Word: christe
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...most of the voices raised against the film belong to people who have not yet seen it. Italian Director Franco Zeffirelli called the movie "damaging to the image of Christ. He cannot be made the object of low fantasies." Fundamentalist Leader Jerry Falwell called for a boycott against MCA, Universal's parent company; all MCA products, which include Grosset & Dunlap publishers, Spencer Gifts and Motown Records; and any theater that shows the film. Said Falwell: "Neither the label 'fiction' nor the First Amendment gives Universal the right to libel, slander and ridicule the most central figure in world history...
...head off further furor or perhaps even cash in on it, Universal decided last week to move the opening up from Sept. 23 to Aug. 12. Says Tom Pollock, chairman of MCA's motion picture group: "The best thing that can be done for The Last Temptation of Christ at this time is to make it available to the American people and allow them to draw their own conclusions, based on fact not fallacy." But Tim Penland, a born-again marketing expert once hired by Universal to placate conservative critics and now a critic himself, believes the six-week jump...
...dramatic centerpiece of the film is a half-hour segment in which the dying Christ, played by Willem Dafoe, hallucinates about the devil's final temptation: come down from the Cross, renounce your role as the Messiah, marry Mary Magdalene and live a long and ordinary life...
...shriek all around them, liberal churchmen have been bending over backward to avoid criticizing the film, stressing Scorsese's right to interpret Jesus in his own way and sometimes issuing a tepid defense or two. Fundamentalist fears are exaggerated, says the Rev. Eugene Schneider of the United Church of Christ, because "people who go to the movie are going to come out bored and leave before it is over...
Although Universal did hold screenings for religious leaders last month, most conservatives refused to come. Instead they staged protests at the Universal lot and published an admonishing ad in the Hollywood Reporter. In a letter to MCA Chairman Lew Wasserman, Bill Bright of the Campus Crusade for Christ offered to raise money to reimburse Universal for all copies of the film, which would "promptly be destroyed." Universal responded with lofty, full-page newspaper ads in four cities, quoting Thomas Jefferson and announcing that the constitutional rights to free expression and freedom of religion were not for sale...