The Saturday Evening Movie Post [with moviegique]: Dr. Zhivago

We enter the bleakest time of the year for dedicated moviegoers, what Red Letter Media used to call "F--- You, It's January." I think later they rebranded it as something like "F--- You, It's Forever" when looking at the dismal line up of...2019? I don't precisely recall, but it is hard to look at the slate of major releases with a sense of optimism.

We saw a good quasi-documentary about Storks called "The Tale of Silyan," which tells a true-ish story while featuring gorgeous images of storks and landscape, from National Geographic.

Then there's "The Plague," an odd '90s coming-of-age story with strong horror elements. But, you know, junior high is already a horror story. It was solid. Joel Edgerton stars as the world's most clueless gym coach.

We ventured out to a classic L.A. theater tp see the delightful 1958 Jacques Tati film, "Mon Oncle". I can't recommend it strongly enough. It's partly translated from French but partly not because the dialogue isn't that important. It's almost a silent cartoon comedy, very gentle, and at this point, painfully poignant, as this is a France which, even mocked, shall nevermore be.

Speaking of painfully poignant, however, I went on the the 30th or 31st to see Dr. Zhivago. I nearly wept for the artistry, and realizing this is another thing that will not be created in the future. The beauty, the scope, the blocking, the set design--I mean, turning 1960s Spain in the summer into 1915 Russia in the winter. And the story itself is delicate. Nobody saves the cat.

It's the 60th anniversary, so I thought I'd re-up the 50th anniversary review I wrote. I'm pretty much in accord with myself on this latest viewing (not always the case), but I liked it even more this time.

I still find the elision of Lara and her abusive customer's relationship jarring. It's there but we have to do some heavy inferring.

Sharif had to tape his eyes back to look less Egyptian. Can you imagine?

It didn't do my heart good to watch tiny, dimwitted tyrants telling people what they should and shouldn't be allowed to have, and I despaired that those people are still running around, still thinking they should run things.

Nonetheless, I will be surprised to see a better movie this year, unless I go see "Lawrence of Arabia".

Ask me if I want to go see a three hour movie. (Go on, Peter Jackson, ask me.) The answer is likely to be “maaaaaaaaaybe”. Now, tell me it’s by David Lean, the great director of Lawrence of Arabia. I’ll have my popcorn in hand before you finish rolling your “r"s, which you should do, if you’re saying "David Lean, the great director of Lawrence of Arabia”.

Dr. Zhivago is, in fact, 3 hours and 20 minutes, and longer if you factor in the intermission and the overture, but much like Lawrence, it leaves you wanting more. But before we get into that, let’s just recap the plot: The eponymous Zhivago is orphaned at a young age and taken in by some family friends who have a daughter his age. Zhivago and the daughter fall in love and get married, and live happily ever after, in the manner of all protagonists of Russian novels.

The happy couple!

Nyet! But seriously, things are going all right, at least for their little family, and then there’s a bit of trouble in the form of World War I and the October Revolution. In the tumult, Zhivago ends up manning a hospital full of injured with the help of Lara, a nurse he has crossed path with several times previously, and who is now married to a fanatical revolutionary.

Zhivago and Lara fall in love, though they never consummate, and Zhivago goes back home to find his family property divided “fairly” amongst the survivors of his family and a bunch of poor people who see a good opportunity for revenge. To make matters worse, Zhivago is a poet, and his poetry is on the outs with The Party, so he has to flee into the country—where his path crosses again with Lara.

One of the reasons I’d never seen this film before is because it just sounds boring to me. Much like Lawrence, really. Even now! But there’s something magical about Lean, and I can’t quite put my finger on it. The cinematography and blocking is flawless, of course—this is a great movie to look at, with its snow palaces and shadowy street scenes. The characters are interesting, sure, even for three or more hours. The story hangs together better than most modern ones, maybe: Instead of a series of things that just happen, every cause and effect here seems thoughtful, even when essentially random from the characters’ perspectives.

There isn’t a ton of suspense in the thriller style. This sort of movie can make Hitchcockian suspense seem practically gimmicky. But you care about the characters' fates, and that creates a different kind of suspense. Zhivago is a good man, even a pure man, which is an odd thing to say to one in a love triangle. Perhaps because he is not a womanizer, just a man blindsided by love. He doesn’t seem entirely earthly.

"Did somebody call for an emergency poet?"

Sometimes you see a movie that everyone loves and agree with them about all the great aspects of it but still personally just don’t like it. Sometimes there’s a movie like this, where you agree with everyone about all the great aspects, love it—but still don’t understand why.

The acting was different back then, I note. I don’t want to say it’s stagey, but it’s bigger than modern acting. There’s a scene where the Moscow police/army storm through a Commie protest and mow everyone down. Lean doesn’t show the violence, he shows Zhivago’s reaction to it, and it’s bigger than you’d see today. Not, like, Shatner big, but still: big.

Overall, it’s an amazing film, perhaps not quite up to Lawrence but still a classic. Of course, it got very mixed reviews at the time, and there’s no need to speculate why. Lean and Pasternak do what Zhivago is accused of in the movie: They tell a story about human beings in a time of great revolution. And there’s nothing Romantic about the Revolution.

The movie is bookended by Zhivago’s half-brother, a party apparatchik, trying to locate Zhivago’s daughter. He tells the story partly to a younger comrade (who notes pointedly that, if the younger generation doesn’t appreciate Zhivago’s poetry, it’s because they weren’t allowed to by the State). The possible niece works in a mine or factory or something that falls short of a worker’s paradise, and is scared of her would-be uncle who, as a Party Leader, is extremely powerful and dangerous. As he says, “nothing ordered by the Party is beneath the dignity of any man.”

He fights in World War I with the purpose of making Russia fail. And succeeds. And counts it as his greatest work.

Lara’s husband, insane as he is, articulates the the Revolutionary ideal: “The private life is dead for a man with any manhood.” Then in the same breath, when it’s pointed out to him that he burned the wrong village, he says “A village betrayed us, a village is burned. The point is made.”

They still look like this, but they pretend to smile now because it fools people. (Tom Courtenay won Best Supporting Actor and looks like the prototype for Indy's antagonist in "Raiders".)

Then, after serving in the war, when Zhivago comes home, his home has been #occupied. All of Moscow is, really, and of course, everyone is sick and starving and feeding off resentment of the rich. Zhivago, as a man who writes love poems, is a threat. When they escape to the country, they find their old house unused and boarded up, but with a sign threatening terrible things to them should they dare to use it. And already the Party has spies everywhere.

We don’t actually witness Lara’s fate, but we hear she may have ended up in the gulags.

So, yeah, I don’t wonder that critics judged it harshly, in an era when the New York Times was decades away from admitting Duranty lied. It’s a deeply Romantic film at every level and breathes with an understanding that the joyless worker state of Communism is death to Romance.

It was fun to see all these people in their prime that I knew as a child primarily in middle age and late life. Omar Sharif is quite handsome and earnest in a way that keeps things from getting sleazy. I’d always thought of Geraldine Chaplin as okay-looking, but she is heart-breakingly sweet here. Until 2006’s Away From Her, I’d always thought of Julie Christie as unremarkable looking, but it’s hard not to fall in love with her here.

I don't think frame captures do her justice but here's a classic shot.

Rod Steiger does a great job as the epitome of the old world corruption. I imagined Alec Guinness standing there, delivering his lines with the perfect combination of menace and party-toadying, thinking “I’m going to be remembered for swinging around a flashlight-sword.”

The music, by Maurice Jarré, is near perfect. About the only thing that I wasn’t sold on was the creepy music he used for Lara’s (Christie) affair with Komarovsky (Steiger). But I wasn’t clear on that whole thing. It was creepy, and I’m not saying Jarré was wrong, or anything, but maybe the relationship needed a little less elision in the movie itself.

Still, here’s the key thing: The Boy and I? We would sit down and watch it again in a heartbeat.

If you have a chance to see it in a theater—it’s making the rounds for its 50th anniversary restoration—by all means, do so.

Fun fact: This is entirely fake. Filmed in Spain in 100 degree weather, with the cast wearing fur coats and being trapped inside enclosed rooms to preserve the illusion/continuity. The actors nearly passed out at times.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 07:30 PM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Just got out of "The Bone Palace". If you wanted to see Ralph Fiennes "bone", now's your chance!

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 17, 2026 07:30 PM (asXVI)

2 Good evening everyone

Posted by: Skip at January 17, 2026 07:30 PM (Ia/+0)

3 I can't comment?

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 17, 2026 07:31 PM (asXVI)

4 Weird. Hi, Skip!

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 17, 2026 07:31 PM (asXVI)

5 While shoveling snow today was playing one of my favorite snow songs
Lara's Theme from Dr Zhivago

Posted by: Skip at January 17, 2026 07:32 PM (Ia/+0)

6 I have heard that Lara's Theme was popular enough on its own that it drew people into the theater.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 17, 2026 07:34 PM (asXVI)

7 When it came out it was all the rage. I lived in west Texas and had really never seen snow. I couldn't believe the scenes of all the snow were real.

Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at January 17, 2026 07:35 PM (cxFcK)

8 The troops charging through the crowd were a Dragoon squadron. Long ago thought maybe Cossacks but read line Dragoons

Posted by: Skip at January 17, 2026 07:35 PM (Ia/+0)

9 The biggest films that came out in January are Casablanca and Dr. Strangelove, after that, it's Kung Fu Panda 3.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at January 17, 2026 07:35 PM (XV/Pl)

10 || I couldn't believe the scenes of all the snow were real.

And they're not! Heh.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 17, 2026 07:37 PM (asXVI)

11 Leans choices in direction, move away from the strong anticommunist dialogue of pasternak

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 07:38 PM (bXbFr)

12 The biggest films that came out in January are Casablanca and Dr. Strangelove, after that, it's Kung Fu Panda 3.
Posted by: Thomas Bender

It's a Wonderful Life was actually released in January. It was a colossal bomb, so much so that the studio didn't bother to copywrite (?) it. That might not be the right term.

Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at January 17, 2026 07:38 PM (cxFcK)

13 I love Dr Zhivago as a glimpse of communist misery

Posted by: Skip at January 17, 2026 07:39 PM (Ia/+0)

14 I love Dr Zhivago as a glimpse of communist misery
Posted by: Skip

Me too. I like Death of Stalin and the Lives of Others too.

Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at January 17, 2026 07:40 PM (cxFcK)

15 I was shocked finding out Band of Brothers Bastogne scenes was all fake and indoors stage

Posted by: Skip at January 17, 2026 07:40 PM (Ia/+0)

16 I was shocked finding out Band of Brothers Bastogne scenes was all fake and indoors stage

Posted by: Skip at January 17, 2026 07:40 PM (Ia/+0)

17 I was shocked finding out Band of Brothers Bastogne scenes was all fake and indoors stage

Posted by: Skip at January 17, 2026 07:40 PM (Ia/+0)

18 Alex guiiness as the cheka general,

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 07:41 PM (bXbFr)

19 Yes she was luminous

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 07:42 PM (bXbFr)

20 As you recounted it, it was reminded of what an incredible cast that movie had. I’ve read that Lara’s husband, the revolutionary leader, was loosely based on Trotsky.
The only thing that always irritated me was how damned passive Zhivago was towards all that happened to him. But as his character stands for the Russian people themselves, perhaps that is appropriate.

Posted by: Tom Servo at January 17, 2026 07:42 PM (m7iZ5)

21 "Turksib" (1929)
The construction of the Turkestan-Siberia railroad. (It's still there today. For a round trip ticket between Tashkent and Novosibirsk, if you choose to ride platskartny klass with the proles, Grok sez you'll pay about $350 USD. Takes 2-3 days each direction, but the passenger train runs only once, one direction, per week.) The movie is exemplary of the Soviet industrial documentaries/dramas of the era: dynamically composed rapid-edit montage-fests. I gather that this one viralized on Western DVDs around 2011, with English intertitles and not-awful modern instrumental score supplied by a British documentarian who loved it so much that he wanted to marry it or something.

"Above Us the Waves" (1955)
A different kind of sub movie. Supposedly based on the true story, three Royal Navy four-man midget subs sail way up a Norwegian fjord to sap the Tirpitz. Recommended.

"Birds of Prey" (2020)
I expected to hate it, but I watched the whole thing, and didn't. I wouldn't blame anybody who does; not a bit.

Posted by: gp at January 17, 2026 07:43 PM (N8ZBc)

22 "The Beginning or the End" (1947)
USA develops A-bombs, then warns The Future with a time capsule (just in case The Future forgets, I guess.) Includes the fateful meeting at which FDR consults Fala the Dog, Grace the Secretary, and Vannevar Bush the Egghead, as to whether to commence the Manhattan Project. When the Enola Gay tarries too long to suit her, Audrey Totter snaps at General Groves. That dame's got the kind of moxie that wins Total Wars. She's coming for you next, Bub: https://tinyurl.com/y94xapne

"The Last Blitzkrieg" (195

German soldiers, trained and uniformed to operate covertly among American troops, master the essential American traits:
1. Chew gum with grinning enthusiasm.
2. Be aware that Olive Oyl does not play in the National League.
C. Do not roll your R's or click your heels.
4. Share your cigarettes with a deft propulsive gesture.
Despite all their skills and drills, the filthy Krauts are undone by ... Dick York and Larry Storch.

"Conduct Unbecoming" (1975) Brit officers in pre-partition India solve a case of perverse assaults on local ladies. Good cast. Persis Khambatta gets stabbed in the butt, but recovers. She's much prettier here, with hair, tha

Posted by: gp at January 17, 2026 07:43 PM (N8ZBc)

23 Well it was pitch perfect for that strange relationship

I noticed jarres theme in the iconoclastic petersen soace opera enemy mine

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 07:46 PM (bXbFr)

24 "The Beginning or the End" (1947)
USA develops A-bombs, then warns The Future with a time capsule (just in case The Future forgets, I guess.) Includes the fateful meeting at which FDR consults Fala the Dog, Grace the Secretary, and Vannevar Bush the Egghead, as to whether to commence the Manhattan Project. When the Enola Gay tarries too long to suit her, Audrey Totter snaps at General Groves. That dame's got the kind of moxie that wins Total Wars. She's coming for you next, Bub: https://tinyurl.com/y94xapne

"The Last Blitzkrieg" (195 German soldiers, trained and uniformed to operate covertly among American troops, master the essential American traits:
1. Chew gum with grinning enthusiasm.
2. Be aware that Olive Oyl does not play in the National League.
C. Do not roll your R's or click your heels.
4. Share your cigarettes with a deft propulsive gesture.
Despite all their skills and drills, the filthy Krauts are undone by ... Dick York and Larry Storch.

"Conduct Unbecoming" (1975) Brit officers in pre-partition India solve a case of perverse assaults on local ladies. Good cast. Persis Khambatta gets stabbed in the butt, but recovers. She's much prettier here, with hair, tha
Posted

Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at January 17, 2026 07:46 PM (cxFcK)

25 Truncated: Persis Khambatta's much prettier here, with hair, than when she was bald, four years later in the first Star Trek movie.

Posted by: gp at January 17, 2026 07:46 PM (N8ZBc)

26 @12

>>It's a Wonderful Life was actually released in January.

It had a premier in December and a wide release in January.

It still has some of the best acting I've ever seen in a film, the scene where Jimmy is praying to god to show him the way is about as real as it gets.

Funny enough, the next best bit of acting is Bogie breaking down in the bar in Casablanca.

Something about bars makes men get emotional.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at January 17, 2026 07:47 PM (XV/Pl)

27 gp, I can't get past the title of "Birds of Prey". That was the one they thrashed in an attempt to find it a market.

|| Leans choices in direction, move away from the strong anticommunist dialogue of pasternak

Originally, I had written "I would go so far as to say this is NOT a political movie. It's just that communism sucks."

And I think that's true. Without being militant or partisan, it shows the absolute misery and evil of the system.

Alec Guiness is chilling.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 17, 2026 07:47 PM (asXVI)

28 "The Beginning or the End" (1947)
Posted gp

Oops. I thought the Beginning of the End was MST3K fodder about giant locusts eating Chicago.

Kidding, gp.

Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at January 17, 2026 07:48 PM (cxFcK)

29 Thx moviegique.
David Lean directed Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia and Dr. Zhivago in a row. Pretty good run.
The first time is saw Zhivago I thought Julie Christie was one of the most beautiful women ever

Posted by: Smell the Glove and at January 17, 2026 07:48 PM (PTsqM)

30 The hamsters are having fits, apparently.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 17, 2026 07:48 PM (asXVI)

31 Well itz soul stealing but not all at once

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 07:49 PM (bXbFr)

32 Alec Guiness would have been a good Dumbledore

Posted by: Skip at January 17, 2026 07:49 PM (Ia/+0)

33 HOLLYWOOD

Hollywood, Hollywood ...
Fabulous Hollywood ...
Celluloid Babylon,
Glorious, Clamorous ...
City Delirious,
Frivolous, serious ...
Bold and ambitiouus,
And vicious and glamorous.
Drama - a city-full,
Tragic and pitiful ...
Bunk, junk, and genius
Amazingly blended ...
Tawdry, tremendous,
Absurd, stupendous,
Shoddy and cheap,
And astonishingly splendid ...
HOLLYWOOD!!

by Don Blanding, as quoted in Kenneth Anger's "Hollywood Babylon" (1975).

Posted by: gp at January 17, 2026 07:49 PM (N8ZBc)

34 Twenties-Era Hollywood tour and LA travelogue shorts I've found on YT:

"A Tour of the Thomas Ince Studio" (1924) 31 mins.
youtube.com/watch?v=4Jwtyql1ntE

"The City and Around Los Angeles" (circa 1920s) 13 mins.
youtube.com/watch?v=eTfoFPvqQ90

"The City of Stars" (1925) 30 mins.
youtube.com/watch?v=qHQT1CDWXIA

"Hollywood Today" (192

22 mins.
youtube.com/watch?v=-XWINMB3jg8

"Hollywood: The Movieland of the World" (1929) 18 mins.
youtube.com/watch?v=lG0rnd-m3CU

Posted by: gp at January 17, 2026 07:50 PM (N8ZBc)

35 >13 I love Dr Zhivago as a glimpse of communist misery
Posted by: Skip at January 17, 2026 07:39 PM (Ia/+0)

You misspelled the warmth of collectivism.

Posted by: The Zohran!! at January 17, 2026 07:50 PM (GTqXr)

36 Jarré's soundtrack was an outstanding piece of work. The dissonant music from Komarovsky With Lara In The Hotel was also very well done and provides a wonderful contrast to the other romantic work.

Posted by: pawn at January 17, 2026 07:50 PM (rbIOb)

37 "The Mystery of the Leaping Fish" (1916) 25 min. Coke Ennyday (Douglas Fairbanks) rescues Inane the Little Fish-Blower (Texas-born cutie Bessie Love) from hop smugglers. Story by Tod "Freaks" Browning. Recommended.
youtube.com/watch?v=G8-LPlN4kcU

Posted by: gp at January 17, 2026 07:50 PM (N8ZBc)

38 Cabrera infantes golden city brought to the screen, by andy garcia has close to a similar focus actually sharper

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 07:50 PM (bXbFr)

39 "Frantic" (198

, "Witness Protection" (1999)
No Sir, I don't like them.
youtube.com/watch?v=cDGlN6mluGA

Posted by: Mister Horse at January 17, 2026 07:51 PM (N8ZBc)

40 I confess I've never quite gotten "Dr. Zhivago" the way I got "Laurence of Arabia." The fault is entirely mine. Beautiful movie though.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at January 17, 2026 07:51 PM (CHHv1)

41 Yes he would have

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 07:51 PM (bXbFr)

42 Another fun fact:

The woman singing in the background in the bar in It's A Wonderful Life is Adriana Caselotti, who was the voice of Disney's Snow White.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at January 17, 2026 07:52 PM (XV/Pl)

43 'Kidding, gp.'

I'm always kidding. I kid because I love.

Posted by: gp at January 17, 2026 07:52 PM (N8ZBc)

44 Frsntic was a polsnsky effort one wonders what he might have done with harris's pompeii a roman noir

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 07:54 PM (bXbFr)

45 || David Lean directed Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia and Dr. Zhivago in a row. Pretty good run.

Be tough to name a better one, or one even on par.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 17, 2026 07:54 PM (asXVI)

46 Lawrence tries to translate his seven pillard to the screne

Not an easy task

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 07:55 PM (bXbFr)

47 The older I get, the more I like Dr. Zhivago - probably because you just don't have enough life experience to appreciate the breadth of everything that happens in the movie.

It is a real shame that today's movies are too afraid to cast complex people. Timothee Chalamet is certainly not my idea of a leading man along the lines of an Omar Sharif, Peter O'Toole, Cary Grant, etc. The classic leading men - and women, too, for that matter - were REAL looking, not plastic or wimpy.

