IDSG Bonus 41 The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968) (Patreon)

Daniel and I continue our new theme (movies about Popes) with an unexpected consideration of 1968's MGM release The Shoes of the Fisherman, a now largely forgotten and self-consciously prestigious Cold War / Papacy drama. Anthony Quinn plays a saintly Russian dissident who stumbles bass-ackwards onto the Papal throne and has to try to cooperate with the premier of the USSR (Laurence Olivier) and the new Chinese dictator (Bert Kwouk) to avert a very vague threat of a nuclear war... in one of the most eccentric depictions of both the Vatican and geopolitics we've ever seen. A very mixed 'odd duck' of a film (a curate's egg, even) but a fun discussion.

The Shoes of the Fisherman (film) - Wikipedia