Jesus of Nazareth (TV series)

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Jesus of Nazareth (miniseries)
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Jesus of Nazareth
The Gospels
Written byAnthony Burgess
Suso Cecchi d'Amico
Franco Zeffirelli
David Butler (additional dialogue)
Directed byFranco Zeffirelli
StarringRobert Powell
Theme music composerMaurice Jarre
Country of originItaly
United Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes4
Production
ProducersLew Grade
Vincenzo Labella
CinematographyArmando Nannuzzi
David Watkin
EditorReginald Mills
Running time382 minutes
Production companiesITC Entertainment
RAI
Budget$45 million[1]
Original release
NetworkRai 1 (Italy)
ITV (United Kingdom)
Release27 March (1977-03-27) –
24 April 1977 (1977-04-24)

Jesus of Nazareth (

Academy Awards: Anne Bancroft, Ernest Borgnine, Laurence Olivier, Christopher Plummer, Anthony Quinn, Rod Steiger, James Earl Jones and Peter Ustinov
.

Some scenes were added during the writing process, with some characters (such as Zerah) added for brevity or dramatic effect. Jesus of Nazareth depicts

raising of Lazarus
from the dead are presented.

Jesus of Nazareth premiered on 27 March 1977, on the Italian channel Rai 1, and was first aired in the United Kingdom, on 3 April 1977, on the ITV Network. It was a huge ratings success and received acclaim, with particular praise towards for Powell's portrayal of Jesus.

Plot summary

The narrative of Jesus of Nazareth is a kind of cinematic

visit of the Magi; the circumcision of Jesus; the Census of Quirinius; the flight into Egypt and Massacre of the Innocents; the Finding in the Temple; the Baptism of Jesus
.

Gospel accounts depicted also include the

Jesus and the money changers; the Parable of the Two Sons; healing the centurion's servant; dialogue with Nicodemus; the Last Supper
; the
betrayal of Jesus by Judas
.

At the

appearance of the Risen Christ to his Disciples
. The storyline concludes with the non-Biblical character Zerah and his colleagues gazing despairingly into the empty tomb. Zerah laments, "Now it begins. It all begins".

Cast

Starring

Guest stars

And

Also starring

With

Co-starring

Previous collaborations with Zeffirelli

Several cast members had already featured in previous Zeffirelli productions. British actors Hussey, York, Holder, Lovell and Skinner had featured in Romeo and Juliet as Juliet, Tybalt, Peter, Sampson and Balthasar respectively. Additionally, Olivier did uncredited work as the narrator and dubbing voice of Lord Montague. Colizzi, who appeared as Jobab, had previously dubbed York's Tybalt in the Italian version of Romeo and Juliet.

Production

Development

The drama was conceived when

Archbishop of Milan, when he often visited Zeffirelli's school – on the Pope's initiative, who insisted that either he would make Jesus of Nazareth or no one else.[3] The director rejected the proposal at first, but Grade finally convinced him to agree;[4] he accepted the job shortly before Christmas 1973.[5]

Screenwriter Anthony Burgess later recounted the launching of the project in an essay entitled "Telejesus (or Mediachrist)":

The notion of making a six-hour television film on the life of Jesus Christ was proposed by an enobled British Jew, with the golden blessing of an American automobile corporation. The project struck some as blasphemous, others as ecumenical. Lord Grade, then Sir Lew Grade, presided over a massive press conference in the Holy City, (Rome), and said all that was available to be said—namely, that there would be this film, that Zeffirelli would direct it, and that Burgess would write it. Fired by this announcement, the Romans laid on a great, as it were, First Supper, which the Chief Rabbi of Rome attended, as well as various cricket-playing British ecclesiastics. Sir Lew Grade was made a Cavaliere of the Republic. The Pope was noticeably absent.[6]

Both Grade and Zeffirelli insisted their adaptation of Jesus's life should be "ecumenical", coherent, even to non-believers, and "acceptable to all denominations".