The reason so many films from back then look so much better is that they are on film, not videotape or CGI. The master filmmakers/cinematographers knew all of the nuances of their medium and took every advantage of those things.

It would be nice to see that stuff again, but it is probably prohibitively expensive these days.

When DD#3 was still living at home years ago, she and I used to occasionally go and see "old" classics at the local theater. It was fun to share those with her!

Posted by: Teresa in Fort Worth, Texas, AoSHQ's Plucky Wee One - Eat the Cheesecake, Buy the Yarn. at January 17, 2026 07:55 PM (SRRAx)

48 Introducing lawrence and his ambitious project

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 07:56 PM (bXbFr)

49 ||When DD#3 was still living at home years ago, she and I used to occasionally go and see "old" classics at the local theater. It was fun to share those with her!||

Oh, yeah, this was part of a five-year-stretch when I took two of my kids to see all the classics. It's funny to me how movies seem to go in streaks. For a while, every theater around had a throwback.

Now it's basically all some theaters do, and the regular theaters cut way back.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 17, 2026 07:58 PM (asXVI)

50 I had no idea those 3, all of same of my favorite movies were all by the same director.

Posted by: Skip at January 17, 2026 07:58 PM (Ia/+0)

51 Zhivago was probably a constitutional democrat by inclination and aa such ill equipped to deal with the Soviet leviathan that was rising

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 07:59 PM (bXbFr)

52 Zhivago and Lara, green beautiful plants trying to reach the sun amidst the gray crushing concrete called Communism.

Posted by: Anna Puma at January 17, 2026 08:00 PM (2GVsD)

53 My high school class took a field trip to downtown Columbus to see Dr. Zhivago. I've never forgotten it. Viewed the movie many times since then.

Posted by: Tuna at January 17, 2026 08:00 PM (lJ0H4)

54
I loved Dr. Zhivago when I first saw it. I love that whole Epic Sweep thing.

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at January 17, 2026 08:01 PM (djaKb)

55 Just watched a video that tries to explain "Mulholland Drive," calls it a documentary.

That sounds about right. Lynch made a living revealing the darkness under the surface, and none of his films were quite as painfully beautiful as that one.

I realize lots of people prefer the glitz and glamour on the surface. Once you know what's underneath though, I find it hard to pretend it's not there.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 17, 2026 08:01 PM (f+DD4)

56 >Nonetheless, I will be surprised to see a better movie this year, unless I go see "Lawrence of Arabia".

A: The President's Analyst -- James Coburn.
timely, Topical, and TERRIFYINGLY Satirical.

Key scene:
www.tinyurl.com/forWARd-whenLibsDisarm
alternatively Titled: when LIBs Attack

Kropotkin: "You want to be the hero? Save the World? Take the gun."

Dr. Sidney Schaefer: "No."

This moment emphasizes Schaefer's refusal to be a part of the violent actions expected of him... later seen admist the thrill of violent conflict... with a gun in his hand.

forWAR'd !!!

Posted by: MANFRED the Heat Seeking OBOE at January 17, 2026 08:02 PM (xkHo7)

57 By a different director but the last emperor had similar anbitions

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 08:02 PM (bXbFr)

58 Anyone know offhand whether the Amazon Prime Video streamer of Doctor Zhivago is cut? Page says 3 hrs and 5 minutes, but I don't know if they're figuring that without overture and intermission.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at January 17, 2026 08:02 PM (q3u5l)

59 6 I have heard that Lara's Theme was popular enough on its own that it drew people into the theater.
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 17, 2026 07:34 PM (asXVI)
One of the talented girls in my HS class played this in a piano recital.

Posted by: Eromero at January 17, 2026 08:03 PM (LHPAg)

60 Lara's Theme seemed to be played by every high school band around for awhile.

Posted by: Lirio100 at January 17, 2026 08:03 PM (ky7/T)

61 I loved the movie . . . but I always come back to a scene where Omar is trudging through the Russian winter . . . without a hat.

Posted by: 2009Refugee at January 17, 2026 08:03 PM (8AONa)

62 About pu yi

Of course bertolucci is a little too entranced with the alluee of maoism vs the warlord era and the rise of chiang

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 08:05 PM (bXbFr)

63 David Lean movies had wonderful cinematography. 'Ryan's Daughter' was a meh, at best, movie. It had beautiful camera work that makes it watchable, sort of. I love Dr. Zhivago. One of my favorite movies. I like that the secondary characters are as interesting, maybe even more, than the main ones. Alec Guinness, Rod Steiger, and Tom Courtenay owned every scene they were in and they only showed up from time to time in the movie.

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at January 17, 2026 08:06 PM (o4wD0)

64 My favorite winter movie is TransSiberian .

Posted by: Opinion fact at January 17, 2026 08:06 PM (KDPiq)

65 Julie Christie was a beauty!

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at January 17, 2026 08:06 PM (o4wD0)

66 I'm watching RIPD / Rest In Peace Department. What if Beetlejuice had a P.D.
The movie was a famous failure, like Brendan Fraser's Monkeybone; but it seems better than Monkeybone so far.

Posted by: gKWVE at January 17, 2026 08:07 PM (gKWVE)

67 Courtenay is a terrifying character of the kind we have seen to be too familar

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 08:07 PM (bXbFr)

68 Worst winter movie of all time.

Quintet with Paul Newman.

What the F was he thinking making that movie.

Posted by: Opinion fact at January 17, 2026 08:08 PM (KDPiq)

69 Its not terrible, then again they didnt properly market it

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 08:09 PM (bXbFr)

70 Posted by: gKWVE at January 17, 2026 08:07 PM (gKWVE

I didn't hate RIPD.

Posted by: Opinion fact at January 17, 2026 08:09 PM (KDPiq)

71 Ripd

What was i thinking

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 08:09 PM (bXbFr)

72 What the F was he thinking making that movie.
Posted by: Opinion

Seconded. Newman took chances like with Slapshot, but that one was a swing and a miss.

Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at January 17, 2026 08:10 PM (cxFcK)

73 Quintet wss probably a bet he lost like Zardoz

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 08:10 PM (bXbFr)

74 About the only thing Monkeybones had going for it was a cat-girl.

Definitely wasn't because of Whoopi.

Posted by: Anna Puma at January 17, 2026 08:11 PM (2GVsD)

75
One movie/series trope that's becoming tiresome: the family dinner featuring screaming, revelations of infidelity, exhibitions of dysfunction, etc.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at January 17, 2026 08:11 PM (tgvbd)

76 There are some scripts fraser should have passed on

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 08:12 PM (bXbFr)

77 Its the tolstoyan trope

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 08:12 PM (bXbFr)

78 One movie/series trope that's becoming tiresome: the family dinner featuring screaming, revelations of infidelity, exhibitions of dysfunction, etc.
--
I'd blame Redford but actors LOVE this kind of thing.

"Ordinary People" didn't help, tho'.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 17, 2026 08:13 PM (asXVI)

79 Julie Christy just had to look gorgeous, didn't much matter about the lines

Posted by: Skip at January 17, 2026 08:13 PM (Ia/+0)

80 Other good winter movies

Beautiful Girls
Cliff Hanger
Death Hunt
30 Days of Night

Posted by: Opinion fact at January 17, 2026 08:14 PM (KDPiq)

81 How about Spies Like Us?

Good or bad winter movie?

Is The Thing a winter movie?

Posted by: Anna Puma at January 17, 2026 08:15 PM (2GVsD)

82 Is The Thing a winter movie?
Posted by: Anna Puma at January 17, 2026 08:15 PM (2GVsD)

I say yes.

Posted by: Opinion fact at January 17, 2026 08:16 PM (KDPiq)

83 Yes the wasp versions are definitely tedious

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 08:16 PM (bXbFr)

84 "the family dinner featuring screaming, revelations of infidelity, exhibitions of dysfunction, etc."

I like those when performed well.

Posted by: gp at January 17, 2026 08:17 PM (N8ZBc)

85 What was the vampires in alaska one?

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 08:17 PM (bXbFr)

86 Dude.

Julie Christie is so beautiful that she could read the phone book and I would be enthralled.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at January 17, 2026 08:17 PM (n9ltV)

87 Let the Right One In

Both foreign and American versions.

Posted by: Opinion fact at January 17, 2026 08:17 PM (KDPiq)

88 What was the vampires in alaska one?
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 08:17 PM (bXbFr)

30 Days of Night.

Posted by: Opinion fact at January 17, 2026 08:18 PM (KDPiq)

89 The Fearless Vampire Hunters is also a winter movie.

Posted by: Anna Puma at January 17, 2026 08:18 PM (2GVsD)

90 Wirh danny huston as the lead vampire

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 08:18 PM (bXbFr)

91 Yes what a real dracula film would be like

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 08:18 PM (bXbFr)

92 I found Dr. Zhivago to be tedious and boring. It's like a 3 hr. long soap opera.

Posted by: Angzarr the Cromulent at January 17, 2026 08:19 PM (XMwZJ)

93 If you haven't seen TransSiberian I highly recommend it.

Posted by: Opinion fact at January 17, 2026 08:20 PM (KDPiq)

94 Best winter movie of course is Battleground

Posted by: Skip at January 17, 2026 08:20 PM (Ia/+0)

95 Winter movie? Island in the Sky. John Wayne and a cast of several.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at January 17, 2026 08:21 PM (q3u5l)

96 But you dont get filmmakers with real ambitions llke lean or bertolucci

Perhaps roland jaffe and his opus dei treatment

Which is remarkably balanced

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 08:21 PM (bXbFr)

97 Haven't watched Death Hunt in years. Glad I reminded myself . Have it on the list to watch this week.

Posted by: Opinion fact at January 17, 2026 08:21 PM (KDPiq)

98 58 Anyone know offhand whether the Amazon Prime Video streamer of Doctor Zhivago is cut? Page says 3 hrs and 5 minutes, but I don't know if they're figuring that without overture and intermission.
---

That's weird. Grok suggests it could be that the intermission is missing, and the overture.

There's a TV version with Keira Knightly.

And a 7 hour Russian version.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 17, 2026 08:21 PM (asXVI)

99 Best winter movie of course is Battleground
Posted by: Skip at January 17, 2026 08:20 PM (Ia/+0)

It already has a place as my favorite war movie. The ending is awesome.

Posted by: Opinion fact at January 17, 2026 08:22 PM (KDPiq)

100 I saw Dr. Zhivago when it first came out. I did fall in love with Julie Christie. Evey time I heard Lara's Theme on the radio while driving I would pull over and park until it was over. Still gives me chills.

