Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Jesus Christ Superstar - The Original and Best, 27 Sep 2004
This has it all
... A classic soundtrack, Listen to the powerful Overture, the pain in Judas before he commits suicide, and the confusion in Mary's voice in the classic "I don't know how to love him"
... Inspired direction (All set in the desert, filmed in seven days, numerous clever touches and symbolism), and most of all ENERGY. Judas is the strongest character, and steals the show, but Jesus and Pontius Pilate for me are just behind, with Mary just behind again (Sorry but I have heard Mary's songs too many times !!).For me the most compelling thing about this production is it's coherence. It is clearly produced in a certain period, but for all that it is ageless. Some of the singing is off, but beyond that everything just clicks wonderfully, and the dancing is exciting and impressive. I looked around for a long time to get this, and even got hold of a multi-region player to watch it.
Early work by any composer always tends to have the raw edge and energy to inspire the audience, and this is certainly one for me. BUY THIS!! Don't bother with the later production, I will be diplomatic, and say that I cannot watch it, because it is so bad, and this is so good. This set a benchmark, and I don't expect another musical based on the life of Jesus to beat it any time soon.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
get past the 70's kitch and be prepared to be blown away!, 23 Nov 2003
Once you accept the bare chested, medallioned rabbi's you'll have no problem at all accepting Ted Neeley as JC himself. Top track for me: Why must I die? have played that track over and over and it still brings goose bumps!
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Rice and Lloyd Webber's operatic passion play on film, 6 Dec 2003
After the bizarre Broadway staging of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's rock opera, the film version of "Jesus Christ Superstar" had to be a more traditional offering. Producer-Director Norman Jewison filmed on location in Israel, using natural settings and sparsely constructed sets for what is essentially a string of music videos (since it was written as a studio album first, the music presents problems for moving from one scene to the next). The framing device for the film is the cast arriving/departing by bus. Ted Neeley's voice is suited to the role, but certainly he is the shortest Jesus I can recall seeing in films. Yvonne Elliman and Barry Dennen remain from the original studio album and Broadway production as Mary Magdalen and Pilate, which is perfectly all right. However, it is clearly Carl Anderson as Judas who gives the best performance in the film. The film version suffers from the inadequate voices of several of the supporting cast members (most notably Josh Mostel as Herod) and the grossly reduced chorus of singers which never comes close to matching the number of bodies on screen, and there are a few unintentional laughs, such as when Israeli tanks come over the dune and chase Judas: I literally fell out of my seat laughing at this the first time I saw this film in the theater. But the use of paintings depicting the crucifixion during "I Only Want to Say" and the final shot of sheep being herded past the cross the cast leaves behind on the hill, are particularly effective. Of course as with most movies, if you want to watch it you want to get a hold of the widescreen edition, otherwise you cannot appreciate the Last Supper tableau or just enjoy the compositional elements of the shots. Every Easter weekend I watch this film, even if I do not have time to do all of "Jesus of Nazareth" or "The Greatest Story Every Told." The only thing radical here is the music, but I still have to think it qualifies as the requisite joyful noise.
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