Wednesday, January 29, 2014

433. Dr. Zhivago

Dr. Zhivago
1965
Directed by David Lean









First Vinyl, now this; it is like a one two punch of horrible films.  And we had such a good streak going....

So a sappy affair goes on against the backdrop of the Russian Revolution and World War I while I slowly die inside.  The plot is obviously a lot more complicated than that and fans of the movie are probably turning over in their graves (I say graves because I don't know anyone alive who likes this film).

I am not one to shy away from romance films (although you might be faced with a hissy fit if you tried to make me watch a Nicholas Sparks movie) but this was a little too much for me even at the best of times.  That's not to say this film is without its merits.  The score and the scenery is beautiful.

There, I played nice.  Just a complete snoozefest.

RATING: **---

Interesting Facts:

Panned by critics upon its release though it was popular with the general public.  David Lean swore never to make a film again.

8th highest grossing film of all time.

Peter O'Toole was offered a role in the film but declined because of his poor experience with David Lean in Lawrence of Arabia.  This caused a lifelong rift between the two of them.

Trailer:


8 comments:

  1. Oh serious yawn time...
    .. and this was SO big at release time, so good, so moving.. but a real clock watcher and 'I'm going to do some dusting, tidying up, maybe go shopping' one for me.

    More generation gap stuff.. I had to look up who/what Nicholas Sparks was. Non of the film mentioned meant anything to me, but the rather pink and girly tone of the poster/dvd covers used to illustrate told me most of what I did (or didn't) want to know.

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    1. Oh I know; same for me! No one can do boring films like Lean although Kubrick might give him a run for his money.

      I have only seen The Notebook (which was based on a book by Nicholas Sparks) and it was slightly nauseating. But I did like Titanic and Moulin Rouge! so I do sometimes go for the romantic stuff.

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  2. Six months later, and I still know very little about Nicholas sparks.. other tha.. because you mentioned a film of his called 'The Notebook'.. I seem to keep hearing it referenced in things like 'Big Bang Theory'.. in the context that.. Say.. Penny & Leonard, or more likely Sheldon and Amy.. are arguing that the other won't do things they like.. and the male partner will retort "Hey, come on, I sat through 'The Notebook' with you"
    I'm starting to get the picture, and it's not one I like..

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    1. Haha that is pretty much all you need to know about it. Females supposedly love it and then force their boyfriends to watch it. James Garner was in it; I was so sad to hear that he died.

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  3. He he.. As I said elsewhere.. I did reluctantly watch 'The Notebook' at last, .. Well, it was only a matter of pence in a charity shop, and it is .. shall we say .. well known. As yu say, the sort of film girly type girly girls make boyfriends watch thinking it's romntic, when in fact it's rather cloying sweetly sick.

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    1. And doesn't he threaten to kill himself at an amusement park if she doesn't agree to go out with him? How...sweet.

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  4. Well, absolutly. Didn't you think that, even for those days, that was weird creepy / stalking / emotional blackmail / total asshole type behaviour?
    And with so many of that type of film, she at first reluctantly says no, then relents and falls into his arms... What sort of lesson are we teaching about how men should behave and women should react to said actions.
    But it seems to work.
    So that's why I haven't got lucky for some time..

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  5. I quite agree with you on this one. It is very much a soap opera, something better suited for a TV mini-series than a feature movie. Plus I kept getting annoyed with Sharif's character.

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