Barabbas

The man freed in place of Jesus in the Passion narrative gets a life story of his own in Barabbas, a 1961 religious epic that Richard Fleischer directed for producer Dino De Laurentiis and that is counted as an Italian-American production. Its basis is Pär Lagerkvist's 1950 novel of the same name, filmed here for the second time after Alf Sjöberg's Swedish adaptation of 1953. The film opened in Italy on 23 December 1961 and in the United States, through Columbia Pictures, on 10 October 1962. It runs 132 minutes.

Working from the few details the Bible gives about Barabbas, Lagerkvist imagined a fictional life, and the film brings it to the screen. Anthony Quinn plays the lead. The cast includes Silvana Mangano, Katy Jurado, Arthur Kennedy, Harry Andrews, Ernest Borgnine, Vittorio Gassman, Jack Palance and Guido Celano. Christopher Fry, Nigel Balchin and Diego Fabbri are among the screenwriters.

Shooting took place in Verona and Rome. The film is remembered for a gladiator fight in a studio mock-up of the Colosseum at Cinecittà and a crucifixion filmed during a real total solar eclipse. Following the pattern of the sword-and-sandal pictures then in fashion, it earned three Nastro d'Argento nominations in Italy, for cinematography, production design and costume design.