Rating: 
Summary: Good, but not "The Greatest"
Review: This movie was good, no doubt about it. Very well produced and directed. GREAT cinematography. I appreciated the actors portrayal of Christ. It was a very divine portrayal. The movie is VERY reflective of Scripture and so I am surprised by some of the liberties taken by the producer. The form of Judas' suicide is certainly the most obvious liberty because it is indeed a contradiction of Canonical Gospels. The 4 Gospels are very short books - hardly screenplays - and yet the movie leaves out so many important details that are given in these books. Of the liberties taken to make this movie, I am very APPRECIATIVE that nearly all of the violence against Christ was left out of this movie. As a result of this fine production decision, I can watch this movie with my children. This is a very good movie, but it is definately not "The Greatest".
Rating: 
Summary: Best Movie of the Century!!!!
Review: Acting, plot, and script were absolutely superb. Better than Basic Instinct or Saving Private Ryan. Should have won dozens of Oscars. A must own for everyone.
Rating:
Summary: Not nearly as good as I thought it would be!
Review: I must say, state and write that I was and am quite disappointed with this movie, i.e., The Greatest Story Ever Told (Special Edition) VHS ~ Max von Sydow. Part from Von Sydow and Heston (whom play Jesus and John the Baptist) the rest of the actors actually seem very disinterested to be in this movie. Heston is awesome as usual in his portrayal of John the Baptist and he is the only actor that shows raw emotions. Von Sydow does a good job as Jesus; however, at certain times his lack emotions hurt the lines and do not bring out the fire in the loaded sentences that were spoken by the man known as Jesus. Telly Savalas is not good as the Roman General and John Wayne's line is not well said at all. The visual effects, costumes and setting for the movie is all done with careful, precise and meticulous detail as to get the correct, historical and authentic fell to the movie. However, apart from the wooden performances, the movie greatest fault is its pace. To imagine that this movie in question, i.e., The Greatest Story Ever Told (Special Edition) VHS ~ Max von Sydow had been 260 minutes in its original release is hard to fathom since watching in its modern format, i.e., 195 minutes, already feels as if one is watching this movie for an eternity. So overall, I would have to end, conclude and finish this review by stating the following; there were two major flaws with this movie, 1) most of the actors did not do a good job and 2) the movies pace was equal to that of two Tylenol pm (and that in itself is never a good thing).
Rating: 
Summary: AN UNDERRATED EPIC KILLED BY EDITING
Review: I do not think that the problem with the film is that it is too long. The problem is that it is not long enough. By cutting an hour and 5 minutes out of the film, it killed the pacing. Part 1 moves much too quickly. Part 2 moves much too slowly. The film is also shot in Ultra Panavision 70, which is presented in 2.76:1 letterboxing. That means the image is almost 3 inches wider than it is tall. Translation: Murder on your eyes! That's why I recommend either the pan-and-scan version, or the moderately letterboxed 2.35:1 version previously issued by MGM in 1996.Other than that, the acting is good. Max Von Sydow does a good job, even if he doesn't set the world on fire as Christ. So far, Robert Powell has been the best Christ on screen. But the stunt casting (John Wayne as a Roman?????, Sidney Poitier as Simon????, Pat Boone as Andrew??????) defeats it in the end and makes it another spot the star film. Hardly George Stevens finest film (Giant and Shane are his best films)but it's no stinker and it maintained my interest throughout. And the photography is a wow!
Rating:
Summary: Not the Greatest Story but a Good One
Review: This is a good movie and certainly worth seeing. It may not be as good a rendition as "Jesus of Nazereth" but you should see it at least. I was a bit disappointed with the wide width of the wide screen version making it sometimes hard to make things out and impossible to read the credits in the beginning of the movie. The length of it makes it difficult to sit through it all in one sitting, and some obvious cameos for the sake of adding a long list of stars to its credit takes away from it a little. The acting and scenery are great and the music is well done. The story holds our interests as it follows the life of Jesus and his trials and tribulations.
Rating:
Summary: a no frills jesus!
