I love the Story of Elijah in the contest with the prophets of Bael on Mount Carmel. That would be a good story to put to film.
I don’t know if the public is ready for too many Bible movies. If it’s true to the Bible, the lukewarm Christains will side with those who label Christians as hateful, fundies whatever, and find things to condem the film for.
And if it’s not true to the Bible, Bible beliving Christains will be accused of censorship when they protest it.
I see your point, but I’m not sure I agree.
I’m not going to say I’d expect Hollywood to be able to do a Job that was word perfect accurate to the bible. If that’s what you’d insist upon for a good Job movie, yes, it’s hard to see that becoming a good movie. If, however, you adapt a little from the scriptures, it can be very compelling to have Job (and his wife) remaining faithful to their God as everything in the heavens falls down on them, and their friends asking why they don’t curse God.
I’m not saying it would be an easy script to write, either way. But, done well it would be terribly compelling.
Ezekiel, Chapter Eighteen.
Deutereonomy.
Leviticus.
Rated X.
Hell, Numbers 23. God tells Moses to slaughter the Midianites and keep the virgins as spoils.
You know, in the right hands, I think Esther could made one heck of a movie. You’ve got political intrigue, romance, unnecessary violence, a harem…
No need. Left Behind and *Left Behind II: Tribulation Force are based on Revelation (or, at least, on LaHaye’s interpretation of John Darby’s interpretation of Revelation), and are every bit as silly as a Terry Gilliam movie.
I always thought the life of Samson would be a pretty decent action movie along the lines of Conan the Barbarian. Mess with him, man, he’ll burn all your fields, kill 1500 people with a donkey jaw, and bring down a temple on his own head just to kill you. Take that.
Well, there’s Tobit (apocryphal, available in Catholic bibles). It’s got it all: demons, a young woman, demon slaying…
Or Genesis 34, with the rape of Dinah and then her brothers tell Shechem that he can marry her, if all the men in town are circumcised. So the men get circumcised, and then Simeon and Levi come in and kill them all.
I wanted to write a book of Revelations trilogy with hosts of Angels coming down and dogfighting with jets, and demons coming up out of the ground to fight tanks, incorporating a lot of other mythology, doing it up Anime/Computer style with the beast coming out of the sea in the form of Dagon the Philistine sea god. Though I’d probably give the Americans power armor and such 
and the rapture would be when the Angels make their first strike and decimate the Earth vaporizing one in ten people. I’d incorporate a Mother Goddess tradition in the form of Isis and have Jesus come back in the form of Osiris as the Angel of Death to show that the Angels and Demons are fighting together against the oppressive “machine”. I’d want it to be as biblically accurate as I can be though, taking lots of poetic license but I’d want it to follow the framework of Revelations, though having read the book of Revelations in many different formats I realize that the interpretations vary WILDLY. The KJV and the NIV I’ve read jive fairly well, but my Grandmother’s 50 year old Catholic bible reads like an insane comic book, and that’s the version I like best. So I’d turn the book of Revelations into a Shadowrun movie
Erek
I was about to say Esther… beautiful women, sex, violence, the works.
In fact, it would be rather hard to mess up Esther.
While Job would only really work as an art flick. (The same people who watch “Waiting for Godot”)
Parts of the Judges have very good for filming plots. And Ruth is at least as good as every other chick flick out there (it even kind of has the “meet cute” part).
I’ve always wanted to see the life of Daniel. Doesn’t have the sex or violence, but it has the whole fish out of water, coming to terms with one’s identity and being faithful to your religion in the face of religious opposition. Though I would recommend skipping the last six chapters, seing how prophecy would not make as much sense in a movie.
Job works best in its current state: poetry and contemplation. It doesn’t seem like something that could translate well to an actual plot.
The life of Paul would be another very good movie. Plenty of intrigue, danger, and exotic locations balanced with the growth of the early church and the excitement that it provided for people hungry to find something real.
King David has been done before, and someone mentioned Elisha (was it).
For eye-watery, gushing, romantic love stories, try The Book of Ruth.
For political scheming and how deadly’s a woman’s wrath could be, try The Book of Esther.
For a comedy (is a Biblical Comedy contridaction in terms), try the The Book of Jonah. Maybe a couple of talking turtles and singing whales will not hurt.
For a war story, Judges has some great moments. Jericho must have been done to death by now, so pick some other less well-known battles.
