MOVIECLUB #6 - Due Monday 6/08: Lawrence of Arabia

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Film director Steven Spielberg considers this his favorite movie of all time, and the one which convinced him to become a film maker. Screenwriter William Monahan, who scripted Kingdom of Heaven and The Departed, among others, is a fan of Robert Bolt and has stated on numerous occasions that viewing Lawrence is what inspired him to be a screenwriter. The use of the locations in Almería, Spain for the train sequences and others made that region popular with international film makers. Most famously, it became the setting of virtually all of the Spaghetti Westerns of the '60s and '70s, specifically those of Sergio Leone.


Lawrence of Arabia won 7 Oscars
* Academy Award for Best Picture — Sam Spiegel
* Academy Award for Best Director — David Lean
* Academy Award for Best Art Direction — John Box, John Stoll and Dario Simoni
* Academy Award for Best Cinematography — Freddie Young
* Academy Award for Original Music Score — Maurice Jarre
* Academy Award for Film Editing — Ann V. Coates
* Academy Award for Sound — John Cox

It was also nominated for
* Academy Award for Best Actor — Peter O'Toole
* Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor — Omar Sharif
* Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay — Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson



American Film Institute recognition
* 1998 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies #5
* 2005 AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores #3
* 2008 AFI's 10 Top 10 - #1 "Epic film"


more info TBA




Recommended Double-Feature: Doctor Zhivago (1965)

More Suggestions:
A Man for All Seasons (1964)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia (1990)
El Cid (1961)
The Longest Day (1962)
Zulu (1964)
For a Few Dollars More (1965)

Additional Double Feature Suggestions:

A Passage To India
Ryan's Daughter
Empire Of The Sun
Dune (Dune was an abandoned Lean project and might as well be Lawrence In Space)

This is the kind of film that validates the phrase "They don't make em like they used to".
Modern biopics are so insular and formulaic, even the better ones like Walk the Line and Capote. This is so broad, so in-depth, regardless of the cinematography and soundtrack, it's also a great character study.

i hope this doesn't further stagnate Movie Club--but i noticed that the Paramount Theatre here in town is showing Lawrence of Arabia this summer... I think I'm going to hold off on renting it and see it (for my first time ever) on the big screen

Oh you lucky ...

I'm very jealous.

annnnnd the screening happened to fall on my birthday...... needless to say, i was otherwise preoccupied.. fortunately, however, Sony remastered the film in high-def and we should hear a release date for the blu-ray soon...

SO i will see this movie............eventually