King of Kings **** (1961, Jeffrey Hunter, Robert Ryan, Siobhan McKenna, Hurd Hatfield, Harry Guardino, Frank Thring, Rip Torn, Viveca Lindfors, Rita Gam, Ron Randell) – Classic Movie Review 348

Nicholas Ray’s 1961 biblical epic movie King of Kings is devout and affecting. Jeffrey Hunter defies his odd casting and gives a surprisingly effective performance as Jesus.

Though much derided at the time, mostly by people who hadn’t seen it, producer Samuel Bronston and director Nicholas Ray’s 1961 biblical epic movie about life of Christ is everything it should be: straightforward, devout and affecting.

This fine film is sympathetically directed by Ray, reverentially written by Philip Yordan, and very decently acted by Jeffrey Hunter as Jesus, who defies his odd casting and gives a surprisingly effective performance.

King of Kings (1961) tells the whole story from Christ’s birth in Bethlehem to his crucifixion and subsequent resurrection. In a comprehensive sweep, it also takes in the Roman invasion by Pompey in 65 BC, the Romans’ appointment of King Herod the Great and the crowning of Herod Antipas after he murders his father. And you get Barabbas’s revolt plus John the Baptist’s beheading as Salome’s price for dancing for Herod. Not bad in 171 minutes! And that excludes the overture, intermission, entr’acte, and exit music. Those were the days!

They have assembled a very interesting, if eccentric cast. Robert Ryan as John the Baptist, Siobhan McKenna as Mary, Harry Guardino as Barabbas, Frank Thring as Herod Antipas, Hurd Hatfield as Pontius Pilate and Rip Torn as Judas are not the most obvious choices, either, but they too are all outstanding in star support.

It also stars Rita Gam as Herodias, Viveca Lindfors as Claudia, Ron Randell as Lucius, Carmen Sevilla as Mary Magdalene, Brigid Bazlen as Salome, Guy Rolfe as Caiaphas, Royal Dano as Peter, Edric Connor as Balthazar, and George Coulouris as Camel Driver.

It is made on the grandest scale possible back in 1961. Bronston’s production was extremely costly for its day, costing an estimated more than $7 million –$8.5 million back then. It is a particularly glorious looking movie, thanks to the marvellous sets and production designs by Enrique Alarcon and Georges Wakhévitch and the remarkable Technicolor cinematography by Franz Planer in Super Technirama 70 on striking Spanish locations, as well in two different Madrid studios.

Plus a there is a stirring score by Miklos Rozsa as well as Orson Welles’s unmistakable, inimitable narration (written by sci-fi writer Ray Bradbury). All are quality components.

Rita Gam in 1960.

Also in the cast are Maurice Marsac as Nicodemus, Grégoire Aslan as Herod, Conrado San Martin as General Pompey, Gérard Tichy as Joseph, José Antonio [Antonio Mayans] as John the Apostle, José Nieto as Caspar, Luis Prendes as Dismas, David Davies as Burly Man, Rûben Rojo as Matthew, Fernando Sancho as the Demon-Possessed man, Michael Wager as Thomas, Félix de Pomés as Joseph of Arimathea, Adriano Rimoldi as Melchior, Barry Keegan as Gestas, Rafael Luis Calvo as Simon of Cyrene, Tino Barrero as Andrew, and Francisco Moran [Paco Morán] as as Blind Man of Bethsaida.

It is narrated by Orson Welles.

After the original shoot when Hunter’s armpits were shaved, they later quickly shaved Hunter’s chest too so that the crucifixion scene could be re-shot because a preview audience was offended at Jesus having a hairy chest.

Agnes Moorehead was Hunter’s dialogue coach in post-dubbing. Hunter’s real name was Henry Herman McKinnies Jr. He died of a stroke in 1969, aged only 42. His career went into a downward spiral after King of Kings, after he was ridiculed because of his youthful, matinée-idol appearance as Jesus. Bizarrely so, because the film was a box-office hit and is one of Hunter’s best-remembered roles.

Hunter said: ‘There are some things that can’t be measured in dollars and cents and how can anyone put a price — even the price of a million-dollar career — on the role of the greatest Being this mortal world has ever known?’

Though the film was derided as ‘I Was a Teenage Jesus’ because of Hunter’s youth appeal, he was actually 34 at the time of filming, near Jesus’s real age of 33 at the time of the story. Richard Burton turned down the role of Jesus.

The film premiered on October 11, 1961 (Loew’s State Theatre, New York City), and was released on October 13, 1961 (US) and November 15, 1961 (UK).

It took $13.4 million at the box office ($8 million in North America and $5.4 million elsewhere), earning a profit of $1,621,000.

There is also a 1927 silent movie version by Cecil B DeMille, The King of Kings, in which H B Warner gives a sincere and thoughtful performance as Christ. In 1928 DeMille prepared and released a sound version with a score by Hugo Riesenfeld and added sound effects. After many years of incomplete versions circulating, the restored 2004 DVD reveals the movie in its full, great majesty, with a new score by Donald Sosin.

George Stevens Productions filmed a rival Jesus Christ epic, The Greatest Story Ever Told (1961), which opened a couple of years or so later and was over an hour longer at 260 minutes. Max von Sydow stars.

Rita Gam died on 22 March 2016, aged 88.

Jeffrey Hunter (born Henry Herman McKinnies Jr; November 25, 1926 – May 27, 1969) 

After King of Kings, Jeffrey Hunter largely headed for television, where his highspot is his 1965 role as Captain Christopher Pike in the original pilot episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. But Hunter declined to appear in a second Star Trek pilot requested by NBC in 1965 to try to concentrate on film roles. 

The year 2026 is the centenary of Jeffrey Hunter’s birth.

© Derek Winnert 2013 Classic Movie Review 348

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