A Man for All Seasons (1988 film)
A Man for All Seasons | |
---|---|
Movie poster | |
Based on | play by Robert Bolt |
Written by | Robert Bolt |
Directed by | Charlton Heston |
Starring |
Charlton Heston Vanessa Redgrave Sir John Gielgud |
Narrated by | Roy Kinnear |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language(s) | English |
Production | |
Editor(s) | Eric Boyd-Perkins |
Running time | 150 minutes |
Release | |
Original release | December 21, 1988 |
A Man for All Seasons is a 1988 television movie about St. Thomas More, directed by and starring Charlton Heston. It is based on the play of the same name by Robert Bolt, which was previously adapted in the Academy Award-winning 1966 film. A Man for All Seasons was the first made-for-TV film produced on behalf of the TNT (Turner Network Television) television network.
The film stars Heston as More, Vanessa Redgrave (who had a small cameo in the 1966 version) as his wife Alice More, Sir John Gielgud as Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Martin Chamberlain as King Henry VIII, Richard Johnson as the Duke of Norfolk (historically, Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk), and Roy Kinnear as the narrator, "The Common Man", who was cut from the previous film. (The "Common Man' functions in the manner of a Greek chorus throughout the play, appearing at crucial moments and seeming to comment on the action.)
The 1988 film follows the original stage play more literally, runs a half-hour longer than the 1966 film, and could be considered more "stagy" than that earlier film, which not only divided the Common Man into several more realistic characters, but omitted small portions of the play itself.
Cast
- Charlton Heston as Sir Thomas More
- Vanessa Redgrave as Alice More
- Richard Johnson as the Duke of Norfolk
- John Gielgud as Cardinal Wolsey
- Roy Kinnear as the Narrator
- Benjamin Whitrow as Thomas Cromwell
- Adrienne Thomas as Margaret More
- Martin Chamberlain as Henry VIII
- John Hudson as William Roper
- Jonathan Hackett as Richard Rich
- Milton Cadman as Thomas Cranmer