Dr. Zhivago......Movie Club

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Mother! Oh, God! Mother! Blood!
I watched this once with my parents when I was a kid and thought it was the most boring thing I had ever seen. Before watching it the other night, I realized I wasn't mature enough to understand it as a kid and hoped I would enjoy it this time around.

When I started it, I feared the 3 hours and 20 minutes would have me asleep within the first 20 minutes. However, I made it through the entire movie without even the slightest heavy eyelids. Of course, watching it over two sittings helped.

The things that I think interested me were the incredible history of the time being portrayed, the beautiful cinematography, and wonderful acting by all those involved.

This film was nominated for 11 Oscars and won 5. The five wins were for technical things like cinematography, score, screen adaptation, etc. Sometimes I don't understand the Academy. 1965 was a crazy year. The Sound of Music won for Best Pic and Best Dir., deservedly so, in my humble opinion, but Julie Andrews, who had won the previous year for Mary Poppins, which made her the favorite, didn't win for Best Actress. Julie Christie won Best Actress, but not for Dr. Zhivago. Christie won for her role in John Schlesinger's social satire, Darling. Christie wasn't even nominated for Dr. Zhivago! I've seen Darling (see my review Here) and it STUNK! Also, Omar Sharif wasn't even nominated, and I thought he was terrific! But guess who won the Best Actor award that year? Lee Marvin for Cat Ballou! (anybody see it?)

Okay, anyhoo, this is an epic period piece that does a good job of showing the history of the Russian revolution through the eyes of Sharif's character. The film doesn't "take off" until Zhivago witnessess the peaceful demonstrators being slaughtered in the streets. The storyline is a little complicated if you the viewer isn't familiar with the history, and there seems to be a lot of relationships and Russian names to keep track of, but overall, the story is very powerful.
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I love this movie When I first saw it years ago I thought it was so romantic.

I really think that Julie Christie & Omar Sharif have done better, that didn't turn me off there characters at all. In fact I thought that Omar was very cute in this.

I thought Rod Steiger & Alec Guiness were quite good and seemed relaxed in the roles.

Visually I loved it.
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saw zhivago a couple years ago, just struck me as a fair-good love story with awesome cinematography. cant really judge how good a job the movie did of telling history as i havent read much russian history, but it might be telling that the movie didnt really do much for me in the way of acquainting me with the times, so to speak (unlike, for example another lean epic, lawrence of arabia, which at least left me with a broader impression of the times (but again how accurate this impression was i only have a vague notion of...)).

best part of the movie for me is the trainride - and keep your eyes open for the cantankerous klaus kinski in the role of an ubiquitous prison laborer...

the ice house was also pretty neat.



Mother! Oh, God! Mother! Blood!
Originally Posted by linespalsy
...and keep your eyes open for the cantankerous klaus kinski in the role of an ubiquitous prison laborer...
Is he the same actor that plays the hunchback in For a Few Dollars More? One of the best scenes in that film is when Lee Van Cleef strikes the match on his ear.



Originally Posted by Mark
Is he the same actor that plays the hunchback in For a Few Dollars More? One of the best scenes in that film is when Lee Van Cleef strikes the match on his ear.
none other, and that's my favorite scene too. good eyes, mark. if you like kinski, be sure to check out, 'aguirre: the wrath of god', 'woyzeck', 'nosferatu', and 'cobra verde'.