Posted by: Javems at January 17, 2026 08:23 PM (MC7q0)

101 There be dragons

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 08:23 PM (bXbFr)

102 The vampire one is "30 Days Of Night" mentioned up-thread.

I love movies with lots of snow, which is what I presume we mean by "winter movies".

A Simple Plan
Let The Right One In
Troll Hunter
Grumpy Old Men
Rare Exports

Etc.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 17, 2026 08:23 PM (asXVI)

103 Winter movies? Midwesterners, represent!

Grumpy Old Men.

Posted by: mikeski at January 17, 2026 08:24 PM (VHUov)

104 "A Simple Plan" Recommended.

Posted by: gp at January 17, 2026 08:24 PM (N8ZBc)

105 And I got beat to it by the 'gique.

Posted by: mikeski at January 17, 2026 08:24 PM (VHUov)

106 I love movies with lots of snow, which is what I presume we mean by "winter movies".

A Simple Plan
Let The Right One In
Troll Hunter
Grumpy Old Men
Rare Exports

Etc.
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 17, 2026 08:23 PM (asXVI)

Scarface

Posted by: BurtTC at January 17, 2026 08:24 PM (x3JSa)

107 Speaking of war movies I always pimp Between Heaven and Hell with Robert Wagner because I never even heard of it until about five years ago and I thought it was awesome.

Don't know how I missed that one.

Posted by: Opinion fact at January 17, 2026 08:25 PM (KDPiq)

108
The President's Analyst -- James Coburn.
timely, Topical, and TERRIFYINGLY Satirical.

AI > The Phone Company

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at January 17, 2026 08:25 PM (pkeXY)

109 89 The Fearless Vampire Hunters is also a winter movie.
Posted by: Anna Puma

I remember watching that the first time ever a few years ago. Campy and dumb, but the main actress was gorgeous, so I watched the whole thing. I realized once I looked up the film online, that I was watching Sharon Tate. What a beauty. Stupid California. Should have hung every member of the Charles Manson & 'family' when that could.

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at January 17, 2026 08:25 PM (o4wD0)

110 Thanks, moviegique. Maybe I'll give Dr Z a rental and time it.

Skip, thanks for the reminder of Battleground -- haven't watched that in who knows when. May have to fish that one out of the pile and revisit it soon.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at January 17, 2026 08:26 PM (q3u5l)

111 Yes she was, as well as that very silly dean martin vehicle the wrecking crew

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 08:27 PM (bXbFr)

112 The Shining is a winter movie.

Posted by: davidt at January 17, 2026 08:28 PM (Q+gd/)

113 Thats way the ending of once upon a time in hollywood is a guilty pleasure

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 08:28 PM (bXbFr)

114 Paul Newman's best winter movie was Nobody's Fool. It was at the end of his career.

Posted by: Opinion fact at January 17, 2026 08:28 PM (KDPiq)

115 I think squeaky fromme died this week

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 08:28 PM (bXbFr)

116
Best winter movie of course is Battleground
Posted by: Skip

It already has a place as my favorite war movie. The ending is awesome.
Posted by: Opinion fact

That’s for sure, that’s for dang sure!

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at January 17, 2026 08:29 PM (pkeXY)

117 The Shining is a winter movie.
Posted by: davidt at January 17, 2026 08:28 PM (Q+gd/)

Yes I forgot about that one.

Posted by: Opinion fact at January 17, 2026 08:29 PM (KDPiq)

118 That’s for sure, that’s for dang sure!
Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at January 17, 2026 08:29 PM (pkeXY)

Heh !!

Posted by: Opinion fact at January 17, 2026 08:29 PM (KDPiq)

119 Dr zhivago might be a real life horror film

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 08:30 PM (bXbFr)

120 In that sense

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 08:31 PM (bXbFr)

121 The Battle of the Bulge is a winter movie.

Posted by: The Paolo at January 17, 2026 08:31 PM (Q+gd/)

122 >Evey time I heard Lara's Theme on the radio while driving I would pull over and park until it was over. Still gives me chills.
Posted by: Javems at January 17, 2026 08:23 PM (MC7q0)

Mrs. Meta has a music box she inherited from her Mom that plays Laura's Theme. It's haunting.

Posted by: Heavy Meta at January 17, 2026 08:32 PM (GTqXr)

123 I'm not seeing Squeaky listed as dead anywhere, Miguel.

o/~ Squeaky's in prison--I'm in misery
Squeaky's in prison and I'm in misery
That little red riding hood she really does it to me~\o

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 17, 2026 08:33 PM (asXVI)

124 Charlton Heston is still the king of big Epic movies.

I've not sat down yet and ranked his movies. Sounds like a fun project. Anyone have an immediate selection for #1?

Posted by: Opinion fact at January 17, 2026 08:33 PM (KDPiq)

125 >121 The Battle of the Bulge is a winter movie.
Posted by: The Paolo at January 17, 2026 08:31 PM (Q+gd/)

Nuts!

Posted by: Gen. McAuliffe at January 17, 2026 08:33 PM (GTqXr)

126 Wishful thinking perhaps

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 08:33 PM (bXbFr)

127 The Battle of the Bulge is a winter movie.
Posted by: The Paolo at January 17, 2026 08:31 PM (Q+gd/)

I would have expected you to say the Battle Of the Bulge is when your wife and girlfriend run into each other.

Come on, man!

Posted by: BurtTC at January 17, 2026 08:34 PM (x3JSa)

128 I guess Ben Hur would be a popular #1 choice.

Posted by: Opinion fact at January 17, 2026 08:34 PM (KDPiq)

129 I thought i had seen a blurb before

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 08:34 PM (bXbFr)

130 Jumping in late. Got caught up in the Denver/Buffalo game. As a Pats fan, I wanted Buffalo. That it came down to OT when Buffalo made that many turn overs is amazing. Allen is a great regular season QB, much like Drew Bledsoe, but I doubt if he'll ever win the big game.

THE PLEDGE was a good movie. I liked it quite a bit. I like all of Edgerton's work recently. TRAIN DREAMS was nice, and from two years ago, THE STRANGER was brilliant.

It's been a while since I saw Zhivago, but it holds up, and the novel is excellent too. Both due for a rewatch/reread from me.

Just saw MATERIALISTS, too. A strange little film with Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal. It almost wants to make me write an essay on 'manipulation' and movies. That is, we are manipulated by anything we read or view but to what extent are certain manipulations good art or cynicism.

Posted by: Lex at January 17, 2026 08:34 PM (y4H1r)

131 Nuts!
Posted by: Gen. McAuliffe at January 17, 2026 08:33 PM (GTqXr)

That too.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 17, 2026 08:34 PM (x3JSa)

132 Wasting time watching sportsball. Too lazy to search for a movie. On a brighter note, I opened a bottle of Heaven Hill Grain to Glass - it's spectacular.

Posted by: Heavy Meta at January 17, 2026 08:36 PM (GTqXr)

133 106 I love movies with lots of snow, which is what I presume we mean by "winter movies".

A Simple Plan
Let The Right One In
Troll Hunter
Grumpy Old Men
Rare Exports

Etc.
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 17, 2026 08:23 PM (asXVI)

Scarface

Posted by: BurtTC at January 17, 2026 08:24 PM (x3JSa)

Fargo.

Posted by: a.moron at January 17, 2026 08:36 PM (X5Jzz)

134 Jumping in late. Got caught up in the Denver/Buffalo game. As a Pats fan, I wanted Buffalo. That it came down to OT when Buffalo made that many turn overs is amazing. Allen is a great regular season QB, much like Drew Bledsoe, but I doubt if he'll ever win the big game.

Posted by: Lex at January 17, 2026 08:34 PM (y4H1r)

Maybe it sounds paradoxical, but while a player can win or lose a game by himself, I don't think you can attribute a pattern of success or failure to any one player.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 17, 2026 08:37 PM (x3JSa)

135 >Fargo.
Posted by: a.moron at January 17, 2026 08:36 PM (X5Jzz)

Woodchipper FTW!

Posted by: Heavy Meta at January 17, 2026 08:38 PM (GTqXr)

136 Fargo.
Posted by: a.moron at January 17, 2026 08:36 PM (X5Jzz)

Die Hard, obviously.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 17, 2026 08:38 PM (x3JSa)

137 I don't know about you guys, but I've been fighting and losing the battle of the bulge for some years now.

And another delightful winter movie -- A Christmas Story. Not only do we get tongues frozen to flagpoles, but we also get Kolchak vs the Furnace from Hell. What more could we want?

Posted by: Just Some Guy at January 17, 2026 08:39 PM (q3u5l)

138 Watching Svengooli. Flight 7500. Campy horror movies for the win.

Posted by: Idlan at January 17, 2026 08:39 PM (1LHvZ)

139 >136 Fargo.
Posted by: a.moron at January 17, 2026 08:36 PM (X5Jzz)

Die Hard, obviously.
Posted by: BurtTC at January 17, 2026 08:38 PM (x3JSa)

Can't forget the OG - It's a Wonderful Life

Posted by: Heavy Meta at January 17, 2026 08:40 PM (GTqXr)

140 And another delightful winter movie -- A Christmas Story. Not only do we get tongues frozen to flagpoles, but we also get Kolchak vs the Furnace from Hell. What more could we want?
Posted by: Just Some Guy

He laid there like a slug. It was his only defense.

Posted by: Tonypete at January 17, 2026 08:40 PM (cYBz/)

141 moviegique, what is a classic movie theater in LA that shows these epics? I've thought about going up to see Lawrence when it plays.

I saw the remastered/restored/whatever of Lawrence when it came out in the 90s (?), at the Senator theater in Baltimore. Was perfect.

Posted by: rhomboid at January 17, 2026 08:41 PM (U/Byj)

142 Just watched a YouTube take down of Battle of the Bulge with 189 inaccuracies, had to be a lot more.
I aways say its so.bad you have to see it

Posted by: Skip at January 17, 2026 08:41 PM (Ia/+0)

143 There are a wealth of interesting stories associated with this film. Of course, it's based on the novel by Boris Pasternak written in 1956. The "censors" within the Soviet Union, understandably, didn't like the story and refused to allow it to be published.

A copy was sneaked out of the country, and into the hands of the CIA, which was instrumental in having the book published in the West, and then smuggled back into the Soviet Union. They didn't even allow the playing of the film in Russia until five years after the Berlin wall came down.

