Best Biblical Flicks

Best Biblical Flicks
From sword-and-sandal epics to hilarious spoof comedies, supernatural horror to religious romance, guilty-conscience gangster pictures to archaeological adventures, some of cinema's greatest filmmakers have pulled material from the pages of The Bible for a myriad of genres.

With the release of Ridley Scott's "Exodus: Gods and Kings," starring Christian Bale as Moses, we're asking the question: What are the greatest Biblical-themed movies of all time?

WTOP Film Critic Jason Fraley is here with a countdown. This isn't your typical list of Biblical Epics, but rather a look at the way Biblical themes are woven into all genres.

Hopefully it includes some of your favorites, but even more so, hopefully it includes some you haven't seen, some you might not initially classify as biblical, and others that will challenge the way you once viewed them.

In the end, believers and non-believers can agree on at least one thing: these age-old stories have provided fertile ground for the cinematic imagination.
39. 'Heaven is for Real' (2014)
Director: Randall Wallace

Based on the No. 1 New York Times best-selling book by Todd Burpo and Lynn Vincent, "Heaven Is for Real" recounts the story of a little boy, who claims to have seen heaven after a near-death experience. The film falls to the bottom of our list for its occasional heavy-handedness, but Greg Kinnear ("Little Miss Sunshine") gives a strong, soul-searching performance.
38. 'Samson and Delilah' (1949)
Director: Cecil B. DeMille

Seven years before directing one of the greatest Biblical epics in "The Ten Commandments" (1956), Cecil B. DeMille directed Victor Mature as Samson and Hedy Lamarr as Delilah, along with supporting roles for George Sanders and Angela Lansbury. The film won two Oscars for Art Direction and Costume Design (Edith Head) and was later remade by Nicolas Roeg as a TV movie with Dennis Hopper and Elizabeth Hurley.
37. 'Sister Act' (1992)
Director: Emile Ardolino

After winning an Oscar for "Ghost" (1990), Whoopi Goldberg played a singer who witnesses a mob crime and is forced to hide as a nun in a traditional convent where she has trouble fitting in. The premise was similar to "Witness" (1985), but the movie was successful enough to inspire a sequel, "Sister Act 2."
36. 'Noah' (2014)
Director: Darren Aronofsky

Russell Crowe stars as Noah in this moody epic by director Darren Aronofsky ("Requiem for a Dream," "Black Swan"). The film has some masterful moments of directing, including bird's eye perspective of a rain drop falling all the way to Noah's cheek, but the CGI rock creatures prove a fatal flaw in the hull of this ship.
35. 'Quo Vadis' (1951)
Director: Mervyn LeRoy

Robert Taylor plays a fierce Roman general who becomes infatuated with a beautiful Christian hostage (Deborah Kerr) and begins questioning the tyrannical leadership of the despot Emperor Nero (Peter Ustinov). The best part? The music by the indelible Miklos Rozsa, who created legendary scores for "Double Indemnity" (1944) and "Ben-Hur" (1959).
34. 'Fallen' (1998)
Director: Gregory Hoblit

Written by Nicholas Kazan, son of Elia Kazan and father of Zoe Kazan, "Fallen" is a lost gem from the 1990s. It stars Denzel Washington, John Goodman, Donald Sutherland, James Gandolfini, Embeth Davidtz and Elias Koteas in a supernatural thriller about the ancient demon Azazel, who passes from person to person with simple human touch.
33. 'Lilies of the Field' (1963)
Director: Ralph Nelson

Most people remember Sidney Poitier for his pair of 1967 masterpieces, "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" and "In the Heat of the Night." But who can forget his earlier works, like "The Defiant Ones" (1958) with Tony Curtis, or "Lilies of the Field" (1963), where he won an Oscar as a traveling handyman who helps a group of nuns build a chapel in the desert.
32. 'Doubt' (2008)
Director: John Patrick Shanley

Most movies struggle to earn even one Oscar nomination for a performance. "Doubt" earned four -- for Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams and Viola Davis, along with a fifth nomination for John Patrick Shanley's adapted screenplay from his own play about a Catholic school principal who questions a priest's ambiguous relationship with a troubled young student. Fine performances all around.
31. 'Jesus Christ Superstar' (1973)
Director: Norman Jewison

