SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Keeley Coleman The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Tobias Burrows It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Ed-Shullivan When a film receives critical acclaim the director is usually the first person that the media points to as being responsible for the film's success. I noticed that IMDB has Billy Budd at an overall rating of 7.9 which I am more than a bit surprised at such a high overall rating. Peter Ustinov as the film's director penciled himself in as none other than the ship's Post Captain of the Royal Navy, Edwin Fairfax Vere, and the crew's moral compass. When Billy Budd is confronted by the mean and manipulative liar Master of Arms/Captain John Claggart (Robert Ryan) trouble follows the young Billy Budd (played by 24 year old Terrence Stamp), whose fate is left in the hands of the ship's Post Captain of the Royal Navy, Edwin Fairfax Vere, and his military brass.I thought Robert Ryan was not cast properly as the Master Of Arms and that hat he is wearing looked absolutely ridiculous. His hat reminds me of the Irish leprechaun from the Lucky Charms cereal commercials. All that was needed was for Robert Ryan to jump up in the air and kick up his heels as he doles out his punishment(s) to the various crew members to be reminded he was acting more like a leprechaun and less as a Master Of Arms.I also did not think that this film held up well over the decades. I certainly would not even place it near to the class of watchable film as the 1954 film Caine Mutiny, starring Humphrey Bogart, and/or the 1962 Mutiny On the Bounty, starring Marlon Brando. I love the old films all the way from the 1940's-70's so as much as I wanted to see Billy Budd I am going to blame the poor delivery on the film's director and star Peter Ustinov. He really should have stuck to acting only.I give the film a poor 3 out of 10 rating. I cannot recommend Billy Budd for any value whatsoever.

mark.waltz "Keep your mouth shut, except at meal time!" That's what the "pretty boy" (Terence Stamp) title character is advised by the all-knowing Melvyn Douglas, senior crew member on an 18th Century English warship captained by Peter Ustinov with the crew controlled by the sadistic Robert Ryan. He isn't another Captain Bligh: In fact, he can be quite noble (in rare moments) and like "Les Miserables'" Javert thinks he is justified in his actions. There are many moments when his humanity is clearly visible, but all of a sudden, he switches like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.So why the reluctance to fully like this film? It starts off great, with each of the actors introducing their character names as their actual name appears in the credits. Lacking color which would have added more excitement to it, this film is as black and white as the lives of the characters, even though their individual qualities are far from black and white. Being essentially an ensemble piece, I can see why Terence Stamp was nominated for an Oscar in the supporting actor category, even though he's the protagonist and the most mentioned name on every other character's lips. Everybody truly shines and all of the veteran actors are extremely well used. Ustinov as the captain gives a truly layered portrayal, filled with both sympathy and power, and is far from his later mostly comical portrayals. Ryan is extremely intense, especially in a scene with Stamp where the younger man urges him to consider him a friend to which Ryan quietly and slowly builds to a response of anger and vengeance. Newcomer Stamp here is totally likable, almost saint-like, and will never be confused with his roles in "Superman II" and "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert".A bit more psychological in nature than normal, it really makes you think into these character's psychologies and not place a label on them as either "hero" or "villain" (or more appropriately in Ryan's case, "tyrant", which he is, but with some gentler facets as well). Unfortunately, it is mostly chat, little action (with the exception of a few battle scenes), and the over length a bit troubling.

Conspirator Slash It's not a well-known movie, but people, this is a true masterpiece. It's almost like an European art movie, there's nothing Hollywood in it. Ustinov is a sensitive director who respects and remains true to the book (a rarity). A good idea it was made in B&W, for it makes the whole thing extremely beautiful. Hail to the photographer. And a perfect cast. Ustinov, although better known for his great comic roles, is a serious, noble, sympathetic Captain Vere. Okay, he's not as attractive as Philip Langridge (who played the role in the '88 filmed stage version), but he's credible. For Billy, the incredibly young, angelic, nice, innocent Terence Stamp was a perfect choice. He looks exactly like Melville described the character, and he's truly good and lovable without being a Mary-Sue. Maybe the only "extra" is that although naive, he has some kind of wisdom: he understands Claggart and tries to befriend him. And for the master-at-arms, Robert Ryan (who was so sympathetic and tormented in The Wild Bunch) is Evil incarnate. Not your overplayed bad guy, but a silent, smiling sadist. His death scene is one of the most frightening things I've ever seen: the dies SMILING, as if he knew he has won, and that Billy would die for this, too. One must think Claggart actually WANTED to be killed. He tempts fate again and again till he gets what he deserves. Not many movies are there what made me cry, but this one did. There's much more in it than a symbolic fight between Good and Evil. Billy might be an angel, and Claggart might be a lovechild of Iago, but the actors make them human. The tragedy is that there was the possibility of loving each other. Billy had offered it, and Claggart almost fell for good, but he couldn't deny his natural depravity. As for the homoerotic undertones: yes, they are there. Especially in Ryan's Claggart. His hate is mostly an oppressed lust.So it's a nearly-perfect movie, it really deserves more popularity. MJelville is so under-adapted! Only two versions exist for Moby Dick, and BB wasn't filmed again (at least not for cinemas) since this film.

