Becket
Composite Score: 86.87
Starring: Richard Burton, Peter O’Toole, John Gielgud, Gino Cervi, Paolo Stoppa, Donald Wolfit, David Weston, Martita Hunt, Pamela Brown, Siân Phillips, and Felix Aylmer
Director: Peter Glenville
Writer: Edward Anhalt
Genres: Biography, Drama, History
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for some sexual content and violence
Box Office: $149,327 worldwide
My take on Watching This Film:
Becket is the film adaptation of Jean Anouilh’s play, Becket or the Honour of God, about the relationship between King Henry II of England and Thomas Becket, a Saxon (this is not actually historically accurate) noble and friend of the king whom the king appointed as the Archbishop of Canterbury. The film stars Richard Burton as the titular Becket across from Peter O’Toole as the king. The dissolution of their friendship after Becket ascends to his new appointment forms the crux of the film’s conflict, opening questions about church and state, duty, and friendship. The film received twelve Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor for John Gielgud as French King Louis VII, Best Actor for both Burton and O’Toole, and a win for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Becket is a technical masterpiece with gorgeous production design and costume work, creative and poignant cinematography, and a remarkable score by Laurence Rosenthal (The Miracle Worker and A Raisin in the Sun). Every scene has this epic scale even when most of the film is just political squabbles between the King of England and the church. It’s broad and sweeping, and the two lead actors also do a solid job of drawing you into every moment with their performances. Where Burton’s Becket gives this sense of reserved emotionality, rarely allowing his feelings to move past his face though still expertly expressing them, O’Toole’s Henry is every bit as bombastic and over the top as any despotic tyrant you’ve ever imagined. Somehow the two performances work well in concert, and O’Toole gives King Henry enough nuance to not be a complete villain, making the severance of their friendship all the more tragic, as that’s truly where his spiral begins. There’s some commentary to be made about the nature of monarchic power within the story as well, and in conjunction with the examination of Becket’s prioritization of duty over friendship, there really is some solid substance here. Unfortunately, there are some odd subthemes about elevated rights of the church and a call for the church’s morality to guide the direction of the government that, while true to the history of the era, don’t look at all great in modern context. Still, the performances and production design more than make up for some thematic shortcomings – at least for a single watch.
In full honesty, Becket would be nothing more than a pretty, overplayed biopic without the performances of Burton and O’Toole, but with them it becomes a profound look at friendship and political power that deserves a spot among the greats. Some of the minor themes within the film certainly don’t hold up to any kind of scrutiny, but I believe that they’re in there more to preserve historicity than to make any kind of point. Currently, you can stream this film on Amazon Prime Video if you’d like to check it out.
