review for A Man for All Seasons on AllMovie

After earning acclaim for his portrayals of Moses and Ben-Hur, Charlton Heston again plays a man of God in this 1988 adaptation of a play by Robert Bolt. Heston acquits himself well in his role as one of the moral and intellectual giants of the Renaissance, Sir Thomas More (1478-1535), a canonized saint of the Roman Catholic Church. Playing More -- a humanist scholar, lawyer, and Lord Chancellor of England under Henry VIII -- was a daring undertaking for the actor, particularly as he must have known that he could not have improved on Paul Scofield's extraordinary performance in the same role in the 1966 film adaptation (for which Scofield won an Academy Award and the movie won Best Picture). A comparison of the Scofield and Heston performances clearly reveals that the former is better: more subtle, sensitive, and passionate. Still, Heston turns in a strong performance as the man of conscience who refuses to endorse Henry VIII's divorce from Catherine of Aragon and his marriage to Anne Boleyn. Perhaps the explanation for Heston's fine performance is that he had plenty of practice for the role, having previously portrayed More on the London stage. Supporting Heston are John Gielgud as Cardinal Wolsey, the power behind the throne until he failed to gain Henry's divorce, and Vanessa Redgrave as More's wife.