Masada - The Complete Epic Mini-Series

The film retells (with some dramatic license) the true story of an uprising in Palestine of a ragtag band of Jews, in a fortress called Masada, who refuse to surrender to the governing Romans. O'Toole, as Flavius Silva, is the brilliant commander who, over the course of several years of trying, and failing, to breach Masada, comes to regard the leader of his foes, Eleazar ben Yair (the charismatic Peter Strauss), with a certain amount of respect and awe. If left to Flavius, he might have simply leave the holdout fortress and return to the Italy he so longs for; but the Roman emperor demands victory--at any cost.

The performances are uniformly crisp and believable; the direction by Boris Sagal, economical; the screenplay, sharp and incisive. David Warner, who won an Emmy for his performance, plays the brutal Roman henchman Falco with seething determination. The location shooting is nothing short of spectacular. There is sorrow in the story of Masada, but an uplifting message in the ability of true believers to create their own destiny. --A.T. Hurley

Product Description
An epic true story of Jews fleeing Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Pursued to a mountain stronghold of the Herods they face lives enslaved or suicide. This is the full-length television miniseries.System Requirements:Running Time: 394 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 741952648291 Manufacturer No: KOC-DV6482

This miniseries is one of the few historical epic TV series that is any good -- and strangely enough it is way more than "any good" -- it is superb. The two leads (Roman general and Zealot leader) are almost equally charismatic, compelling actors, though Peter O'Toole's trademark weary melancholy tends to steal the show. The supporting parts are solid. The writing is tight, wry, and literate. The scenery is convincing, the siege weaponry looks darned authentic.

I have a weakness for costume epics, and this is perhaps the all-time best... reasonably large in scale, very well-mounted, but best of all, very well written and acted. It feasts the eyes without insulting the intelligence.

The viciously cut 1-tape version is incoherent, of course, but by Hollywood standards it's still a pretty good film -- many mainstream movie directors can't be coherent even when they know they're working to a 120 min format. But do yourself a favour and get the complete edition.


Why does it take so long for the GREATEST shows to make it to DVD?   August 14, 2007
S. B. Topel (Owings Mills, MD United States)
48 out of 51 found this review helpful

I saw this series when it originally aired in the 1980's and its impact has lingered with me all of these years. I managed to acquire a VHS transfer of the entire series just in time for my VCR to completely die - leaving me no way to enjoy this powerful drama again. After passing scores of copies of "Gilligan's Island - The Complete Series" and "Bosom Buddies - Collector's Edition" on the shelf of my local video store, I am exhilarated to find this one released at last!

Visually stunning (filmed on location) and dramatically riveting, the "Two Peters" duel on screen with searingly intense chemistry and vie for best performance, though O'Toole's ability to humanize his Roman commander makes this series so enticing. His final moments on screen as he comes to the full realization of the cost of Roman domination, is the stuff of legend. Barbara Carrera is positively luminous as a Jewess torn between her people and the man who controls her destiny.

A must see production, well worth the wait, and a demonstration of what "Event Television" was in the 1980's. They TRULY don't make them like this anymore!


Old-school epic delivers   March 5, 2002
M. G Watson (Los Angeles)
25 out of 25 found this review helpful

I remember watching this as a nine year-old kid and being completely blown away by its scope and power, and it hasn't lost a watt of energy in 20 years. Peter O'Toole is a great actor, but he absolutely outdid himself playing Flavius Silva, a character with more facets than the Hope diamond. Following the Roman conquest of Judea, lonely, ruthless,hard-drinking, burned-out commander of the elite Tenth Legion just wants to go home to Italy, but his departure is scuttled by the uprising of a rag-tag band of Jews led by the hot-tempered renegade soldier Eleazar ben Yair (Peter Strauss) who play Viet Cong for awhile, poisoning wells and ambushing Roman outposts, then hole up on the impenitrable mountain fortress at Masada, a gigantic vertical tower of rock that rises out of the Judean desert. Silva is given the thankless and seemingly impossible task of bringing Eleazar to heel in an age well before cannons, explosives, or air power. It doesn't help that the brutal desert conditions have his legion teetering on the brink of mutiny, he is falling in love with a Jewess (Barbara Carerra), or that a meddler from the Emperor's court (the always excellent David Warner as Pomponius Falco) is scheming to steal his command. Luckily for him, Eleazar has his own problems holding his improbable mix of ex-soldiers, priests, fugitive criminals, women and children together in the face of overwhelming odds. The best moments in the series revolve around the grugding respect that Eleazar and Silva develop for each other over the course of the two-year seige, and the awe-inspiring military and engineering effort the Romans put forth to stamp out the resistance of a mere nine hundred people. Brilliant engingeer Gallus (Anthony Quayle) designs a gigantic ramp, built by slave labor, which leads to Masada's gates, and then a huge, pully-driven, battering-ram-cum-assault tower to knock it down, but in the end Eleazar comes up with a few tricks of his own. The stubborn, hopeless defiance of the Jews is as moving as the thorough ruthlessness and genius of the Romans is impressive. All in all, a great watch, but I would highly recommend getting the full four tape, 9-hour version rather than the cut-to-the-bone two-hour version: it makes a world of difference.


Complete Masada Mini-series Available on 4 VHS!!   January 13, 2003
16 out of 16 found this review helpful

I bought my copy of the miniseries, MASADA. I just looked and I saw one copy from there. When I bought mine, I got it, factory sealed, from a seller called buy.com. I went to buy.com website and the movie is on back order but, hey, you've waited this long, right? I also see that www.moviesunlimited.com has it for sale; you will need: (item # 072787). I am looking to get mine put on DVD to preserve the video. I, too, remember watching it as a child and the indelible etching it left on my memory. I have watched all 394 minutes again as an adult and it is as huge and glorious as I remember it. I didn't even know an expurgated version exists - I can not imagine cutting even a minute from this perfect epic. It would be like cutting The "10 Commandments" or Homer.