Pentateuch in Hebrew. Monet, however, mumbled it and the director was not satisfied (in the film, boy Jesus reads mostly in English).[9]

Filming

Life of Brian (1979).[12]

Reports regarding the size of the drama's budget vary: Presbyterian Survey stated it was $12 million,[13] The Listener cited the figure of £9 million[14] (roughly $16 million),[15] while Third Way stated it cost £11.5 million[16] (roughly $20 million). Other sources give the sum of $18 million.[5][17] In his autobiography, Grade wrote that "in the final accounting, Jesus of Nazareth took $45 million."[1][18]

Casting Powell as Jesus

The producers at first considered choosing a well-known star, who would draw a large audience, for the role of Christ. The first actor thought of was Dustin Hoffman, and Al Pacino was also a candidate. Zeffirelli decided to look for an actor whom the audience would immediately identify as Jesus. For example, Hoffman and Pacino both stand at just 5'6", and neither man's face bears a resemblance to Jesus as depicted in art, which has been based for many centuries on the image found on The Shroud of Turin. The image on the shroud is that of a man who is six feet tall. Eventually, the character's likeness was influenced by Warner Sallman's portrait painting Head of Christ: Paul Harvey and Edward J. Blum wrote the show "put Sallman's imagination in motion".[19] The Virgin Mary was depicted by Olivia Hussey.[20]

The idea to cast Robert Powell originated with Grade's wife, Kathie Moody, who told her husband the actor had "wonderful blue eyes" after watching his performance in a BBC television adaptation of Jude the Obscure. Powell came under criticism from religious groups for "living in sin" with his companion, dancer Barbara Lord of Pan's People, while intending to portray Jesus. The couple married shortly before production began.[2] As of 2023, Powell and Lord have been married for 48 years.

Powell rarely blinks throughout the entire film, mimicking, in this respect, H. B. Warner in 1927's The King of Kings and Max von Sydow in 1965's The Greatest Story Ever Told. This effect was a deliberate decision by Zeffirelli. James Houlden commented that the result was "a penetrating, unrelenting eye contact with Jesus's."[21] A dark blue eyeliner was applied on set to accentuate Powell's blue eyes.[19] Powell's portrayal has since become an often-used image in popular devotional art, and "defined the visual image of Christ in the minds of the audience... Perhaps more than any other Jesus film."[21]

For the crucifixion scene, Powell starved himself on a diet of only cheese for twelve days prior to shooting "in order to look worn".[22]

Broadcasts and ratings

Jesus of Nazareth premiered on the Italian channel Rai 1 on 27 March 1977. It was broadcast in five episodes, one shown every week until 25 April.[23] On Palm Sunday, 3 April 1977 – the date of the airing of the second episode – the Pope endorsed the programme in his public address for the holiday and recommended the faithful to view it.[5] The series enjoyed high ratings: the German Dominican friar and film critic Ambros Eichenberger reported that according to local surveys, 84% of the television owners in the larger cities watched the series.[24] For example, the number of viewers for the third episode, aired on 10 April, was estimated to have been 28.3 million.[25]

In the United Kingdom and in the United States, it was broadcast in two parts, albeit in different lengths, by the ITV network in the UK and by NBC in the US. In both countries, the first part was aired on 3 April and the second on Easter, 10 April 1977.[26][27][28] During its original showing in the UK, Jesus of Nazareth had an estimated audience of 21 million viewers.[29]

When the first episode was broadcast in the US, it was a major success.

Nielsen ratings of 53% in Los Angeles and 46% in New York City.[30] The miniseries as a whole received a Nielsen rating of 30.8 points,[31] with each point representing approximately 712,000 television-owning homes,[32] and an audience share of 50% nationwide,[28] on both nights.[33] The company calculated that Jesus attracted about 90 million viewers.[17][28][29][34]

In West Germany, it was broadcast by ZDF in four episodes on the 19th, 21st, 23rd and 24 March 1978;[35] 40% of the audience have viewed it.[24]

Jesus of Nazareth turned into a massive commercial success and is one of the most widely marketed, most critically acclaimed and best-known productions about Christ's life.

net profit of $30 million."[1]

Critical reception

Famously, Pope Paul VI praised Zeffirelli’s film, both in private comment and in a public address on Palm Sunday prior to the miniseries’ Holy Week debut on Italian television.[36]

Reviews were also notably positive. Writing for The Washington Post, Tom Shales was effusive: “One is tempted to call it a miracle… [Zeffirelli] has an eye for composition and lighting that is unprecedented in television films…There may never have been a religious film with so pervasive a sense of place and period…. The intrinsic dramatic and symbolic values of the story, which have eluded past filmmakers, come through with striking clarity”. Shales praised Olivia Hussey as Mary for being “simultaneously fragile, mystified and strong”. However, “Powell's appearance [as Jesus] is a drawback here. Though it may be commendable that he in no way resembles the fair-haired Aryan stereotype dominant in such films for years, Powell looks so wan and gaunt that one fears for his health. The work is, despite flaws, a truly impressive accomplishment.” [37]

Robert Powell's performance as Jesus in particular has been praised by critics.[38][39][40][41][42]

Controversy

Before its initial broadcast, Jesus of Nazareth came under ideological fire from some American