Posted by: Orson at January 17, 2026 08:41 PM (dIske)

144 124 Charlton Heston is still the king of big Epic movies.

I've not sat down yet and ranked his movies. Sounds like a fun project. Anyone have an immediate selection for #1?
Posted by: Opinion fact

Ben Hur, already mentioned above.

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at January 17, 2026 08:42 PM (o4wD0)

145 oh man RIPD is bad
i can't stop watching it

Posted by: gKWVE at January 17, 2026 08:43 PM (gKWVE)

146 Well better get to bed
Have a good night everyone, and not too much popcorn

Posted by: Skip at January 17, 2026 08:43 PM (Ia/+0)

147 Battle of the Bulge is technically a winter movie but I recall many scenes where the lack of any winter/snow was pretty jarring. A horrible movie in every respect, and of course on a subject that would lend itself to very good epic movie treatment.

Posted by: rhomboid at January 17, 2026 08:43 PM (U/Byj)

148 McDermott’s defense has never won a game for Josh. His career is starting to follow Elway’s.
Now that football season is over, I have time for Dr. Zhivago.

Posted by: Accomack at January 17, 2026 08:43 PM (KQ27X)

149 Sadistic Santas, eyes almost shot out, Scut Farkas and his evil toady, immobilizing snow suits, and downgrading teachers. The flick has it all.

Is it in the Criterion Collection yet, and if not, why?

Posted by: Just Some Guy at January 17, 2026 08:44 PM (q3u5l)

150 Can't forget the OG - It's a Wonderful Life
Posted by: Heavy Meta at January 17, 2026 08:40 PM (GTqXr)

It's a Wonderful Life... the story of a man losing his sanity.

Suffering from massive hallucinations, the movie fades, the credits roll before the men in white jackets show up, and the theft of funds gets fully investigated.

Harvey is something of a sequel.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 17, 2026 08:45 PM (x3JSa)

151 134 Jumping in late. Got caught up in the Denver/Buffalo game. As a Pats fan, I wanted Buffalo. That it came down to OT when Buffalo made that many turn overs is amazing. Allen is a great regular season QB, much like Drew Bledsoe, but I doubt if he'll ever win the big game.

Posted by: Lex at January 17, 2026 08:34 PM (y4H1r)

Maybe it sounds paradoxical, but while a player can win or lose a game by himself, I don't think you can attribute a pattern of success or failure to any one player.
Posted by: BurtTC at January 17, 2026 08:37 PM (x3JSa)

Yes they can...and Josh Allen did singlehandedly lose the game today. He will never win the big game. Lamar Jackson now has company in the AFC.

Posted by: Nova Local at January 17, 2026 08:45 PM (tOcjL)

152 The good Dr. and Laura did consummate their relationship.

PG rated : https://youtu.be/WiWWa-T0EIY

Posted by: Javems at January 17, 2026 08:45 PM (MC7q0)

153 Ice Station Zebra was a winter movie. No matter what season

Posted by: Smell the Glove and at January 17, 2026 08:45 PM (PTsqM)

154 135 >Fargo.
Posted by: a.moron at January 17, 2026 08:36 PM (X5Jzz)

Woodchipper FTW!
---
I actually had Fargo but accidentally erased it. If you have "A Simple Plan," though, that's...Fargo-adjacent.

And the Woodchipper is great: The blood spraying out on to the snow. Snow is so great for blood. lol

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 17, 2026 08:45 PM (asXVI)

155 I thought it was interesting what you said 'they done show the violence, they show his reaction to it. And it's bigger than you would see today.'

It is odd. It is the inverse of movies and real life then. That generation might have large and powerful emotive performances in movies, but often the stoic was more idealized in actual life. Where the ability to display your angst was frowned upon.

Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at January 17, 2026 08:46 PM (zZu0s)

156 Allen is a hell of a quarterback . He had little help from his receivers , who aren't that good

Posted by: Smell the Glove and at January 17, 2026 08:46 PM (PTsqM)

157 147 Battle of the Bulge is technically a winter movie but I recall many scenes where the lack of any winter/snow was pretty jarring. A horrible movie in every respect, and of course on a subject that would lend itself to very good epic movie treatment.
Posted by: rhomboid at January 17, 2026 08:43 PM (U/Byj)

_________________________

Yeah, but Bronson. Charlie made it worth the watch.

Posted by: Orson at January 17, 2026 08:46 PM (dIske)

158 Thanks moviegique. I’ve never watched it in one sitting. I need to and will do so based on your review.

In fact - going to ask the movie house in our little town to consider showing it as a free matinee. They do that sometimes with classics - and fill the coffers with concession stand revenue.

Posted by: Java Joe at January 17, 2026 08:47 PM (WaLgG)

159 I really did not like Fargo. So many movies where I think 'i know people are fuckwads, I do not need to be reminded of it.' Plus, I am not a fan of how it portrays ordinary folks.

Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at January 17, 2026 08:47 PM (zZu0s)

160 Ice Station Zebra. A pretty decent little thriller of its time.

Posted by: rhomboid at January 17, 2026 08:47 PM (U/Byj)

161 Charles Montagu Doughty's "Travels In Arabia Deserta" was T.E. Lawrence's bible for his adventure there. If you really want to know what living with Bedouins was like, you can find the book free at a number of places. It's kind of grimly fascinating.

Posted by: fd at January 17, 2026 08:48 PM (vFG9F)

162 Yes they can...and Josh Allen did singlehandedly lose the game today. He will never win the big game. Lamar Jackson now has company in the AFC.
Posted by: Nova Local at January 17, 2026 08:45 PM (tOcjL)

I didn't watch the game.

I'd still rather have Josh Allen than any other player in the league.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 17, 2026 08:48 PM (x3JSa)

163 156 Allen is a hell of a quarterback . He had little help from his receivers , who aren't that good
Posted by: Smell the Glove and at January 17, 2026 08:46 PM (PTsqM)

When he tries to be Superman, he loses. The 1st half ending showed Josh in all his glory today.

Posted by: Nova Local at January 17, 2026 08:48 PM (tOcjL)

164 Much like the Longest Day, didnt slurge on the violence to get its point across

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 08:48 PM (bXbFr)

165 141 moviegique, what is a classic movie theater in LA that shows these epics? I've thought about going up to see Lawrence when it plays.

---

I'll go you one better: revivalhub.com

Today you could have seen "The Greatest Story Ever Told," "Castle in the Sky," the LOTR movies, "The Phantom Menace," "The Rocketeer," "Brazil," "42nd Street"--

And they're all gonna be better than the movies in the theater. Maybe even "The Phantom Menace".

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 17, 2026 08:48 PM (asXVI)

166 Bronson, Fonda, Shaw with the blonde hair. Battle of the Bulge had plenty of acting talent. But that was it. Assume they had a tiny budget.

Posted by: rhomboid at January 17, 2026 08:49 PM (U/Byj)

167 162 Yes they can...and Josh Allen did singlehandedly lose the game today. He will never win the big game. Lamar Jackson now has company in the AFC.
Posted by: Nova Local at January 17, 2026 08:45 PM (tOcjL)

I didn't watch the game.

I'd still rather have Josh Allen than any other player in the league.
Posted by: BurtTC at January 17, 2026 08:48 PM (x3JSa)

Nah, I'd take a healthy Mahomes. Josh Allen can't beat him. Even when he's had the better team almost every time.

Posted by: Nova Local at January 17, 2026 08:49 PM (tOcjL)

168 Oh theres a whole backstory with zebra ans howard hughes

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 08:50 PM (bXbFr)

169 Thanks moviegique. I'd probably need a TV to enjoy movies that way (some day).

But - any LA classic theater suggestions?

Posted by: rhomboid at January 17, 2026 08:50 PM (U/Byj)

170 I just remember the turret of the tank getting blown off and they just kept riding around in it.

Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at January 17, 2026 08:51 PM (zZu0s)

171 As for movies, I haven't watched any this week b/c I've been watching Severance. But that should change next week with less football and no AppleTV left for me...

Posted by: Nova Local at January 17, 2026 08:51 PM (tOcjL)

172 Well, Love Story had that wonderful Snow Frolic scene.

*dodges rock-filled snowballs from horde*

Posted by: skywch at January 17, 2026 08:51 PM (uqhmb)

173 It is odd. It is the inverse of movies and real life then
---

Many such cases. What were the big hits of the Great Depression? Musicals. Frothy, silly, romantic, comedic gloriously opulent musicals.

Now we're too serious.

I think not for nothing did the post WWII movie era not have a lot of horror.

Now everything's all intense and grim and revolutionary because we're soft and fat and shallow and godless and...

What's that? Time for my medicine?

Hang on, errbody.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 17, 2026 08:51 PM (asXVI)

174 Nah, I'd take a healthy Mahomes. Josh Allen can't beat him. Even when he's had the better team almost every time.
Posted by: Nova Local at January 17, 2026 08:49 PM (tOcjL)

I think Mahomes is done as an elite QB.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 17, 2026 08:51 PM (x3JSa)

175 My Top ten Charlton Heston movies

Ben Hur
Omega Man
Ten Commandments
El Cid
The War Lord
Last Hard Men
Planet of the Apes
Greatest Show
Soylent Green
The Agony and the Ecstasy

Posted by: Opinion fact at January 17, 2026 08:51 PM (KDPiq)

176 134...Of course it's a team game, but for better or for worse the QB gets praise or criticism for wins/losses. In this one, Allen had magical moments, but he also made an incredibly dumb play before half, which ended up giving Denver three points and cost the Bills the game. There were other highs and lows, but in football --especially the modern day NFL--it's all about the QB as your horse.

Is THE THING a winter movie or a South Pole movie?

Posted by: Lex at January 17, 2026 08:51 PM (y4H1r)

177 Shawa hessler is supposed to be skorzeny whi was otherwise occupied at time of filming having been an agent fir at least three agencies as well as other parties

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 08:52 PM (bXbFr)

178 174 Nah, I'd take a healthy Mahomes. Josh Allen can't beat him. Even when he's had the better team almost every time.
Posted by: Nova Local at January 17, 2026 08:49 PM (tOcjL)

I think Mahomes is done as an elite QB.
Posted by: BurtTC at January 17, 2026 08:51 PM (x3JSa)

After today, so's likely Josh...

Posted by: Nova Local at January 17, 2026 08:52 PM (tOcjL)

179 "we're soft and fat and shallow and godless"

Well one those four, anyway.

Posted by: rhomboid at January 17, 2026 08:52 PM (U/Byj)

180 Also steiner from eagle has landed

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 08:53 PM (bXbFr)

181

Up this thread is always like dutch-ovening yourself...

