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Directed by the renowned Franco Zeffirelli, produced by Lew Grade (ITC Entertainment) and written by Anthony Burgess, R. Martin Basso submits ‘JESUS OF NAZARETH' as #99 on his list of the Top 100 most culturally significant movies impacting, influencing and molding all that constitutes 21st Century America.

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OVERVIEW...

With its highly suggestive and influential nature, unlike ‘traditional' television miniseries, JESUS OF NAZARETH was the first ‘movie' scripted exclusively for television broadcast, and not traditional cinematic distribution.

As a result of script complexities, an arduous shooting timeline and aggressive pre/post production schedules, JESUS OF NAZARETH was edited down from an initially envisioned running time of ten hours to its broadcast length of six. Even with a third of the original script edited out, at a final viewing length of six hours, the only entertainment medium capable of delivering such a tremendous viewership commitment was television.

But a six hour movie, (let alone a ten hour movie), was an unheard of feat of almost laughable proportions; even by today's standards.

As such, JESUS OF NAZARETH, almost from its initial inception, began in controversy. In an interesting bit of ironic duality true to the very essence of Jesus Christ, controversy, both on and off screen, would be a recurring theme throughout Zeffirelli's epic.

As goes the moviemaker's mantra, "there is no such thing as bad publicity."

JESUS OF NAZARETH, the Italian-British epic beautifully filmed entirely on-site of actual Biblical locations such as Jerusalem and Bethlehem, and based upon New Testament accounts of the Jesus Christ ministries, remains one of the most debated cinematic events influencing modern America's cultural heritage.

In acknowledging this, Franco Zeffirelli's 1977 epic certainly drew its fair share of both celebration and criticism alike. However, upon its release (or with this exception, ‘upon initial broadcast') on Palm Sunday (part 1) and then again on Easter Sunday (part 2) in 1977, the quality of Zeffirelli's end-product won out and any controversy associated with JESUS OF NAZARETH ultimately translated immediately and effortlessly to overwhelming worldwide acclaim.

But transitioning from critical condemnation to widely embraced celebration was a long and winding road indeed.

To begin with, in analyzing the weight of this film's controversy, JESUS OF NAZARETH deals with the most explosive element associated with our human condition: RELIGION. History is awash with wars and genocide; compassion and brotherhood; love and hate...

And, all in the name of religion.

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KUNTA KINTE vs. JESUS CHRIST : And the winner is ...

Alex Haley's superbly introspective examination of The United States' darkest historical blemish, slavery, was also broadcast during the 1977 television season on ABC; almost directly opposite NBC's JESUS OF NAZARETH.

Within the space of just several short weeks both JESUS OF NAZARETH and ROOTS each aired. In their respective cinematic events, social consciousness and political agendas were forged, commenting sharply and poignantly on America's perceptions of both religious freedoms and race relations.

Spanning two of the three major television networks, America's 1977 broadcast television season was, quite simply put, groundbreaking.

Not only groundbreaking in regards to the near simultaneous launching of the two mega-stories in question, but as to how American history was made in their respective broadcasts. Both productions inclusive, what an amazing amalgam of ‘A-List' acting talents, compassionate scripting and robust social themes comprised America's 1977 television broadcast season.

These epics, each independently but also collectively, were responsible for literally influencing American history; such was the importance of these two broadcasted television events.

But, ultimately, in authoring this article, choosing between ROOTS and JESUS OF NAZARETH for ‘top billing,' came down to a rather simple answer to a highly complex question: If both epics are deserved, then what is the core essence separating slavery and religion...

• RELIGION, as a whole concept, is a world-wide state of spiritual consciousness, larger than slavery, which alone is a human-engineered condition of servitude. In this, more people have (historically and globally throughout all of time) personally experienced their own religious idealology, than have personally experienced slavery.

Yes, standing by itself, the sheer volatility of RELIGION was the sole reason that NBC's 1977 mega-celebrity laden, big-money infused production JESUS OF NAZARETH ended up beating out competing slavery-infused mega-epic ‘ROOTS' for the #99 position on this list-collective of MODERN AMERICA'S TOP 100 CULTURALLY SIGNIFICANT MOVIES.

Supporting this, additionally, was the simple fact that, as previously cited, JESUS OF NAZARETH, was scripted and commissioned to be a movie, whereas ROOTS, was entirely television-bound, from its inception.

