# Do good Jesus movies exist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 16, 2006, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-good-jesus-movies-exist/352860 "2006-04-16T05:43:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2006, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-good-jesus-movies-exist/352860/21 "2006-04-16T20:52:00Z")
No. The reason for this is that some Birkenstock clad hippy getting nailed to a tree for asking everyone to be nice to each other isn’t an exciting character. Compare that to Moses - a dude so badass he killed a slave master with his bare hands, told the Pharoh of Egypt to F off multiple times, unleashed ten plagues and split the Red Sea. And man did he go ape-shit when he found the Israelites worshipping that Golden Calf. There’s a reason he was played by Charlton Heston. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2006, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-good-jesus-movies-exist/352860/22 "2006-04-16T23:28:37Z")
How about **The Ruling Class**? Peter O’Toole made a great Jesus. ---
**Author:** ![Talon\_Karrde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Talon\_Karrde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talon_Karrde)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2006, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-good-jesus-movies-exist/352860/23 "2006-04-17T05:31:04Z")
I really liked The Last Temptation of Christ quite a bit. It has very interesting music. I once saw a really bad one. Jesus was played by this white British guy with perfectly straight and clean teeth, and blow-dryed hair. I didn’t find him very inspiring. Judas was the most Arabic looking character. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2006, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-good-jesus-movies-exist/352860/24 "2006-04-17T05:48:47Z")
1. **Godspell** (1973). An Indian summer of sixties flower power, as Jesus preaches the gospel according to today. Songs by Stephen Schwartz include the hit “Day by Day”. One of my all-time favorite movies. [Roger Ebert’s review](http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19730321/REVIEWS/301010312/1023). 2. **Jesus of Nazareth** (1977). The best “standard version” of Jesus’ life and ministry. Long, detailed, and quite nice to look at. 3. **The Last Temptation of Christ** (1988). Willem Dafoe gives the best Jesus performance yet. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2006, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-good-jesus-movies-exist/352860/25 "2006-04-17T06:20:02Z")
A second vote for Pasolini’s “The gospel according to St Matthew” ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2006, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-good-jesus-movies-exist/352860/26 "2006-04-17T21:30:19Z")
I want to second Jesus of Montreal, fantastic acting and very clever. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2006, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-good-jesus-movies-exist/352860/27 "2006-04-17T22:10:04Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > How about **The Ruling Class**? Peter O’Toole made a great Jesus. Love that movie! ---
**Author:** ![meara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@meara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meara)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2006, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-good-jesus-movies-exist/352860/28 "2006-04-17T22:36:12Z")
I’ve always liked [Joshua](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0271582/). The plot and some of the characters may be corny, but the title character and the basic message are wonderful. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2006, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-good-jesus-movies-exist/352860/29 "2006-04-17T22:43:36Z")
_Die Hard with a Vengance_? Oh, wait, that guy was **Zeus**. Nevermind. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2006, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-good-jesus-movies-exist/352860/30 "2006-04-17T23:07:11Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > Willem Dafoe gives the best Jesus performance yet. I’ll see your Dafoe and raise you a Glenn Carter. Let’s see Dafoe hold that high note that long. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2006, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-good-jesus-movies-exist/352860/31 "2006-04-17T23:33:22Z")
Another vote for _The Last Temptation._ ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2006, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-good-jesus-movies-exist/352860/32 "2006-04-18T00:03:19Z")
There’s a surpisingly good one that TBN used to play all the time. My friends and I dubbed it Smiley Happy Jesus. It feature the happiest and the most Hebrew looking Jesus I had ever seen in a movie. T ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2006, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-good-jesus-movies-exist/352860/33 "2006-04-18T02:07:12Z")
> [@baronsabato](#): > > I guess there’s **The Passion of the Christ** , but I don’t know if I’d like to stomach it again. If that’s too much for you, you could instead watch [The Animated Passion](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002JP20C/qid=1145325434/sr=1-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-0650895-6316063?%5Fencoding=UTF8&s=dvd&v=glance&n=130) (“For The Whole Family!”) I did a double take when I saw this on the DVD shelves at the store this evening. For all I know, it could be a good, well-done film, but… there’s just something incongruous about it. Coulda been worse, I guess. It coulda been the Claymation Passion. (“This is offensive to Christians _and_ prunes!”) ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2006, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-good-jesus-movies-exist/352860/34 "2006-04-18T04:24:11Z")
How about the silent version of [King of Kings?](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0018054/)? ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2006, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-good-jesus-movies-exist/352860/35 "2006-04-18T04:36:57Z")
Was there ever a **Jesus 2 - Electric Boogaloo**? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-good-jesus-movies-exist/352860.md?page=1)