Jesus Christ Superstar and the Film’s place in History… what I am really asking is, do you think the fact that it is a musical makes people forget what an awesome movie it was beyond being a musical? The theme’s, mood, obvious influence of 70’s, and whoa!!! The acting and interaction among characters!!! A very profound and moving film. To me it is on the Top Ten movies of the 1970’s. And for me personally quite likely in the Top 3 or Top 5.
I liked ‘Hair’ more. Both as a musical and as a message.
But this is exceptional from Superstar - I Don't Know How To Love Him - Jesus Christ Superstar (1970 Version) - YouTube
Without even LOOKING, I just knew that song would be “I Don’t Know How To Love Him”. That seems to be the only thing anyone ever remembers about the movie.
I’ve seen JCSS countless times because I had a friend who let me in for free, and I really loved it, never got tired of watching it over and over. I love musicals of any type.
Ted Neely as JC was kind of cute, from what I’ve read people identified him with his role a little too much during and since production. But he seems to love it, has been involved in road productions for many many years.
LOL!!!
I am listening right now, at this moment, to Let The Sunshine In from the end of the movie. It is what reminded me of JCSS to be honest. Question, what is Manchester England referring too? Also, I love the line “I believe in God and God believes in Claude, that’s me, that’s me.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhNrqc6yvTU
1- I think that either the First song or the Last song of the movie are the “best” song but
2- If you want what is memorable or emotionally resonating, something that sticks with you, I don’t know How To Love Him is good but I have a slight preference for Could We Start Again Please.
The movie did nothing for me. Of course, I hate musicals, so there’s that.
Also, being very 70s is a bad thing.
Superstar is not a musical, it is an opera. I hate musicals. I love Superstar.
I’m always ready to jump in with high praise for Jesus Christ Superstar …until it’s specified “the movie”.
Robert163, can I ask, was the movie your initial introduction to JCS?
Long ago, I came up with the theory that the only people who could love the movie version would have to be people who were exposed to the movie first. Over the years a few people, offering themselves as counterexamples, started chipping away at this theory but I just can’t wrap my head around the exceptions.
I was first introduced to it through the original concept album with Ian Gillan and Murray Head- both of whom give performances that make Ted Neeley and Carl Anderson come across as talent show hopefuls in comparison (as far as I’m concerned). I got to play the whole story in my head as I’d play the album and close my eyes and envision it all. Now, one might say that with that experience I would always be unkind to any production that didn’t live up to my own personal imagining of it but …
The first time I ever saw it performed was at the Walnut Street Theater in Philadelphia in 1991 and it was amazing! The theater allowed for volunteer ushers and my high school JCS fan friends and I volunteered several times so we could keep going back to see it for free. Rare compared to other productions, they used period costumes (though tastefully stylized), no handheld microphones, and most importantly the actors acted the hell out of the roles. I’ve seen a few different live productions of the show and so often the actors let their inner frustrated rock star come out, like this is their one opportunity to know what it’s like to perform a rock concert in front of adoring fans and they seem to forget altogether their vocation to the art of acting. In this production, the actors gave brilliant performances as actors and as a direct result their performances as singers brought out the full power of all the wonderful songs. It was a thing of beauty.
Then I saw the 1973 film.
I just can not share your enthusiasm for it. For me, it’s a campy mess and it was so 1973 that it’s almost like Norman Jewison thought he was making a silly kids movie and he had no intention of even allowing the possibility for it to become timeless. It’s got more time capsule value as in “Believe it or not, in 1973 people did not think this was stupid!”
O.K., that last comment veers a little into Threadshitting territory but I couldn’t resist. I honestly just think that it is very very 1973 to the point of being handicapped by it.
Then, just a few years after I saw that amazing production at the Walnut, the big Neeley/Anderson tour began. A big budget professional touring production of Jesus Christ Superstar superstarring Ted Neeley and Carl Anderson, and that touring production ran for …is it still running? It seemed like the tour that would never die. Even though I didn’t like the movie I didn’t hold it against Neeley and Anderson too much and, besides, they had had 20 years to mature as performers. So, I went to this production actually excited to see it. Wow, was I let down. Matured as performers? Ugh, it came across like a nostalgia performance by sad old dudes trying to relive their former glory after 20 years of doing nothing else of value. Remember what I said about the amazing acting in the Walnut production? Neeley and Anderson weren’t even trying to act. There was no story, no sense of character, when Neeley was onstage it was “Hey! It’s the Ted Neeley Show!!!” and when Anderson was onstage it was “Hey! It’s the Carl Anderson Show!!!” They utterly failed the quality material they had to work with.
