AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

UnowPriceless hyped garbage

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Catangro After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

me-81350 I watched this in the early 70s. At the time you stay in your seat and watch it again until the Cinema closed.I sat and watched it twice. Enforced RE in schools told of the Christian Bible story removing the characters from real people.This Lloyd Webber / Rice production with Jewisons direction and Ted Neeley and Carl Anderson's bought it to life showing not gods but Men and Women.The pressures on this one man from all sides come out in the Gardens of Gethsemane. Neeley's voice and the emotion must surely be the definitive version. I can watch / listen to this and it always makes my hair on the back of my neck stand up, especially his capitulation.Carl Anderson has been mentioned many times for his portrayal as Judas - inspired casting.I have heard many subsequent versions and I'm afraid they pale against this magnificent movie.And yes I'm still an atheist

cloudsponge It was at the time of its release in the early 70s that I walked out of this movie. Striding down the aisle to the exit I passed an usher and said to her my simple reason for leaving: "Beach Blanket Bible." Totally cringe worthy. Banal, superficial, terrible schmaltzy music. Could there be anything worse than this movie for trying to depict some kind of spiritual truth? But perhaps I am wrong. Had I stayed surely I would have been thrilled by a spectacle such as the likes of Harvey Lembeck, riding his vicious camel, as the leader of a gang of used-camel salesmen in a scene of their camels tap dancing in sync with cleverly inter-maneuvering Israeli tanks. This while all are getting drunk on their butts from the water Ted Neeley turned to wine with his magic shepherd's crook, singing: "Hey babe, ya wanna boogie? Boogie woogie woogie with God!" Except maybe that really would have been worth staying for unlike the brain slap we were getting.

Robert Reynolds One of my favorite musicals of the last 40 or so years. There will be mild spoilers ahead:This film version of the stage rock opera has its fans and critics. Count me as one of the former. By their very natures, a stage performance and a film will be quite different from one another and comparisons of them are as unfair as they are inevitable, just as comparisons of books to their film adaptations are. They are different mediums with different strengths and weaknesses.The material-the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar-is treated quite well here, with a marvelous ensemble cast and three extraordinary leads in Ted Neely as Jesus, the late Carl Anderson as Judas and Yvonne Elliman as Mary Magdalene. All were involved in the first original Broadway production, Neely as part of the chorus and the understudy for Jesus, Anderson as first understudy and the performing as Judas and Elliman as Magdalene. Elliman was also on the album release in 1970.Notables in supporting roles are Barry Dennen as Pilate, Paul Thomas as Peter and Josh Mostel as Herod. Thomas went on to be both and actor and director in adult films.Norman Jewison staged this with modern touches-hard hats on the Roman guards, the temple scene has cash registers and credit cards signs and so on. Sets are frequently minimalist, with the film shot on location in Israel.There's one song new to the film, "Then We Are Decided", between Annas and Caiaphas.The leads and supporting soloists are very good in their roles and the chorus is generally energetic and effective.What makes the film work is, of course, the three leads. There's a chemistry between Neely and Anderson which makes the dynamic between them come across vividly. Ellimann owns the role of Mary Magdalane.Excellent adaptation of the stage release. This film is available on DVD and is worth watching. Most recommended.

jhsteel Jesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice in the early 1970s, and this is a movie version. I saw the original London run of the show, as a child, and it made a huge impression on me. Some reviewers have questioned why Jesus is portrayed as human, but the point of this opera is to examine the "superstar" status of Jesus in his time, and the effect that this had upon his followers, the Jewish priests and the Romans. It deals with the phenomenon of Jesus from every angle, and it works. Musically, it stands up just as well as it did in the 70s, and it still packs a punch. It shows the reality of how the political threat posed by the Jesus movement was dealt with, and suggests a reason for the Crucifixion. There are many historical accounts of Jesus's life, based upon the Bible. This libretto and screenplay are brave enough to look at it from a human angle, and it spoke to me as a child. I understood for the first time the reality of Jesus's life as a man and how he suffered, as a man. It's value is its originality. Probably one of the best things Lloyd Webber has ever done, and the wit and wisdom of Tim Rice is always valuable. Give it a chance, even if you are a Christian.