Barabbas (1962)

Directed by Richard Fleischer. Starring Anthony Quinn, Vittorio Gassman, Silvana Mangano, Arthur Kennedy, Ernest Borgnine, Jack Palance, Harry Andrews, Katy Jurado, Michael Gwynn, Valentina Cortese.

The life (and biblical role) of Barabbas (Quinn), the thief and murderer who was pardoned in place of Jesus Christ prior to the Christian messiah’s crucifixion, has been greatly expanded in this sword-and-sandal epic. Beyond the Gospels, the narrative is taken from the book by Nobel Prize-winner Pär Lagerkvist, as Barabbas is freed and learns his lover (Mangano) now follows the word of Christ; he remains skeptical, returns to crime, gets sold into slavery, and many years later gets trained to become a gladiator. Although it only periodically succumbs to sermons or patronizing piety, it’s plodding as a life story and grungy as a spectacle—the latter may favor realism, but when the mythology doesn’t, this technique never works well. Too many scenes founder, from newly-risen Lazarus to the arsonist splurge on Rome near the end, and aside from the crucifixion being filmed during a real solar eclipse, there’s nothing here that hasn’t been done better in other religious and/or Ancient Roman epics. Quinn is surprisingly restrained, but he seems more constipated than conflicted, and can’t cut it as a gladiator. Still, he’s among the least of the numerous casting errors: Ernest Borgnine as a true-believer slave is almost as much of an out-of-place distraction as Edward G. Robinson’s Israelite informant in The Ten Commandments, while barbarous gladiator Jack Palance cuts quite the silly figure on a chariot. It also didn’t need to go on so long, but one of the few positive things you can say about it is that at least it’s only occasionally boring. See if you can spot Sharon Tate as an unbilled extra in her first film appearance (I couldn’t).

40/100