Andrew Llod Webber's kitchsy musical about the last days of Christ is given a rather limp screen treatment by director Norman Jewison, who never found a story he couldn't pound the life out of.
One doesn't watch ALW musicals for their dramatic depth in the first place, so it was a mistake to dilute whatever dramatic significance there was to this story by using a framing device showing a group of hippies arrive in the desert to put on a show about the last days of Christ. Was this a Hollywood capitulation to the controversy that stormed around the musical's Broadway opening? Probably, but one wishes the filmmakers had had the balls to stick to their guns.
What one DOES watch ALW musicals for is the music, and "Jesus Christ Superstar" boasts one of his best scores. It sounds hopelessly dated here, but I kind of like the twangy 70s sound; it fits the material. A handful of unknowns star, and none of them has much screen presence. However, I did have the opportunity to see a stage version of this not so long ago in Chicago that starred the film Jesus and Judas, Ted Neely and Carl Lewis, along with Irene Carra as Mary Magdalene and former Styx lead singer Dennis DeYoung as Pontius Pilate, and it was one of the best stage shows I've ever seen.
Grade: C+
One doesn't watch ALW musicals for their dramatic depth in the first place, so it was a mistake to dilute whatever dramatic significance there was to this story by using a framing device showing a group of hippies arrive in the desert to put on a show about the last days of Christ. Was this a Hollywood capitulation to the controversy that stormed around the musical's Broadway opening? Probably, but one wishes the filmmakers had had the balls to stick to their guns.
What one DOES watch ALW musicals for is the music, and "Jesus Christ Superstar" boasts one of his best scores. It sounds hopelessly dated here, but I kind of like the twangy 70s sound; it fits the material. A handful of unknowns star, and none of them has much screen presence. However, I did have the opportunity to see a stage version of this not so long ago in Chicago that starred the film Jesus and Judas, Ted Neely and Carl Lewis, along with Irene Carra as Mary Magdalene and former Styx lead singer Dennis DeYoung as Pontius Pilate, and it was one of the best stage shows I've ever seen.
Grade: C+