BY THE NUMBERS

10 Comments on “The Last Temptation of Christ” 1. * Oliver Stone, director of “Platoon”: “General Cinema (a national movie chain that has refused to run the film in its theaters) has bowed to mass hysteria and should be ashamed of its cowardice.” 2. * Gary Gould, Canadian protester: “Martin Scorsese is crucifying Christ again on celluloid.” 3. Jay Scott, film critic, Toronto Globe and Mail: “(A) courageous film that people of all religions or no religion should be able to watch with identical fascination.” 4. * Franco Zeffirelli, Italian director of “Jesus of Nazareth”: “I am a Roman Catholic myself, and therefore have a deep appreciation for the concerns expressed by a number of Christian organizations about Martin Scorsese’s controversial interpretation of Jesus’ life. . . .” 5. Michael Medved, film critic, “Sneak Previews”: “It’s the height of irony that this level of controversy could be generated by a movie this awful.” 6. * John Ford, Hazelton, Pa., town council president: “I reject the fact that Jesus Christ is depicted as a mentally deranged homosexual.” 7. John J. Ward, auxiliary bishop of the Los Angeles Roman Catholic Archdiocese: “(The depiction of Jesus in the film) is as a bumbling Christ. A Christ more of this world than of the next.” 8. Canon Garth Bulmer of the Anglican Church of Canada: “I enjoyed (the film) even though much was far-fetched. It does make you think a lot about Jesus.” 9. * William Dafoe, father of Willem Dafoe, who plays Jesus in the film: “I think a lot of people are judgmental before they have seen the picture.” 10. Unidentified film producer, at one of the film’s earliest screenings: “I think (Universal Pictures) is gonna dump the pic(ture) . . . unless it sets theaters on fire the first weekend.” NOTE: A denotes those speakers who had seen the film at the time they were quoted; a * denotes those who had not. SOURCES: Staff reports, news services and other newspapers.