The Last Temptation of Christ
My memory of this is not really good enough to comment: in general, my recollection is that it did not really work. However it is worth remembering Sidney Lumet’s reply when Peter Bogdanovich asked him if there was “a particular movie you’re still dying to make”:
”For many years I had the Kazantzakis novel The Last Temptation of Christ under option. That was one I’d always intended to do. I was so glad that Marty [Scorsese] finally did it [1988] because: can you imagine what would have happened if a Jew had done that movie? It would have been unbelievable. They picketed [Lew] Wassermans house, for Christ’s sake, and all he did was put up the money for it. If it hadn’t been a Catholic like Marty doing that movie – if I had done that movie – I think possibly we would have had the first pogrom in American history.“
”For many years I had the Kazantzakis novel The Last Temptation of Christ under option. That was one I’d always intended to do. I was so glad that Marty [Scorsese] finally did it [1988] because: can you imagine what would have happened if a Jew had done that movie? It would have been unbelievable. They picketed [Lew] Wassermans house, for Christ’s sake, and all he did was put up the money for it. If it hadn’t been a Catholic like Marty doing that movie – if I had done that movie – I think possibly we would have had the first pogrom in American history.“
Mini Review: My memory of this is not really good enough to comment: in general, my recollection is that it did not really work. However it is worth remembering Sidney Lumet’s reply when Peter Bogdanovich asked him if there was “a particular movie you’re still dying to make”.
Watch the Trailer