After directing "In the Heat of the Night" (1967) and "Fiddler on the Roof" (1971), Norman Jewison brought Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's rock opera to the silver screen, starring Ted Neeley as Jesus.
30. 'Witness' (1985)
Director: Peter Weir

"Witness" is best remembered as a love story, as Harrison Ford witnesses a murder and goes undercover in Amish country, only to fall for Kelly McGillis. But McGillis' internal struggle on whether to remain a Pennsylvania Puritan or follow the desires of her heart make this a profound spiritual statement, not to mention Weir's warnings on the dangers of gunplay.
29. 'The Prince of Egypt' (1998)
Directors: Brenda Chapman, Steve Hickner, Simon Wells

Dreamworks' animated tale of Moses would have battled Disney's "Mulan" (1998) for Best Animated Film at the Oscars, but the award didn't exist until three years later for "Shrek" (2001). Even so, "The Prince of Egypt" won an Oscar for Best Original Song for "When You Believe," a duet by Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston.
28. 'Barabbas' (1961)
Director: Richard Fleischer

Anthony Quinn won two Oscars ("Viva Zapata," "Lust for Life") before playing the fascinating figure Barabbas, the man who was pardoned by Pontius Pilate in exchange for the crucifixion of Jesus. Quinn would appear in David Lean's masterpiece "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962) the following year.
27. 'Philomena' (2013)
Director: Stephen Frears

Nominated for four Oscars, including Best Picture, 'Philomena' follows an atheist journalist (Steve Coogan) who joins a devout woman (Judi Dench) in the search for her son, who was taken away from her decades ago after she became pregnant and was forced to live in a convent. It's rare that a film can question and reaffirm viewers' faith at the same time, but "Philomena" does just that.
26. 'King of Kings' (1961)
Director: Nicholas Ray

After edgy '50s masterpiece such as "In a Lonely Place" (1950), "Johnny Guitar" (1954) and "Rebel Without a Cause" (1955), Nicholas Ray directed this classic tale of the Christ. The title role is played by Jeffrey Hunter, best known as the part-Cherokee nephew of John Wayne's Confederate soldier in John Ford's Western masterpiece "The Searchers" (1956).
25. 'Days of Heaven' (1978)
Director: Terrence Malick

"Days of Heaven" is best remembered for its gorgeous cinematography, as director Terrence Malick shot the entire thing at "magic hour" with the sun hanging perfectly in the sky. But the themes of the film are inherently spiritual, culminating in Biblical judgments like a plague of locusts and a giant trial by fire, foretold by young Linda in the first five minutes: "I met this guy named Ding-Dong. He told me the whole Earth is goin' up in flames. Flames will come out of here and there and they'll just rise up. The mountains are gonna go up in big flames, the water's gonna rise in flames. There's gonna be creatures runnin' every which way, some of them burnt, half their wings burnin'. People are gonna be screamin' and hollerin' for help. See, the people that have been good � they're gonna go to heaven and escape all that fire. But if you've been bad, God don't even hear you. He don't even hear you talkin'."
24. 'Mean Streets' (1973)
Director: Martin Scorsese

His entire career, Martin Scorsese has wrestled with the dichotomy between violence and his Catholic upbringing on the mean streets of Little Italy. In his breakthrough film, "Mean Streets" (1973), he provides the voiceover narration inside Harvey Keitel's head, as he decides, "You don't make up for your sins in church. You do it in the streets. You do it at home."
23. 'The Night of the Hunter' (1955)
Director: Charles Laughton

Because it's so highly stylized, younger viewers might misinterpret "The Night of the Hunter" as dated. But Charles Laughton's only directorial effort is masterfully directed, beautifully shot and unforgettably acted by Robert Mitchum. His evil preacher Harry Powell is just as haunting as his Max Cady in "Cape Fear" (1962), haunting by singing the old hymn "Leaning," while former silent queen Lilian Gish retorts by singing, "Lean on Jesus." Mitchum's demonstration of the battle between "love" and "hate" with tattoos on opposite knuckles inspired Spike Lee to pay homage with brass knuckles in "Do the Right Thing" (1989).
22. 'Carrie' (1976)
Director: Brian DePalma

