1962 Lawrence of Arabia aka "Laurence of Olivier"

1962 Lawrence of Arabia 

T. E. Lawrence (Real life photo)

Okay, so I really need to re-watch this one.  I did watch it, I swear, during my initial phase of watching the best picture winners, but I honestly remember NOTHING.  I had to look up who starred in it, for Pete's sake.  It takes place in the desert, but then I had the title to help me with that one.

Update:  Tyler and I watched it again (well, him for the first time), and I was instantly struck again by the fact that I remembered nothing.  There he is riding his motorcycle, and I had no idea what was going to happen.  Was he going to run into a cow?  Off a cliff?  Just have a nice ride?  Turns out, he crashes and dies.  You'd think I would have remembered that.

Peter O'Toole's acting is pretty great, but otherwise I can see why I instantly forgot it.  It has absolutely nothing to hold my interest.  It pretty much follows the formula of a classic Western (which I describe as men riding around on horses being quiet, interspersed with gun fights, and sometimes a hooker with a heart of gold, or a good country woman who just can't quite get her cowboy to settle down).  Except that this an Eastern, so they're riding camels.  And there aren't even any cliched women -none at all.  I think that the addition of Meryl Streep in this story could have really improved it (more on Out of Africa later!).


I can't really recall the specifics of the plot, even after a second viewing, but Lawrence is sent to try to lead some of the tribes in a revolt against the Turks, and does quite well at it.  At one point, he is captured and tortured, and he becomes disheartened and eventually leaves.  There is a lot more too it.  I will see if I can get Tyler to write a guest review, as he was interested and paying more attention.

It was well done, and Tyler loved it, so I think it was deserving of the award for sure.  Just not my type of movie.

I have taken to thinking of the movie as Laurence of Olivier, because I have never heard Tyler refer to it once without accidentally calling it "Laurence of Olivier...Shoot!  I mean, Lawrence of Arabia."  Is must be a reflection of his secret, deeply rooted appreciation for the acting of Sir Laurence Olivier.  Perhaps he is even a closet Hamlet fan?  The world may never know.