8 / 10
Official trailer
Becket is Peter Glenville’s 1964 British historical drama adapting Jean Anouilh’s 1959 play of the same name.
The film depicts the friendship between King Henry II of England and Thomas Becket, a Norman commoner who becomes the king’s chancellor and confidant. When Henry appoints Becket Archbishop of Canterbury expecting continued loyalty, Becket instead becomes a serious defender of the Church against royal encroachment, leading to escalating conflict and in the end Becket’s murder in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170. Peter O’Toole plays Henry II. Richard Burton plays Becket.
John Gielgud plays the French King Louis VII.
Donald Wolfit plays Bishop Folliot of London. Pamela Brown plays Queen Eleanor. Martita Hunt plays Empress Matilda. Edward Anhalt wrote the screenplay. Hal Wallis Productions and Paramount Pictures produced the film on a budget of approximately 3 million dollars, and it grossed approximately 9 million dollars on initial release. The work won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and received twelve total nominations.
Watching O’Toole and Burton go at each other is a pleasure I don’t get from many films. Becket is talky, stagey and proud of it, and I wouldn’t change much of that, because the talk is so good. My reservation is with Anouilh’s history, which bends the real story further than I’d like, but I forgive a lot for two actors this alive.
The film is one of the principal British historical dramas of the 1960s and this film that paired Peter O’Toole and Richard Burton at peak career standing.
The Anouilh source play examines the historical Becket through invented friendship that the historical record doesn’t fully support. The play and film present Henry and Becket as close personal companions whose breach over ecclesiastical authority destroys their relationship. Burton plays Becket with the controlled intelligence the role demands. O’Toole plays Henry with the theatrical fervor that distinguishes his stage-trained performance.
The two leads received both Best Actor nominations and split the votes that might have produced a winner for either.
Neither won. The performances remain among the definitive screen pairings of the 1960s. The Anouilh source presents historical issues that later entries in the genre including The Lion in Winter (1968) have continued to examine.
The O’Toole and Burton Pairing
Peter O’Toole and Richard Burton were both established theatrical performers by 1964.
O’Toole had recently completed Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and Lord Jim (1965). Burton had completed Cleopatra (1963) and was beginning the highly publicized Elizabeth Taylor period. Both actors brought real stage training to this picture. The pairing produces particular quality that purely film-trained actors can’t generate. The dialogue exchanges between Henry and Becket require theatrical projection alongside cinematic intimacy.
The two actors hadn’t previously worked together. They reportedly bonded immediately during production through shared drinking and theatrical background. The personal friendship produces on-screen chemistry that staged interaction alone couldn’t match. Later productions have attempted similar O’Toole-and-Burton style pairings without matching the Becket result. The combination of skilled actors with real off-screen rapport, the strong source material, and the strong dramatic conflict produced material neither performer would have generated in lesser company.
The early scenes of the two men as friends are my favorite stretch of the film. O’Toole is all nerves and appetite, Burton is watchful and dry, and I believe their friendship completely. That belief is exactly why the break hurts so much.
For Writers
Actor combinations produce results that individual performances can’t achieve alone. Keep this one in mind for your own work. The right pairing creates conditions for material neither contributor would have generated working separately.
The Historical Friendship
The historical Henry II and Thomas Becket were probably not close personal friends in the way the Anouilh play depicts.
The historical record indicates a working relationship of king and trusted official instead of the emotional intimacy the film portrays. Anouilh invented the friendship to give the conflict dramatic stakes that purely political dispute wouldn’t have generated. The invention serves the play’s argument about the conflict between personal loyalty and institutional duty.
Anouilh also made another significant historical alteration. He depicts Becket as Saxon instead of Norman to give the conflict an ethnic dimension that didn’t historically exist. The actual Becket was Norman like Henry. Anouilh’s depiction makes Becket’s eventual defense of the Saxon-identified Church against Norman-identified king carry additional symbolic weight. The change has been criticized for falsifying ethnic history while strengthening dramatic structure. The play and film both make the choice to prioritize drama over accuracy.
The Saxon change is the one liberty I have trouble swallowing. I understand why Anouilh did it, and the story still goes too far when it rewrites a man’s ancestry to sharpen a point. It’s a big part of why this sits at 8 for me.
For Writers
Historical accuracy and dramatic effect can conflict. The same logic applies to adaptation. It of which to prioritize is an artistic decision with consequences that later audiences may evaluate differently.
The Murder Scene
The film depicts Becket’s murder in Canterbury Cathedral on December 29, 1170. Four knights enter the cathedral after Henry’s frustrated outburst about being rid of this turbulent priest.
The historical record indicates that Henry’s outburst may have been rhetorical instead of direct command, though the knights interpreted it as authorization. The film stages the murder as Becket calmly accepting his death instead of fleeing or resisting.
The staging emphasizes martyrdom over violence. Becket prays as the knights approach and turns his back to receive the strikes, and the blood spreads across the cathedral floor in compositions that echo religious iconography. I think it’s the most beautiful and the most chilling sequence in the film. Playing the murder as deliberate martyrdom lines it up with Becket’s later canonization, and Burton’s calm in those last moments is the best acting he does in the picture.
For Writers
Staging choices carry thematic content beyond what events alone deliver. The same applies to fiction. How an event happens affects the meaning the event acquires within the larger work.
Craft Note
Peter Glenville directed only a few feature films across his career, with theatrical work being his primary professional identity. Becket represents his strongest cinematic achievement. The director had previously staged the Anouilh play on Broadway with Laurence Olivier as Becket and Anthony Quinn as Henry. The stage production informed the film’s approach. Theatrical directors making occasional films often produce work with particular qualities that career film directors don’t generate.
Does Becket still hold up?
Becket is an 8 for me because the two leads are worth watching on their own, and the Canterbury murder is staged with real nerve.
What keeps it from climbing higher is the history. I can accept Anouilh’s invented friendship as drama, but the Saxon rewrite nags at me. If you care about British historical drama, about O’Toole and Burton, or about great actors trading long speeches, watch it.
