A Man for All Seasons (1966)

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Director:

Fred Zinnemann

Writers:

Robert Bolt (play)
Robert Bolt (screenplay)

Release Date:

1967 (Japan)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Plot:

The story of Thomas More, who stood up to King Henry VIII when the King rejected the Roman Catholic Church to obtain a divorce and remarriage.

Plot Keywords:

Goblet | British History | Renaissance | Anne Boleyn | Treason

Awards:

Won 6 Oscars. Another 27 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Paul Scofield	...	Sir Thomas More
Wendy Hiller	...	Alice More
Leo McKern	...	Thomas Cromwell
Robert Shaw	...	King Henry VIII
Orson Welles	...	Cardinal Wolsey
Susannah York	...	Margaret More
Nigel Davenport	...	The Duke of Norfolk
John Hurt	...	Richard Rich
Corin Redgrave	...	William Roper (the Younger)
Colin Blakely	...	Matthew
Cyril Luckham	...	Archbishop Cranmer
Jack Gwillim	...	Chief Justice
Thomas Heathcote	...	Boatman
Yootha Joyce	...	Averil Machin
Anthony Nicholls	...	King's Representative

Also Known As:

Un homme pour l'éternité (Canada: French title) (France) [fr]
Adam Lehol Et (Israel: Hebrew title) [iw]
Anthropos gia oles tis epoches, Enas (Greece) [el]
Her devrin adami (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Hombre de dos reinos, El (Mexico) (TV title) [es]
Hombre para la eternidad, Un (Spain) [es]
Homem Que Não Vendeu Sua Alma, O (Brazil) [pt]
Kunnian mies (Finland) [fi]
Man för alla tider, En (Sweden) [sv]
Mand til alle tider (Denmark) [da]
Mann zu jeder Jahreszeit, Ein (West Germany) [de]
Oto jest glowa zdrajcy (Poland) [pl]
Um Homem para a Eternidade (Portugal) [pt]
Uomo per tutte le stagioni, Un (Italy) [it]

Runtime:

120 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English | Latin | Spanish | French

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Iceland:L | West Germany:12 (nf) | Brazil:Livre | Argentina:13 | Australia:G | Finland:K-12 | Singapore:PG | Spain:13 | UK:U | USA:Approved (original rating) | USA:G (re-rating) (1971)

Filming Locations:

Beaulieu River, Hampshire, England, UK

Company:

Highland Films

Trivia:

The original play opened at the ANTA Playhouse (New York) on November 21, 1961 and played for 637 performances starring Paul Scofield.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: At the beginning of the film, when Cardinal Wolsey is writing a letter to Thomas More, the sound of the quill marking the paper continues for about a second after Wolsey has stopped writing.

Quotes:

Sir Thomas More: Why Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world... but for Wales?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Married with Children: A Man for No Seasons (#9.11)" (1994)

Definitely worth watching every single season

If on occasions I babbled about some actor's performance being the best I've ever seen it was just because I hadn't seen "A Man For All Seasons". Well, up until today. And I definitely won't be that quickly amazed and impressed by a performance again. May I just say that Paul Scofield embodies great acting to it's very core. Comprehending his masterful and skillful acting is evident even to the greatest fool or layman and I (not being a big expert myself) could not believe how a man can attain such knowledge of perfection. His every word is spoken with the greatest skill, intonation and accent as well as his facial expressions and movements. His performance is so strong it's scary when I think about it. As if he knew(and he most definitely did!) EXACTLY how to perform his acting task. This movie is an explosion of outstanding acting and actors, showing their skills to the fullest and to the amazed viewers. It may well be the greatest movie ever made, but the reason for this lies also in the jaw dropping and mind opening script that deserves more credit than it could have ever gotten. If you thought "On The Waterfront", "Bridge On The River Kwai", "Glennary Glen Ross" or even "The Usual Suspects" or "Pulp Fiction" had some great dialogs then this inspiring and simply amazing script will definitely change your mind. There are so many memorable lines, monologues and great battling dialogs I can't even give an approximate number. Every moment is meaningful and the movie is full of smart and important thoughts. I won't go into the story, because as a previous commenter said, there are just too many points of view and meanings to it, but I will say this; Sir Thomas More was too moral and too strong to give in to the Church, and because of his reasons he was respected. But because he was, for some, this stubborn, he paid the price which in the real world when you play with the big boys, is a given. A movie every future actor, actress, director and screen writer should and must see and a movie that makes most of the later Oscar winners for best picture look like a joke. And a final though, Leonard Maltin was absolutely right; if Paul Scofield acted only in this movie he'd still be remembered as a marvel worth every praise and respect. 9/10