“Jesus Christ Superstar” is a movie based on a 1970 Andrew
Lloyd Weber rock opera that’s about the week leading up to the crucifixion of
Jesus. The movie was directed by Norman Jewison and was released in theaters on
Aug. 15, 1973. The cast included Ted Neely as Jesus, Carl Anderson as Judas
Iscariot, Yvonne Elliman as Mary Magdalene, Barry Dennen as Pontius Pilate and
Josh Mostel as King Herod.
“Jesus Christ Superstar” is a movie I’ve heard about for
years, and every once in a while I’d hear references to it in other movies and
television shows. In almost 40 years on this earth, I’d never seen this movie,
not even part of it. As far as I can remember, I’ve never seen it re-run on
television. All of which is why I added it to my “bucket list” a couple of
years ago.
Thanks to NetFlix, I finally scratched this movie off my
list Wednesday of last week when I watched the entire film from start to
finish. I’ve got mixed feelings about the movie, and I can’t say that it’s one
of my all-time favorites. However, I can see why it has a popular
appeal.
First off, this movie’s a musical, and I’ve never been a
huge fan of musicals. The idea of people singing dialogue is so unrealistic to me that it’s hard to watch. If this movie wasn’t so famous and if I didn’t have it
on my bucket list, I probably wouldn’t have watched the whole thing.
Also, the movie feels somewhat sacrilegious. It starts with
what looks like a bunch of hippies piling out of a tour bus. They’re all
singing and dancing and before you know it one of them’s dressed like Jesus and
they’re re-enacting his last days out in the middle of the desert.
There are also a number of modern elements in the movie,
including Army tanks and soldiers in fatigues and combat boots. I realize these
were used for artistic reasons and to show how much things really haven’t
changed, but it just didn’t suit my tastes. I’m sure fans of the movie probably
disagree.
I’m not trying to say that I didn’t totally enjoy watching
the movie. It just didn’t suit my Southern Baptist tastes. If you’ve never seen
this movie, it’s worth watching, but I probably won’t be watching it again.
As mentioned before, this movie was based on an Andrew Lloyd
Weber musical, and now that I’ve seen the movie, I would kind of like to watch
the live musical. This may be hard to pull off because it isn’t widely
produced. The show first debuted on Broadway on Oct. 12, 1971 and closed on
June 30, 1973 after over 700 performances. It’s been redone a number of times
since then.
In the end, how many of you have seen “Jesus Christ
Superstar”? What did you think about it? Did you like it or not? Let us know in
the comments section below.
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