Procter and Gamble eventually took it over, buying the U.S. rights for a relatively low price of some $1 million. Their financial support allowed the mini-series to be screened after a simulated resurrection was added at the suggestion of Dr. Ted Baehr, a theologian and media pundit, who was friends with the producer, Vincenzo Labella, and acquainted with the protesters. The scenes showed the empty tomb, and then cuts to Jesus discussing his death and resurrection with his disciples.[43]

Narrative deviations from the Gospels

Although the film has been received as generally faithful to the Gospel sources, and more comprehensive than previous film versions, Zeffirelli and his screenwriters found it necessary to take some liberties with the scriptures for purposes of brevity and narrative continuity. Some of these deviations have a basis in time-honoured, extra-Biblical traditions (e.g., that the infant Jesus was visited by three "kings"; the Bible calls them magi or "astrologers", yet does not state how many there were). Other deviations were invented for the script:

  • Perhaps the greatest liberties taken in the screenplay are interpretations of the motivation of Judas Iscariot in betraying Jesus to the authorities prior to his arrest and execution. In contrast to the Gospels – which vilify Judas as a thief who stole from the Disciples’ money purse (John 12:6) and betrayed his Master simply for money (Luke 22:5) – the film portrays Judas as a much-misunderstood political person who, in several scenes, conspires with the Zealots for the sake of Jewish liberation in a way that could be interpreted as honourable, albeit misguided.
  • The film introduces a number of entirely original characters. Of these, Ian Holm's Zerah, who is essentially the series "main villain", has the most screen time. Zerah is used primarily to supply Judas Iscariot with a motive for his treachery: he persuades him that an appearance before the Sanhedrin will offer Jesus an opportunity to prove himself. He is also used to create a main lead villain when Jesus personally confronts the temple priesthood, in particular during the cleansing of the Temple and the Gethsemane arrest scene. Other invented characters include Quintillius, Yehuda and Amos.
  • In the Bible, the only mention of Jesus in childhood is his trip to the temple in Jerusalem as a 12-year-old. In the film, the boy Jesus is also portrayed at his
    anachronistic
    as the ceremony most likely did not exist at that time. It was deliberately included by Zeffirelli because a modern non-Jewish audience might not be aware of that obscure fact and would expect to see it, and he did not want to defy audience expectation. The boy Jesus is also portrayed as climbing a ladder and looking out over the landscape of Judea after Joseph makes the analogy of a ladder reaching to heaven.
  • The prostitute and the woman who anoints Jesus's feet with ointment and her hair are combined into one person. The Bible indicates that Mary Magdalene (who is never actually said to be a prostitute) is the woman from whom seven demons were cast out, while the ointment-bearing woman is Mary of Bethany, a sister of Lazarus (John 11:2). Nevertheless, the identification of the three women is present in many Christian traditions and is not particular to the film.
  • In the film, Nicodemus visits Jesus in the late afternoon, not at night as in John 3:3.
  • The Apostle Andrew introduces Simon to Jesus as "My brother, Simon Peter." But "Peter" is the name that Jesus later gave to Simon (John 1:42, Matthew 16:18) after he was well acquainted with him, not his original given name. Later in the drama, Jesus does give Simon the name of "Peter".
  • The Apostle Thomas, prior to his calling, is depicted as a servant of Jairus, the synagogue leader whose 12-year-old daughter Jesus raises from the dead. Nowhere in the three gospel accounts of this resurrection is Thomas the Apostle described as Jairus's servant. This was done in the movie to conveniently introduce Thomas as the doubter when Jesus said Jairus's dead daughter is "only sleeping."
  • Barabbas is portrayed in the film as a Zealot (political extremist and agitator). The meeting and dialogue between Jesus and Barabbas are made up.
  • The Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11–32) is used as a plot device which simultaneously redeems the disciple Matthew and reconciles him to his bitter enemy, Simon Peter. Although not in the Bible, this has been praised as one of the film's particularly felicitous innovations. (The Gospels do not record either a conflict or a particular friendship between Matthew and Simon Peter.)
  • In the film, Pontius Pilate, having convicted Jesus of treason, sentences him to be crucified. The Gospels record that Pilate acquitted Jesus but sentenced Him under pressure from the crowd. The film implies such pressure to convict was applied prior to the trial, by the Sanhedrin, but does not explicitly state it. The film also shifts Pilate washing his hands to the scene in which he is introduced, rather than during the trial itself.
  • The Gospels and the film both relate an account of a Roman centurion who petitions Jesus to heal his sick servant. The film, but not the Gospels, presents the same officer (portrayed by Ernest Borgnine) as one of the soldiers standing at the foot of the Cross, where he sympathetically allows Mary to approach her son.
  • In the Bible Judas is paid 30 pieces of silver for betraying Jesus. Full of remorse, he later gives the silver back to the priests (Matthew 27:3–5). In the film, Judas is given silver coins as an afterthought by Zerah; he does not return them and they are shown lying on the ground under the tree from which he hangs himself.
  • The film depicts a scene that shows Joseph dying. The Gospels never mention anything about Joseph after the story of Jesus, as a boy, in the Temple. There is however a popular tradition in Roman Catholic religious art that shows Joseph dying in the presence of Jesus and Mary.
  • In the film, Jesus continues wearing the red robe of a king, with which the Roman soldiers have dressed him up in order to mock him, up until the crucifixion. In the Gospel account, he is wearing his own clothes on the way to Calvary.
  • The film depicts the Crown of Thorns being removed from Jesus's head during the crucifixion process. This removal is never mentioned in the Gospels, and goes against the usual depiction of Jesus continuing to wear it whilst on the cross.
  • The healing of the blind beggar scene, where Jesus spat on dirt and rubbed the mud in the blind man's eyes, was set in the Temple; the whole of John 9 places this episode after Jesus had left the Temple and was "walking along."