Robert J. Maxwell No big sea battles here. This is a filmed play based on Herman Melville's novel.Terence Stamp is Billy Budd, a teen age seaman impressed from a merchant ship onto a British war ship during the Napoleanic wars. Budd's new ship, H. M. S. Avenger, is commanded by the uncertain Captain Vere (Peter Ustinov) and more or less run by the sadistic Master at Arms, Claggart (Robert Ryan). Claggart enjoys making people miserable and it irritates him no end that Billy Budd charms everyone aboard the Avenger, officers and men alike, with his cheerful, good-natured, and rather perceptive honesty. Budd's illiteracy is an emblem of his innocence. If Budd has a flaw, it's that he can't get his words together under stress and so he stutters or becomes speechless. Claggart knows this and, in front of Vere, Claggart accuses Budd of stirring up a mutiny. (There has been a recent mutiny in English ports and Vere is worried about the crew's learning this and, for all he knows, rising up against him. The rebellion back home hangs like a shadow over the captain.) Budd can't find the words to defend himself, so he strikes Claggart who falls to the deck, half rises, smiling, and then dies. The summary court martial would like to find Budd innocent, once they learn the facts, but the captain talks them into following the rules blindly and Billy Budd is hanged from the yardarm. The men, witnesses to the execution of their most esteemed shipmate, are about to mutiny when the appearance of a French ship disrupts the scenario and they rush into battle for Billy's sake, unable as they are to deep six the men they'd like to. During the engagement, it seems that the distraught Captain Vere is killed.That's the superficial story anyway. I say "superficial" because I doubt that Herman Melville was much concerned with an incident in a foreign war that happened 40 years earlier. Melville always seemed to be after bigger game, sometimes the size of whales.It's about "good" and "evil", certainly, but not in any easy sense of those words. Ryan does a fine job as Claggart, his eyes glittering with malice as he heap his contumely on the men. He is constantly scowling except once, when in a private conversation at night, Billy Budd manages to get him to laugh at himself, for which Claggart hates Billy even more. Ustinov, as Vere, is quite good too in this dramatic role, but -- I can't help it -- he still seems so cute as to have miscast himself. It's like casting Dom DeLoise or S. Z. "Cuddles" Szakall as Vere. I keep looking at Ustinov and seeing Hercule Poirot in an outlandish costume. A lot of the weight rests on the shoulders of Terence Stamp and he can barely carry it. Again, it's not so much his performance as Billy Budd, but his appearance. His features are strong, sometimes almost sinister, and it might have been better if he'd been a year or two younger. Partly, too, it's that the script doesn't give him much of a chance to be charming. Sometimes he seems plain dumb, although that may be the point.Towards the end of the court martial, the three officers are about to find Billy free of guilt, but Vere intervenes and points out to them that, whatever the mitigation, the act did occur and that, however much he himself would like to let Billy go, the law requires his hanging. To me, Vere's argument is specious BS. Vere is afraid that if Billy isn't hanged, the men will take him and his officers for weaklings and revolt. The opposite is true, of course. Furthermore, the ship's doctor has found that Claggart had a "thin skull" and died accidentally from the blow -- he's seen it before -- so the legal subtext is weak.I read the story years ago and, without having looked it up in any sources, I have to say I don't remember the intrusion of that French ship at the end, or the death of Captain Vere. Whether they were in the novel or not, they seem tacked on adventitiously, like a typical Hollywood ending. The real ending to the story has Billy Budd shouting, "God bless Captain Vere", and then being hoisted wordlessly and without any struggle whatever. The actual story ends in dissonance, without any formal resolution. As it stands the whole point of the story, which has to do, among other things, with the ambiguity of man-made justice, is vitiated. When the film kills Captain Vere it seems to be following the old Hollywood code in which misbehavior can't go unpunished.It's still a powerful movie -- thought provoking and adult. Claggart sees another man who has something that he, Claggart, has never had, and deliberately arranges his death. If you substitute "a rich and beautiful babe" for "innocence", you almost have a drama in which a man jealously kills the husband of the woman he loves. You almost have "Double Indemnity" or "Body Heat" except that God is mixed up somewhere in this business aboard the Avenger.