The Agony and the Ecstasy (Random H.) Is Irving Stone's satisfying novel, full of Italian high-renaissance material—people, places, manners. It’s sanitized: Stone's problem was how to deal with Michelangelo's presumed homosexuality in mid 20thC. homophobic culture. The movie strays even further towards the silly. But it has virtues. The sets are beautiful—the designer John DeCuir recreated the Sistine Chapel as it really was—in bright colors. Charleton Heston’s performance is moving. Really. In the movie, the book, the real life, what comes through is the restless, unexamined energy of a great artist who can’t stop working, whether he’s handsome or homely, paid or not paid, gay or straight.
