Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

 The story of Lawrence unfolds in flashbacks after his death from a motorcycle accident. A complex man, who at first abhors violence, confronts it head on in the desert as a symptom of war. Finding his aversion a cover for his actual passion for violence, Lawrence unwittingly then determinedly becomes a hero to the Arabs. The Arabs worship and camaraderie lead to conflicting emotions as Lawrence begins to question his allegiance to Britain and his passion for the desert.  For two years he leads a guerrilla army against the Turks, spilling blood and causing havoc. Towards the end of his crusade he is a broken and changed man leading an army made up of thugs instead of people devoted to the Arab cause. Things come to a head at the massacre at the village of Tafas, where Lawrence goes mental while slaughtering the enemy. The taking of Damascus is no longer victorious as Lawrence witnesses how the Arabs are ill-suited to the task of setting up governance in Damascus and abandon the city to the British, giving them further foothold on the Ottoman Empire and erasing whatever important work Lawrence first set out to accomplish. Deflated, Lawrence is promoted to Colonel and ordered home.

A movie filled with wonderful acting and rivaled only by it's breath-taking scenery, Lawrence of Arabia is definitely a classic essential. O'Toole is absolutely gorgeous in this film. So much so that after the premiere, Noel Coward told O'Toole, "If you had been any prettier, the film would have been called Florence of Arabia".  O'Toole is surrounded by some pretty heavy hitters who also give outstanding performances- most notably Omar Sharif, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, and  José Ferrer who said, "If I was to be judged by any one film performance, it would be my five minutes in Lawrence." He must of forgotten his superb performance in Cyrano de Bergerac! Lawrence of Arabia is well worth the time it takes to watch it and I would definitely recommend!


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Funny Girl (1968) "Hello Gorgeous"

A loosely based musical biopic of Fanny Brice that’s about as accurate as The Great Ziegfeld biopic that happened to feature Fanny Brice, Funny Girl isn’t a terribly bad musical. I can say that as someone who dislikes musicals because halfway through the film the music and Fanny’s career become secondary to the melodrama that is her relationship with Arnstein. A relationship that was highly fictionalized as Ray Stark, producer of both the Broadway and the film version of Funny Girl and Fanny Brice’s son-in-law was given the difficult task of appeasing remaining family members and associates of Brice. Among the most important to not offend was Arnstein himself, he was still alive when Funny Girl became a hit and eager to sue for defamation. He was hardly the Arnstein Omar Sharif portrayed in Funny Girl. Check out Funny Girl Debunked for more information.







This was Wyler’s first musical and though I am no musical officiando, I thought the film had a nice pace despite the length of it. It was a touching love story and a credit to Streisand’s wonderful voice and sense of humor. Something I wish she had stuck with instead of becoming more dramatic and reclusive. I wouldn’t have minded seeing her do more musical numbers onstage as “His Love makes Me Beautiful” and “The Swan” were hilarious.
As for the other characters in the film, Walter Pidgeon’s Ziegfeld was hardly seen enough to comment on. Omar Sharif was suave and gentlemanly and his singing wasn’t too shabby. Kay Medford was a delight as Brice’s mother and the film could have benefited from more of her one-liners. In comparison to Streisand however, all the other characters fall to the wayside.

Pet peeve: Streisand's nails. Oy vey! You want you should scratch yourself in the face with those things?

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Gypsy (1962) A domineering mother pushes her two daughters to burlesque stardom.
Cast: Rosalind Russell, Natalie Wood, Karl Malden, Paul Wallace Dir: Mervyn LeRoy