Posted by: Bristol Type 6 at January 17, 2026 08:53 PM (VLH5c)

182 Michaek caines role

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 08:55 PM (bXbFr)

183 Thought Shaw was some composite of Joachim Peiper and others (that is, thinking that now, decades later, as I didn't know that much about the topic when I saw it in the theater way back when it came out). His character was Waffen SS.

Posted by: rhomboid at January 17, 2026 08:55 PM (U/Byj)

184 Rhomboid,

RevivalHub.com is a list of what repertory theaters in the L.A. area are showing on any given day. (There aren't any actual movies on the site, just listings.)

If you're asking for my personal favorites, there are few I don't like. Quentin Tarantino's "New Beverly" is a blast. I wrote about that when I reviewed Repo Man/Return of the Living dead. Great double-feature, real projector, loved it.

The Nuart is great. I've been going to midnight shows there since...the '80s at least.

The Egyptian is classic Hollywood, love it. The one we say "Mon Oncle" was kind of a knock-off, but also very good. Ticket takers, ushers, Art Deco on the inside.

The Gardena Cinema is a little rundown but they have such fun shows.

And I more or less live at the Laemmles.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 17, 2026 08:56 PM (asXVI)

185 Ben Hur
Omega Man
Ten Commandments
El Cid
The War Lord
Last Hard Men
Planet of the Apes
Greatest Show
Soylent Green
The Agony and the Ecstasy
Posted by: Opinion fact at January 17, 2026 08:51 PM (KDPiq)

Hmmm, of those id say my favorites were

1) El Cid
2) Ben Hhr
3) Agony and the Ecstasy

I like the idea of Omega Man, but just do nkt like the movie. His performance is good, but the creatures are just damn dirty hippies. Man.

Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at January 17, 2026 08:56 PM (zZu0s)

186 Peiper and skorzeny (hence the subrerfuge)

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 08:56 PM (bXbFr)

187 I am so tired of these horror / serial killer movies, comicbook kung fu, slashers, bloodbaths, CGI idiocy - I don't find them to be entertaining. I don't really like chick flix either but I'd take a rom-com with a happy ending over a loner gone psycho flick anyday.

What happened to good film making with great stories and great, intelligent dialog and happy endings?

Hollywood sucks balls.

Posted by: Rev. Wishbone at January 17, 2026 08:56 PM (BSdIE)

188 If you don't mind spending three hours watching a love story in the Russian Revolution, you might try on a 1942 Italian movie starring Rossano Brazzi, now called "We The Living."

Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at January 17, 2026 08:57 PM (zdLoL)

189 STRELNIKOFF

Posted by: MAGA_Ken at January 17, 2026 08:57 PM (Vh9CX)

190 I like the idea of Omega Man, but just do nkt like the movie. His performance is good, but the creatures are just damn dirty hippies. Man.
Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at January 17, 2026 08:56 PM (zZu0s)

And he got to machine gun them.

Posted by: Opinion fact at January 17, 2026 08:57 PM (KDPiq)

191 As for movies, I haven't watched any this week b/c I've been watching Severance. But that should change next week with less football and no AppleTV left for me...
Posted by: Nova Local at January 17, 2026 08:51 PM (tOcjL)

I decided to let Prime recommend films for me. Went through a run of Hercule Peroit (sp? I don't care enough to look it up) films, and Marlow films with different actors in the role.

Takeaways: 1. Peroit movies are all one formula. The performances and scenery make them fun. 2. Actresses like Joan Collins, Charlotte Rampling, and Diana Rigg were scrumptious in their primes. And C. Prime is very good at finding the films after you give them a hint what you're looking for.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 17, 2026 08:57 PM (DxNuP)

192 Speaking of dialogue, I need to rewatch the thin man movies.

Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at January 17, 2026 08:58 PM (zZu0s)

193 1 Just got out of "The Bone Palace". If you wanted to see Ralph Fiennes "bone", now's your chance!
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 17, 2026 07:30 PM (asXVI)

DH decided we needed to binge watch GOT. There are more dicks and tits in those videos than I have ever seen before. I guess now I know why it was so viral at the time. Add in the gratuitous violence and hell, you've got weeks worth of useless entertainment.

Posted by: tcn in AK at January 17, 2026 08:58 PM (6Bc88)

194 My favorite actor/actress in GOT is Diana Rigg. She is rock solid, no bullshit, mean as nails. And luckily we never get to see her tits, so there's that.

Posted by: tcn in AK at January 17, 2026 08:59 PM (6Bc88)

195 192 Speaking of dialogue, I need to rewatch the thin man movies.
Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at January 17, 2026 08:58 PM (zZu0s)

So well written.

Posted by: tcn in AK at January 17, 2026 09:00 PM (6Bc88)

196 Been a while since I watched it, but as I recall Heston was pretty good in Will Penny.

Any up-votes for The Naked Jungle? Half Heston/mail-order bride soap opera, and the last half a decent adaptation of "Leiningen versus the Ants." Ninety minutes of screen time to fill, but only 45 minutes of material in the short story. But still fun.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at January 17, 2026 09:00 PM (q3u5l)

197 moviegique thanks! Yep I misinterpreted you comment about that website.

Well that's quite a menu to choose from. And your ratings are valuable.

If I do it I would be combining the movie with some good eatin' at a Mex or Thai restaurant, so a matinee would be best. Just a long day trip up from America's Finest City.

And will have to work in a stop at Hi-Time wines in Costa Mesa. Amazing rum selection and often incredible prices on cognac etc.

Posted by: rhomboid at January 17, 2026 09:00 PM (U/Byj)

198 I read a few books of GOT, realized I hated the fucking guts of George the perv Pirate and never watched the show.

Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at January 17, 2026 09:00 PM (zZu0s)

199 What happened to good film making with great stories and great, intelligent dialog and happy endings?

Hollywood sucks balls.
Posted by: Rev. Wishbone at January 17, 2026 08:56 PM (BSdIE)

If you're looking for happy endings, try San Fernando.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 17, 2026 09:01 PM (i7BC6)

200 Posted by: Rev. Wishbone at January 17, 2026 08:56 PM (BSdI

I'm with you that I prefer movies with happy endings or at least not depressively numbing endings.

That why I actually really like RomComs.

Posted by: Opinion fact at January 17, 2026 09:02 PM (KDPiq)

201 Wishbone,

Check out Two for the Road, with Albert Finney and Audrey Hepburn. Delightful screenplay by Frederic Raphael, and one of Henry Mancini's best scores.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at January 17, 2026 09:03 PM (q3u5l)

202 Posted by: Just Some Guy at January 17, 2026 09:00 PM (q3u

Still a lot of very good Heston movies not in my top ten list.

Posted by: Opinion fact at January 17, 2026 09:05 PM (KDPiq)

203 I read a few books of GOT, realized I hated the fucking guts of George the perv Pirate and never watched the show.
Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at January 17, 2026 09:00 PM (zZu0s)

I heard it said recently, Martin may not want to finish the books, because he's made some sort of pact with... whomever, that as long as he doesn't finish, he won't die.

There's a lot of occult connections to Hollywood, big business, and our oligarchy to suggest, whether you believe it that stuff or not, the rich and powerful sure do.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 17, 2026 09:05 PM (i7BC6)

204 I know why it was so viral at the time.
---

Yeah, there was that whole thing, that fake commercial that was really dead-on.

"It's not porn, it's HBO!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUBiOOx0Pxw

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 17, 2026 09:06 PM (asXVI)

205 203 I read a few books of GOT, realized I hated the fucking guts of George the perv Pirate and never watched the show.
Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at January 17, 2026 09:00 PM (zZu0s)

I heard it said recently, Martin may not want to finish the books, because he's made some sort of pact with... whomever, that as long as he doesn't finish, he won't die.

There's a lot of occult connections to Hollywood, big business, and our oligarchy to suggest, whether you believe it that stuff or not, the rich and powerful sure do.
Posted by: BurtTC at January 17, 2026 09:05 PM (i7BC6)

Did the Tragical History of Dr Faustus with my boys to start Jan (the play then a college performance)...Marlowe didn't get enough respect vs Shakespeare...

Posted by: Nova Local at January 17, 2026 09:07 PM (tOcjL)

206 Watched "London Calling" and "Fight or Flight" recently.

Enjoyed them both.

Solid popcorn action flicks.

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at January 17, 2026 09:07 PM (HXT0k)

207 I thought GOT was so much girl boss that it turned hilariously so. I'd tune in just to see what the girl boss script was going to be that night.

Posted by: Opinion fact at January 17, 2026 09:07 PM (KDPiq)

208 GRRM probably wishes he could blame the Devil for not finishing.

But it's probably just the paralyzing knowledge of failure.

And he's a quite capable writer, but he let this one get away from him. Fine, he has all the money in the world. And they'll hire Brandon Sanderson or someone to finish the books after he's gone.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 17, 2026 09:08 PM (asXVI)

209 Never even started on Game of Thrones, but as I recall it, George R.R. Martin did some pretty decent stuff prior to that. "Sandkings" was nice (I think the revived Outer Limits did a two-parter of that for its series premiere.) Some of the early short fiction was fun.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at January 17, 2026 09:09 PM (q3u5l)

210 Yeah, there was that whole thing, that fake commercial that was really dead-on.

"It's not porn, it's HBO!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUBiOOx0Pxw
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 17, 2026 09:06 PM (asXVI)

That's cute.

Of course, GOT wasn't poopular because of dix and tiddies, it was poopular because people wanted a story.

That we all got suckered in the end, and they turned it into drivel isn't the fault of the audience.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 17, 2026 09:10 PM (i7BC6)

211 Lean also directed The Haunting. A great movie there. If you listen closely to the music you'll hear strains of a tune used in another Lean directed film, Star Trek The Motion Picture.

Posted by: MAGA_Ken at January 17, 2026 09:11 PM (Vh9CX)

212 95 192 Speaking of dialogue, I need to rewatch the thin man movies.
Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at January 17, 2026 08:58 PM (zZu0s)

So well written.
Posted by: tcn in AK at January 17, 2026 09:00 PM (6Bc8

And nary an utterance of 'fcuk' in any of them.

Posted by: Eromero at January 17, 2026 09:11 PM (LHPAg)

213 >>>Posted by: Rev. Wishbone at January 17, 2026 08:56 PM (BSdI

I'm with you that I prefer movies with happy endings or at least not depressively numbing endings.

That why I actually really like RomComs.

