Rating: Summary: Awesome! Review: You can read the story of the movie from just about any other review on these pages. I simply want to add my vote to the growing collection of right-thinking people who believe and know that this a truly stupendous, awe-inspiring movie, plotwise and filmingwise and musicwise. And please, God forbid, if you can't get a wide-screen edition, don't bother to watch the film! This is one of the few wide-screen movies that have been made that really, absolutely have to have widescreen - the width of the film is actually part of the story-telling, and cutting the sides off and giving yourself a smaller picture is just as bad to the storytelling as if you cut out the volume.This is in my top 10 favorite movies (right up there with Citizen Kane, The Thing, 2001, Clockwork Orange...), as it should be on yours. It's just plain brilliant. And it has Alec Guinness, and that's worth the price of a ticket right there.
Rating: Summary: Costly Review: Still a wonderful movie. Enjoyed watching and will watch again soon. A bit costly though. Cleopatra, released the same day, was half the cost. Anybody got a glass of water?
Rating: Summary: An Extraordinary Film!!!!!!! Review: I have no doubt that this is an excellent film, an extarordinary one!! It combines famous actors such as Alec Guiness, Anthony Quinn, Omar Sharrif..... And starring Peter O'Toole as "Lawrence." This movie truly shows how the arabs were in the period of World War 1 and how they were unable to govern Damascus because of their lack of experience in governing and because they were divided into tribes. This is truly a must see movie for all viewers interested in History and civilizations.
Rating: Summary: A film that must be seen Review: I will not write what so may have written so i will just say that this is a true masterpiece.Great direction,great acting,great script..just a fantastic piece of art.This film is now immortal like so many others (ben-hur,Spartacus etc..) on dvd.Time will not fade this one away now.I'm 24...I assume many of us our in this age bracket...This film,like the others are here...We can see the greatest films ever made now..Films made before our time,Films that we owe it to ourselves to see.
Rating: Summary: Enter the Desert Review: This is truly one of the best examples of a film masterpiece around. It leads you into the vastness of the desert, and it is glorious. Peter O' Toole is 100% Lawrence in his film debut as the fabled T.E. Lawrence. Omar Shariff, and the rest of the all star all great cast back-up Toole superbly. Praise the AFI for having this film on their list!
Rating: Summary: A Masterpiece for the Ages Review: David Lean and Peter O'Toole combined to produce one of the greatest character studies in cinema history. O'Toole captures the tortured mind of T.E. Lawrence, the eccentric British officer who united the bedouin tribes of Arabia against the Turks in World War I. While the historical accuracy of English involvement in Arabian politics may be questioned, the depiction of one of history's most complex characters is beyond reproach. Lawrence is at once a reflective scholar, a reluctant warrior, and driven messiah. He is a man consumed by personal drive, ego, and arrogance in the vortex of war. The production values of the movie are impeccable. The acting and direction are outstanding; yet they pale before the cinematography and musical score. Maurice Jarre, through eloquent musical composition, gives voice to both the man and the desert. Jarre's crisp, syncopated musical rhythms vividly portray the exotic Arabian culture that so appealed to Lawrence. The majestic moments of the score, however, are reserved for the desert. Jarre's sweeping orchestrations blend with David Lean's expansive visual images to evoke the haunting beauty of the vast, harsh, and unforgiving deserts of the Middle East. This unforgettable synergy of sight and sound is perhaps the finest ever recorded on film. This is a masterpeice for the ages!
Rating: Summary: A True Great Which Would Never Be Made Today This Well Review: This is the sort of film that is, whichever way you look at it, whatever your interests in the true story this is based on, really very good indeed. It centres around the life of TE Lawrence (a dazzling central performance by Peter O'Toole), a character who led an Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. His superiors see him as an undisciplined waste of time, disliking his insubordination and lack of willingness to the rules (as one extremely amusing scene at the start when Lawrence is consigned to go to try and assist the uprising against the Turks), and his equals see him as a bit of an eccentric. When Lawrence goes to try and assist in the Arab revolt, he meets up with headstrong young Arab Sheriff Ali (Omar Sharif, giving off the best performance of the movie), and manages to get both the help of the various tribes and that of the Arab leader, the enigmatic Prince Feisel (Alec Guinness, rather underused but, in one scene where he meets Lawrence, really quite good), in order to take several of the main Turkish cities. Mocked but also feared when he returns by the soldiers, he becomes a changed man, who quite willingly would kill (the scene where he tells Jack Hawkins how he personally enjoyed killing some people is excellent, with O'Toole performing extremely well), whereas at the start his superiors saw him as both a fool and insubordinate. It is unclear what David Lean's morals are, perhaps that the man who does not simply follow orders and does what he thinks is right is correct, as Lawrence finds himself consistently going against what the officers tell him yet still achieving better than was originally intended. There is a solid supporting cast, with all performing to the best of their abilities, Anthony Quinn is his best role ever as a headstrong Arab chieftain, and Arthur Kennedy as a media-hungry journalist desperate for a story turning Lawrence into a hero. This could have been deathly dull. There is nothing pointing to love interest, no huge battles, not even much by way of dialogue, and it does not conclude fully either. Lawrence, a homosexual, is hinted at this with his "poncy" attitude (which cleverly changes very believably by O'Toole), his willingness to accept servants which were in fact rent boys in reality and his frankly ridiculous dress, which could suggest he's just like the Arabs, but in fact is willingly wearing it, and enthusiastically prancing around in it in the scene where the train is attacked. The real character of Lawrence is not really performed, with it just seeming to be a homosexual stereotype slowly turning into an ordinary man, willing to see death when he was once afraid of it. But in Lawrence of Arabia, a story is being told, simply, frankly, and with beautiful desert shots and a truly excellent score. The image of Ali coming out of nowhere in the "mirage" scene is a truly great scene in cinema history, and ranks along the shower scene in Psycho. It has direction as beautiful as any you would see, and the long, inspiring desert shots would be truly breathtaking in the cinema. Very little is wrong with this film, which is a classic adventure story riddled with sub-plots (Lawrence's slow acceptance to the Arab ways, the superiors initial dislike for Lawrence eventually becoming a respect), but the plot is not really important to the film. After all, there are hardly plots to what happens in real life.
Rating: Summary: Great story, great actors Review: This is certainly one of the movies that I would call art. Perfect story, great actors. It belogns to me in the category of Cleopatra, Ben Hur and Gladiator. For a long rainy afternoon exactly the right thing. And always entertaining again. I like exspecially the added scened that are not available on the standard DVDs or VHS formats
Rating: Summary: one of the only good epics ever Review: i was totally hesitant to watch this movie some years ago but when i came upon owning a widescreen director's cut of the movie, i decided to watch it. it's everything it's cracked up to be. excellent directino by lean, great acting, excellent script. the long running time is well worth the watch. i highly recommend
Rating: Summary: A Grand Epic Review: I really can't say anything about this movie that hasn't been said before. I'm very pleased with the quality of the DVD and I feel like it brings the movie to life. I've always loved the old epics that they made in the fifties and sixties. This is one of the best ones. While it may seem a little dated by todays standards (i.e. the violence is too neat and the technical details are off such as the Turks using American machine-guns etc.) it's well acted, intelligently written and beautiful to look at. My wife bought this copy for me as a suprise and what a great suprise it was. I do believe that's all I can say. Enjoy.
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