Biblical themes can be inspirational when applied to heroic characters, but they can be terrified when applied to villains, like Piper Laurie's oppressive mother who takes Bible-thumping to the extreme in Stephen King's "Carrie."
21. 'The Passion of the Christ' (2004)
Director: Mel Gibson

Mel Gibson applies "Braveheart"-style bloodlust to this tale of the Christ, starring Jim Caviezel in what became a blockbuster smash. The film was the third-highest grossing film of 2004 and nominated for three Oscars, but a decade later, it loses points for its controversial depictions of Jews, which are impossible to defend after Gibson's real-life anti-Semitic rants sunk his career.
20. 'Ordet' (1955)
Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer

"The Passion of the Christ" may pull its title from Carl Theodor Dreyer's silent gem "The Passion of Joan of Arc" (1928), but Dreyer's best comment on religion is the Danish masterpiece "Ordet" (1955), which translates in English to "The Word." It follows a farmer who has three sons: Mikkel, an agnostic whose wife Inger is pregnant; Johannes, who believes he is Jesus; and Anders, who's in love with the tailor's daughter. The entire film builds toward a masterful meditation on miracles.
18. 'The Bible' (1966)
Director: John Huston

John Huston brought us some of history's finest movies, from "The Maltese Falcon" (1941) to "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" (1948) to "The African Queen" (1951). In "The Bible," his Old Testament imagery will haunt you for years. Huston provides the voiceover narration as God during episodic segments of Adam & Eve and Cain & Abel, then stars as Noah during the tale of Noah's Ark. Fittingly, he was later cast as the aptly named villain Noah Cross in Roman Polanski's "Chinatown" (1974), a film about a very different kind of flood.
16. 'History of the World: Part 1' (1981)
Director: Mel Brooks

It may not be on the level of "The Producers," "Blazing Saddles" or "Young Frankenstein," but Mel Brooks' "History of the World Part 1" is side-splittingly hilarious, from Moses accidentally breaking the 15 Commandments into 10 to a waiter outing Judas at the Last Supper while confusing the disciples with murmurs of "Jesus Christ." Absolutely hysterical.
15. 'Pulp Fiction' (1994)
Director: Quentin Tarantino

Go ahead. Scratch your head. "Pulp Fiction" will strike down upon you with great vengeance and furious anger if you don't notice the biblical allegory at play. Early on, Samuel L. Jackson quotes Ezekiel 25:17 as a cold-blooded death warning. He and fellow gangster John Travolta obtain a mysterious briefcase, symbolically containing the soul of Marsellus Wallace, with a "666" lock combination. Finally, after a near-death experience, Jackson believes he was saved by divine intervention, forcing him to reinterpret his Bible quote to become a "shepherd" in a diner robbery. Sometimes the best of biblical themes lie beneath the bloody surface.
14. 'The Last Temptation of Christ' (1988)
Director: Martin Scorsese

After a string of masterpieces such as "Mean Streets" (1973), "Taxi Driver" (1976) and "Raging Bull" (1980) during the Hollywood Renaissance, Martin Scorsese offered the gutsiest take on Christ yet in "The Last Temptation of Christ." Oscar-nominated for Best Director, the film stars Willem Dafoe as Jesus, Harvey Keitel as Judas and Barbara Hershey as Mary Magdalene. It created shockwaves for playing up Jesus' human side, depicting him as guilt-ridden over making crosses for the Romans, tortured by the evil of demons, overwhelmed by the divine call of God and tempted to stay on earth as an ordinary mortal. The film was quickly overshadowed by "GoodFellas" (1990), but it's worth another look for Scorsese's genius.
13. 'Cool Hand Luke' (1967)
Director: Stuart Rosenberg

No, this isn't a failure to communicate. "Cool Hand Luke" is more than just a fun tale of a chain gang. Paul Newman's title character is a genius metaphor for Christ, being baptized with a name by George Kennedy, donning a No. 37 on his prison suit (Luke 1:37: "For with God nothing shall be impossible"), singing "Plastic Jesus" on a banjo, lying in a crucifix position after eating 50 eggs, finding himself betrayed in the garden, then dying in a church, before being resurrected by his disciples (12 in the end credits), who paste together his photo with a crucifix tear, an image that's superimposed over a crucifix crossroads in the film's final image. Very subversive stuff here.
12. The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964)
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini

