Becket (1964)
Henry's heartbroken that Becket loves God more than him.
“Becket is the only intelligent man in my kingdom, and he's against me!” declares King Henry II (Peter O’Toole). Henry has made Thomas Becket (Richard Burton), his erstwhile partner in belching and whoring, the archbishop of Canterbury. This bit of patronage backfires: instead of giving Henry power over the church, it turns a former friend into a fierce rival.
Being named archbishop is Becket’s come-to-Jesus moment. As he says in prayer:
I am a weak and shallow creature, clever only in the second rate […] I gave my love, such as it was, elsewhere, putting service to my earthly king before my duty to you. But now they have made me the shepherd of your flock and guardian of your church. Please, Lord, teach me now how to serve you with all my heart, to know at last what it really is to love, to adore.
So he asserts the power of the church against Henry. When a noble murders a felonious priest, Becket excommunicates him, asserting that only ecclesiastical courts can judge priests. Henry dislikes this, saying an attack on his nobles is an attack on him. The rift gets larger: Henry has his son crowned by the archbishop of York, a blow to Becket’s power. But Henry loves Becket and their strife hurts his heart. He’s pained when he says the fatal words: “will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?”1
Becket is murdered in Canterbury Cathedral, a shocking event that turns the obloquy of the world on Henry. And Becket is victorious in death: Henry must give ritualistic penance, while Becket is elevated to sainthood.
Rating: 8/10, Henry better call Becket with the good hair.
Cast and Crew
Richard Burton’s three-film run of My Cousin Rachel (1952), The Desert Rats (1953), and The Robe was said to be the beginning of an exciting young actor’s Hollywood career. But Hollywood is fickle, and even though Burton’s star was rising in the theater, many of his next films flopped.2 On the stage, they called Burton the “Welsh wizard,” “the natural successor to Olivier”; on the screen, they said he “was hardly noticeable.”
But Tony recognition was incoming. He received:
A 1957 nomination for “Time Remembered.”3
A statue for his role in the 1960 Lerner and Loewe musical “Camelot,” where he starred opposite Julie Andrews.
Another nom for a 1964 stage version of “Hamlet” directed by John Gielgud.4
Meanwhile, after some years wandering the film desert, he found success with kitchen sink drama Look Back in Anger (1959), WWII ensemble The Longest Day (1962), and, oh yeah, Cleopatra. We’ll see Burton many more times.
Check out this similarity between Burton and Peter O’Toole : O’Toole has the most acting nominations without a competitive Oscar win (eight) while Burton is just one behind him.5 That means we’ll see O’Toole six more times (we’ve already seen him once in Lawrence of Arabia)—and that’s welcome, since his gonzo portrayal of Henry II is key to the success of Becket.
The Trivia
Beyond Becket’s depiction of the conflict between church and state, there was also conflict between the Norman ruling class and the Saxon “conquered race.”6 Let’s discuss how we got there. We’ll start in 10667, a noteworthy year. After the death of Anglo-Saxon king Edward the Confessor, numerous parties vied for the English throne:
Harold Godwinson, brother-in-law to the dead monarch, claimed Edward designated him heir to the throne on his deathbed. He was then elected king by the Witenagemot, the council of nobles.
Harald Hardrada, king of Norway, asserted he was a successor to the Viking legacy (the Vikings had ruled England as part of their North Sea Empire under Canute the Great). Harald with an “a” lost to Harold with an “o” at the Battle of Stamford Bridge.
William the Conqueror8, Duke of Normandy (in France) alleged that Edward promised him the throne and that Harold had sworn allegiance to him. William asserted his claim during the Norman Invasion and at the Battle of Hastings, where Harold was killed (the story of which is told in the Bayeux Tapestry).
William was crowned king of England at Canterbury, but consider this: 10,000 Normans were trying, by force, to control a country of 3 to 4 million Anglo-Saxons who spoke a different language and resented the Norman’s presence. Nonetheless, William replaced virtually all of the English abbots and barons with Normans and taxed the hell out of the locals.
