Simply A Masterpiece

One of my all time favorites.

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

*Spoiler/plot- John in Exile, 1986. Explores the last and only of Christ's apostles to not be martyred while we see his life in Roman exile to eventual release to preach to the world.*Special Stars- Dean Jones.*Theme- Keeping you life and mind on God will help you in life.*Trivia/location/goofs- One man filmed live theater presentation.*Emotion- A thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining experience from a early 60's Disney actor that shows us his wide range of emotional acting, staging, and illustrative performance to educate any audience on this historic figure and holy disciple.*Based On-The Gospels of St John in the new testament and on lore.

The ordinary DVD cover for St. John in Exile belies the incredibly impressive and unforgettable performance of Dean Jones, who manages to give 110% in glorifying God through his solo role as St John, the last survivor of Jesus's 12 apostles.Dean Jones (who went to be with the Lord in 2015) manages to not only remember his lines, but give so much passion and emotion on stage, and get into several characters. Yes, this was performed live, and in fact St. John in Exile toured the USA, with Dean performing each time. There are some humorous moments, and the audience cracked up over the locust in the teeth line.I wonder how Dean managed to remember all his lines, his cues, the blocking, and so on. God was with him as he prepared to be on stage.

For those of you who think of Dean Jones as the amiable lightweight hero of a few Disney films, you are in for a jolting, but pleasant surprise should you see St. John In Exile. This is his one man show, done in the style of James Whitmore as Will Rogers and Harry S. Truman. Jones who was 55 when this filmed record of a live performance was made, is made up to look all of the 86 years old that the Apostle John was living over on the Island of Patmos.As it is written, John was living in a cave there, essentially under house arrest. He's the last survivor of that selected group of men that Jesus collected as followers and charged with the responsibility of spreading his new interpretation of the Jewish faith. As John points out it was the Romans who gave the name 'Christian' to those who followed the new interpretation.John's living alone with occasional visitors from the outside. Living with both his memories which he shares with visitors. He talks of the message of Jesus and the miracles of Jesus. He goes into a poignant first person account of the arrest, trial, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus, Jones really does make you think he was there.The biggest miracle he says is that Jesus had to have been the Messiah because he took essentially unlearned men and made them the most powerful preachers of all time. John goes into quite a bit about his own background, he and his brother Andrew were just fishermen, Matthew a tax collector, etc. It's cost him dear, his faith. John goes through the litany of what happened to the people he broke bread with that fateful Passover night. Why was he alone spared like Melville's Ishmael to tell the tale?John comes to the conclusion there is still work to do. To write about the visions he's seen in the cave, a portend of things to come. But even more importantly to put down his own first hand account of his time with Jesus. Another gospel needs to be written, one aimed at a universal message, not one specifically directed at convincing the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah come to earth.At 86 John realizes his life may have been rich and full of triumph and tragedy, but he's still got plenty to do while he's here on earth and in full possession of his faculties.St. John In Exile is a good film, fully deserving of a wider audience than the Christian circuit it primarily played on. Jones may just have given his finest performance on film with this work.

I recently watched this film for the first time. I found it very well done. The acting, by Dean Jones, was very impressive. I felt the scene where he portrayed the crucifixion was the best I had ever seen. It brought home to me just how much Jesus did for me when He died on the cross. I would recommend this movie to anyone who wants to know the greatness of Jesus. Jones portrays St. John as a real person. He does a marvelous job changing voices as he speaks of the different people. His humour adds to the character a great deal. The lighting and music was also well done. I would recommend this movie to everyone, even those who do not choose to believe in Jesus.