Jesus Christ Superstar

Release: August 15, 1973

Jesus Christ Superstar is a 1973 American musical drama film directed by Norman Jewison and co-written by Jewison and Melvyn Bragg based on the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice rock opera of the same name. The film, featuring a cast of Ted Neeley, Carl Anderson, Yvonne Elliman, Barry Dennen, Bob Bingham, and Kurt Yaghjian, centers on the conflict between Judas and Jesus during the week before the crucifixion of Jesus. The second Biblical epic to be turned into a musical by composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyricist Tim Rice, this box-office disappointment recounts the last week in the life of Jesus Christ in rock-opera format and from the surprising point of view of Christ's betrayer, Judas Iscariot. Carl Anderson stars as Judas, who has begun to believe that Jesus (Ted Neeley) has sold out and started buying into the mythology that's quickly springing up around him. Particularly disturbing to Judas is the relationship between Jesus and his friend Mary Magdalene (Yvonne Elliman), a prostitute. When Jesus throws a temper tantrum at the moneylenders in a temple, Judas determines to work with the Pharisees who want to put Jesus on trial as a false prophet. Neeley, Anderson and Elliman were nominated for Golden Globe Awards in 1974 for their portrayals of Jesus, Judas and Mary Magdalene, respectively. Although it attracted criticism from some religious groups, reviews for the film were positive.

Trailers

Theatrical trailer.

Posters

Quotes

Caiaphas: "We turn to Rome to sentence Nazareth. We have no law to put a man to death. We need him crucified! It's all you have to do! We need him crucified, it's all you have to do!"

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Peter: " I think you've made your point now! You've even gone a bit too far to get the message home! Before it gets too frightening we ought to call a halt. Oh, could we start again, please?"

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Jesus: "Surely you're not saying we have the resources to save the poor from their lot? There will be poor always, pathetically struggling, look at the good things you've got! Think while you still have me, move while you still need me. You'll be lost and you'll be sorry when I'm gone!"

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Judas: "You sad pathetic man! See where you've brought us to? Our ideals die around us, and all because of you!"

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Jesus: "My temple should be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves! Get out! Get out!"

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Mary Magdalane: "I don't know how to love him. I don't know why he moves me. He's a man, he's just a man. And I've had so many men before, in very many ways, he's just one more."

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Judas: "Hey woman, your fine ointment, brand-new and expensive, should have been saved for the poor. Why has it been wasted? We could've raised maybe 300 silver pieces or more. People who are hungry, people who are starving, they matter more than your feet and hair."

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Jesus: "Can you show me now that I will not be killed in vain? Show me just a little of your omnipresent brain! Show me there's a reason for your wanting me to die! You're far too keen on where and how, but not so hot on why!"

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Jesus: "Father, forgive them... they don't know... what they're doing!"

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King Herod: "So, you are the Christ, you're the great Jesus Christ, prove to me that you're divine - change my water into wine! That's all you need do, then I'll know it's all true. Come on, King of the Jews!"

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Caiaphas: "Fools! You have no perception! The stakes we are gambling are frighteningly high. We must crush him completely! So like John before him, this Jesus must die!"

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Mary Magdalane: "I've been living to see you, dying to see you, but it shouldn't be like this! This was unexpected. What do I do now? Oh, could we start again, please?"

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Judas: "I remember when this whole thing began; no talk of God then, we called you a man! And, believe me, my admiration for you hasn't died. But every word you say today gets twisted round some other way; and they'll hurt you if they think you've lied!"

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Jesus: "God, thy will is hard. But you hold every card. I will drink your cup of poison, nail me to your cross and break me, bleed me, beat me, kill me! Take me now, before I change my mind!"

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Judas: "Every time I look at you I don't understand why you let the things you did get so out of hand? You'd've managed better if you'd had a plan. Now why'd you choose such a backwards time in such a strange land? If you'd come today you would've reached a whole nation. Israel in 4 B.C. had no mass communication."

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Pontius Pilate: "I dreamed I met a Galilean, a most amazing man. He had that look you very rarely find, the haunting, hunted kind. I asked him to say what had happened, how it all began. I asked again, he never said a word, as if he hadn't heard. And next, the room was full of wild and angry men, they seemed to hate this man. They fell on him and then disappeared again. Then I saw thousands of millions crying for this man, and then I heard them mentioning my name, and leaving me the blame."

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Pontius Pilate: "Don't let me stop your great self-destruction. Die if you want to you misguided martyr. I wash my hands of your demolition. Die if you want to you innocent puppet."

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Jesus: "Why I should die? Would I be more noticed than I ever was before? Would the things I've said and done matter anymore?"

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Jesus: "If you knew all that I knew, my poor Jerusalem, you'd see the truth, but you close your eyes. But you close your eyes. While you live, your troubles are many, poor Jerusalem. To conquer death, you only have to die. You only have to die."

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