The Two Thieves
The crucifixion scene in this movie is one of the best to be found on the screen but, as usual, I'm a bit disappointed in the casting of the two thieves. Most movies show them to be hairy, rough-looking men in their 20s or 30s or even 40s. This has the effect of making Jesus look more sensitive, more vulnerable, more pathetic in comparison.
But crime is a young man's game. Check your local newspaper and you'll find that a large per-centage of crimes are committed by males ranging in age from mid-teens to mid-20s. This would probably be true in the days of the Roman Empire as well. In fact, because of shorter life spans and because people at that time reached adulthood more quickly -- none of that lingering period which we now call "adolescence" -- it seems quite likely that the two thieves were teenagers.
However, casting a 17-year-old and an 18-year-old as the thieves would serve to make Jesus (in his early 30s) look less vulnerable. Some attention would be diverted from him and directed instead to the thieves. "Why, look, they're just boys!" So the tradition continues that the thieves, by Roman standards, must be middle-aged men.