Posted by: Opinion fact

>It's all about the boxoffice returns, the big haul instead of making quality art.

Are you an artist or are you a tool? Both work and pay the bills but something is lacking, and I find myself not willing to buy or pay for any of it unless it's streaming for free.

Posted by: Rev. Wishbone at January 17, 2026 09:11 PM (BSdIE)

214 I saw Dr Zhivago in the theater when I was 13, and then not again until 30+ years later. But I remembered every frame of it over the years - every image is a masterpiece.

BTW Klaus Kinski makes the absolute most out of his 30 seconds on camera. “Lickspittle!”, “Liar!”, and the worst insult of all: “Bureaucrat!”

Posted by: pikkumatti at January 17, 2026 09:13 PM (FY8nG)

215 Of course, GOT wasn't poopular because of dix and tiddies, it was poopular because people wanted a story.
---

HBO has had a pretty consistent formula of using sex and violence to start their series, to grab interest, and then using it at climactic (heh) points to keep interest up.

Personally, I don't watch much TV precisely because I think the (American) system rewards big, sloppy, messy kitchen-sink openings that the writers have no idea how they're going to close.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 17, 2026 09:14 PM (asXVI)

216 Lean also directed The Haunting. A great movie there. If you listen closely to the music you'll hear strains of a tune used in another Lean directed film, Star Trek The Motion Picture.
---

I believe you are confusing Lean with the (also great) Robert Wise.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 17, 2026 09:14 PM (asXVI)

217 Yes james horner copied alexander courages beats perfectly

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 09:15 PM (bXbFr)

218 >It's all about the boxoffice returns, the big haul instead of making quality art.
--------
Are you an artist or are you a tool? Both work and pay the bills but something is lacking, and I find myself not willing to buy or pay for any of it unless it's streaming for free.
Posted by: Rev. Wishbone at January 17, 2026 09:11 PM (BSdIE)

I'm sure much has been said and written, about how "art" has everywhere been turned into big business, and while entertainment was once the realm of providing... eh, entertainment, it's now about product.

Back in the day, writers, musicians, actors, ball players, hell, even producers and CEOs made decent money, but weren't being made insanely rich by providing entertainment.

More money = less quality.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 17, 2026 09:16 PM (i7BC6)

219 >"It's not porn, it's HBO!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUBiOOx0Pxw
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 17, 2026 09:06 PM (asXVI)

Fake but accurate.

Posted by: Heavy Meta at January 17, 2026 09:16 PM (GTqXr)

220 157 147 Battle of the Bulge is technically a winter movie but I recall many scenes where the lack of any winter/snow was pretty jarring. A horrible movie in every respect, and of course on a subject that would lend itself to very good epic movie treatment.
Posted by: rhomboid at January 17, 2026 08:43 PM (U/Byj)

It’s been mentioned often, but Battleground (1949) is a great Battle of the Bulge movie, even though it was shot with only a fraction of the budget of the later effort.

Posted by: Tom Servo at January 17, 2026 09:16 PM (m7iZ5)

221 A bad ass lady knight
An 80lb assassin girl
A Dragon lady queen
A smart vengeful evil queen
A lady ship captain
A princess who saves her brother from massacre
Same princess has dogs eat the evil guy

And so much more.

Posted by: Opinion fact at January 17, 2026 09:17 PM (KDPiq)

222 But harve bennett really brought it home

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 09:17 PM (bXbFr)

223 HBO has had a pretty consistent formula of using sex and violence to start their series, to grab interest, and then using it at climactic (heh) points to keep interest up.

Personally, I don't watch much TV precisely because I think the (American) system rewards big, sloppy, messy kitchen-sink openings that the writers have no idea how they're going to close.
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 17, 2026 09:14 PM (asXVI)

Maybe so, but the GOT show got started, and followed almost precisely with the book. It started with a family, some wolf cubs, and the death of a king.

Sure, there were dix and tiddies and lopping off heads, but none of it was gratuitous. It was all integral to the story.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 17, 2026 09:18 PM (i7BC6)

224 And they'll hire Brandon Sanderson or someone to finish the books after he's gone.
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 17, 2026 09:08 PM (asXVI)

I heard that he actually does NOT want anyone to finish the series (unlike say Jordan, who worked every moment until his coming death to finish AND arranged for someone to finish the books. Gave him all his notes, interviews where he could ask questions, everything.

I hate and shake my fist that that fat fuck Martin lives while Jordan died. Gods will, but it still kind of sucks.

Martin is just a BAD person. It oozes out of his writing (rape, character torture, all of it.)

Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at January 17, 2026 09:18 PM (zZu0s)

225 The Haunting is a wonderful flick -- a perfect Halloween treat. Or any other time for that matter.

And for epic (and like Lean's stuff 3-hour movies that don't feel like 3 hours), try Wise's film of The Sand Pebbles.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at January 17, 2026 09:19 PM (q3u5l)

226 It’s been mentioned often, but Battleground (1949) is a great Battle of the Bulge movie, even though it was shot with only a fraction of the budget of the later effort.
Posted by: Tom Servo at January 17, 2026 09:16 PM (m7iZ5)

I think it was the BOTB movie, where they said the budget for the film was larger than the cost of the actual battle.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 17, 2026 09:20 PM (i7BC6)

227 Heston in A Touch of Evil was good. Strange choice to play a Mexican but it worked in a fine movie

Posted by: Smell the Glove and at January 17, 2026 09:20 PM (PTsqM)

228 And nary an utterance of 'fcuk' in any of them.
Posted by: Eromero at January 17, 2026 09:11 PM (LHPAg)

And both RAGING alcoholics by today's standards.

Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at January 17, 2026 09:20 PM (zZu0s)

229 Yes touch of evil (we already did the welles review)

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 09:22 PM (bXbFr)

230 Yes he has made a deal with the winter king

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at January 17, 2026 09:23 PM (bXbFr)

231 "Of course, GOT wasn't poopular because of dix and tiddies, it was poopular because people wanted a story"

It was popular because it "thwarted expectations"

Converting a book to television takes skill, no doubt. But the difference between good writing and good directing was made stark with the complete failure of Seasons 7 and 8. Without an actual story to anchor the TV script, GoT wandered around like a zombie begging to be put out of it's misery.

"Winter is coming", the coolest line of the series, was turned into a joke. Millions of men finally understood the disappointment of women in the bedroom asking "is it in yet?"

Posted by: Fen at January 17, 2026 09:25 PM (ciYHQ)

232 BurtTC,

Sure, there was definitely a story there. As I said, GRRM can write, when he feels like it. But what elements they show, how sexual, how violent, is very much a conscious, commercial decision.

I'm not suggesting that's bad, either. Just that it is. Kind of like how Spielberg started "The Color Purple" with the girls running through a field rather than, as the book, the lead character being raped by her father.

Apropos of the other conversation going on, there's nothing wrong with tailoring things to the now and doing (some) things to be successful. A beautiful work of art nobody appreciates may as well not exist.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 17, 2026 09:25 PM (asXVI)

233 224 Martin is just a BAD person. It oozes out of his writing (rape, character torture, all of it.)
Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at January 17, 2026 09:18 PM (zZu0s)

It does. I tried to read the first Game of Thrones book and tapped out after the "barbarian slowly seduces underage girl" scene.

It's a shame. I liked his Sandkings story, and even his weird rock band/supernatural/guy who is too proud of his Mazda book. He could have wound up in a much better place.

Posted by: Splunge at January 17, 2026 09:25 PM (7DKa5)

234 All that buildup for a one-shot episode that fumbled in the dark .

Posted by: Fen at January 17, 2026 09:26 PM (ciYHQ)

235 I was a senior in college and took Russian history to finish my humanities courses. In the middle of the semester, our prof ask us to go watch Dr. Chivago, which was playing in one of the university auditorium. I went and was absolutely mesmerized by it. It was helpful in creating some illustration of what we were learning in class. The winter scenes, particularly when they’re living in the palace of snow still makes me sit and wrap up in a blanket to watch it. All the little dimwits out protesting ice ought to go see it.

Posted by: Jen the original at January 17, 2026 09:26 PM (gP1XX)

236 Aetius,

I don't know about Martin personally. He seems rather nihilistic, what I've read, but so does Michael Moorcock, and--well, maybe he is, too, but he seems to have some admirable elements to him.

It also doesn't matter, I don't think, what he wants. When he's dead and there's money to be made, they'll give him the Tolkien treatment.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 17, 2026 09:28 PM (asXVI)

237 227 Heston in A Touch of Evil was good. Strange choice to play a Mexican but it worked in a fine movie
Posted by: Smell the Glove and at January 17, 2026 09:20 PM (PTsqM)

Charlton Heston was the Brian Dennehy of his day. He could have played a water glass, and you'd know immediately just how full that water glass was supposed to be.

Posted by: Splunge at January 17, 2026 09:28 PM (7DKa5)

238 Zhivago. Voice to text.

Posted by: Jen the original at January 17, 2026 09:28 PM (gP1XX)

239 Another thing about Martin: He's incredibly successful.

The cliche about success ruining people exists for a reason.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 17, 2026 09:29 PM (asXVI)

240
157 147 Battle of the Bulge is technically a winter movie but I recall many scenes where the lack of any winter/snow was pretty jarring. A horrible movie in every respect, and of course on a subject that would lend itself to very good epic movie treatment.
Posted by: rhomboid at January 17, 2026 08:43 PM (U/Byj)

------

I read that the movie was filmed in Spain to save money, and the producers were hoping for snow but didn't get any.

Posted by: Semi-Literate Thug at January 17, 2026 09:30 PM (VWtfl)

241 Not a lot of circus movie fans left -- we've completely forgotten them -- but one of Heston's make-or-break roles was in The Greatest Show on Earth. If you're interested in spooky-scary Jimmy Stewart, well, no spoilers but he's pretty dangerous there.

I argue with those who say Stewart's WWII duty changed him, because he portrayed a seriously deranged relative in the second Thin Man, well before the war. Even at his "nicest," he always had that madman in his pocket.

If you remade Harvey today, Elwood P. would have a body count.

Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at January 17, 2026 09:31 PM (zdLoL)

242 It was popular because it "thwarted expectations"

Converting a book to television takes skill, no doubt. But the difference between good writing and good directing was made stark with the complete failure of Seasons 7 and 8. Without an actual story to anchor the TV script, GoT wandered around like a zombie begging to be put out of it's misery.

