For those of you who think of Dean Jones as the amiable lightweight hero of a few Disney films, you are in for a jolting, but pleasant surprise should you see St. John In Exile. This is his one man show, done in the style of James Whitmore as Will Rogers and Harry S. Truman. Jones who was 55 when this filmed record of a live performance was made, is made up to look all of the 86 years old that the Apostle John was living over on the Island of Patmos.
As it is written, John was living in a cave there, essentially under house arrest. He's the last survivor of that selected group of men that Jesus collected as followers and charged with the responsibility of spreading his new interpretation of the Jewish faith. As John points out it was the Romans who gave the name 'Christian' to those who followed the new interpretation.
John's living alone with occasional visitors from the outside. Living with both his memories which he shares with visitors. He talks of the message of Jesus and the miracles of Jesus. He goes into a poignant first person account of the arrest, trial, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus, Jones really does make you think he was there.
The biggest miracle he says is that Jesus had to have been the Messiah because he took essentially unlearned men and made them the most powerful preachers of all time. John goes into quite a bit about his own background, he and his brother Andrew were just fishermen, Matthew a tax collector, etc.
It's cost him dear, his faith. John goes through the litany of what happened to the people he broke bread with that fateful Passover night. Why was he alone spared like Melville's Ishmael to tell the tale?
John comes to the conclusion there is still work to do. To write about the visions he's seen in the cave, a portend of things to come. But even more importantly to put down his own first hand account of his time with Jesus. Another gospel needs to be written, one aimed at a universal message, not one specifically directed at convincing the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah come to earth.
At 86 John realizes his life may have been rich and full of triumph and tragedy, but he's still got plenty to do while he's here on earth and in full possession of his faculties.
St. John In Exile is a good film, fully deserving of a wider audience than the Christian circuit it primarily played on. Jones may just have given his finest performance on film with this work.
As it is written, John was living in a cave there, essentially under house arrest. He's the last survivor of that selected group of men that Jesus collected as followers and charged with the responsibility of spreading his new interpretation of the Jewish faith. As John points out it was the Romans who gave the name 'Christian' to those who followed the new interpretation.
John's living alone with occasional visitors from the outside. Living with both his memories which he shares with visitors. He talks of the message of Jesus and the miracles of Jesus. He goes into a poignant first person account of the arrest, trial, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus, Jones really does make you think he was there.
The biggest miracle he says is that Jesus had to have been the Messiah because he took essentially unlearned men and made them the most powerful preachers of all time. John goes into quite a bit about his own background, he and his brother Andrew were just fishermen, Matthew a tax collector, etc.
It's cost him dear, his faith. John goes through the litany of what happened to the people he broke bread with that fateful Passover night. Why was he alone spared like Melville's Ishmael to tell the tale?
John comes to the conclusion there is still work to do. To write about the visions he's seen in the cave, a portend of things to come. But even more importantly to put down his own first hand account of his time with Jesus. Another gospel needs to be written, one aimed at a universal message, not one specifically directed at convincing the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah come to earth.
At 86 John realizes his life may have been rich and full of triumph and tragedy, but he's still got plenty to do while he's here on earth and in full possession of his faculties.
St. John In Exile is a good film, fully deserving of a wider audience than the Christian circuit it primarily played on. Jones may just have given his finest performance on film with this work.
