Doctor Zhivago (1965)
There are two different types of Oscar travesties. The more memorable kind is when an undeserved performance wins the statue, like Ernest Borgnine for Marty or Renée Zellweger for Judy. The second type is when an incredible performance (or as I famously call it, a “what does it take” performance) doesn’t even get nominated. If you can believe it, Omar Sharif wasn’t even nominated for Doctor Zhivago. What does it take?
I’ve seen the television remake and own a copy of the Broadway musical soundtrack, but there’s nothing quite as magical as the splendor of the original. Condensing a 600-paged novel into a cohesive screenplay is quite a feat, and getting the audience to understand a plot set during the Russian Revolution is an even bigger one. Hats off to screenwriter Robert Bolt!
When you read up on your trivia about casting, the most remarkable bit of information is that Yul Brynner was never considered. Whether or not you feel he had the acting chops for it, he was Russian! After starring in The Brothers Karamazov, you’d think he’d have been at the top of the list. The top of the list, however, featured Peter O’Toole, director David Lean’s newest pet from Lawrence of Arabia. In one of the great Hollywood stupidities, he turned it down. Omar Sharif, also in the great desert epic, was asked to play the lead, and the rest is history. Now, of course, it’s hard to think of anyone else tackling Doctor Zhivago with as many emotions as Sharif. He had physical acting, internal acting, suffering and sacrificing, and had to deal with David Lean. As costar Alec Guinness could have warned him, Lean’s directing style was no picnic. And so, my immortal words ring out: “What does it take?”
If you’re a Julie Christie fan, you won’t want to miss one of her best performances. Not only does she look extremely beautiful, but she shows a great range contrasting the innocent scenes in the beginning with Tom Courtenay and her later scenes getting corrupted by Rod Steiger. She won an Academy Award the same year for the indie flick Darling, so you can have Christie-weekend and rent both. I love Rod Steiger in this movie; his portrayal of Komarovsky is perfect. He’s powerful and magnetic, and you can tell he has a great sense of justice: treat him right and he’ll be your best friend, but cross him and you’ll find an enemy. He’s also mature and humorous, seeing the world completely differently than the title character.
Tom Courtenay, as Pascha, is endearing and sweet. Idealistic and innocent, he gets his heart broken by who he thought was his soulmate. My favorite scene in the entire film is when he gets disillusioned. With no dialogue and filmed from outside the window, you see every emotion on his face through candlelight. Geraldine Chaplin has the famous “the stove’s out” scene that makes you cry, and Ralph Richardson is wonderfully expressive even when he’s not the focus of the scene.
Want to watch it? Click here to watch it on ok.ru. And thanks "Sara Corales" for posting!
More Alec Guinness movies here!
I’ve seen the television remake and own a copy of the Broadway musical soundtrack, but there’s nothing quite as magical as the splendor of the original. Condensing a 600-paged novel into a cohesive screenplay is quite a feat, and getting the audience to understand a plot set during the Russian Revolution is an even bigger one. Hats off to screenwriter Robert Bolt!
When you read up on your trivia about casting, the most remarkable bit of information is that Yul Brynner was never considered. Whether or not you feel he had the acting chops for it, he was Russian! After starring in The Brothers Karamazov, you’d think he’d have been at the top of the list. The top of the list, however, featured Peter O’Toole, director David Lean’s newest pet from Lawrence of Arabia. In one of the great Hollywood stupidities, he turned it down. Omar Sharif, also in the great desert epic, was asked to play the lead, and the rest is history. Now, of course, it’s hard to think of anyone else tackling Doctor Zhivago with as many emotions as Sharif. He had physical acting, internal acting, suffering and sacrificing, and had to deal with David Lean. As costar Alec Guinness could have warned him, Lean’s directing style was no picnic. And so, my immortal words ring out: “What does it take?”
If you’re a Julie Christie fan, you won’t want to miss one of her best performances. Not only does she look extremely beautiful, but she shows a great range contrasting the innocent scenes in the beginning with Tom Courtenay and her later scenes getting corrupted by Rod Steiger. She won an Academy Award the same year for the indie flick Darling, so you can have Christie-weekend and rent both. I love Rod Steiger in this movie; his portrayal of Komarovsky is perfect. He’s powerful and magnetic, and you can tell he has a great sense of justice: treat him right and he’ll be your best friend, but cross him and you’ll find an enemy. He’s also mature and humorous, seeing the world completely differently than the title character.
Tom Courtenay, as Pascha, is endearing and sweet. Idealistic and innocent, he gets his heart broken by who he thought was his soulmate. My favorite scene in the entire film is when he gets disillusioned. With no dialogue and filmed from outside the window, you see every emotion on his face through candlelight. Geraldine Chaplin has the famous “the stove’s out” scene that makes you cry, and Ralph Richardson is wonderfully expressive even when he’s not the focus of the scene.
Want to watch it? Click here to watch it on ok.ru. And thanks "Sara Corales" for posting!
More Alec Guinness movies here!
Hot Toasty Rag Awards:
Best Dramatic Screenplay of 1965
Best Musical Score: Maurice Jarre
Hot Toasty Rag Nominations:
Best Picture
Best Director: David Lean
Best Actor: Omar Sharif
Best Supporting Actor: Tom Courtenay