Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Movie: 'Lawrence of Arabia'
Genre: Dramedy with a heaping spoonful of Epic
Rating: 8.0
What a sausagefest.
'A little more schnitzel, sir?'
'No, thank you, my plate is full.'
Apparently there was a 00.3/99.7 girl to guy ratio. And even that gal didn't get to speak a line.
I kinda liked this movie though. It had real honest train wrecks and a heap'um big gaggle of soldiers, it felt like close to ten thousand soldiers lined up into 2 lines just smashing into each other. Kaboom. We love that. And the s'ploding trainwrecks. They should throw some Hendrix over those in the special edition.
Peter O'Tool is a superstar in this thing. I don't know if there's any existing footage of the real D.H. Lawrence, but O'Tool is the real deal. He does this thing with his eyes that makes me pause the movie to make more popcorn. His character is kinda like 'William Randolf Hearst' or 'Citizen Kane of Arabia'. He is a wibble wobble nutcase that everyone loved to kick back with. At one point he's staring calmly down at a dying Turk who is trying to fire a few rounds into his melon. Invincablity complex and all that, oh yeah, and again with the eyes. I think they ripped this off in 'Shanghai Noon' (2000) where Owen Wilson makes it through a barrage of bullets unscathed. Then think's he's invincable and all that, except for the eyes.
Lawrence: 'I'm not hurt at all. Didn't you know? They can only kill me with a golden bullet.'
Maybe a better comparison would be 'Patton' (1970). Totally a better comparison. Ignore all that bubble gum in the last paragraph, it makes me look shallow... And I'm, like, totally pretending to be educated right now.
Lawrence's own book, 'Seven Pillars of Wisdom' was the prime, almost only source for the screen-play. It is a long book, diffuse and detailed. Ten different dramas could be got from it. To choose which tenth you are going to take for your drama is an impudent exercise but must be done. You will choose of course what seems to you the most important tenth. Which tenth seems to you the most important, and why, will depend on yourself, not Lawrence…
I totally just stole that quote from the screenwriter, Robert Bolt. But it's certainly fancy. Chew on that, mofo's.
Alec Guiness is in this movie, but his gettup was so distracting. Everytime he's on screen I feel like it's Peter Sellers doing an impression of Alec Guiness doing an impression of an Arab. It made me a little dizzy, and I think I missed a fair part of the movie 'cause my mind wandered to how Peter Sellers rocks like the Ramones.
The re-release I rented was 'seen as the director meant you to see it'. This means that you listen to the overture played behind a blank screen for 10 MINUTES before we see picture. At the intermission too. Really? That's retarded. I tried to listen to the opening overture, but I only made it through because I had my David Sedaris book with me. Fastfowarded through the intermission, you can't hold me prisoner, Mr. Director. I think you're dead now anyhow. This added to the already painful 210 minutes of desert and C.O. headquarters. People aren't built for that anymore. It took me 2 nights to get through this one.
Anyway, to finish, I gave this movie an extra ratings boost because of the subtle anti-war message and the carmelized epicness.
Lawrence: 'Nothing is written.'
Genre: Dramedy with a heaping spoonful of Epic
Rating: 8.0
What a sausagefest.
'A little more schnitzel, sir?'
'No, thank you, my plate is full.'
Apparently there was a 00.3/99.7 girl to guy ratio. And even that gal didn't get to speak a line.
I kinda liked this movie though. It had real honest train wrecks and a heap'um big gaggle of soldiers, it felt like close to ten thousand soldiers lined up into 2 lines just smashing into each other. Kaboom. We love that. And the s'ploding trainwrecks. They should throw some Hendrix over those in the special edition.
Peter O'Tool is a superstar in this thing. I don't know if there's any existing footage of the real D.H. Lawrence, but O'Tool is the real deal. He does this thing with his eyes that makes me pause the movie to make more popcorn. His character is kinda like 'William Randolf Hearst' or 'Citizen Kane of Arabia'. He is a wibble wobble nutcase that everyone loved to kick back with. At one point he's staring calmly down at a dying Turk who is trying to fire a few rounds into his melon. Invincablity complex and all that, oh yeah, and again with the eyes. I think they ripped this off in 'Shanghai Noon' (2000) where Owen Wilson makes it through a barrage of bullets unscathed. Then think's he's invincable and all that, except for the eyes.
Lawrence: 'I'm not hurt at all. Didn't you know? They can only kill me with a golden bullet.'
Maybe a better comparison would be 'Patton' (1970). Totally a better comparison. Ignore all that bubble gum in the last paragraph, it makes me look shallow... And I'm, like, totally pretending to be educated right now.
Lawrence's own book, 'Seven Pillars of Wisdom' was the prime, almost only source for the screen-play. It is a long book, diffuse and detailed. Ten different dramas could be got from it. To choose which tenth you are going to take for your drama is an impudent exercise but must be done. You will choose of course what seems to you the most important tenth. Which tenth seems to you the most important, and why, will depend on yourself, not Lawrence…
I totally just stole that quote from the screenwriter, Robert Bolt. But it's certainly fancy. Chew on that, mofo's.
Alec Guiness is in this movie, but his gettup was so distracting. Everytime he's on screen I feel like it's Peter Sellers doing an impression of Alec Guiness doing an impression of an Arab. It made me a little dizzy, and I think I missed a fair part of the movie 'cause my mind wandered to how Peter Sellers rocks like the Ramones.
The re-release I rented was 'seen as the director meant you to see it'. This means that you listen to the overture played behind a blank screen for 10 MINUTES before we see picture. At the intermission too. Really? That's retarded. I tried to listen to the opening overture, but I only made it through because I had my David Sedaris book with me. Fastfowarded through the intermission, you can't hold me prisoner, Mr. Director. I think you're dead now anyhow. This added to the already painful 210 minutes of desert and C.O. headquarters. People aren't built for that anymore. It took me 2 nights to get through this one.
Anyway, to finish, I gave this movie an extra ratings boost because of the subtle anti-war message and the carmelized epicness.
Lawrence: 'Nothing is written.'
posted by Kong at
10:00 AM
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