One thing I have always loved about Holy Week is the number of really classic religious movies that show up on TV, especially on the cable channels.
Of course The Ten Commandments is a perennial (though I can no longer watch Yul Brynner as Pharaoh without thinking about Billy Crystal’s dead-on impersonation). Then there is Richard Burton’s intense performance in The Robe, a movie I truly love in spite of the critics. I drop whatever I’m doing whenever Ben-Hur is on just to watch the chariot racing scenes again (did you know that Guideposts executive editor Rick Hamlin’s wife, author Carol Wallace, is the great-great-granddaughter of Lew Wallace, who wrote Ben-Hur?). Of course The Greatest Story Ever Told is one of the greatest religious movies ever made (did you know that my immediate predecessor’s father, Fulton Oursler, Sr., authored the best-selling book the movie is based on?).
I also love some of the smaller movies, like The Song of Bernadette starring the incredible Jennifer Jones, and Lilies of the Field with Sidney Poitier, a must-see if you never have.
Tomorrow, Holy Saturday, is supposed to be rainy and raw here and the Yankees will probably be rained out. If I’m lucky, though, there will be no shortage of movies to watch all day long. What are some of your favorite movies with religious or spiritual themes? I’ll tell you another one of mine: Fiddler on the Roof. Post below. And happy Easter!
