Becket (1964): O'Toole and Burton in Historical Drama

This was a thoroughly enjoyable film, albeit one I'll probably not remember in a month.  It's a well-done historical drama with world-class actors.  The story is based on a true story, I'm sure, and not completely accurate.  I feel like there was a point where I cared if a film was historically accurate, but now I really do not care at all.  It's so much easier that way, because I'm not aware of a film 100 percent accurate anyway.

This is my second Peter O'Toole vehicle and he's perfunctory.  A few moments, he went a little more over-the-top than I liked, but his role kind of called for the showy, blustering performance that he gave.  A king in the 11th century is one of the few roles where I can be like "Yeah this dude probably acted as entitled and arrogant as the actor portraying him."

Oddly enough, Richard Burton was something I had not yet experienced.  It's sort of unbelievable I haven't watch a movie of his yet.  He does not disappoint.  I was under the impression - I wouldn't say I didn't think he was a good actor - but I wasn't exactly having high hopes if you know what I mean.  Well, he's good enough in this that I will seek out his other movies.

The director himself, Peter Glenville, was a formerly stage director who moved to the stage.  According to IMDB, this appears to be his best movie and if the ratings are to believed, his last good one.  Again, I liked this movie enough to where I will seek out his past movies.  If nothing else, Becket has given me a shit ton of other movies to watch (not that I need to find more with the "Great Movies" by Ebert, Oscar winners, and Criterion providing a wealth of options.)

Note: the grade I give somewhat seems at odds with what I wrote, but for some reason this movie seemed more "by-the-numbers."  Everyone did everything right - a few melodramatic scenes at the end excepted - and yet I don't know if I will want to watch this again. (Which to be fair, is the case with most movies)

3/4 stars

How to Steal a Million (1966): Star-Driven Caper

I enjoyed this film much more than I expected, largely off the backs of the charism of Audrey Hepburn and Peter O'Toole.  I'm also a sucker for a good caper film and while not completely innovative, it was still cool to see it in action.  Given the fact that this is a pretty simple concept, executed near perfectly by director William Wyler, I don't have much to say about this movie.

In addition to his role in Ben-Hur, Hugh Griffith makes a memorable role in the form of an art forger and father to Hepburn.  I will say this and this could just be a cultural and/or time period thing: it is obnoxious how many times Hepburn says "Papa" in this movie.  If you drink every time she said Papa and nowhere else in the movie, you might die.

I think this is my first Peter O'Toole film oddly enough.  Not sure what exactly I expected, I'm not surprised he's considered a legend.  His voice alone is legendary.  He seems to casually inhabit the carefree, smooth art expert, criminology expert, and whatever else he says he is.  I feel like in the wrong hands this role could be harder, but he pulls it off so easily and it doesn't even look like he's trying.

I have two relatively minor complaints about the movie.  The first is that it's a little long for the type of movie it is.  They could have shed about 20 or 30 minutes without the movie suffering.  Secondly, the constant kissing between O'Toole and Hepburn got extremely irritating.  We get it.  You guys know love each other.  But overall, I am pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed this light-hearted fare.

(Also, Audrey Hepburn's outfits kind of stole the show)

3.5/4 stars