The Centurion: Truly, this man was the son of God.
his accent and delivery of this line is astoundingly funny, worth sitting through the whole film just to hear it
"Dozens of people spontaneously combust each year. It's just not really widely reported."
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Director George Stevens' insistence on having all these random celebrities to do cameos is distracting, and pretty much guarantees that this movie will never be considered the definitive depiction of the Christ story.
Wayne was just the icing on the cake!
Kenneth Branagh likewise insisted on even more distracting cameos for his "Hamlet," hurting that film too, in my opinion. Starting with Jack Lemmon near the beginning, and Robin Williams near the ending, it was way too much. I personally could only sit through that one once.
If you hired John Wayne....you got John Wayne.
Let's face it, if Wayne had recited his one (and only) line, in an eloquent manner (befitting of all that had come before it) then they'd have been little point in casting him in the first place.
I get that he was mis-cast....but none of that was John Wayne's fault. These biblical epics, usually demanded 'All-Star' casts (and Wayne was still a huge star back in 1965)
If anything, he should have gave Wayne a longer scene, but had him emote more (without dialogue) that might made more sense?
Because as it stands, he was only recognizable in his 'medium range' shot *because* of both his accent and delivery.