Great movie!!! - A Man for All Seasons

This is the kind of movie I like, great discourse and a costume-period piece to boot! I watched it last night and I loved it, and below is a quote from the movie that applies today especially given the crazy behavior that the US has exhibited regarding the fight on terrorism..

"St. Thomas More: And go he should if he were the devil himself until he broke the law

Will Roper: So now you would give the devil benefit of law!

St. Thomas:Yes, what would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the devil?

Roper: Yes! I'd cut down every law in England to do that!

St. Thomas: Oh, and when the last law was down and the devil turned 'round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat. This country is planted thick with laws from coast to coast -- man's laws, not God's--and if you cut them down, and you're just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I would give the devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake.

-A Man For All Seasons
Robert Bolt"

...a very interesting time in history, and fairly shameful as well.

the Protestant Reformation was in its infancy and like always men (Henry Tudor) decided that for his own needs..he would use religion as a way to get what he desired...there were more than enough possible heirs that there was no need for him to marry again... his sisters had eligible progeny....

I did like the movie though but realized that so many people today have too short an attention span for such great dialogue.

I really enjoy them when they're witty and clever--you usually have to rent foreign movies these days to get that.

When was it made--1966 or something like that?

and that is my favorite quote from it.

drives 'em crazy too.

Great movie.

When you take an oath, you hold yourself in your hands like water. Break that oath (here More separates his fingers), and you will no longer exist (or words to that effect).

This is a favorite of Kevin Smith's too. I've seen him introduce the film at a festival.

sounds familiar

not from the play,but actual More quote(from Utopia)...“You must not abandon the ship in a storm because you cannot control the winds….What you cannot turn to good, you must at least make as little bad as you can.”

I might add that Sir Thomas More would be regarded nowadays as a political conservative. He didn't believe that fundamental laws should be changed unless it was absolutely necessary to do so, believed in recognizing an external authority as the final arbiter of all things and in a hierarchical moral and social structure. That is what a real conservative would do, unlike the yuppie fascists who call themselves conservatives in our time.

In 1968, when he challenged President Johnson and his war by entering a number of primaries, Senator Eugene McCarthy was asked when man or men most inspired him. He named Sir Thomas More.

Robert Bolt's drama and Fred Zinnemann's film made from it is the portrait of a man of conscience and courage. The sixties, a period of upheaval that spawned the civil rights movement and an unjust war, was a period of history that called for men of conscience to step forward. Thus, the film appealed to those who, like Senator McCarthy, looked to a role model. It was a fit answer for a little-known senator who took on the power of a wrongheaded political establishment when no one else would.

What is often lost on many is that More is an unlikely martyr. He is no kamikaze pilot seeking to go out in a blaze of glory in order to take the enemy down with him. Rather, he attempts every step of the way to avoid the fate that awaits him. Nevertheless, he never shrinks from the dictates of his conscience, even as the pain inflicted on him becomes more severe: first loss of position; then loss of liberty; then, finally loss of life. At each step he could have taken the easy way out and does not. At any point he could either acquiesce to what he feels is the King's usurpation of papal authority or tell his inquisitors that the King has no such right and go immediately to his fate. By choosing the path he did, More demonstrates that there was ultimately no way out; it is far more clear that he is a victim of tyranny for having done it his way than it would have been if he chose a quicker route to death.

Courage is not fighting only those battles that can be won; that is, in fact, the way of a coward. It is not fighting any battle at all just to show off one's manhood; that is the way of a fool. Courage is fighting those battles that must be fought, even when there is no guarantee that one will survive. More, by following his conscience, demon stated true courage.

but it deifies Thomas More. He was actually a Catholic bigot who was enthusiastically in favor of burning (Protestant) heretics at the stake. Sort of a 16th century John Ashcroft in many ways. Keep in mind that a 20th century playwright put those words in his mouth. He didn't actually say them himself.

His daughter Margaret, played so well in the movie by Susannah York was a devoted child to the very end. After More was executed and his head set on a pike somewhere in London, she retrieved it after a while and buried it somewhere. I cannot imagine the love and courage that would have taken.

with Peter O'Toole and Katherine Hepburn.

Im my very humble opinion,anyway:)

ever. There's that amazing scene about two thirds of the way through where Eleanor (Kate Hepburn) starts in on a rant about the family and its intrigues and ends with "It's 1282 and WE'RE the barbarians!" Love that scene. (Not sure I have the year right though)