Barabbas

Barabbas (1961) is a biblical epic you can watch online on iFILM, directed by Richard Fleischer for producer Dino De Laurentiis. Anthony Quinn plays the title character — the thief Pilate pardoned at the crowd's demand instead of Jesus — in an adaptation of Pär Lagerkvist's Nobel-awarded 1951 novel.

Quinn carries Barabbas through years of hard labor in Sicily's silver mines and eventually into the gladiatorial arena, where Jack Palance is waiting. The man survives everything. But survival doesn't answer why he was the one they chose. Ernest Borgnine, Silvana Mangano, and Arthur Kennedy round out a cast built for the film's scale.

Fleischer shot the crucifixion sequence during an actual solar eclipse — the sky went dark on camera, for real. That one detail captures what separates this from standard sword-and-sandal fare: it treats the story as history, not pageant. Stream Barabbas online at iFILM.