After decades of post-war Italian Neorealism, Pier Paolo Pasolini crafted one of the most artful Christ tales ever committed to cinema. The gritty black-and-white film paints Jesus as a Marxist avant-la-lettre, who stresses the social need to help the least among us. If this Jesus came back today, many Evangelicals would dismiss him as a leftist rebel, but by doing so, they might just be making the same mistake of the Pharisees, who dismissed Jesus as lawless in the gospels.
11. 'Intolerance' (1916)
Director: D.W. Griffith

Any objective viewer can look back at D.W. Griffith's groundbreaking "The Birth of a Nation" (1915) and call it a racist propaganda piece for the Ku Klux Klan. But a few brave souls had the guts to say the same back in 1915, giving Griffith enough of a guilty conscience to make his follow-up silent masterpiece, "Intolerance." The film is the first to intercut four parallel-action storylines, showing man's inhumanity against man throughout various points in history, including the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Call it Griffith's own personal attempt at redemption.
10. 'The Omen' (1976)
Director: Richard Donner

Few film moments are scarier than Gregory Peck trimming the hair of his son Damien, looking for the Satanic "666," as his nanny sleeps in the adjacent room. This tale of the Antichrist could have easily turned ridiculous, but director Richard Donner handles it masterfully, building the tension from a chilling party suicide to howling baboons to panting guard dogs, all with an Oscar-winning score by Jerry Goldsmith. "The Omen" holds up better than many of its peers because it relies very little on special effects, while nailing the one big effect it does try -- a gruesome decapitation. Peck is believable in his fatherly denial; Billie Whitelaw is chilling as the nanny; Lee Remick is tragic with motherly intuition and Harvey Stephens is unforgettable with his devilish smile.
9. 'The Ten Commandments' (1956)
Director: Cecil B. DeMille

After making a silent version of "The Ten Commandments" in 1923, Cecil B. DeMille reprised the story in the Technicolor 1950s for one of the most lavish Biblical epics ever made. Charlton Heston delivers an iconic performance as Moses; Yul Brynner is unforgettable as Egyptian Pharaoh Rameses; Anne Baxter uses her "All About Eve" evil as Nefertiti and Edward G. Robinson dazzles as Dathan. Most of all, the film is remembered for its groundbreaking visual effects, as Moses parts the Red Sea in glorious fashion. There's a reason this one is played every Easter. It's a classic.
8. 'Se7en' (1995)
Director: David Fincher

Morgan Freeman may have the voice of God, but when he teamed with Brad Pitt in "Se7en," it was to hunt Kevin Spacey's serial killer mastermind, who was hell-bent on teaching mankind a lesson about the Seven Deadly Sins: Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Pride, Lust, Envy and Wrath. The thriller may be David Fincher's best, and that's saying a lot, considering he went on to make "Fight Club" (1999), "Benjamin Button" (2008), "The Social Network" (2010)(2012) and "Gone Girl" (2014). Few movies pack the gut punch of this final scene, leaving Freeman so disturbed that he quotes Hemingway: "'The world is a fine place and worth fighting for.' I agree with the second part."
7. 'Monty Python & The Holy Grail' (1975), 'Life of Brian' (1979)
Director: Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones

Few comedic acts in history could make us laugh like Monty Python, and their two funniest movies were both of Biblical proportions. "Monty Python & The Holy Grail" involved an Arthurian quest for the Cup of Christ, while "Life of Brian" told the tale of the baby born in the manger next door to Jesus and spends the rest of his life being mistaken for the Messiah. The scenes are unforgettable, from a "flesh-wound" battle with a knight in "The Holy Grail" to the aqueduct speech in "Life of Brian." If you want a smile on your face, pop in either of these gems and "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life."
6. 'Rosemary's Baby' (1968)
Director: Roman Polanski

