1962: A Very Memorable Oscar Year
"Lawrence of Arabia" was nominated for ten Oscars and won seven, including Best Picture, in 1962.
By Alan Herrmann
MOVIE CRITIC
It’s wintertime in East Aurora, New York and I’m waiting in a very long line with my siblings and my dad to see a movie I know little about. My dad was set on seeing it—it’s an Academy Award winner, after all—and even waiting in a line stretching down the block in freezing weather was going to be worth it.
Once inside the classic Aurora Theater, I take in the rounded metal-backed cushioned chairs and crimson curtain covering the large screen. The smell of popcorn permeates the air, and the full house is bursting with excited chatter. After we’re seated the curtain opens, revealing the large screen that starts showing coming attractions.
Then the main feature begins, and I watch this guy drive off on a motorcycle going very fast down a country road. He swerves to miss a group of girls on bicycles and is thrown from his motorcycle. The next scene is a funeral for this guy, and I’m confused because this is the main character, and he’s knocked off in the first five minutes!
Moments later, the guy, whose name is Lawrence, is alive and well and wearing a military uniform. I’m a bit bored at this point because there’s a lot of talking going on and I like action.
But then something very unusual happens: the screen abruptly jumps from a close-up of Lawrence inside an office to a massive, bright orange sun bordered on the bottom by a large stretch of sand. A tiny spec appears to be moving across the sand and then the most powerful music I’d ever heard sweeps over me. Rich strings and booming timpani pull me in. The camera draws closer to the figure, who turns out to be Lawrence riding a camel. I’m no longer in a theater in cold, wintery East Aurora, but in a very hot desert with Lawrence, Lawrence of Arabia.
I’m sweating, very thirsty, and mesmerized by what I’m seeing and feeling.
It’s a very long movie. Once it’s over, we don our winter gear again, head out into the frigid Western New York weather, and pile into the station wagon. We are all still very thirsty, so dad stops at the store and grabs a six pack of Orange Crush in the tall bottles. After we get home, we drink our Crush, and I pretend I just walked through the desert like Lawrence and the kid who gets rewarded with a glass of lemonade after they get to the officer’s club.
Although I’m sure I couldn’t express it very well at the time, this was probably the first time I felt how powerful a movie could be, and I would love them from then on.
“Lawrence of Arabia” would win seven Oscars in 1963 including music score, cinematography, director, and best picture. David Lean, one of the greatest British directors, who had won several Oscars for “The Bridge on the River Kwai” a few years earlier, was at the top of his game when he made “Lawrence of Arabia.”
David Lean was a meticulous filmmaker who enlisted some of the best for the production, including Robert Bolt to write the script, cinematographer Freddie Young —who would shoot over 130 films in his career—and Maurice Jarre, who composed what many believe to be the best film score ever written.
Lean also filled his movie with some of the finest actors of the time including Omar Sharif, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Jack Hawkins, Anthony Quayle, Arthur Kennedy, José Ferrer, and Claude Rains. The cast lives up to expectations playing fictional and non-fictional characters as befits an epic, historical film.
After several actors showed interest in the title role, including Montgomery Clift, Marlon Brando, and Albert Finney, the role went to Peter O’Toole, who had done a few movies, but certainly wasn’t a famous name at the time.
Despite being 6 feet 2 inches tall, and the real Lawrence being about 5 feet 5 inches, O’Toole became T.E. Lawrence. Even with all the real photos we have of Lawrence, when the name comes up, it is the image of O’Toole, all done up in white robes and gold hilted dagger, that remains in our consciousness. His performance is nothing short of extraordinary.
O’Toole’s Lawrence is a multifaceted character who exudes intelligence, bravery, and compassion, but also arrogance and sadism. He straddles the line between great leader and provocative punisher. Omar Sharif, little known at the time outside his native Egypt, plays Sherif Ali ibn el Kharish. Ali becomes more measured as he tries to reel in Lawrence’s behavior.
When he first appears, he is viewed as an arrogant, intolerant tribalist who, after befriending the troubled Englishman, helps him to free the Arab people from the Ottoman Turks. It’s almost as if they exchange roles in the latter part of the film. Ali shows more empathy, whereas Lawrence is bent on exacting revenge, at one point crying out “No prisoners!” in the aftermath of a brutal battle.
The movie has been criticized for inaccuracies, but the screenplay is based on “The Seven Pillars of Wisdom",” Lawrence’s own account of the Arab revolt. Lean wasn’t looking for a strict biography of Lawrence or a precise history of the Arabs rebelling against the Turks during World War I. He was making an adventure story of epic proportions focused on the film’s namesake, warts and all.
Lean would go on to make more epics, notably “Dr. Zhivago” and “Ryan’s Daughter,” both gorgeously shot by Freddie Young. They’re wonderful films, but they don’t have the breathtaking brilliance of Lawrence of Arabia.
“Lawrence of Arabia” has topped several lists of best films and is considered a major influence on film directors such as Akira Kurosawa, Sam Peckinpah, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, Ridley Scott, Oliver Stone, and Kathryn Bigelow. Steven Spielberg called it his favorite movie of all time.
It is my second favorite movie. You’ll have to wait for a future article to find out what my favorite film is.
If you haven’t seen Lawrence of Arabia or haven’t seen it on a large screen, I highly recommend it. I also suggest you have plenty of Orange Crush to quench your thirst.
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