Film

Becket

Name: Becket
Genre: Drama, History
Released: 1964
Cast: Richard Burton, Peter O'Toole, John Gielgud, Gino Cervi, Paolo Stoppa

Becket is a stately, dialogue-driven historical drama built almost entirely on the collision between two extraordinary actors: Richard Burton's austere, increasingly principled archbishop and Peter O'Toole's volatile, wounded king. It's talky, theatrical, unhurried, more interested in the psychology of loyalty and power than in battle or spectacle. Watch it for the verbal sparring and the slow-burn heartbreak of a friendship curdling into enmity.

TMDb rating

7.2

If you liked this

The Lion in Winter1968

O'Toole plays Henry II again, decades later and even sharper — a Christmas from hell of scheming children, betrayed love, and verbal warfare, with Katharine Hepburn giving as good as she gets.

But It's almost entirely dialogue and shouting matches in castle rooms — if you need action or scenery, it will feel claustrophobic.

A Man for All Seasons1966

Another conscience-versus-crown drama from the same era, with Paul Scofield's Thomas More facing the same brutal choice Becket does — bend to the king, or die for principle.

But It's even more austere and legalistic than Becket, built on quiet moral argument rather than personal drama or spectacle.

Lawrence of Arabia1962

See O'Toole before Henry II, in the role that made him a star — a desert epic about a man remade and undone by power, empire, and his own contradictions.

But At nearly four hours, it's a huge commitment, and it's a war epic, not the intimate two-hander Becket is.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Chimes at Midnight1965no page yet

Both turn on a ruler sacrificing the one person who truly knew him once the crown's demands outweigh love — Becket's cathedral and Falstaff's tavern are the same story in different clothes.

Orson Welles's Shakespeare mashup follows Prince Hal's mentor Falstaff, discarded the moment the crown demands it — the same friendship-to-betrayal arc as Becket, but soaked in tavern grime instead of cathedral grandeur.

But The condensed Shakespearean dialogue and rough, low-budget black-and-white photography can be tough going if you're not used to the language.

Wolf Hall2015

Mark Rylance's Cromwell gives you another quietly ruthless operator caught between conscience and a monarch's appetite, moving through a Tudor court just as treacherous as Becket's.

But It's slower and more interior than Becket, told through glances and silences rather than grand speeches.

Anne of the Thousand Days1969no page yet

Same production era, same taste for lavish historical tragedy, with Richard Burton this time playing the king — Henry VIII, undone by his own desire rather than betrayed by it.

But It leans more toward romantic melodrama than political philosophy, and its pacing can feel stagier than Becket's.

The Favourite2018

A royal court drama with the same ingredients — flattery, betrayal, a monarch's desperate need to be truly loved — played as vicious, filthy comedy instead of tragedy.

But The tone is much darker and funnier than Becket's; if you want reverence and solemnity, this will feel like sacrilege.

Elizabeth1998

Cate Blanchett's Elizabeth I navigates church, court, and conspiracy with the same tension between personal loyalty and the crushing demands of the crown that consumes Becket.

But It's flashier and more thriller-paced than Becket, with far less interest in theological or philosophical debate.

Kingdom of Heaven2005

If you want the same medieval church-and-crown politics but with battles attached, this crusader epic asks similar questions about faith, duty, and worldly power.

But It swaps Becket's chamber drama for large-scale warfare, and its dialogue is far less the point.

The Crown2016

For a modern echo of duty crushing personal loyalty, this traces a monarch's institution grinding down the people closest to her, generation after generation.

But It's contemporary and far more procedural in style — you lose Becket's heightened, theatrical language entirely.

Andrei Rublev1966

Where Becket dramatizes the church-versus-crown struggle through witty confrontation, Rublev shows the same struggle from the ground up — one conscience trying to survive between two crushing institutions.

Tarkovsky's meditation on a medieval icon painter caught between church, state, and his own conscience gives you Becket's central bind — art or faith versus power — stretched into something slower, stranger, and visually astonishing.

But It's over three hours of Soviet arthouse cinema in Russian, deliberately paced and often opaque, with no courtly banter to lighten it.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail1975

Becket treats church-and-crown power games as tragedy; this treats the identical historical furniture as farce, proving the same backdrop can support either mood entirely.

The exact same medieval landscape of scheming kings, corrupt clergy, and absurd pageantry — except played entirely for laughs, with coconuts standing in for horses and every institution mocked without mercy.

But If you want your medieval politics taken seriously, this will feel like vandalism — it's silly on purpose, all the way down.