A Man For All Seasons

When something is great, I can’t shut up about it.

So when I was talking to a co-worker this morning about how I don’t understand why certain very rich people feel that they must continue to share their hair-brained political opinions with the world.

“Man, hand me a million dollars and I promise you will never hear from me again,” I said. “Beloved, old, rich, and quiet man dies on a beach somewhere. That’s the next headline I will make.”

I added that I would be … and then I struggled for the man’s name. It was Sir Thomas More who in real life died for his Catholic faith in the 16th Century when King Henry VIII broke with the church and a pope who would not grant him another divorce.

Robert Bolt, the screenwriter behind Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago wrote the Tony-winning play A Man For All Seasons. He then wrote the screenplay and it was adapted by director Fred Zinnemann.

If great and expressive dialogue is your jam you will likely be thunderstruck by this flick. More is presented as an honest and well-known man in a country that has too few men of character.

King Henry VIII wants another divorce and sons. The pope says no. Henry declares that he is the Supreme Head of the Church in England. More could support his king publicly but stays silent, risking his life, but he hopes that English law will save him.

He has not publicly criticized the king and therefore his head should be perfectly safe.

I do none harm, I say none harm, I think none harm. And if this be not enough to keep a man alive, in good faith, I long not to live.

Sir. Thomas More

More’s reputation has forced him into a scenario where he can’t see his way clear.

Because you’re honest… and what is more to the purpose, you’re KNOWN to be honest. There are those like Norfolk who follow me because I wear the crown; and those like Master Cromwell who follow me because they are jackals with sharp teeth and I’m their tiger; there’s a mass that follows me because it follows anything that moves. And then there’s you…

King Henry VIII

As the movie moves on, tension continues to slowly build, and More verbally spars with the king’s men who wish to either get him to betray his conscience and confess the King or to get him to publicly admit that he believes the King’s marriage is an abomination before God.

“You threaten like a dockside bully.” – More

“How should I threaten?” – Cromwell

“Like a minister of state. With justice.” – More

“Oh, justice is what you’re threatened with.” – Cromwell

“Then I am not threatened.” – More

Again, this is a feast of great dialogue and each scene is magnificent. However, it is very much a play Zinnemann filmed and its low budget is manifest in each scene as well. IMDB says the cast took salary cuts to keep it under $2 million in 1966 money.

In the end, that was a wise gamble. The movie won every major award that year including taking home Oscar wins for Paul Scofield as More, Bolt for his screenplay, and the best picture prize.

I always put this together with Becket and The Lion in Winter. That’s a fantastic three-night run of movies about power and English kings and dialogue that cuts bloody and deep.

I wish we could have good luck all the time. I wish rainwater was beer! I wish we had wings! But we don’t.

Matthew