Becket

King Henry II makes his friend and drinking companion Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury, intending to control the church through his own man. Becket takes the office seriously and sides with the church against him. The friendship becomes enmity, and at the end the king says a sentence without telling anyone to do anything. Four knights take it as an order. Peter Glenville directs. Richard Burton plays Becket and Peter O'Toole plays Henry. The source is Jean Anouilh's play. A historical error in the play passed into the film: Anouilh wrote Becket as a Saxon and built the dramatic tension on that ethnic division. The real Thomas Becket was of Norman descent. Anouilh learned this afterwards and did not change the text, and the film proceeds on the same premise. It received twelve Oscar nominations and won one, for adapted screenplay. Burton and O'Toole were both nominated for lead actor and split each other's vote. The entire weight of the film sits in the scenes between those two men. It is largely talk, and the talk is enough. Who it is for: viewers who like historical drama and dialogue driven films with theatrical roots. Who it is not for: there is no action, the scale is small, and for anyone after historical accuracy a basic error sits at the centre.