Does anyone know why this remarkable film never airs. It's been decades since I've seen it. Yet it's never on. I get all the HBO channels, all the Stars, all the Encores, and a slue of other cable channel, not to mention three PBS stations, and all the networks. So why is this wonderful film never aired?
shareI have a taped-off-the-air copy of it, with fairly poor sound, and I have been trying to get Turner Classic Movies to show the film so that I won't have to rely on that poor copy. Since they own the Paramount catalog, or at least a good portion of it, I am surprised that they don't air it regularly. I remember that in 1983 it made the rounds of the four big cable channels, and that was when we only had a few movie channels, not the gargantuan set of movie channels that we now get with digital cable. You'd think at least one of them would have picked it up by now, especially since it's available on VHS!
Perhaps the idiots think there isn't enough interest in it, that it is "over the heads" of most viewers? Oh, it's a dark view I have of the programming powers-that-be, isn't it?
shareBecket has been out of circulation because it has been under restoration by the UCLA Film & Television Archive.
The funding for the restoration was made possible by the Film Foundation,
a charitable institution dedicated to restoration of the world's film history.
***
A celebration of the films restoration will be the screening of the newly restored print at The Tribeca Film Festival on Sat., May 1, 2004 at noon &
Sat., May 8, 2004 at 11:00AM.
Tickets are available to the public beginning April 24, 2004 with
American Express Cardmembers individual ticket presale on April 18-23, 2004.
The Tribeca Film Festival continues its mission of celebrating New York City as a major filmmaking capital and contributing to the long-term recovery of Lower Manhattan.
Further information is available on:
www.tribecafilmfestival.org.
***
The DVD made from the remastered print will be available to the public at the end of the year-12/31/04.
Thank you for some very clear info on this - any other gems you have heard about?
"This never happened to the other fella"
Note that it was the Academy Film Archive (part of the motion picture academy), rather than the UCLA archive, which did the restoration late last year.
The original film had deteriorated badly by the early '80s, apparently; there also seem to been some issues with the literary rights.
Gary Krause
I see that the restored film was indeed shown but I can find no mention anywhere of a DVD release. Any info on that? Who is releaseing it?
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...sigh...
A Man for All Seasons is out on DVD and has been for some time. Becket is out on tape and was released on LD. What we are seeing is some crap about rights and licensing or some such, sorta like what happened w/ Ed Wood .. released then pulled noe re-released. No conspiracy, just lawyers.
just saw the play 'becket' in london, it was fantastic but left me with a craving to see the film again, and I cannot find it anywhere, amazon doesn't even have used copies of it!! the play was very well acted but i prefer the o'toole/burton dynamic, it was more raw and passionate that the two albeit excellent actors from the play.
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It will be on Turner Classic Movies on August 2 at 8pm.
I saw Becket once in high school. We saw most of it, and the film was pretty good.
"Dry your eyes baby, it's out of character."
Hooray...it starts in about 15 minutes. 2 of the most brilliant performances ever recorded on film, not to be missed.
shareIt aired today on TCM and I have it taped on my DVR and my computer's Media Center so I can watch it often.
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It gets off to a slow start, but I'll be patient with it, as it's one I've wanted to see for a long time, but somehow this film, A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS and THE LION IN WINTER do seem easily confusable and almost interchangeable...The sculpture of Becket at the beginning of the film is such a dead-ringer for Burton that it actually looks phony.
"I don't use a pen: I write with a goose quill dipped in venom!"---W. Lydecker
I saw this many years ago in high school, and I've seen Lion in Winter several times since, but this hasn't been on that I've seen. I'm watching it now, off of TCM, and I love Peter O'Toole as Henry, I think it's his most fitting role I've seen. They're both excellent flicks.
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Yes - I have just finished watching it - for the first time ever. A very, very good film and not sure why i have been previously unaware of it. Multiple comparisons with Lion in Winter, another excellent film, where O'Toole's overacting was not so apparent.
shareAlso just saw this film last night for the first time, now looking for the DVD.
Great film.
I saw it last night as well on BBC 2. Its available on amazon.co.uk, but only if you want to pay £14 for it!
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Its available from 'BlahDVD' for a tenner: http://www.blahdvd.com/blah/DVD_Product.aspx/--Becket--?productid=DVD-2NDVD3119-5Y&WT.mc_id=19&ref=8b8a2919-4bee-42b9-b3d0-b0a8fca6ff57
shareIt was on TCM a few weeks ago.
"The best of them won't come for money - they'll come for ME!" - Lawrence of Arabia
I've stumbled over this movie on TCM now (http://www.imdb.com/tvgrid/2007-09-03/1245#TCM).
I remember this movie when I was a young high-schooler when it first came out in 1964. The scene of the excommunication of Lord Gilbert was, and is, the most stunning, and so reminiscent of the great power of Catholic ceremonial traditions.
The Catholic Church was a large part of my upbringing in the 50's and 60's. This movie fit in perfectly at the time, and was brought to our attention by our forward-thinking English teacher at the Catholic high school I attended. I've loved this movie ever since -- Peter O'Toole and Richard Burton were such a perfect pair -- either one of them alone was a powerful presence, but together they filled the large screens of the movie houses of the time.
Great movie....time to buy the DVD!
Becket was on TCM last night.
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