King David * (1985, Richard Gere, Edward Woodward, Alice Krige, Denis Quilley, Cherie Lunghi) – Classic Movie Review 10,680

Director Bruce Beresford’s 1985 King David is an unsuccessful attempt to retell the tale of David and Bathsheba, in a biblical film that did not do Richard Gere’s career any good at all. Gere and Alice Krige are all at sea and lost as David and Bathsheba.

Incidental pleasures are the brisk and professional performances by the British cast (Denis Quilley as Samuel, Cherie Lunghi as Michal and especially Edward Woodward as Saul), the score by Carl Davis, the UK studio sets designed by Ken Adam and the impressive Italian locations.

The too-modern, too-American Gere is poorly cast and in trouble, and he was particularly derided for his dance in a nappy when he brings the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem.

King David is a career-damaging, switch-off disaster.

The 1951 film David and Bathsheba with Gregory Peck and Susan Hayward is more worthy of attention.

The troubled screen story by James Costigan, and screenplay by Andrew Birkin and James Costigan, are inexpertly taken from Samuel I and II, Chronicles I and the Psalms of David.

Also in the cast are Jack Klaff, Hurd Hatfield, John Castle, Niall Buggy, Tim Woodward, David de Keyser, Ian Sears, Jean-Marc Barr, Simon Dutton, Arthur Whybrow, Christopher Malcolm, Valentine Pelka, Michael Müller, James Coombes, Mark Drewry, John Gabriel, Gina Bellman, John Hallam, John Barrard, James Lister, Jason Carter, Peter Frye, David Graham and Tomas Milian.

It is made at Pinewood Studios, London, England, and on location in Italy, in Abruzzo, Sardinia and Rome.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,680

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