"Winter is coming", the coolest line of the series, was turned into a joke. Millions of men finally understood the disappointment of women in the bedroom asking "is it in yet?"
Posted by: Fen at January 17, 2026 09:25 PM (ciYHQ)

The books end with Jon Snow laying in a pool of his own blood, Daenerys flying off on her dragon, and various other characters in states of turmoil.

From that point on the show was all downhill, racing toward its fatal disaster of an ending. Which I haven't seen.

I gave up on the show after, I think, one season past the end of the books.

Could Martin have written a better continuation/ending?

I think we will never know.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 17, 2026 09:31 PM (i7BC6)

243 >235 I was a senior in college and took Russian history to finish my humanities courses. In the middle of the semester, our prof ask us to go watch Dr. Chivago, which was playing in one of the university auditorium. I went and was absolutely mesmerized by it. It was helpful in creating some illustration of what we were learning in class. The winter scenes, particularly when they’re living in the palace of snow still makes me sit and wrap up in a blanket to watch it. All the little dimwits out protesting ice ought to go see it.
Posted by: Jen the original at January 17, 2026 09:26 PM (gP1XX)

I took a European History class as one of my requisite classes. The course was centered around Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago. The prof. was not a fan of the warmth of collectivism. How times have changed.

Posted by: Heavy Meta at January 17, 2026 09:33 PM (GTqXr)

244 Dr. Zhivago is the coldest movie I have ever seen. Colder than Ice Station Zebra.

Posted by: toby928(c) at January 17, 2026 09:33 PM (jc0TO)

245 I haven't had dinner yet.

Time to make something good to eat, and watch something bloody, with lots of tits and whatnot.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 17, 2026 09:34 PM (sLLLV)

246 Charlton Heston:

https://youtu.be/pcE4jyhPi2g?
si=gaRNPhQGZdQ7hNFq

Posted by: Aetius451AD work phone at January 17, 2026 09:35 PM (zZu0s)

247 Charlton Heston was the Brian Dennehy of his day. He could have played a water glass, and you'd know immediately just how full that water glass was supposed to be.
Posted by: Splunge at January 17, 2026 09:28 PM

Perfect.

Posted by: toby928(c) at January 17, 2026 09:35 PM (jc0TO)

248 16 Lean also directed The Haunting. A great movie there. If you listen closely to the music you'll hear strains of a tune used in another Lean directed film, Star Trek The Motion Picture.
---

I believe you are confusing Lean with the (also great) Robert Wise.
Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 17, 2026 09:14 PM (asXVI)

-----

Argh, your right.

Posted by: MAGA_Ken at January 17, 2026 09:37 PM (Vh9CX)

249 "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich"

was an excellent movie about communist Russia.

And as per the discussion above- a great cold winter movie.

But, man has it been disappeared from the public's consciousness.

Posted by: naturalfake at January 17, 2026 09:37 PM (iJfKG)

250 It's dark and cold here. I've spent the last two hours watching Tron:Ares (very bad) and Argyle (started interesting and went down hill fast).

I'm trying to see if I'm up for one more in my backlog.

Posted by: toby928(c) at January 17, 2026 09:37 PM (jc0TO)

251 Dennehy... winter movie...

Ah -- Gorky Park

Posted by: Just Some Guy at January 17, 2026 09:38 PM (q3u5l)

252 It is a great epic film (Zhivago). Saw it for the first time back in the 1980's VHS era.

And of course I fell in love with Lara, and whenever Lara's Theme is played it is so romantic, dreamy and bittersweet.

Posted by: Joemarine at January 17, 2026 09:38 PM (y171U)

253 My favorite part of the Battle of the Bulge an otherwise awful movie.

https://tinyurl.com/3usxv3jp

Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at January 17, 2026 09:39 PM (cxFcK)

254 Could Martin have written a better continuation/ending?

I think we will never know.
Posted by: BurtTC at January

You and I could have written a better ending, on a weekend drunk binge surrounded by sorority distractions on Spring Break. Dany wouldn't have "forgotten" about the Iron Fleet. Tyrion wouldn't have "forgotten" he was smart and hidden from the undead... in the crypt. Jamie wouldn't forgotten that he had a character arc to fulfill.

But I don't blame JRRRRR Whatever. I think he decided to cash in on the fame while it was still hot, instead of remaining a footnote in the credits.

Posted by: Fen at January 17, 2026 09:39 PM (ciYHQ)

255 I have never seen this movie. No real desire to change that.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at January 17, 2026 09:39 PM (8zz6B)

256 Mainly to wash out the mush from my brain after those two. Maybe Caravan of Courage: A Ewok Adventure.

Posted by: toby928(c) at January 17, 2026 09:40 PM (jc0TO)

257 Bo Nix broke his ankle, so tomorrow's AFC game likely will be the Super Bowl rep without a Stidham miracle...

Posted by: Nova Local at January 17, 2026 09:40 PM (tOcjL)

258 Kubrick is dead. Thats about enough of that.

Posted by: Hokey Pokey at January 17, 2026 09:41 PM (JAn48)

259 249 "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich"

was an excellent movie about communist Russia.

And as per the discussion above- a great cold winter movie.

But, man has it been disappeared from the public's consciousness.

Posted by: naturalfake at January 17, 2026 09:37 PM (iJfKG)

Read the book with my girls 2 years ago...it's definitely Russian Lit...

Posted by: Nova Local at January 17, 2026 09:41 PM (tOcjL)

260 Squeaky Fromme was paroled from prison on August 14, 2009.

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at January 17, 2026 09:43 PM (ZVgZ4)

261 >>>I haven't had dinner yet.

Time to make something good to eat, and watch something bloody, with lots of tits and whatnot.

Posted by: BurtTC

>These things are good when you're in the mood for it. Hopefully there is some comedy aspect.

Posted by: Rev. Wishbone at January 17, 2026 09:45 PM (BSdIE)

262 Blutarski, that "Panzerlied" scene is easily the most memorable of the movie. Existing recordings of the song (sung by Wehrmacht personnel) suggest the tempo/etc were "modernized" for the film. Original was much slower and more ponderous, not inspirational.

Posted by: rhomboid at January 17, 2026 09:46 PM (U/Byj)

263 Posted by: rhomboid

Awesome. Just awesome.

Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at January 17, 2026 09:47 PM (cxFcK)

264 Black Robe had some pretty intense winter scenes. Only ones I remember. Had some resonance as I had a little experience with outdoor livin' in a brutal Canadian winter.

Posted by: rhomboid at January 17, 2026 09:47 PM (U/Byj)

265 Moviegique, thanks for the thread.

Have a good one, gang.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at January 17, 2026 09:48 PM (q3u5l)

266 Saw "The Housemaid" this week courtesy of th lovely and exciting Mrs naturalfake.

So...have you ever had the misfortune to read "Jane Eyre"? (Those Bronte sisters have a lot to answer for!)

Well, if you have, then you'll recognize within the first 5-10 minutes that "The Housemaid" is essentially a DEI reclamation of the main plot of "Jane Eyre".

Crazy wife? Check, but is she really crazy?
Isolated room at the top of the stairs with a door that only locks from the outside.
Glamorous husband who loyally sticks with "crazy" wife.
Young, strong minded Housemaid who becomes the love interest of husband.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

"The Housemaid" flips the roles around to get to a revenge flick for modern women that weirdly brings "Saw" into the mix.

Well-made but predictable from practically the first frame. Good acting. Crisp direction. Had the ladies in the audience well-hooked.

Not my kind of thing, but if it sounds like you'd enjoy it, you will.

Posted by: naturalfake at January 17, 2026 09:49 PM (iJfKG)

267 "but so does Michael Moorcock"

He gave us the first(?) tragic anti-hero. Before there was a Batman, a Blade, a Dritz or a Raistlin Majere.

And if you haven't campaigned without a Stormbringer or a Mournblade in your party, you're amateur

It's not D&D without the sudden but inevitable betrayal leading to a party wipe. It's how I met The Simbul. No sht, there I was with Elfbane at my feet and...

Posted by: Fen at January 17, 2026 09:50 PM (ciYHQ)

268 When it's miserable hot out, I like to put on
"Scott of The Antarctic" (John Mills, 194

.

It will cool you right off. Pretty good score, too.
It has...penguins. And a pony! (Well, for a while).

Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at January 17, 2026 09:52 PM (zdLoL)

269 Actually I lie, she sent a Golem to negotiate and secure the blade, because she didn't realize I was more afraid of her than she was of me.

Posted by: Fen at January 17, 2026 09:53 PM (ciYHQ)

270 Supreme Court justice says she doesn't know what a movie is.

Posted by: mindful webworker - believe it at January 17, 2026 09:57 PM (FMpsC)

271 Fen,

|| Before there was a Batman

Moorcock was born in 1939, same year as Batman, so, I don't think so.

Good night everyone, thanks for coming by!

Posted by: moviegique (buy my books) at January 17, 2026 09:57 PM (asXVI)

272 ONT is nood.

Posted by: Blanco Basura - Z28.310 at January 17, 2026 10:01 PM (lUFok)

273 Zhivago is the standard that I use for non-trivial films.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at January 17, 2026 10:01 PM (XeU6L)

274 >>>Supreme Court justice says she doesn't know what a movie is.

Posted by: mindful webworker - believe it

>I haven't seen a trans-movie yet, does it have a climactic implant uterus?

Posted by: Rev. Wishbone at January 17, 2026 10:01 PM (BSdIE)

275 "Moorcock was born in 1939, same year as Batman, so, I don't think so."

Anti-hero.

Batman wasn't written as the Dark Knight until the 80s

Posted by: Fen at January 17, 2026 10:03 PM (ciYHQ)

276
Other good winter movies

Nobody's Fool

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM} at January 17, 2026 10:05 PM (xG4kz)

277 Anti-hero

"While a conventional hero is typically courageous, morally upright, selfless, noble, honest, and admired by society, an anti-hero is flawed in major ways — often selfish, cynical, morally ambiguous, ruthless, or even unlikeable — yet we still root for them (at least to some degree)."

Posted by: Fen at January 17, 2026 10:07 PM (ciYHQ)

278 Actually, Dritz is the one that doesn't belong in that group.
My bad. I'm prejudiced against drow so...

Posted by: Fen at January 17, 2026 10:14 PM (ciYHQ)

279
Other good winter movies

Wind River

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM} at January 17, 2026 10:15 PM (xG4kz)

280 The Varykino Gambit:

"How you order your private life is a profoundly political act. Hell, in a world where everything is political, just living life on your own terms is a revolutionary act."

https://tinyurl.com/mt7smh7r

Posted by: Alex Holz at January 17, 2026 10:26 PM (rbKtB)

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