Word: vere
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...film begins clumsily. As Bill Budd is impressed from his merchant ship, the "Rights of Man," to serve on Captain Vere's man-of-war, every attempt is made to set the scene for his tragic confrontation with society. Budd cries out, "Good-bye, 'Rights of Man,'" and the second lieutenant angrily but too obviously misinterprets the ambiguity. With ever more pain-staking care, the discontent of the "Avenger's" crew is endlessly thrust before the audience. Master-at-arms Claggart is not yet allowed to be more than a puppet of the director...
Terence Stamp, as Billy Budd, is authentically simple. When he prefaces his hanging with the slightly reminiscent cry, "God bless Captain Vere," he does not portray Christ; he is a touching, naive sailor unable to understand the evil around him. He seems insanely stupid, yet real, when he fails to understand Claggart's malice and vengeful eyes...
Falsely, Claggart accuses the sailor of plotting mutiny. Vere knows that Claggart is lying and, seeing a chance to trap him, he sends for Billy Budd to deny the charge. Billy, facing Claggart in Vere's cabin, struggles to speak, but can only make the terrible sounds of stammering. Suddenly, he gives action to his horror with a lunging, double-fisted blow that sends Claggart to the deck, dead with a broken skull...
...Vere's only course, under the Articles of War, is to court-martial Billy Budd for killing a superior officer. And the only penalty prescribed by the articles is death. "We don't deal with justice here, but with the law," Vere finally persuades a member of the drumhead court. And the court knows of no way to save Billy Budd, makes the soul-wrenching decision that he must hang. Next morning, as the rope tightens around his neck, Billy cries in a clear voice: "God bless Captain Vere...
...film's Billy Budd is Terence Stamp, 23, son of a Thames tugboat man. His Michelangelic good looks and country-boy smile make Billy's unaffected virtue believable where a better-known actor might have failed. As Captain Vere, Peter Ustinov shuns mawkishness in his role of naval Pilate; he reveals Vere's humanity subtly, and when Billy's wonderful and cruel farewell rings out, Vere stands destroyed by what he has had to do. Robert Ryan is the terrible Mister Claggart who presides so zealously at floggings: once, after counting out ten lashes while...