Further Reading
King, Dennis.Lyndon LaRouche and the New American
Fascism. New York: Doubleday, 1989.
Mintz, John. “Presidential Candidate’s Ideological
Odyssey.”The Washington Post, January 14, 1985,
p. A1+.
Tourish, Dennis, and Tim Wohlforth. “The Travels
of Lyndon LaRouche.” InOn the Edge: Political
Cults Right and Left.New York: M. E. Sharpe, 2000.
Janet E. Gardner
See also Conservatism in U.S. politics; Elections in
the United States, 1980; Elections in the United
States, 1984; Elections in the United States, 1988;
Liberalism in U.S. politics; Strategic Defense Initia-
tive (SDI).
Last Temptation of Christ, The
Identification American film
Director Martin Scorsese (1942- )
Date Released August 12, 1988
The. Last Temptation of Christ,
between Christ’s divine identity and his mortal identity,
incorporating an extended fantasy sequence in which he
experienced a normal human life, including a sexual rela-
tionship, before choosing to embrace his divine role as hu-
manity’s savior. The film proved incredibly controversial,
inciting protests and boycotts across the countr y.
As early as the mid-1970’s, the successful film direc-
tor Martin Scorsese decided he wanted to make a
movie about the life of Jesus Christ based onHo
teleutaios peirasmos(1955;The Last Temptation of Christ,
1960), the controversial novel by Greek writer Nikos
Kazantzakis. Using a script prepared by Paul Schra-
der, Scorsese began work on the film in 1983 at Para-
mount Studios, but various Christian groups learned
of his activity, and written protests began pouring
into Paramount’s executive offices. Worried about
the negative publicity and concerned that the film
might not be a box-office success, Paramount with-
drew its support; Scorsese was forced to shut down
production and shelve the project for several years.
Four years later, Scorsese signed on to work with
Creative Artists Agency, the most powerful talent
agency in Hollywood, and with its support he was
able to convince Universal Studios to underwrite the
Kazantzakis project. Working on a budget of less
than $7 million, Scorsese took his cast to the Moroc-
can desert for two months of shooting, using an ad-
aptation of Schrader’s original script. Again, word
that the project was being resurrected reached lead-
ers of Christian churches and organizations, and
an even more strident campaign was launched. To
counter negative publicity and blunt charges that
the film would be blasphemous, Universal hired
consultants from Christian groups to work with
Scorsese and certify that the movie was an accept-
able, if somewhat controversial, adaptation of the
Gospel stories. These consultants quit in protest,
however, when they were not able to mandate
changes to the script. Several key leaders among the
Christian community were invited to an advance
screening of the movie in July, 1988, but many re-
fused to attend. Though the media often described
protesters as fundamentalists, in fact the group op-
posing the movie included conservative Protestant
denominations, the Roman Catholic Church, and
several Jewish and Muslim leaders as well.
Sensing that the longer the studio delayed re-
lease, the better organized opposition would be-
come, Universal released the movie six weeks early,
on August 12, 1988. Like the novel, the film portrays
Christ upon the cross being tempted by Satan with
the possibliity of abandoning his divine nature to
live a happy, normal, mortal life. An extended se-
quence allows both Christ and the audience to expe-
rience that life, as he descends from the cross, mar-
ries Mary Magdalene, and builds a family with her,
happily growing old as a normal man. In the end,
however, after Judas reminds him of his obligations,
Christ decides to return to the cross to redeem hu-
manity. In another potential source of controversy,
the film portrays Judas as heroic, betraying Christ to
the Romans only because Christ tells him to, because
he knows it is the role assigned to him in God’s plan.
Bowing to protests from Christian groups, several
major movie house chains refused to carry the film.
In cities where the movie was shown, protests were
organized outside theaters; some were vandalized,
and in some locations violence broke out. Addi-
tionally, in a number of cities, individuals and orga-
nizations filed legal appeals to stop distribution or
be paid damages under laws protecting the rights of
those who felt ridiculed by the film.Impact The protests against the film affected box-
office proceeds significantly.The Last Temptation of572 Last Temptation of Christ, The The Eighties in America