TCM Pick O’ The Day: Sunday, February 15th
by John Nolte
2:30pm PST - Agony And The Ecstasy, The (1965) – Michelangelo fights censorship and an autocratic pope to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Cast: Charlton Heston, Rex Harrison, Diane Cilento, Harry Andrews Dir: Carol Reed C-134 mins, TV-PG
When will you make an end?
When I am finished!
History shmistory. It doesn’t matter how true this beautifully realized story of the painting of the Sistine Chapel is. What director Carol Reed wants is to explore the human toll paid by the artist and those around him as the internal and external forces necessary to create timeless art play themselves out.
Charlton Heston is superb as Michelangelo, a fiery, prideful, devout man unwilling to compromise his vision. Rex Harrison is equally good as the Warrior Pope who commissions a few frescoes to spruce up a bland chapel and ends up in a years-long emotional tug of war with an impossible individual whose manic genius and artistic integrity demands respect even as it vexes all those around him.
Second only to the overall plot, a film’s success can rise or fall based on the central relationship(s) of the main players. The more complicated the better, and today’s pick represents about as interesting a dynamic between two human beings as you’ll ever see on screen – much of it due to two larger than life actors, the likes of which we will never see again.
Shot in exquisite 70MM color, be sure to catch the opening when Reed takes you on a ten minute tour of Michelangelo’s breathtaking work. The director makes the interesting choice of showing you the outcome before embarking on a psychological tour of what it takes to create the eternal.
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19 Comments
" When I am weighed in Judgement, I will place this painted Chapel against my sins. Perhaps, it will lessen my time in Purgatory." – Rex Harrison as Pope Julius II in "The Agony and the Ecstacy"
Movies like this may help Hollywood 'plead it's case' when the "Judgement" comes! : )
Upon Heston's passing, I purchased each DVD of his work. "The Agony & Ecstacy" was one the greatest (revisted) joys to watch.
This may be my favorite of his. Thanks for the heads up!
[...] Hollywood’s TCM Pick of the Day for Sunday is The Agony and the Ecstasy, just more Charlton Heston being great playing a great man. Heston had such a body of work that [...]
An orthographical pet peeve of mine is when people spell ecstasy with 2 c's. Stop it, fellow commenters.
Damn, I'm behind on watching the picks o' the day. Tonight, might have to pull an all-nighter, compliments of RedBull.
Sorry about that, OSweet.
"The Agony and the Extacy"
There. That's better.
Touche, Andre.
Recall Mark Twain saying good spelling is a sign of low intelligents.
Talk about "censorship"!
Some teevee stations, wusses, wimps and weenies surrendering to the Homosexual Militia, refuse to air "Speechless."
So much for the Right to know, eh.
http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&a...
Sorry John, I'm afraid "The Agony and the Ecstacy'' is a bit o' a snooze for my tastes. I'm counter-proposing at my blog Mitchell Leisen's "No Time for Love,'' at 8 p.m. EST, with Fred MacMurray and Claudette Colbert. Lots of gay subtext here, plus first appearance of a superhero in a film from one of the major studios (albeit in a fantasy sequence). Or is that redundant?
Of all the films Charlton Heston made, this one is my favorite (Khartoum comes at a very close second). The opening segment of the film is such an amazing piece of cinema. All that incredible art, especially Moses and David.
Charlton heston was the greatest actor to ever grace the silver scren–BAR NONE! He was brilliant(as always!) as Michaelangelo. Rex Harrison was very good as the Pope. You oew it to yourself not to miss out on this great Heston film!
Lou: thanks for the heads up. Just set it to record. Never seen this.
This is a fine film. I would highly recommend this film for any collection. The storyline is sophisticated and intriguing and the subliminal Catholic themes are vibrant. It makes a great gift for friends who love movies or friends with an artistic and romantic bent.
At a showing of Papal Art at the Cleveland Museum of Art I saw a letter handwritten by Michaelangelo concerning work on the Sistene chapel. In the letter, Michaelangelo complained to the Pope that work was difficult because he (the Pope) continued to purchase supplies from his buddies (not the word M. used) and the supplies were often shoddy and cheap. Simply seeing the letter was extraordinary–it was the single piece in a show of gold, diamonds, silver, and other bejeweled chalices and crosses that meant something to me–and to have it be about internal politics and art was even more extraordinary. Heston is far from my favorite actor, but I will certainly see the movie. Thanks, John, for the heads-up. I wish you had seen the letter, too.
Now my email box is being filled with intense debate notifications. spam, Big Hollywood is starting to become too much trouble for too little pay off.
And I have to type in my full name and email, every time
==Now my email box is being filled with intense debate notifications. spam,==
That's what you get for honesty. You must NEVER be honest about names and addresses.
I was honest, too, and I was getting spam. I changed, and it's down to a dribble. Hopefully, it'll stop.
You may wanna try sending your spam to spam@uce.gov and blocking the addresses.
== …. I have to type in my full name and email, every time ==
Me, too. I have a way around it, but, if I spill the beans here, I'll give away a secret to opponents who will use it for their own, mean purposes.
Also, you cannot put a second page — nor others — into "My Favorites" for faster navigating.
Say, f'rinstance, that the comments spill into a second page. You wanna create a link to that page in "My Favorites." But no. It won't stick; when you click on that Fav, it'll take you to the first page, and, then, you gotta go to the bottom and click on the "2," or, "NEXT," every time. It's a waste of time and effort. Now, I DO have a couple-a them that go to the second page, and I dunno how that happened, but more times than not the link goes to the first page.
What I found interesting here was the conflict between two people who define themselves with similar means. Each believes "I am what I do" and is obsessed with doing. They become entangled with Doing the same project, each trying to define how it will turn out. Fascinating character study
Have to agree with Lou. I am a huge fan of Carol Reed (that superb three-picture run he had from 1947 to 49 is still astonishing) but the Michaelangelo movie was a stiff, despite Heston and Harrison both acquitting themselves pretty well. I am planning to watch the Leisen too. Leisen is finally getting some long-overdue respect (and DVDs — I hope you made room for Easy Living in that huge collection of yours).
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