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SO, WHY IS THIS MOVIE 'CULTURALLY SIGNIFICANT ' TO MODERN AMERICA?

Ultimately, all politics and all controversy aside, the acclaim of JESUS OF NAZARETH all comes down to the director, Zeffirelli, and the lead actor, Powell.

An interesting and often overlooked bit of movie trivia pertaining to Zeffirelli's global epic that, in all of history, JESUS OF NAZARETH remains the only movie, ever, to have been personally commissioned by a living, serving Pope. In 1972 had Pope Paul VI not desired that this specific movie be created, Zeffirelli's JESUS OF NAZARETH, complete with a hauntingly perfect musical score by Maurice Jarre, would never have existed.

Take a moment to reflect upon the weight of that statement.

As magnificent as ROOTS was, ROOTS was not personally commissioned to be scripted by the standing leader of the world's largest organized religion; a strong factoid lending itself to JESUS OF NAZARETH's #99 selection.

Franco Zeffirelli, notably also a university credentialed architect, production and costume set designer, and artist, achieved directorial notoriety early in his career directing and designing operatic stage productions, such as Tosca and La Traviata. In this capacity Zeffirelli rapidly achieved notoriety directing A-List soprano Maria Callas.

Callas, notorious in her demanding nature and infamous for firing stage directors, found a unique partnership with Zeffirelli who had favor and approval in Callas' eyes. As she regularly would quip, Zeffirelli was of the "talented few" opera stage directors from whom she would "blindly" take stage direction.

Widely regarded as his ‘personal best,' Zeffirelli's 1964 production of Verdi's operatic mega-epic, 'Falstaff', debuted to unparalleled critical acclaim at the Metropolitan Opera. Tackling Verdi, a personal triumph for Zeffirelli, was the inspiration behind his foray into artistic media, such as cinema, which following Falstaff Zeffirelli discovered the confidence to attempt in 1967.

Extremely proficient in Shakespeare, Zeffirelli came to direct the 1967 Elizabeth Taylor / Richard Burton standard ‘The Taming of the Shrew.' The success of Shrew lent itself immediately to Zeffirelli's next cinematic directorial effort, ‘Romeo & Juliet' in 1968 featuring Olivia Hussey, who, nine years later would portray Mother Mary in Zeffirelli's 1977 JESUS OF NAZARETH; subject of this article.

In 1972, Franco Zeffirelli was invited to The Vatican to attend an audience with then-seated Pope Paul VI.

The purpose of this meeting was to ‘invite' Zeffirelli to "create a film about Jesus" and that "as your Pope, it will be YOU, Franco, and to no one else I give this task." And, that was it; with those words their meeting concluded.

As Zeffirelli would later recount on The Dick Cavett Show...

"Thirty-five seconds. Six months I spend anticipating an audience with the one man on earth who, alone, had God's ear and in thirty-five seconds, our meeting concluded. ‘Make me a movie about Jesus' he says to me... About JESUS... "Oh, Jesus CHRIST!" I remember I exclaimed. And to this His Holiness suddenly replies- "YES!" Then, he gets up and just walks away! No blessing, only a task: ‘Franco...Make me a film about Jesus.'... Like he'd just ordered a cannoli. The Pope, MY POPE, gives me this task any then gets up and walks away; like I was a waiter. Oh, Fantastico! Now I'm supposed to deliver Jesus Christ on film to The Pope."

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W.W.RP.D.?

It is easy to focus upon the rote facts- cinematography, location, directing, casting, wardrobe, et al - associated with JESUS OF NAZARETH's success and long term sustainability in film noir.

The resounding, conclusive acclaim that JESUS OF NAZARETH achieved can not be identified with any one specific factor, particularly when this ‘movie' consistently achieved its success through a perfect storm of numerous perfect elements all colliding together at once.

But let us pay Caesar what Caesar is due for a moment... Uh, so to speak:

The magnificent performance of ROBERT POWELL in the title role of Jesus Christ holds a notable distinction in that Powell's portrayal of Jesus has essentially become the conventional image of what Jesus ‘looks' like in many people's minds. Notably, Powell never blinks during eye contact in the entire film, thus giving his character portrayal of Jesus Christ an ethereal air throughout the entire production.

With an exclamation point placed upon Powell's Jesus Christ, what would Robert Powell do, or NOT do in regard to the ‘little details' to deliver his portrayal of The Messiah to cinema screen?

