1965....to a younger person today....it was maybe another age....as that year may as well be the 19th century....or the 18th century....but to those of us who had lived it....in many ways it is only yesterday. Film....the lens....is in the dock....testifying.
It was Doctor Zhivago and The Sound Of Music....warning everyone of the horrors of the Bolsheviks and Communism.....and warning of the horrors of Nazisim. The musical won out for Best Picture.....but both films were huge money-makers for their studios....and both have passed the test of time. I was fifteen at the time....and more interested in Thunderball....and Cat Balou.
There was another much ballyhooed film in that year....an epic as was Doctor Zhivago. John Wayne was in it. No...no...not as the star.....but with only a bit part....as a Roman centurion who....as lightning flashed across Calvary....says...."Truly this man was the Son of God." The film of course was The Greatest Story Ever Told. Audiences flocked to the musical escape from the Nazis....and the tragedy in the gloriously frozen Russian winter.....but had little interest in the life of Jesus. That film was a financial disaster. Not much has changed as to what are our interests. The two hit films could not be made today....not yet anyway....for we are still acting out the storyline.