Review: This film is artfully stoic with a direction that is poetic. The scenery is stark with subtle coloring while the characters seem to be at attention and focused to the scenerios presented in the gospels of Luke And John. The greatness of the film is its surreal atmoshere set among a very real landsaped world, with all the attention focused on the point of the scenerio and not on the frivalities of every day life. All its greatness is its stillness!
Rating:
Summary: Just about the LONGEST story ever told!
Review: I find it amazing that this film was orginally 4 1/3 hours. Even at it's current 3 1/3 hours, it's still too long. I hate to rag on movies that protray our Lord in a good light, but... While the scenery and backdrops are excellent (the scene where the Magi are following the star is breathtaking) and worthy of an epic, the movie suffers from an abundance of blandness. With the exception of Charlton Heston's energetic performance as John the Baptist, and (believe it or not) Telly Savalas' very respectable and believeable protrayal of Pilate, the rest of the cast comes off flat and uninspired. Max von Sydow's way of playing the part of Jesus comes off somewhat sterile. The only time he seemed to display any emotion is when he was clearing out the money-changers at the Temple. There were a few liberties taken with the story and plot. Not enough to call it irreverent or anything, but definately annoying. The most egregious one was Judas killing himself by falling into the fire on the Temple's altar. Excuse me, but Judas died by hanging himself. Or were the writers absent from Sunday School that day? As mentioned, Charlton Heston put in the most memorable performance of the movie as John the Baptist, and, at least to me, is most in line with how I think the real John actually was. As far as the cameos go, the only ones I recognized were (I wasn't even born when this film was released) Pat Boone, Sidney Poitier, and of course, John Wayne, whose delivery of his single line was flatter than Kansas in the wintertime. Overall, this is a decent picture, but certainly not on the scale of "Ben-Hur" or even "King of Kings". However, I will catch it again the next time it's on AMC and see if it is any better the 2nd time around.
Rating:
Summary: The most reverential film on the story of Jesus
Review: "The Greatest Story Ever Told" is certainly the most reverential treatment of the life of Jesus. The 1965 movie was based on the book by Fulton Oursler, which integrated the four Gospels into a single narrative. To appreciate this task just look at the different versions of what Jesus said on the cross according to each Gospel. Reconciling the various versions is not an easy task and while viewers may question some of the specific choices, the only really significant alteration is the death of Judas by throwing himself into the sacrificial pit of the Great Temple, a symbolism that is unnecessarily heavy handed. The choice of Max Von Sydow to play Jesus is an interesting selection to say the least. His slight Swedish accent and closely cropped beard are certainly in keeping with the reverential tone of the film, but I can not help wondering if this was something of a reaction to the more populist Jesus portrayed by Jeffrey Hunter in "King of Kings." After all, this was 1965 and the Beatles invasion was underway making male hair length a hot issue. This is a Jesus who is too solemn and too sedate for the most part. There is a nice moment where one of the new disciples comments that he likes Jesus' name. The smile and "Thank you" that follow are one of the few glimpses of the charisma of the man from Galilee. The strength of the film is in the gorgeous cinematography by William C. Mellor (who died on the set of a heart attack) and Loyal Griggs, and scene composition under the direction of George Stevens. The opening narration goes from the opening verses of John shot over ancient Christian murals to a shot of the manager, ending with a shot of the hand of the baby Jesus as the narrator announces in a most simple manner, "The Greatest Story Ever Told." The juxtaposition of images and moments from the live of Jesus is prevalent throughout the film. When Mary and Joseph return from Egypt they travel the road to Nazareth that is lined with the crucified victims of the Roman occupation. The voice of John the Baptist is first heard over a series of aerial shots covering the many miles traveled by all those who came to hear him make straight the way of the