Sometimes the universe leaves you a message.

In the four decades since it made its debut on Palm Sunday and Easter of 1977, I’ve watched Franco Zeffirelli’s Jesus of Nazareth in bits and pieces far more often than I’ve watched the whole thing.

Maurice Jarre, the French-born composer who won Oscars for his powerfully evocative scores for the David Lean epics “Lawrence of Arabia, “Doctor Zhivago and “A Passage to India,” has died. He was 84.

French-born composer Maurice Jarre’s career spans 50 years and a staggering 135 scores for pics as diverse as David Lean’s “Lawrence of Arabia,” “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome,” “Fatal Attraction” and ...