I watched the movie Becket (1964) for my double feature paper where I was comparing it to The Lion in Winter (1968). I watched both movies on the same day and found it very easy to connect the two historically. Both center around King Henry II and the status of the country England at that point in history. The movie has Kevin O’Toole starring as King Henry II and in both movies, his acting shows many similarities.
I enjoyed Becket (1964) more than I did The Lion in the Winter (1968) for a couple reasons. One of them being the portrayal of King Henry II. In Becket (1964), King Henry is younger, more temperamental, and shows more vulnerability. He is very cold towards his family, yet shows a great deal of affection and gratitude toward his assistant Becket. Becket will eventually become the Chancellor and then the Archbishop. Becket, instead of supporting the wishes of his dear friend, King Henry, supports the integrity of his position. He finds purpose in God and his duty to serve the church. Another aspect of the film I enjoyed was the greater variety of scenes that shown to illustrate the middle-ages. The castle was the main scene as it should be, but other scenes were present such as open waters, meadows, forests, and shorelines. Additionally, in Becket (1964) there was a great deal of detail that went into the appearance of the royal clothing attire.
Overall, the movie provoked a conflict that commonly occurred during the middle ages which was the conflict between the church and government. The film showed that faults such as being power hungry and being jealous would cost King Henry II one of his dearer companions in Becket.
hollywoodhistorysite 