A couple years later, I was invited to see that same production again. I reasoned to myself, “Yeah, there was a lot that I didn’t like about it but, still, it’s a professional production of Jesus Christ Superstar- there’s so much to love, I’ll just ignore the aspects of it that I don’t like”. Then, as I sat in the theater and the production commenced it was suddenly, “Oh …now I remember just how bad this production is!”
Now, the music is wonderful and the lyrics are wonderful. I can imagine that someone who first came to know it as the 1973 movie would have great affection for the movie. And, again, I have met a few people over the years who knew the album first then developed a fondness for the movie- it’s these people who I can’t quite understand.
But, really, to me the film’s “place in History” is simply 1973. Exactly 1973. I mean, if you love the film then go ahead and love it. We’ve all got some works for which we have a special affection that other people just will not get. Hell, just a couple months ago I started a Thread devoted to praising the movie Earth Girls Are Easy. So, enjoy Jewison’s film if it works for you. I just can’t give it much film history value.
I feel puny after that great post, but all I wish to add is that I first camr it love that as an album, spending endless hours listening and imagining the story. The movie was good, but it never matched the opera I had seen in my head while listening. I love both versions, but I’m happier with the one I made up.
And that’s why I loved it so much, Probably watched it 25 times. The year is 1998 and I’m 16 years old. My typical weekend ritual was to drop a hit of LSD, pop in JCSS and light up a joint. It was me an my neighbor and the movie was usually either JCSS or Pink Floyd The Wall. So yes the movie has a very “1973” vibe to it for me. 
I can totally see what you mean, for the whole post, I just deleted the other parts for to keep it shorter. I really like the idea of sitting there and visualizing it in your head. Here is what I am wondering. Did this format express the political overtones the way the movie did? It would seem a bit hard to do that with just lyrics and voice…
By the time the movie came along, I was Superstarred out. My high school had the first North American production of the show (six months before it was on Broadway), and I had seen the original cast on Broadway.
I wasn’t particularly impressed by the movie, though.
I’m a big fan of the movie. I thought Jewison did a great job bringing the play from the stage to the screen.
Just dropped by to say that I think 1973 is my fave year. Even the baseball cards were cool.
I first came to know Jesus Christ Superstar as the 1973 movie and have great affection for it. Your imagination wasn’t running wild.
due diligence I put in before I invite you to go pleasure yourself I fired up
I liked the movie to. My family members are liberal Catholics, so to me the movie doesn’t so much seem “very 70’s” as it reminds me of the kind of goofier aspects of a kind of Catholicism, with hippie Jesus rolling around in a bus with his friends, and “the Man” chasing him around with tanks.
Shit. Now I have to wear the nonsense quoted above. I burned my five-minute edit window trying to delete the entire post. Turns out you can’t do that after you have spastically hit “submit”, even if you turn off your computer and spray it with a fire extinguisher.
So…I was actually going to agree with Bienville that after listening to Yvonne Elliman butcher “You Don’t Know How to Love Him” on you tube, he had an awfully good point about the movie not being as good as I remembered it.
I love JCS, but the 73 movie is my least favourite of the three versions of it I’m actually familiar with (original album, 2000 movie, then 73 movie).
It’s got its good points, certainly, and I watch it when it comes on TV - the desertscapes are kind of beautiful, I actually kind of love Simon Zealotes, and Superstar’s staging, and the added song did a lot to soften the priests and sand off some of the iffy edges.
But…while the locations in Israel were gorgeous, they were obviously not places where people had lived any time recently, making the whole thing fakier than the very stagey 2000 version. And while Ted Neely was a hell of a singer, his acting left a lot to be desired. ISTR reading that he spent most of the film completely stoned, and he totally came across that way on the screen. And whenever Annas is singing I want to find some knitting needles to put out my ears. The other versions were certainly reedy, but neither was near as nails-on-chalkboard shrill as the 73. I also find the whole Herod’s Song scene incredibly uncomfortable - making the only undeniable villain in the thing* a total camp gay was…not the most positive choice to make.
- One of the things I love about JCS - for all that it’s rolling in antagonists - Judas, the priests, Pilate, Herod…most of them get some sympathy (or at least can, depending how you play it - IMO all 3 of the versions I know play it like that) - Judas and the priests are rightfully scared about what will happen to their people if Jesus’ group continues the way it is (vis Simon Zealotes)…Pilate is just some guy stuck playing a role despite knowing he’ll end up on the wrong side of history for it. Only Herod is a sneering asshole of a villain.
I liked it because it was condemned sight unseen by the clergy. Anything that gets the churches’ knickers in a twist is fine by me. Besides, it was fun hearing my kids singing the lyrics. I liked “Hair” as well, but having the kids singing “Emanci-motherfuckin’-pator of the slaves” didn’t seem like a good idea.
Were you around when the musical came out? A lot of Christian churches liked it. Some disliked it. There certainly was no consensus about it.
LOL, yes
I was born in 1972