I’m going to begin this by saying that I AM A HUGE MOVIE BUFF*. The asterisk is there because I find myself drawn to contemporary films more often than the classics. I like to think of it as a “time management” issue. It’s really easy to say that I’ll begin catching up on older films but it’s another to actually follow through with it…

With this being said, this past week I finally sat down and watched “Lawrence of Arabia”. It was my first time and I need to give props to both Drew McWeeny at HitFix and Alex Billington at Firstshowing.net for bringing “Lawrence of Arabia” to the forefront of a larger push to view the cinematic classics that so easily get forgotten because of their age and accessibility.

Having won 7 Academy Awards and being #5 on AFI’s list of 100 movies in and of itself makes it an irrefutable fact that David Lean’s “Lawrence of Arabia” is masterpiece. To even begin to dispute this would be like saying that you would be able to manipulate dry cement like Play Doh. In an instance like this, I think it is fair to assume that there is one of two ways that you can feel about a movie like this, you either liked it or you didn’t. The actual caliber of the movie, in my mind anyways, doesn’t come in to play.

My verdict: I really liked it! In the case of ‘LofA’, as with many movie classics, they really don’t make them like they used to.

“Lawrence of Arabia” recounts the true story of T.E. Lawrence who at the beginning of the film is a British army office sent to Arabia to assess the situation with the revolt against the Turks. As the film unfolds, Lawrence falls in love with the great lands of the desert as well as the customs of the Bedouin people and ends up aiding directly in their revolt against the Turks. With a runtime of 216 minutes, there is clearly more to the story, but that is it in a nutshell.

The film stars Peter O’Toole in the lead role of T.E. Lawrence, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Omar Sharif, and Arthur Kennedy as the American journalist that launches Lawrence to prominence in the States and back home. What surprises me is that of the 7 Oscars it won, not one of them was for excellence in acting. O’Toole could not have done a better job. The movie is shot in the desert! He was onscreen at many times alone, in front of beautiful landscape, or playing off equally impressive and completely unrecognizable actors Guinness, Quinn, and Sharif.

This is a looonnng movie and O’Toole is the reason that I kept watching. It is his rise to greatness as Lawrence, the British leader of the rebels against the Turks and his lust for the land that drives this movie. From moment one when we see him atop a camel in the middle of the desert, about to drink water but then stops to tell his guide that he will refrain from drinking until he does, we get a glimpse into the beginning of his developing love affair with everything having to do with the desert. It was intoxicating and it didn’t help that the lighting was always pointed directly at his big blue eyes which helped to further reinforce his contrast in the bizarre new land.

O’Toole wasn’t the only one. Each of the supporting roles were incredible. I’m ashamed and yet amazed at the same time that I didn’t recognize Guinness and Quinn until more than halfway through the film. They were chameleons in their roles as Bedouin. Even Omar Sharif and his character’s rocky friendship with Lawrence. They dynamic was so well done in large part to Sharif’s portrayal of Sherif Ali.

Acting aside, this truly is the desert’s movie. Barely a scene goes by that doesn’t have a breathtaking view of the awe inspiring landscape. The romanticism angle of the movie is between Lawrence and the land, the people, and the culture. There is not one woman in the entire film. There is no female lead with which O’Toole must fall in love with. His woman was the desert in all it’s glory and brutality. Lawrence struggles with the rules of the land and basically turns his back on his love when it becomes too much and the violence overwhelms him. Two of the pivotal scenes were when his young aids died. One at the hands of a sink hole where Lawrence couldn’t save him and the other at Lawrence’s own gun when the youngster gets hurt bad enough to not be able to go on. Instead of leaving him alive to be captured by the Turks, the unwritten rebel law states these people must be killed to uphold their honor. These acts begin to weigh down on Lawrence and it noticeably affects his love of the land and begins to tear him up. He eventually becomes torn. Even his fair skin, underneath Bedouin clothes starts affecting him. He begins to see himself as a farce. A British soldier playing dress-up. As much as it hurts, he decides he cannot go on leading the life of a lie and turns his back on it all only to return to help move the revolt forward. In the end however, it is the desert tribes and culture that end up breaking Lawrence’s heart. Unable to rule the land amongst themselves, they give up and allow the foreign diplomats to determine the land’s fate. What a great story! And the best part about it all is that the creative team at no time felt the need to bash us over the head with it. They allowed it to happen naturally, something that is rarely done nowadays.

And last but not least, the production. What a massive undertaking this must have been. Shot on location in the desert with hundreds of extras and equally as many camels and horses, it was insane to see how well it all came together on screen. The desert conditions themselves must have been a huge factor let along the sheer number of people in some of the action sequences. Having seen many a summer blockbuster, it really made me appreciate the grandure of the production. Nowadays, films aren’t made like this. Huge sets are built on soundstages with a ton of green screens and CGI. Look at Stephen Sommers’ ‘Mummy’ movies. Set in deserts with armies and yet they would never even begin to compare on a scale with ‘Arabia’. All of the ‘LofA’ extras were real. They were all in costume and on camels or horses kicking up a bunch of sand and shooting guns or waving flags and swords. Impressive.

The bottom line: 5/5. “Lawrence of Arabia” is an indisputable classic that I really enjoyed. Push yourself to see it if you have not already. It is an impressive production in every aspect from the acting, the directing all the way to the unforgettable score.

What do you think? Did I miss anything? Is there anyone that didn’t the movie? or aspects of it? Let me know what you thought below or Twitter me @billrusnak.