Let’s speed run the history from William to Henry II. William had three sons who outlived him. To the eldest, Robert, William left the duchy of Normandy. To William Rufus (William II), he left England. William had no heirs (it’s speculated that he was gay), and when he was killed in a “hunting accident,” England passed to his brother Henry (Henry I). From there, Henry tried to pass it to his daughter Matilda, but Matilda had to battle Henry’s nephew Stephen in a civil war referred to as “the anarchy.” It ended when all parties agreed that Stephen’s successor would be Matilda’s son, Henry of Anjou, who became Henry II.
Henry of Anjou was the first Angevin king (the word comes from “Anjou”) and also began the rule of the House of Plantagenet.9 Henry II’s rule was wide: he was king of England, duke of Normandy, count of Anjou, and (through his marriage with Eleanor of Aquitaine), duke of Aquitaine.10 That’s a whole lot of France, and it showed—Henry II didn’t even speak English.
This won’t be the last time we see Henry II in this column (Peter O’Toole will score another nomination for playing him), so we’ll tell the story of the end of Henry’s reign and the internecine conflict between him, his wife, and his sons another day.
Odds and Ends
Bishops carry croziers, crooks resembling those carried by shepherds (since they’re a different kind of shepherd)…Henry II has a goatee so you know he’s the bad guy…tonsure is the practice of shaving part of a priest’s head…the French call the English Channel “La Manche”…this is the second movie we’ve seen from 1964 where someone is referred to as a guttersnipe…there’s a shrine to Becket at Canterbury; that’s where the pilgrims are going in Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales”…in the 1960 play “Becket,” Laurence Olivier played Thomas Becket and Anthony Quinn played Henry II.
CORRECTION: We mentioned in our post on Zorba the Greek that Anthony Quinn was in “the children’s film A High Wind in Jamaica (1965).” As commenter Yogesh points out, A High Wind in Jamaica is a film with children, not a children’s film. As penance, we watched the film and can confirm: not a children’s film. We regret the error and recommend you check out this interview with Yogesh on HowToWinGameShows.com.
Sometimes quoted as “turbulent” or “troublesome.” Also, the film leaves out Becket excommunicating the archbishop of York; that’s the real moment Henry sics his knights on Becket.
Two flops were 1955’s Prince of Players, where he played Edwin Booth, and 1956’s Alexander the Great. Maybe the moviegoing public was tired of Burton’s pretentious, humorless performances—but that’s the exact vibe needed to portray Thomas Becket.
“Time Remembered” is an English translation of “Léocadia,” originally written by French playwright Jean Anouilh. Becket is an adaptation of Anouilh’s “Becket or the Honour of God”; other plays of Anouilh’s are “Antigone,” “The Lark” (about Joan of Arc) and “The Waltz of the Toreadors.”
John Gielgud played King Louis VII in Becket; we’ve seen him in Julius Caesar and Richard III and we’ll see him again.
The two were also major theater stars. Before Burton’s 1964 turn as Hamlet, O’Toole played the role in a 1963 production directed by Laurence Olivier.
In the film, Thomas Becket is Saxon, though this is fiction—he was Norman.
Though don’t act like English history starts in 1066. The Lindisfarne gospels and “Beowulf,” two pillars of English heritage, date from the eighth century. The ancient British queen Boudica rose up against Roman hegemony around 60 AD. And Stonehenge was built between 3000 and 1520 BC.
Initially called “William the Bastard,” since 1) he was a bastard, and 2) he hadn’t yet conquered anything.
The name “Plantagenet” comes from the sprig of yellow broom (planta genista) his father Geoffrey (Matilda’s husband) wore when riding. The Plantagenets ruled for 300 years, until Henry Tudor (Henry VII).
Before Eleanor was Henry’s wife, she was the wife of Louis VII, king of France.