monty-rom-jay This movie was overall OK to get an idea of David's life, but it deviates from the biblical account quite a lot. E.g. 1. the way David breaks the model of the temple in anger after Absalom's death is outrageous. Viewers may get the impression that David was a man of high temper. 2. the way he instructs Solomon his son to go with his heart instinct instead of the prophets' advice is totally contradictory to what we see in the bible. If you read the biblical account, David was a man who always consulted God before going into battle, and didn't take his own decisions without consulting God. I give a low rating due to these and other deviations.

SnoopyStyle It's the life of David (Richard Gere) who would be the King of the Isrealites. Prophet Samuel chooses the youngest son of Jesse of Bethlehem. He dies and leaves a message to King Saul (Edward Woodward) that God has forsaken him but not his people. In the battle against the Philistines, David strikes down the giant Goliath. David befriends Saul's son Jonathan who saves him from Saul's plots against him. After Jonathan and Saul are killed in battle with the Philistines, David is crowned king. The Godly rule is brought down by David's affair with the married Bathsheba (Alice Krige).Everything is fine until Richard Gere shows up. It's a bit slow sometimes but Woodward is a solid British actor. The scale is big enough when it's required. Goliath is great. It's all good but there is something too modern about Gere's beautiful hair. His mannerisms and his voice is too modern, too American and too different from everybody else. He simply looks out of place. Otherwise, this could have worked.

romanorum1 Based upon the Books of Samuel and Kings of the Holy Bible, this attractive and colorful movie captures the life and times of warrior-king David of Israel, who reigned three thousand years ago. Much of the movie is devoted to King Saul (Edward Woodward), David's predecessor. Woodward's performance is powerful, and captures well the personality of the biblical personage. Richard Gere as David does not make an entry until twenty minutes or so have passed. David does not even become king until the movie is well over half completed. But in general the film is more accurate than typical movies of this genre (for instance, like "Samson and Delilah"), although there are inaccuracies. For instance, the Star of David was introduced centuries after David's time and not while he was alive. The film commences with King Saul and his officers waiting for the arrival of the prophet Samuel (Denis Quilley). The Amalekites have just been crushed. After Samuel arrives, he tells Saul that he has disobeyed God's commandment and that he has been reproved. Therefore none of his sons will succeed him as king. Samuel then meets with Jesse (Arthur Whybrow) to tell him that one of his sons will be Saul's successor. The elder and more military ones – Eliab, Abinadab, and Shammah – are surprisingly rejected (Scripture tells us that there were also other brothers). Jesse tells Samuel that he has another son, a shepherd called David. As he meets with God's approval, David is anointed with oil by Samuel. When the Philistines then assemble their army against the Israelites, they taunt them with their giant hero, Goliath (6'9" Luigi Montefiore, a/k/a George Eastman) and challenge the Israelites to a duel. When David with a simple slingshot unexpectedly defeats Goliath and beheads him, the Philistines flee in fright. Saul remarks, "An entire army at my command, yet it takes a shepherd boy to wipe out our disgrace." David never returns to his father; rather he stays in the military for ten years. Nathan (Niall Buggy) succeeds Samuel as prophet. David marries Michal (Cherie Lunghi), Saul's youngest daughter. Skillfully playing music with his harp, David soothes the aging Saul's growing melancholy. Saul gradually turns against David, who flees. Pursuing David, Saul murders Ahimelech (Hurd Hatfield) and the high priests, who had given David shelter. Most of the dirty work is done by a gentile, Doeg the Edomite (Christopher Malcolm). Jonathan (Jack Klaff), Saul's son, befriends David, who finally flees to King Akiss (Achish, Tomas Milian) of the Philistines and stays for sixteen months. The Philistines challenge the Israelites to battle. At Gilboa, King Saul is defeated and killed along with his three sons. David's subsequent victory dance meets with Michal's disapproval (According to Scripture, Michal is punished for her action by barrenness). Then again, David does have other wives. He continues to preserve the sacred Ark of the Covenant, which contains the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments.On a rooftop King David espies Bathsheba (Alice Krige) bathing and is immediately smitten. A complication is that she is married to Uriah. In reality Uriah was a decent husband sent to the forefront of attack by David to assure his death. For his sin, the firstborn son of Bathsheba and David did not survive beyond seven days. Also, David had to live by the sword. God eventually does find favor with David, however, when Solomon is born. But the rebellion of his favorite son Absalom (Jean-Marc Barr) grieves him, especially when he is killed in battle after his long hair gets tangled in a tree. The guilt-ridden David then decides to reform although we do not actually see him performing penance. Even though we are told that the aging David defeated the Philistines, Moabites, Ammonites, and the Edomites, the ending is rather abrupt. Many of his later deeds are covered only in narrative. And David's last instructions to his successor Solomon are not factual. On a positive note, the movie is very attractive, and there are terrific location scenes (filmed in Italy and England) that feature classical symmetrical shots. When there is a battle, the scenes feature many extras and are well-done. In general, this film is a decent movie although not a classic; Edward Woodward's performance as Saul is worth the price of a rental.

macsandlin I admit I'm biased when it comes to Bible stories, especially really great Bible stories. So I was pretty skeptical when I picked up this movie, but I'd been wanting to see a good film version of the Life of David ever since I taught a class on I&II Samuel. I should have trusted my instincts and passed on this movie. The fact that they changed some details of the Biblical story isn't nearly as bad as the fact that they changed the entire theme of the story of David. In the movie, David has this obsession with wanting to see God face to face, and this plays itself in everything he does. He also has this theology based on emotions. Now this is a popular idea today (God deal with man through the heart and emotions only), but it just doesn't fit with David's story which is one of submission and trust. One of the problems with making a movie like this is that the story is much much to big to be told in a two hour film. I'd like to see a Lord of the Rings style telling of David's life. The narrator is horrible, and he sounds like he's reading scripture when he's not. The Goliath fight is aweful. Goliath doesn't even speak, but has his shield bearer (who doesn't bother bearing a shield) taunt the Israelites and David. David chunks about 6 rocks before he is actually able to kill the giant. Then he's really sad about it. He says to God in a weepy kind of voice "So be it" before cutting off Goliath's head. COME ON!!!! In the real story he says "You come against me with a sword and a spear and a javlain, but I come against you in the name of the Lord God of Hosts. This day I will cut off your head and give your flesh to the birds of the air nad the beasts of the field that the world may know that there is a God in Israel." I mean, who cuts that line out??? Another lousy thing was when David's first son by Bathsheba dies and the movie deals with it by a little narration scene. There's no fasting, no laying on his face for days, even the line "I will go to him, but he will not return to me" is cut and used at Absolem's death instead. All we get is the stupid narrator saying "David's first son died, but God gave him another one named Soloman." STUPID STUPID STUPID!!! More lousy stuff: The young boy who plays David as a kid looks like a fairy, and judging by the Bathsheba scene, baby oil was the most common substance for cleaning oneself in Ancient Israel.The acting is mediocre with the exception of the guy who plays Samuel who is wonderful, and the guy who plays Absolem who is terrible.The set and costumes are ridiculous for the most part (especially the wigs), but David actually looks like a king some of the time which is a refreshing change from Saul.Finally, I can't imagine what they were thinking when they slapped a PG-13 rating on this movie. There are two extended Nude scenes one of which is a lengthy full frontal shot of Bathsheba rubbing the aforementioned baby oil all over herself. This movie should be rated R, and if someone tackles this story as a film project in the future I hope that they make an accurate R rated version.