Sometimes nothin’ can be a real cool hand.*
by chuckofish
I am looking forward to some good Lenten movie viewing! Are you? In the past we have watched a combination of straightforward religious films such as:
The Robe (1953)
Franco Zeffirelli’s Jesus of Nazareth (1977)
and, of course, Ben Hur (1959) on Good Friday/Holy Saturday.
We also watch movies with a general theme of sacrifice, such as:
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
Chariots of Fire (1981)
Shane (1953)
and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
I have been trying to come up with some new ideas: Sling Blade (1996)?
Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (1982)?
Buffy, season 5?
This is harder than you think. Just google “films about sacrifice” and see what you get! Titanic! And, no, you will not find me watching Son of God (2014) with the “hot” Jesus, put together by those people responsible for the unwatchable “The Bible” TV miniseries.
Suggestions please!
*Cool Hand Luke, screenplay by Don Pearce and Frank Pierson
dual personalities 
I just watched “The Wrath of Khan” on Wednesday! I guess it was a little early. You’ve made a very good list. Movies about sacrifice are difficult because they don’t necessarily fit the “Christ Figure” theme. There are lots of war movies such as “The Dawn Patrol” and “Spitfire (The First and the Few).” I also thought of “The Road to Perdition.” Lauren and I just watched “The Green Mile” recently and it’s a good one. A little obvious but a good movie with a great score.
Yes, these are great suggestions! I wish I had a copy of “Dawn Patrol”!
A short perusal of the internet suggested some truly terrible examples but I did like the suggestion of “Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.”
I almost put that on my list!
Very nice list of movies! I also love Wheeler’s additions. I would also suggest “Black Hawk Down”, any of the Lord of the Rings movies, “Regeneration” (aka “Behind the Lines”) and “The Englishman Who Went up a Hill and Came down a Mountain” — we could go on and on!
I thought of putting the LOTR trilogy down, but it will be a long time before I can bring myself to watch one of those movies! Overdid it a few years ago…
The Robe is 61 years old? Say it isn’t so! I’ll try to find you a copy of Dawn Patrol…our WWI folks might be able to use it as well.
I had a VHS copy–but no VHS player anymore!
I’ll get you a DVD!