Becket

An English king comes to terms with his affection for his close friend and confidant, who finds his true honor by observing God’s divine will rather than the king’s.

• Director:Peter Glenville
• Genre:Biography | Drama | History
• Runtime:148 minutes

Cast

Richard Burton : Thomas à Becket
Peter O’Toole : King Henry II
John Gielgud : King Louis VII of France
Gino Cervi : Cardinal Zambelli
Paolo Stoppa : Pope Alexander III

The story line monitors the transformation of Thomas Becket, portrayed, following the play, as a Saxon protege and facilitator to the carousing King Henry, into a man who continually invokes the “honor of God”. Henry appoints Becket as Archbishop of Canterbury in order to have a close confidant in this position that he could completely control. Instead, Becket becomes a major thorn in his side in a jurisdictional dispute. Much of the plot concerns Henry, the “perennial adolescent” as described by the Bishop of London, who finds his duties as king and his stale arranged marriage to be oppressive. Early in the film, we see him escaping them through drunken forays onto the hunting grounds and local brothels. He is increasingly dependent on Becket, a Saxon commoner, who arranges these debaucheries when he is not busy running Henry’s court. This foments great resentment on the part of Henry’s Norman noblemen, who distrust and envy this Saxon upstart, as well as the queen and queen mother, who see Becket as an unnatural and unseemly influence upon the royal personage.

Henry finds himself in continuous conflict with the elderly Archbishop of Canterbury, who opposes the taxation of Church property in order to support Henry’s military campaigns in France (“Bishop, I must hire the Swiss Guards to fight for me – and no one has ever paid them off with good wishes and prayer!”). During one of his campaigns in coastal France, he receives word that the old bishop has “gone to God’s bosom”. In a burst of inspiration, Henry exercises his prerogative to pick the next Archbishop and informs an astonished Becket that he is the royal choice.

Shortly thereafter, Becket sides with the Church, throwing Henry into a fury. One of the main bones of contention is Thomas’ excommunication of Lord Gilbert, one of Henry’s most loyal stalwarts, for seizing and ordering the killing of a priest who had been accused of sexual indiscretions with a young girl, before the priest can even be handed over for ecclesiastical trial. Gilbert then refuses to acknowledge his transgressions and seek absolution. Read more

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