For a story where there is sex, plenty of violence and one crumbling temple, try the story of Samson.
For a political heart-warming story, tell the story of the young king Jonash and his relationship with the prophet Jeremiah. Actually, Jeremiah is a good movie to make too, some sort of tragedy.
Alas, the New Testament, apart from the first five books, is mostly letters and doctrines. However, a daring director may want to take the events of Relevation literally. That may win him an Oscar for special effects.
Hey, the Veggie Tales people DID Jonah back in '02, IIRC.
Y’know, the various biblical strongwomen do make for good plots – Deborah + Jael have been mentioned; so has Esther. From the Apocrypha (or the Catholic Bible) you could also throw in Judith… a more soap operatic permutation of the basic Jael scenario, here the conqueror takes her to his bed, then when he falls asleep she cuts his head off. Fun for the whole family, really.
As Mel Gibson did say in one of his interviews, when you look at it the Bible is R-rated.
Any story involving defenestration. Defenestrations rocks!
First, let me point out that many suggested here were done quite well for TNT-
David, Samson & Delilah, Moses (w/ Ben Kingsley- MUCH more Biblical than The Ten Commandments, which I finally noticed just a few years ago had the Passover on the night of a CRESCENT MOON!). The same company (Lux Vide) also did some more fictionalized versions of Jeremiah & The Apocalypse (I think Richard Harris was John the Seer, perhaps his last role) for European TV. I think PAX may have aired Jeremiah.
Also, anyone interested might check out the multi-styled animated HBO series TESTAMENT, which focused on the Hebrew Bible, and by the same company (the Welsh-Russian [?] “Christmas Productions”) in conjunction with Icon (Yep, Mel G’s company) THE MIRACLE-MAKER- The Story of Jesus.
Now my suggestions-
I also nominate ACTS (done in a recent Visual Bible treatment, also the TV miniseries A.D, which was kinda a sequel to J of NAZ…, and Paul & Peter with Anthony Hopkins as Paul & a Freddy Mercury lookalike as Nero).
Elijah & Elisha (the 42 youths killed by She-bears btw are NOT wee kids but teenage hoods or perhaps Baalist acolytes).
Another nomination for Deborah & Jael’s stories in JUDGES (I see the Levite’s concubine story as an episode of “Tales from the SCRYPT-ures! HAHAHAHAHAH!”)
Job- with James Garner as God, Alan Cummings as Satan, French Stewart as Job.
Oh yeah, and it can be a weekly cartoon.
(Waiting to see who gets it)
John of Patmos receiving The Revelation, juxtaposed with the Neronic Civil War & the Siege of Jerusalem.
This thread has me thinking about a retelling of the Noah story.
Take out any reference to Noah talking to God - I’m more interested in the public perception of Noah building this huge wooded boat in the backyard, and filling it with animals. I’d want to heighten the ambiguity of whether Noah’s a wacko.
As the story continues, he wins the support of his family. One of his sons is a conspiracy theorist, and since he’ll believe anything he’s the first to help Noah with the carpentry work - but that makes it even harder for Noah to get any other believers.
And then at the end, the ark is done; his family is skeptical about the coming flood but amazed at the workmanship of this wooden aircraft carrier-sized ship.
And it starts to rain. Even though there isn’t a cloud in the sky? Is it the flood? Or just a sunshine shower that won’t last an hour? Who knows, the curtain has fallen.
Maybe this would be a better short story than a film.
Moses, Jesus, Joseph, and David have been done. Maybe not well, but they’ve been done. I’d do some of the lesser-known stories for my Biblical Epic ™.
The book of Ruth would be a good chick flick. As would the Apocryphal book of Sussanah. I can honestly say that Susannah was the only book of the Bible I couldn’t put down. One woman, struggling against the odds…
For an action/adventure flick, I second whoever nominated the Sisera story. I remember the Doubleday Illustrated Bible I had when I was a kid had a terrific illustration to go with that story. The blood ran like water.
Who was the prophet who saw the weird vision with the chariot wheels of fire? Elijah? Ezekiel? That would be a good movie as well.
If it’s got the Song of Solomon, it’s X-rated.
Especially when they’re made of Legos! In fact, I would like to see someone animate the Brick Testament. That’s some good reading, there.
Especially if it’s the Bill Cosby version.
I wasn’t really thinking “silly,” I was thinking more along the lines of “drug-soaked hallucinatory paranoia.”