I´ve had waaaaaay too many people bugging me to write about my favorite movie...ok, so it was more like two people, but humor me as I try to do justice to this one. I first saw Lawrence of Arabia back in college. Contrary to popular belief I did NOT watch the premiere in 1962. But I did manage to catch it on Lafayette, Indiana´s midnight cultural bonanza called "Late Night Movies". My first impression could be summed up in a shrug. Good, but not great. But two years later I was dragged to a re-release of it on the big screen. From the opening desert shots I knew I was hooked...I mean a full on light-of-heaven-angels-singing kind of cinematic revelation. It became then, and still is me favorite flick of all time.
Unlike the visually pretty dung heaps that war movies can usually turn into (*cough* Pearl Harbor *cough*) Lawrence of Arabia uses the battles and military struggles as a backdrop for awesome character development. Peter O'Toole gives his career-making performance as the legendary T.E Lawrence, and displays the good and evil war can bring out in average men's psyches with scary perfection. Following the exploits of Lawrence during his World War I adventures in the Middle East, the director David Lean gives us not only one of the best war stories of all time but also the best looking (non-CG) scenery ever to hit da big screen.
Go. Rent it. But be warned, it's not the same. Gotta see this one while shushing bored teenagers and trying peel your sneakers off the soda-enameled floors of the cinema. Most directors argue that's the only way to watch EVERY movie, but for this one it holds true.
(As a sidenote to my friend who looked at this and emailed me asking me for my High-Fidelity-esque Top 5 War Movies list....)
Top 5 War Movies that Don't Suck:
1 Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
2 Patton (1970)
3 The Bridge on the River Kwai (1956)
4 Saving Private Ryan (1998)
5 Platoon (1986)