What Would Jesus Do? Indeed..... W.W. RP .D.?

Robert Powell, born June 1^st 1944, entered into professional theater in 1964 at the age of twenty while attending Manchester University. After a vibrant stage career early on in the late 1960's, Powell became a notable heavyweight on British television in the early and mid 1970's, although still relatively unknown in the United States, or anywhere outside of England for that matter.

In 1974 Powell played the lead role in Ken Russell's ‘MAHLER.'

So impressed by his acting prowess was Russell that he cast Powell the following year, 1975, as the ill-fated ‘Captain Walker', opposite The Who's front man Roger Daltrey, in Russell's ground-breaking cinema production of The Who's ‘TOMMY.'

Robert Powell's characterization in TOMMY featured a shot of his character, Captain Walker, is spread out in a crucifixion position. This haunting imagery, Zeffirelli would later confess, left such an impression upon him that when confronted with the daunting task of casting the lead role of Christ in JESUS OF NAZARETH, Robert Powell was the immediate contender.

Following a series of successful auditions with Zeffirelli himself, Robert Powell was cast as ‘the only logical choice.' But although Powell held the credentials, the acting ‘chops' and the haunting imagery, he was not immune to being held responsible for his own flippant statements.

Controversy, as expressed earlier and religion seem to dovetail together.

During an international press interview session shortly before the April 1977 broadcast debut of JESUS OF NAZARETH, Robert Powell quipped "I hope that Jesus Christ will be the last in my long line of sensitive young men for quite a while."

The controversy eventually abated. As such, the public found favor in him again once the fervor died down.

JESUS OF NAZARETH ultimately went on to receive two Emmy awards, neither of which it won, losing out to 'HOLOCAUST;' a television miniseries on CBS opposite both ROOTS and JESUS OF NAZARETH.

By 1987, TV Guide, Variety, Newsweek, The History Channel and the collective leadership at the U.S. Catholic Conference concluded that JESUS OF NAZARETH was "the best miniseries of all time" and that Robert Powell succeeded in unifying a ‘vision' of Jesus for commercial society. Further, Reverend Patrick Sullivan of the U.S. Catholic Conference went on to note that "Zeffirelli succeeded admirably in making Christ's story understandable to a modern secular audience."

This film is epic and arrives as modern America's 99th most culturally significant movie.

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SELECTION & EVALUATION CRITERIA: The author recognizes seven 'Societal Themes' which bind our civilization together; sort of like the "glue" of our culture, so to speak, which constitutes our modern American society. The criteria that R. Martin Basso utilizes in his evaluation and selection forcess when reviewing movies for inclusion into, or exclusion from, his list of Modern America's Top 100 Culturally Significant Movies are SOCIETAL THEMES, HOLY VIRTUES and DEADLY SINS. To read more about R. Martin Basso's EVALUATION CRITERIA please click on this hyperlink.

THIS MOVIE IDENTIFIES MOST STRONGLY WITH THE FOLLOWING 'SOCIETAL THEMES': Religious Identity, Sexual Identity, Political Affiliation, Escapism, Creative Ingenuity, and Social Consciousness.

THIS MOVIE EXEMPLIFIES THE FOLLOWING HOLY VIRTUES: Chastity, Temperance, Charity, Diligence, Patience, Kindness, and Humility.

THIS MOVIE'S PERSONIFIES THE FOLLOWING DEADLY SINS: Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, and Pride.

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MODERN AMERICA'S TOP 100 CULTURALLY SIGNIFICANT MOVIES:

#100: Pink Floyd, The Wall (1982)

#99: Jesus Of Nazareth (1977)

#98: Coming Soon... HINT: Utopian snooping, 'Big Brother' obsessions, future paranoia, and the story of one seemingly oblivious fellow... Or is he?

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LEGAL NOTIFICATIONS:

DISCLAIMER: Jesus of Nazareth images, artwork and photographs cited in this article are used with the implicit intent of promoting Jesus of Nazareth with no financial gain whatsoever by this article's author. All imagery, artwork and photographs from Jesus of Nazareth cited and used in this article remain the exclusive copyrighted property and material of ITC Entertainment and Franco Zeffirelli & Associates. Any copyright breech, actual, implied or suggested, is unintended.

© 2008 - R. MARTIN BASSO & 3 Doves Media

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