A Man for All Seasons poster & wallpaper

John Hurt, Leo McKern, Orson Welles

The story of Thomas More, who stood up to King Henry VIII when the King rejected the Roman Catholic Church to obtain a divorce and remarriage.

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87% liked it

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85% liked it

27 critics

G, 120

Directed by: Fred Zinnemann

Release Date: December 12, 1966

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DVD Release Date: February 2, 1999

Stats: 594 reviews

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Vanessa Redgrave and Robert Shaw A Man for All Seasons Robert Shaw and Paul Scofield Susannah York as Lady Margaret (Meg) More in A Man for All Seasons (1966) Fred Zinnemann man for all seasons poster Wendy Hiller in A Man for All Seasons Paul Scofield in A Man for All Seasons Wendy Hiller in A Man for All Seasons Paul Scofield Paul Scofield in A Man for All Seasons A Man for All Seasons Wendy Hiller in A Man for All Seasons
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Flixster Reviews (594)

  • organgrinder136
    January 4, 2009
    organgrinder136
    it was alright... but somewhere along the line i'm sure i've seen a better version of this with a different actor playing sir thomas more... i could be wrong though
  • FangsFirst
    May 12, 2008
    FangsFirst
    I've seen my handful of 60's period films, plenty dealing with English monarchs, and something always rubs me wrong about the production design. Somehow the costuming always ends up looking like a well-budgeted high school production to me. I'm not sure if the clothes are too cle...( read more)an--how is that possible for a monarch anyway? surely they'd have people around making sure they look clean a lot, or at least that their clothes did--or if they just use some strange cloth or what, but it dates back a decade or two as well, that feeling of overly bright, overly-separated technicolor, primary-oriented colouration. Something just does not look right. With that in mind, it can be challenging for me to watch films of this particular variety, as I have to overcome that particular aesthetic bias to enjoy them. This film benefits retroactively from the presence of six major Oscars, including some of the big ones--lead actor, director, picture, writing*--as well as actors I know like Robert Shaw, Leo McKern, Orson Welles, and a relatively young John Hurt.

    Sir Thomas More (Paul Scofield) is a real figure in British history, and this is the story of his most famous actions. King Henry VIII (Shaw) wishes to coerce the Vatican into giving him a divorce (unheard of, of course, in those days) so that he can marry again. More is morally opposed to this idea, refusing to advocate or condone these actions, even when given a new position of power after the death of Cardinal Wolsey (Welles). When Henry withdraws from the Catholic Church to get his wishes and establishes the Church of England, More must carefully weave himself into the letter of the law to avoid persecution and save both himself and his family. He stands up to the king but refuses to give his actual stance about the issue, instead hiding behind and between religious and legal doctrine from both his lawyer and clergyman background.

    The film started on the shaky ground to which I first alluded, having some difficulty drawing me in past production values that are inherently off-putting to me, especially when coupled with a smartly written drama--seeming garish and amateurish, and only more pronouncedly so when they are behind such a strong script and performances, but eventually Scofield managed to draw me into the film on the sheer weight of his performance. Actors like this who clearly come from stage are becoming more and more rare, making it an even sweeter treat to see them at work in films of this age where they were allowed to work their craft on the screen just as well as the stage. They don't ride on their own names, appearances or characters, but inhabit the roles--not necessarily refining them to create Thomas More specifically, or anyone else, perhaps as characters they are merely themselves, insofar as their mannerisms and speech patterns, but they let us believe that those mannerisms are all perfectly natural to this character, and never intrude on the performance to remind us of who is behind them. Scheming from the likes of Leo McKern, or the easily tempted and led Rich (Hurt) serve simply as backdrops behind a performance like this. It holds the entire film, making it a pure character study despite the skill in everything and everyone behind them. It's hard to say whether removing the blocks of McKern, Shaw, Hurt and so on would truly pull the film down with it riding so heavily on Scofield, but I think it's more a testament to their acceptance of being in roles behind his and working purely to support it and not themselves that makes this so obscure--and I think indeed it would be harmful.

    Robert Bolt's screenplay, similarly, does not hog the spotlight from Scofield, though it definitely pulls in a teensy sliver of the spotlight, with clever wording of legalese spewed from More when cornered by someone convinced they have finally cornered this great logical wit and convinced him that he must confess his feelings, making it both just twisting enough that we realize how complex More's thoughts are without simply losing the audience as well. The words flow forth from every actor completely naturally too, and never once does it feel overly artificial or even talky, despite being so dialogue-oriented, and with only the ever-passionate Shaw showing such extreme emotion, the stoic nature (relatively speaking) of most characters does not serve to deaden the work but simply cause us to focus more strongly on the words being spoken.

    But the subdued, measured, controlled and hidden emotion--culminating in a shaking, exhausted indignation--of Scofield's performance are almost untouchably brilliant, and the primary (if not sole) reason for seeing this film.

    *And in complete contradiction to my distaste for the costumes, costuming. Oh well. What do I know about costuming?
  • 366weirdmovies
    March 6, 2008
    366weirdmovies
    With lawerly integrity, Sir Thomas More poltiely defies Henry VIII's increasingly threatening demands that he publically approve of Henry's divorce and break with the Roman Catholic Church. Released in 1966, More's principled, moving and fatal civil disobedience struck a univers...( read more)al chord and made this intricate character driven historical costume drama a surprise hit.
  • kenstachnik
    March 1, 2008
    kenstachnik
    There is something oddly intreageing about this film. I normally don't enjoy this kind of thing, but I found this very entertaining.

    Great dialog helps make the 120 minutes fly by.
  • wellmeetagain
    November 13, 2007
    wellmeetagain
    Oscar winner for best picture and best actor in 1966. A slow paced period piece which centers around a moral/ethical issue.
  • BurtHarbinson
    September 28, 2009
    BurtHarbinson
    Setting: 1527







    1527
  • bradsteph
    September 13, 2009
    bradsteph
    A brilliant movie. Paul Scofield is excellent as the man who paid dearly for his principles.
  • ristrawn
    August 28, 2009
    ristrawn
    good about sticking to your principles, especially religious ones, regardless...
  • jam233
    August 27, 2009
    jam233
    It is certainly magnificently produced, the performances are amazing, especially Paul Scofield. It's one of those kinds of films you have to be in the mood for. It can be a bit slow, particularly during one of the numerous talky scenes.
  • Phonex
    August 13, 2009
    Phonex
    Historic work about Thomas More.

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A Man for All Seasons Trivia

  • who sings a man for all seasons for the film johnny english?  Answer »
  • What 1966 film won 6 Academy Awards including: Best Picture, best Actor(Paul Scofield), and Best Director(Fred Zinnemann)  Answer »
  • Which of these films, nominated in 1967, took home the Oscar for Best Picture?  Answer »
  • who directed a man for all seasons?  Answer »
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