Lord. Stevens shows a deft touch in the large scenes involving crowds. The resurrection of Lazarus is down in a long shot, with the focus more on the faces of those who are witnessing the miracle rather than on the actual emergence from the tomb. To the finale of the Hallelujah Chorus a trio of the faithful ran across the plain to the gates of Jerusalem to spread the good news. There is also a wonderful scene of the confrontation between the Roman soldiers and the crowd that had come to the Temple to hear Jesus preach at night. The film also contains some nice small touches. When Pilate presents Jesus to the people, the figure of Satan strides through the crowd to utter the first demand for crucifixion. When Mary Magdalene remembers the promise of the resurrection and Thomas proclaims his disbelief, Peter looks up and sees the smiling face of Lazarus. The musical score by Alfred Newman, Hugo Friedhofer and Fred Steiner is wonderfully attuned to what is on the screen. The main problem is not that there are so many stars in this film-Charlton Heston is an imposing John the Baptist, and Jose Ferrer as Herod Antipas, Sal Mineo as Uriah, and Van Heflin as Bar Amand all perform admirably-but rather the cameo appearances that invariably detract from the moment. It is one thing to recognize David McCallum, Jamie Farr and Russell Johnson in "before they were stars" roles, but it is quite another to suddenly see Sidney Portier help carry the cross or John Wayne silhouetted against the darkening sky as a Roman Centurion. While such cameos may have worked in "The Longest Day" or "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World" during the heyday of the fad, they most certainly do not work in this film. I was surprised to learn this movie was filmed around the Lake Powell region of Arizona, having always assumed it had been filmed in the Holy Land. I would be interested to know which scenes were directed without credit by David Lean (who was finishing up "Doctor Zhivago" at the time) and Jean Negulesco ("Johnny Belinda" and the 1953 "Titanic"). I want to resist the impulse to credit my favorite scenes to Lean rather than Stevens. The reverential tone of the film ends up hurting the pacing so that it seems overlong at 3 hours and 14 minutes. Ultimately I prefer the vitality of Zefferelli's "Jesus of Nazareth" and the monumental performance of Robert Powell as the quintessential Jesus. But there are several lovely moments in "The Greatest Story Ever Told" and I always end up screening one version at Christmas and the other at Easter. The print obviously needs to be RESTORED and the film really should be seen in the widescreen format, although that makes the credits impossible to read.
Rating:
Summary: NOT QUITE THE GREATEST
Review: I FIRST SAW "THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD " AT THE WARNER CINERAMA IN NYC.IN 1965. IT WAS A MOVING FILM BUT THE AMERICAN WEST WHERE IT WAS FILMED WAS A BIG DISTRACTION TO ME. MAX VON SYDOW UNDERTOOK A VERY DIFFICULT ROLE SINCE EVERYONE HAS HIS OR HER OWN IDEA OF WHAT JESUS WAS LIKE. I FOUND THIS PERFORMANCE TO BE TOO SOMBER. JESUS HAD TO HAVE BEEN SOMEWHAT CHARISMATIC IF HE WERE TO ATTRACT FOLLOWERS. THIS JESUS DOESN'T FIT THE BILL. ALL DIVINITY AND VERY LITTLE HUMANITY. FOR ME THE MORE ACCURATE IMAGES OF JESUS,HUMAN AND DIVINE,CAN BE FOUND IN THE PORTRAYALS OF BRUCE MARCHIANO IN "MATTHEW" AND JEREMY SISTO IN THE NEWLY RELEASED MINISERIES "JESUS."
Rating:
Summary: the greatest story told
Review: this is true they realy put alot of effort into this movie. i mean they really poured their hearts into thier parts.i think this movie is pretty good as far as the production as the years go.it is old but it is still a classic! even though the actor who played jesus had more of a french accent i think he did a good job.but people are right i mean put some joy into jesus life i mean it couldnt so boring at time i mean put some fear in to those hearts and give me some tounges of fire!! you know the whole production,give more sadness and joy into the character i dint mean be stuck up or carefree but you know like us the people ! not so godly.. not to be rude but they always use jesus as a strict godlike person! no joy no sadness like some actors doo. just boring and i think that this movis adds some of that into the script,tha carrying of his cross was not rushed so it had some affect on people even sheded some tears.. but above all it was good no it was GREAT!!
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