Rivals The Godfather and Citizen Cane

Rating: 10/10 (17 March 2012)

The American Film Institute awarded Peter O'Toole the distinction of greatest performance by an actor in the history of cinema for his performance as Lawrence. Also, director David Lean and crew picked up more all-time top tens for this film than any other. So you might ask why it gets less attention? For one, it does bog down a bit 3/4th of the way through, that, and it has no parts for women, unless you count three seconds dragging off the mens' leftover food, and four seconds of ululating from a distant hillside, or playing dead after the rape and massacre of a village. I suppose I can understand why female movie buffs are less enthralled by this all-guy war adventure than I am.
I was only ten years of age when my Mom took me to see this in 1962, and I was affected so utterly by Lawrence as David Lean and O'Toole created him, that I could not endure to see the film end after two and a half hours. (The director's cut is longer for you lucky DVD owners). In the final reel, as Lawrence hitches a ride in a motorcar back to the port where he'll return to England, he sees a few Bedouins riding their camels and he takes a long look back once they pass. At that moment, knowing that, like Lawrence, I was about to leave the romance of war in the desert too, I felt a bond so complete that no hero would ever replace Lawrence of Arabia for me. As Lawrence approaches 50, I have been a cinema fan ever since; but of the thousand odd movies I've seen, although some do come close, this is my favorite movie ever.