Barabba (1961)

Director:

Richard Fleischer

Writers:

Christopher Fry (screenplay)
Pär Lagerkvist (novel)

Release Date:

10 October 1962 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Biography | Drama

Tagline:

"The motion picture that begins where the other big ones leave off"

Plot:

Barabbas, the criminal that Pontius Pilate induced the populace to vote to set free, so that Christ could be crucified, is haunted by the ghost of the prophet for the rest of his life.

Plot Keywords:

Crucifixion | Ancient Rome | Religion | Christianity | Gladiator

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Anthony Quinn	...	Barabbas
Silvana Mangano	...	Rachel
Arthur Kennedy	...	Pontius Pilate
Katy Jurado	...	Sara
Harry Andrews	...	Peter
Vittorio Gassman	...	Sahak
Norman Wooland	...	Rufio
Valentina Cortese	...	Julia
Jack Palance	...	Torvald
Ernest Borgnine	...	Lucius
Arnoldo Foà	...	Joseph of Arimathea (as Arnoldo Foa')
Michael Gwynn	...	Lazarus
Laurence Payne	...	Disciple
Douglas Fowley	...	Vasasio
Guido Celano	...	Scorpio

Also Known As:

Barabbas (UK) (USA)
Barabbas (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
Barrabás (Argentina) (Spain) [es]
Barabás (Hungary) [hu]
Barabas (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Barabasz (Poland) [pl]
Barabbas (Denmark) [da]
Barabbas (Finland) [fi]
Barrabàs (Spain: Catalan title) [ca]
Barrabás (Brazil) [pt]
Varavvas (Greece) [el]

Runtime:

137 min (TCM print) (DVD release)

Country:

Italy

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Mono (Westrex Electric Recording) (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Argentina:13 | Finland:K-16 | Italy:VM14 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:Not Rated | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Arena di Verona, Verona, Veneto, Italy

Company:

Dino de Laurentiis Cinematografica

Trivia:

The solar eclipse that takes place during the crucifixion scene was the real thing, an event for which director Richard Fleischer delayed shooting in order to capture the ethereal nature of the phenomenon.

Goofs:

Continuity: The gladiator that Tovald kills from the two-horse chariot remains on his back. The next shot, however, shows him on his chest.

Quotes:

[after being released from jail, Barabbas enters a tavern]
Barabbas: Here's a fine sight. Six weeks and nobody's moved!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Wild World of Batwoman (#6.15)" (1993)

Among the best of all Biblical epics

Richard Fleischer was a good jobbing director but there were occasions when he seemed inspired. "The Vikings" is one of the great genre movies and "The Boston Strangler" is one of the best police procedural films ever made. This is very much in the same class and has much to commend it. It's biggest drawback is that the early scenes never quite shake off the enforced piety that engulfed Hollywood movies that centered on Christ. Is it any wonder that Monty Python lampooned such movies in their "Life of Brian"? On the other hand, coming as it does from a novel by Nobel prize-winning author Par Lagerkvist and scripted as it is by Christopher Fry, the film is more intellectually challenging than we have any right to expect, (for example Barabbas has a discussion with Lazarus on what it was like to have died and then to be raised from the dead), while at the same time not skimping on the spectacle, (the gladiatorial scenes are superb).

It begins with the freeing of Barabbas in the place of Jesus, then follows him on his own journey of redemption as he realizes that it was through Christ's death that he came to live. It's a theme, of course, as old as the Bible itself and as religious movies go it's a bit simplistic but it does work on a primitive, intellectually jarring level and it doesn't thrust it's religiosity down our throats. Barabbas' journey of discovery is long, slow and painfully questioning and is consequently quite moving.

No one in the large, international cast gets to rise above being a Biblical or gladiatorial cliché with the exception of Anthony Quinn in the title role. He is excellent and had yet to give way to the bombast of Zorba the Greek. Still, neither Quinn's performance nor the film have ever been given their due. Perhaps a movie about the man who lived so that Christ might die proved unpalatable. Nevertheless, it is certainly worth rediscovering.