"Well nil nisi bonum...."

Rating: 10/10 (16 April 2020)

Epic, this word has become part of modern day slang. So therefore it is often overused. It makes me laugh every time, because this movie is the standard of epic that makes everything else fall short. Big things have small beginnings, or so I'm told. Just like T.E. Lawrence map maker and obscure British army officer stationed in Arabia. He goes on an adventure to fight the Turks, while being assimilated into the Arab culture. The movie's director, David Lean, had a problem: how do you create Arabia and cast Arab actors. Don't, instead go to Arabia and make the locals part of your movie. Have the major speaking roles done by the best actors you can get and respect the characters they are playing. Also find the right man to play Lawrence. Who can show a man who is out of his element and does not fit in at all, and convince you he is part of his adopted culture. Cast Peter O'Toole. O'Toole is one of the best. His role takes him from the basement of British army headquarters to the charge at the Port City of Aqaba. Only a few men can make that journey, and only few actors can play that man. But sometimes you need one extra ingredient. Omar Sharif, who plays Sharif Ali, was to charge at Aqaba with O'Toole. Sharif was in his tent sitting at a table. O'Toole walks in and with Sharif still in costume looks like a nun with a mustache. Finally O'Toole asks 'what are you doing Omar?' Sharif 'I'm working out the odds Peter.' 'Odds?' 'Yes, the odds of the camel falling over during the charge, or me falling off the camel.' 'I see and what have you decided?' 'It is more likely for me to fall off the camel.' 'What are you going to do?' 'I'm going to tie myself to the camel.' 'Well Omar I'm going to get drunk.' 'Oh Peter I'm going to get drunk too.' So on the day of the charge where T.E. Lawrence leads his army against the Turkish stronghold at Aqaba. That made one reviewer call the look on O'Toole's and Sharif's face as 'Messiahanic zeal', the actors had no idea what was happening. The best scene in the movie and O'Toole doesn't know where the heck he is going, doing and riding or when to stop. Luckily the camel stopped at the ocean and the last thing O'Toole saw was Sharif's camel running up with Sharif tied to the camel but rolled over under the camel's belly. That is acting I suppose. The music is also epic, the sound of the desert, a great terrain that needs a soundtrack to bring out the grandeur of the desert. From violent heat to mind bending mirages the desert became another character in the movie. That character is under the rule of Prince Faisal, although he is warring with the Turks. Alec Guiness plays the prince, in one of the most respectful cross ethnicity portrayals you can get. People who knew the actual prince would say that Guiness' mannerisms, voice cadence, and demeanor were so close to the real prince they did not care that he was a Brit. Anthony Quinn plays Auda Abu Tayi, chief of a Bedouin tribe that joins Lawrence's cause. And in pure Quinn style steals the screen with his intensity and memorable lines. The film took two years to make, as long and as tough as the journey through the Nefud desert. However the legacy of Lawrence of Arabia is nearly incomparable. So many filmmakers marvel at it to the point where they think there is absolutely no way they can make a movie as good. If you wanted to remake it the way the original was made it would cost close to three hundred million dollars. And if you did it with special effects and modern techniques it would be so fake it would be unwatchable. I was able to watch it after hearing about it's grandeur and epic story, and I agree with the masses. It is one of the best with it's elements entertaining to this day. That includes me and it is one of my favorites.
"...home, sir."