Awards and nominations

Jesus of Nazareth received an

Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Special Drama. Additionally, James Farentino, who portrayed the apostle Peter, received a nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Drama Special.[44]

The drama was nominated for six British Academy Television Awards: Best Actor, Best Cameraman, Best Single Television Play, Best Editor, Best Costume Design and Best Sound. It won none.[45]

Jesus of Nazareth won awards for Best

Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists.[46]

Subsequent broadcasts and home media

NBC rebroadcast the series in 1979, 1980, 1984, 1987 and 1990.

It was originally released as a three-tape VHS edition in the early 1980s under the Magnetic Video label. It was released later under the mainstream video label of CBS/Fox in 1986.[citation needed] Another three-tape VHS edition was released by LIVE Home Video in 1992 and again on 22 February 1995. Artisan Entertainment released the DVD version on two discs in February 2000. In the UK, the original 1986 Polygram VHS (four tapes) was fully uncut and featured the full 386-minute version. The 2000 Carlton video (two tapes) featured a heavily abridged print running for 270 minutes. The Granada DVD is credited as the unedited print and runs for 374 minutes, but this is due to the PAL speed up and is the full version. The two additional scenes – a private meeting between Judas Iscariot and Zerah, and the opening betrayal sequence during the Last Supper – were actually added in the repeat UK screening 2 years later and therefore are not included as the DVD is the original 1977 cut.

The serial is broadcast every

History Channel and TBN
.

In Chile, the full serial has been broadcast every Good Friday since 1982 by the public service television broadcaster Televisión Nacional de Chile.[47]

The Region 1 DVD is the original 1977 broadcast. The Region 2 Carlton DVD released in the UK is substantially cut and runs to 270 minutes. The Dutch DVD release (also Carlton Region 2) has a running time of 365 minutes (the 399-minute running time stated on the cover is a misprint).

The drama has been released on digital download (or streaming) for both Google Play and the Apple Store. The version released is the completed original 4-part 1977 broadcast, though only in its original Standard Definition. Similar to other special interest content, the film's copyright has only been loosely enforced in more recent years, resulting in it appearing on Google's advertising-paid platform YouTube in its entirety.

For Easter 2016, and again in 2018, the UK's Sky Arts channel showed one part a day over the four days of Easter. The version they used was the extended four-part edition, totaling eight hours with advertising.

The serial ran on NBC as "The Big Event" in two three-hour installments with limited commercials on Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday. Additional footage was added for a 1979 re-run and broadcast in four two-hour installments. In the 1980s and 1990, the film was re-broadcast on NBC in three installments of two- and three-hour episodes, released on VHS and DVD as one complete presentation with one set of credits.

In 2022, the full series was made available on BritBox in the UK in time for Easter.[48]

Books

Two adaptations of Jesus of Nazareth have been published. Jesus of Nazareth (1977), by Scottish theologian William Barclay, is a novelisation of the miniseries, published as a conventionally-sized paperback novel as well as a large-format hardback with extensive colour photographs from the miniseries. Man of Nazareth (1979) is Anthony Burgess' novel based upon his original script for the Jesus of Nazareth miniseries. The novel allowed Burgess to retain and expand upon elements of his script that the miniseries altered or omitted, and as a result, Man of Nazareth contains significant differences to Jesus of Nazareth. Burgess' direct sequel to Man of Nazareth, the novel The Kingdom of the Wicked (1985), was adapted to television in 1985 as A.D. (which features some actors who had appeared in Jesus of Nazareth, albeit in different roles).