Before "The Omen" brought us the Antichrist as a living child, "Rosemary's Baby" brought us an unborn fetus born of the devil. Rosemary (Mia Farrow) and Guy Woodhouse (John Cassavetes) are a young couple who move into the Dakota Building in New York, only to find that their neighbors practice witchcraft. Guy sells his soul for an acting career, while Rosemary is raped by Satan in a trippy hallucination sequence. Ruth Gordon wins an Oscar with a peephole introduction; Krzysztof Komeda scores a creepy lullaby theme; B-horror producer William Castle makes a cameo and Roman Polanski directs to perfection in the middle of a quasi-trilogy of "Repulsion" (1965) and "The Tenant" (1976). Horrifically, his own pregnant wife was killed the following year in the Manson murders, and John Lennon was later murdered in the same building entrance that Farrow and Cassavetes enter at the movie's outset. If a real evil ever hung over a movie, it's this one.
5. 'Ben-Hur' (1959)
Director: William Wyler

By the end of the 1950s, William Wyler was already one of the most acclaimed directors in Hollywood, thanks to hits like "The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946) and "Roman Holiday" (1953). His biggest success was yet to come, as "Ben-Hur" won a record 11 Oscars, matched only by "Titanic" (1997) and "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King" (2003). Charlton Heston gives his career performance as Judah Ben-Hur, a Jewish prince who is betrayed and sent into slavery by his Roman friend, only to regain his freedom and come back for revenge (sound familiar, "Gladiator?"). The film's famous chariot race remains one of the greatest action sequences in history, while a faceless Jesus appears throughout the film, from The Nativity to The Sermon on the Mount to The Crucifixion. Voted one of the AFI's Top 100 Films of All Time, this one is legendary.
4. 'The Exorcist' (1973)
Director: William Friedkin

"The power of Christ compels you," and it compelled 1973 viewers to shatter box office records. Adjusted for inflation, "The Exorcist" remains the ninth-highest grossing movie of all time, regardless of genre. Director William Friedkin chose William Peter Blatty's novel as the follow-up to his Best Picture winner "The French Connection" (1971), and wouldn't you know it -- Blatty won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. How many horror flicks can boast such acclaim? The film features power performances from Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Jason Miller and Linda Blair, who pulls her Satanic voice from the legendary Mercedes McCambridge. Not only is the film terrifying, it's also the "most D.C." horror flick, featuring a house and staircase that can still be climbed in Georgetown. No matter how much time passes, "The Exorcist" will continue to make our heads spin to the eternal sound of "Tubular Bells."
3. 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' (1981), 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade' (1989)
Director: Steven Spielberg

We remember Dr. Indiana Jones as a whip-cracking, boulder-fleeing action hero. But what would his adventures be without having to save precious Biblical artifacts from the clutches of the Nazis? In "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981), Harrison Ford searches for the Biblical Ark of the Covenant, which Moses used to transport the Ten Commandments. In the third installment, "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" (1989), Indy teams with his father (Sean Connery) in a quest for the Holy Grail, leading to a climax where Indy must take a "leap of faith" and then "choose wisely." Few movies have captured such spiritual wonder, speaking volumes to the talents of directed Steven Spielberg and composer John Williams.
1. 'The Godfather' (1972-1990)
Director: Francis Ford Coppola

Arguably the greatest motion picture ever made, "The Godfather" saga is not only a masterpiece of the gangster genre but also a cinematic experience soaked with religious commentary. At the end of Part 1 (1972), Michael becomes a "godfather" in more than one sense during a brutal baptism/murder montage. In Part 2 (1974), Young Vito commits his first murder while watching a Madonna march through Little Italy with stunning visual symbolism, while Michael gives Fredo a Judas-style kiss of betrayal before whacking him right in the middle of a "Hail Mary." As if that weren't enough, Part 3 (1990) proves the Corleone corruption climbs all the way into the heights of The Vatican itself, as Michael is forced to face the music for his life of sin. Francis Ford Coppola was a filmmaking genius unlike any other, thinking in grand thematic terms, and his trilogy of "Godfather" films expose the good and evil of a corruptible mankind better than anything else ever put on film.
(1/37)
Jason Fraley

Hailed by The Washington Post for “his savantlike ability to name every Best Picture winner in history," Jason Fraley began at WTOP as Morning Drive Writer in 2008, film critic in 2011 and Entertainment Editor in 2014, providing daily arts coverage on-air and online.

Federal News Network Logo
Log in to your WTOP account for notifications and alerts customized for you.

Sign up