Irish social climber

Rating: 7/10 (21 December 2013)

Acclaimed by many as Stanley Kubrick's finest, I think Barry Lyndon is a good film that misses being a great one due to some truly bad casting. I can only imagine such folks as Peter O'Toole, Richard Harris, and Albert Finney were off doing other projects that Ryan O'Neal was selected for the title role. Try as he might O'Neal is just way too American to fit the part of an 18th century Irishman who wishes to rise in society and not care how he does it.
I have to say that Kubrick's recreation of the 18th century in both its look and mores is nothing short of magnificent. Small wonder that Barry Lyndon won Oscars for Costume Design, Best Music Score, Cinematography and Art&Set Design. The technical aspect he nailed down beautifully.
As for O'Neal in 18th century Ireland and assuming he's a Protestant there are still limited means of opportunity. Seduced by Gay Hamilton his first love, she abandons him for marriage to a wealthy British officer. And when O'Neal refuses to leave she and her family play a very interesting trick which I won't reveal to force him to leave.
After time in both the British and Prussian armies during the Seven Years War and some lucrative years at the gaming tables, O'Neal has his turn at seduction when he beds Marisa Berenson while she's still married to the titled Frank Middlemass. Then he dies and O'Neal weds her and her money, but earns the undying enmity of her son Leon Vitali. That in fact seals his fate.
O'Neal and Berenson do have a child of their own and seeing the scenes between O'Neal and his own son made me think that Thackerey's treatment of the father/son relationship was the model for what Margaret Mitchell did with Rhett Butler and Bonnie Blue Butler in Gone With The Wind.
Kubrick opted for a full treatment of Thackerey's novel just as David O. Selznick did with Gone With The Wind. Unfortunately Ryan O'Neal just did not fit the title role as Clark Gable did with Rhett Butler.