MovieChat Forums > Jesus of Nazareth (1977) Discussion > Unusual death of Judas Iscariot?

Unusual death of Judas Iscariot?

posted 10 years ago by kurgan-10
11 replies | jump to latest

I will admit it has been several years since I saw any version of this miniseries (and it is a long one too!), but I was wondering if it was this one, or some other treatment of the life of Christ in film where this happens.

I seem to recall that Judas, instead of hanging himself (as in most films that depict his death) he went up to a "flame" (in the temple area, perhaps the altar itself?) and jumped in.

I seem to recall seeing this image as a child, and I wonder if it was in any version of the film today as opposed to the hanging (or the guts spilling out scene described in Acts that I've never seen in any film about Jesus).

http://armariummagnus.blogspot.com/ (not mine, but I like it)

[–] bastasch8647 10 years ago

The Greatest Story Ever Told - Judas/David McCallum jumps into the Temple's permanent sacrificial flames. Max Von Sydow (Fr Merrin of The Exorcist) played Jesus.

[–] kurgan-10 10 years ago

That's it! Thanks...

http://armariummagnus.blogspot.com/ (not mine, but I like it)

[–] bastasch8647 10 years ago

You're welcome. :)

[–] kurgan-10 10 years ago

It's been a long time since I saw that version of the film. It wasn't every memorable, except I recall that Sidney Poitier played Simon of Cyrene (with no lines) iirc and the Last Supper was shot to look almost exactly like the Leonardo Da Vinci painting.

And do you recall in which Jesus movie the voice of the Centurion who says "surely this man was the Son of God" is John Wayne?

http://armariummagnus.blogspot.com/ (not mine, but I like it)

[–] psadek-496-994449 10 years ago

Also "The Greatest Story Ever Told." It featured John Wayne as the Roman Centurion, and David McCallum (best known around that time for his role in "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) as Judas Iscariot.

[–] wllnorkin 10 years ago

Poor David
His character also died in the movie 'The Great Escape'.
Well at least he had 'Man from Uncle' and 'NCIS' in his future.

[–] Flame_of_Udun_49 8 years ago

The Greatest Story Ever Told - Judas/David McCallum jumps into the Temple's permanent sacrificial flames.

That sounds like it took its cue from the death of Peregrinus Proteus at the Olympic Games of 165 CE.

http://tinyurl.com/hxoedgj

[–] Itsmedrooms2 8 years ago

I always found the biblical description of his suicide confusing. How would one hang himself in such a way as to burst open one's abdomen. It's a gruesome point, but I always wondered about that.

[–] bastasch8647 8 years ago

It's two separate accounts from two separate authors and two separate traditions. One tradition claimed that Judas died of self-hanging, the other claimed that he died by falling from a height. It's just one more example of Biblical contradictions.

Some simple-minded "harmonizers" try to match the contradictory tales by saying that when Judas hung himself, he chose a tree on the edge of a precipice, but "the rope broke", or "the branch broke", sending the choking Betrayer into the abyss ("... and 'ow Judas fell, over and over, like a penny whirligig...").

[–] FirstBlood1982 8 years ago

Not so much a contradiction as something that's just plain obvious. One can fall from the branch they were hanging from.

The account that describes Judas falling doesn't even say that he died that way...it simply states that he fell.

https://carm.org/bible-difficulties/matthew-mark/how-did-judas-die-hanging-or-falling-down

+++by His wounds we are healed. - Isaiah 53:5+++

[–] AngryNegroMan 8 years ago

CONTRADICTIONS stop trying to justify it