He was nothing. The well is everything.
- Lawrence of Arabia (1964)
One of the greatest cinematic scenes in movie history. And no wonder. To film Omar Sharif’s entrance through a mirage, Panavision created a 482mm lens specifically for this one shot as envisaged by David Lean, the director.
It has never been used since.
With my parents, I saw it at a small neighborhood theatre in Jackson, MS. At intermission, we were served free Coke.
ReplyDeleteOh, had to wear a suit. Good old days, for sure.
One of my favorite movies. I must have seen it 20 times.
ReplyDeleteA classic movie for all time. Also gives much insight about today's world. Folks would do well to watch it. See all those straight lines on the maps of that place? Drawn by white guys.
ReplyDeleteFun trivia--at the 5:20 mark, when Omar Shariff is pulling the bag from the well, he had the crew sew the rifle sling to his costume so he wouldn't drop the rifle.
David Lean was a genius. I finally saw “A Passage to India,” less well-known, but another grownup movie of his. Almost all of today’s flicks are crap. I miss the actors of those days, too: Stewart, Marvin, Mitchum, Wayne, Holden, Hawkins, and many others. Do check out Richard Attenborough as RSM Lauderdale in “Guns at Batasi”.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite scene is when they attack and blow up the train.
ReplyDeleteI think I saw a documentary that showed the wrecked train still there.
DeleteLawrence and his Arabs blew up several trains, and more than one of their carcasses still lay in the desert. The event in the movie was said to be created out several of those attacks.
DeleteI have a piece of the Hejaz railway. When I PCS’d out of Saudi Arabia, it was the unit custom to give a plaque-mounted (small) cross-section of a rail.
Dad saw it at an Army base in West Germany when it was first released. Some one arranged for a (retired) British officer who had served with Lawrence to give a short talk during intermission.
ReplyDeleteWhen the film was re-released in the '80s I took Dad to see it at D.C.'s Uptown Theater. 70mm projector at (at the time) best sound system in any D.C. theater. Good times.
This movie has been on one of the pay movie channels on Comcast over the last year or so. I watch it every chance I get. Very well done movie, especially compared to the offerings foisted on us these days. Today's "actors" don't have a smidgen of the talent of the bunch mentioned by DH above.
ReplyDeleteNemo
There's even more to it.
ReplyDeleteThe art department spent a day painting the sand out to several hundred yards from the well to make the dark patches, contrasting with the lighter ones, which all pointed out Sharif's (aka Cairo Fred) entrance ride.
David Lean literally painted a desert panorama like a cartoon, and did it in live action.
For one shot.
He also tested dozens of actors for Lawrence, until a casting director told him about O'Toole, then 27 and appearing in a play in England, whom Lean decided was perfect for the role, which became his motion picture debut, in one of the all-time Top Ten Greatest Movies Ever made, and setting O'Toole on an incredible 40-year career that would see him nominated for Best Actor eight times before AMPAS finally acknowledged the obvious and gave him an honorary Oscar in 2002.