time":"2005-03-26T11:10:00+00:00","author":"Peter T. Chattaway","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Peter T. Chattaway","Est. reading time":"9 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/03\/easter-movies-and-zeffirellis-afterthought.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/03\/easter-movies-and-zeffirellis-afterthought.html","name":"Easter movies and Zeffirelli's afterthought","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#website"},"datePublished":"2005-03-26T11:10:00+00:00","dateModified":"2005-03-26T11:10:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/5759ddf28b81af08b29eb15b4e071fde"},"description":"Happy Easter to those of you on the western liturgical calendar!I've been on the eastern calendar since meeting my wife just over two years ago, and while","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/03\/easter-movies-and-zeffirellis-afterthought.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/03\/easter-movies-and-zeffirellis-afterthought.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/03\/easter-movies-and-zeffirellis-afterthought.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Easter movies and Zeffirelli’s afterthought"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/","name":"FilmChat","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/5759ddf28b81af08b29eb15b4e071fde","name":"Peter T. Chattaway","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c4b809df092b410d749a6995bcf4f3e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c4b809df092b410d749a6995bcf4f3e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Peter T. Chattaway"},"description":"Peter T. Chattaway was the regular film critic for BC Christian News from 1992 to 2011. In addition to his award-winning film column for that paper, his news and opinion pieces have appeared in such publications as Books & Culture, Christianity Today, Bible Review and the Vancouver Sun. He has also contributed essays to the books Re-Viewing The Passion: Mel Gibson\u2019s Film and Its Critics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), Scandalizing Jesus?: Kazantzakis\u2019s The Last Temptation of Christ Fifty Years on (Continuum, 2005) and The Bible in Motion: A Handbook of the Bible and Its Reception in Film (De Gruyter, 2016).","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/author\/peterchattaway"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1116"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2925\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}