596 Masada

First  viewed : 15  February  1983

The  critics  weren't  very  kind  to  this  either  but  in  this  case  I  think  they  got  it  wrong.

Masada  was  made  in  1981, a  four  part  US  mini-series  based  on  Josephus'  ( now  seriously  questioned ) account  of  the  tragic  last  act  of  the  First  Jewish-Roman  War.  It  was  shown  over  a  fortnight  in  February 1983. I  only  saw  one  episode  first  time  round  but  watched  most  of  it  with  my  mum  when  repeated  in  an  earlier  evening  slot  in  the  summer  of  1986.

 It  was  a  good  story, well-paced  with  high  production  values. One  thing  that  might  have  got  up  British  critic's  noses  was  the  clear  segregation  of  the  cast  with  the  heroic  Jewish  resisters  played  by  Americans  and  the  brutal, bullying  Romans  played  by  trusty  Brits. If  you  could  forgive  that  though,  the  cast  was  outstanding. The  producers  scored  a  major  coup  in  securing  the  services  of  Peter  O  Toole  as  the  high-minded  but  ruthless  general  Silva  while  his   main  adversary  Eleazar  was  played  by  Peter  Strauss. You  also  had  Timothy  West  as  the  Emperor  Vespasian, Anthony  Quayle  as  the  veteran  siege  engineer  and  the  architect  of  the  Jews'  downfall, David  Warner  as  a  ruthless  Roman  politician  ( with  Christopher  Biggins  as  his  sidekick )  and  the  gorgeous  Barbara  Carrera ( in  some  pretty  skimpy  costumes )  as  Silva's  Jewish  mistress  ( a  completely  fictional  character  but  hey, no  complaints  from  me  ! ).