Tuesday, January 07, 2014

Movie review - "Jesus Christ Superstar" (1973) ***

The music remains terrific - I've always loved the album - the locations are fine and I soon got used to the central conceit (i.e. it's about some hippies putting on a show). But the acting is irritatingly bad - Ted Neeley is a passionateless pretty boy Jesus,  not believable as the leader of a religious movement; Carl Anderson is okay as Judas (I wished Ben Vereen could have done it); Yvonne Elliman is cute and has a nice voice as Mary but her playing of it merely shows up the unfortunate water-carrier-nurse aspects of the role (she doesn't give the sense of being a former prostitute or anything). Barry Dennam though is very good as Pontious Pilate.

Some scintillating moments such as Judas' suicide and the crucifixion and I laughed at the end when the actors hopped on the bus and some lingered and looked over the sunset to get a bit of extra screen time. And the music is fantastic.

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