Franco Zeffirelli's account of filming Jesus of Nazareth was published in 1984 as Franco Zeffirelli's Jesus: A Spiritual Diary (1984).

See also

References

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    ISBN 9780002177801
    .
  2. ^
    ISBN 9781861058744
    .
  3. ^ "Zeffirelli Recalls Paul VI's Help With "Jesus of Nazareth"". Zenit News Agency. 5 November 2007. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  4. ISBN 9780060697808
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  5. ^
    ISBN 9781136183997
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  6. McGraw-Hill Book Company
    . p. 35.
  7. ISBN 9780754663294
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  8. ^
    Time magazine. Archived from the original
    on 31 August 2010. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  9. ISBN 9783643503329
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  10. ISBN 9781858287485
    .
  11. ISBN 9780806531502
    .
  12. ISSN 0028-7369
    .
  13. ISSN 0032-759X. {{cite journal}}: Missing or empty |title= (help
    )
  14. ISSN 0024-4392. {{cite journal}}: Missing or empty |title= (help
    )
  15. ^ The exchange rate of the Pound/U.S. Dollar in 1976 was £0.55651 to $1."Pacific Exchange: Foreign Currency Units per 1 U.S. Dollar, 1948-2011" (PDF). ubc.ca. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
  16. ISSN 0309-3492
    .
  17. ^
    ISBN 9781444301557
    . p. 18.
  18. ^ This figure might be adjusted to inflation by 1987, and also include costs that were not directly invested in production but in marketing, etc.
  19. ^
    ISBN 9780807835722
    .
  20. ISBN 9781906660277
    .
  21. ^
    ISBN 9781576078563
    .
  22. ^ Sanidopoulos, John (29 April 2013). "Robert Powell and His Portrayal of Jesus". Retrieved 22 January 2019.
  23. ISBN 9788880635291
    . p. 198.
  24. ^
    ISBN 9783825801960
    . p. 20.
  25. ISBN 9788811738190
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  26. OCLC 1789175
    .
  27. ISSN 0309-3492
    .
  28. ^ a b c King, Susan (27 March 1994). "Family Channel's Pilgrimage: Cable Network Airs the '77 Miniseries "Jesus of Nazareth" for Easter Week". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  29. ^ a b Angelini, Sergio. "Jesus of Nazareth (1977)". BFI Screenonline. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
  30. ^ Unspecified writer (5 April 1977). "TV 'Jesus of Nazareth' Draws Major Audience". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
  31. ^ Bianco, Robert (11 November 2004). "Catastrophic 'Category 6' is a ratings 1.5". USA Today. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
  32. ^ Gorman, Bill (28 August 2007). "US Television Households by Season". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on 13 June 2013. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
  33. ISBN 9780812907216
    . p. 217.
  34. ISBN 9780834300071
    . p. 327.
  35. ^ "Jesus von Nazareth (1976)". Lexikon des Internationalen Films. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  36. ^ “Zeffirelli Recalls Paul VI's Help With Jesus of Nazareth” ROME, 5 NOV. 2007 (ZENIT) A ZENIT DAILY DISPATCH: “Pope Paul VI personally thanked Franco Zeffirelli for his work… Zeffirelli spoke of the moment when the Pope expressed his gratitude for the movie: ‘When Paul VI received me in a private audience after viewing the film in 1977, he thanked me and asked me what the Church could do for me.’ “
  37. ^ Shales, Tom (1977), "Zeffirelli's 'Jesus' Is A Miracle of TV"; The Washington Post (April 3, 1977).
  38. ^ "Robert Powell will mark the 40th anniversary of Jesus of Nazareth with a new documentary miniseries". Patheos. 15 October 2016. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
  39. ^ "Jesus of Nazareth (1977)". Decent Films. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
  40. ^ "Who is the best movie Jesus?". The Irish Times. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
  41. ^ "ROBERT POWELL ON THE REAL JESUS OF NAZARETH". History. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
  42. ^ "The 10 best screen faces of Jesus". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
  43. ISSN 0025-6900
    .
  44. ^ "Jesus of Nazareth". emmys.com. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  45. ^ "Jesus of Nazareth". bafta.org. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  46. ISBN 9780824070991
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  47. ^ Barría, Fabián. "Un clásico: confirman el regreso de Jesús de Nazareth a la pantalla nacional para Semana Santa". Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  48. ^ "Jesus of Nazareth and Boon join BritBox this month". Retrieved 15 April 2022.

Further reading

External links
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