Becket

Becket is something of a lost classic. Nominated for 12 academy awards, including best picture, best director, best supporting actor and two best actor nominations. Sadly, the film only won one of these awards, that being the award for best screenplay based on another medium. All of the others were snapped up by the vastly inferior My Fair Lady. The story centers around the lives of two men, Thomas of Becket and King Henry II of England played by Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole. The two are best friends, until Henry names Becket as his new archbishop of Canterbury. After this, the relationship between the to men quickly goes downhill, until Henry II hates Becket and wishes him dead.
The story is well-thought out and well-paced. Even though the film lasts over two-and-a-half hours, none of it was fat that could have been cut off. My interest rarely dropped, even though the movie has very little action and is moved along mainly by dialogue. What held my interest was the acting of two of the greatest actors of their time, O'Toole and Burton. The two play their parts perfectly, Burton as Becket, calm and collected to the end, O'Toole as Henry, slowly going mad with jealousy as his friend puts God before others. It's the perfect coupling, with the two actors duelling both in the story and in their acting. I have to say that O'Toole won the acting duel. I could not imagine any other actor that could have played his part quite the way he did, portraying Henry's conflicting emotions: love for his friend, and hatred for what he sees as his betrayal. In my favorite scene, Henry drinks with four of his nobles. In one scene, within the space of a few seconds, Henry shows his anger and his sorrow without seeming either schizophrenic or crazy. Eventually, Henry tells his men, "Let us drink, gentlemen. Let us drink, till we roll under the table in vomit and oblivion." Then he will not have to worry about his conflicting emotions.
The writing is excellent, the direction is excellent, the acting is excellent, but what really sold me was Peter O'Toole's perfect portrayal of a conflicted man.