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Post by GRWelsh on May 8, 2023 17:09:13 GMT -5
I was rewatching one of my favorite movies, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, and reminded of just how much of an influence it is. It is hard not to imagine that it was an inspiration for Frank Herbert's novel DUNE (1965) since the Fremen are so much like the Arabs and Paul Atreides seems like a parallel to T. E. Lawrence. Also, it is impossible not to think of Tatooine and the Sand People from STAR WARS... When watching now it makes me wonder if perhaps Alec Guiness was offered the part because of his connection to this film by association. The sumptuousness of the production and the sweeping score are such obvious influences for the epic style of STAR WARS. The people who made the STAR WARS sequels should have spent more time studying classic films like this that were influences on George Lucas rather than simply copying Episode IV and then making it up as they went along...
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Post by geneweigel on May 8, 2023 18:39:38 GMT -5
I was big into the film in the 1980's. I recall having deep desert games around that time which were revolved around Alec Guinness-like and Anthony Quinn-like characters to ally with with an "anvil of the desert". Of course, it would devolve into civilizations Egypt, Mesopotamia, etc.
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Post by GRWelsh on May 9, 2023 10:08:11 GMT -5
"Anvil of the desert" is great title! One wouldn't want to be caught between the "anvil of the desert" and the "hammer of the mountains"! In the movie, it is called "anvil of the sun."
For bonus points, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA was also an influence on PROMETHEUS (2012) in multiple ways: the synthetic David watches the movie and tries to model his appearance and mannerisms after Peter O'Toole's performance, even dying his hair blonde and mimicking the line "The trick, Mr. Potter, is not minding that it hurts." Another line of dialogue is also used: "Big things have small beginnings." Something else is that the stony pyramid of the Engineers looks very much like some of the stony pyramid-like hills -- which look built but are apparently all natural -- in the 1962 film.
So, that's a significant impact on three of the biggest sci-fi movie franchises: DUNE, STAR WARS and ALIEN! Wow!
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Post by geneweigel on May 9, 2023 15:02:35 GMT -5
I just watched THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD (1965) and David Lean I guess did some uncredited direction (3 years after LOA) and LOA stars Jose (DUNE) Ferrer and Claude Rains also appear. (As an aside, my biggest disappointment in TGSET is that John Wayne looks like a tiny speck for half a second and gets top billing on the movie posters. It must have been made for a mega-screen because I cant make him out. The movie is okay but not as good as LOA.)
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Post by GRWelsh on May 10, 2023 14:53:49 GMT -5
I'll have to check that one out. I've seen most Jesus movies, but that is one I haven't yet, and it certainly had a star studded cast for that time period.
Speaking of David Lean, I was just thinking of his unfinished project at the time of his death, NOSTROMO, an adaptation of the Joseph Conrad novel. Lean died before filming started and the project collapsed. Oddly, this is another connection to the ALIEN franchise as Nostromo was set in Sulaco, and both of those names were adapted for use in the ALIEN universe as space ships.
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Post by geneweigel on May 10, 2023 20:31:08 GMT -5
I had read NOSTROMO in 1980 or so because I had the Alien poster over my bed which had the crew with the NOSTROMO insignias. I discovered the book in the country house library and was disappointed as it was dense. Another similar disappointment was STEPPENWOLF around the same time thinking it had something to do with THE NEW GODS comics.
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Post by GRWelsh on May 11, 2023 10:46:16 GMT -5
NOSTROMO is free on Amazon Kindle so I may just give it a try. I wasn't able to appreciate a lot of these dense classics when I was younger and first made the attempt, either. For some reason I was associating it with Jules Verne and the Nautilus, but I think that is off.
I just noticed that a new boxed set expansion on the ALIEN RPG by Free League is named "Heart of Darkness" so I'm glad to see them continuing along with the Joseph Conrad references (even if I don't get them all myself)!
My other favorite David Lean movies are THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI and DOCTOR ZHIVAGO, the latter of which was my Granny's favorite movie. I think I will re-watch those next.
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Post by geneweigel on May 11, 2023 11:04:34 GMT -5
I recall watching a lot of Guinness movies, early on with the dawn of VHS, with the goggles of Star Wars and being disappointed. The early comedic and semi-comedic ones. KIND HEARTS AND CORENETS (1949) and THE MAN IN THE WHITE SUIT (!951), etc., etc. but they were actually good watches.
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