Doctor Zhivago (1965)

Waste of Money.

hyped garbage

Absolutely the worst movie.

It is not only a funny movie, but it allows a great amount of joy for anyone who watches it.

While not quite as good as David Lean's other masterpieces The Bridge on the River Kwai or Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago is still a stunning cinematic achievement. It has, much like the previously named titles, beautiful cinematography & an excellent score by Maurice Jarre once again.The most obvious and greatest thing about this film is definitely the cinematography. It is a beautiful film to look at, with many memorable scenes and extraordinary camera techniques ( Such as the one where it follows Rod Steiger's character sideways from room to room ). The shot right before Zhivago is picked up by the reds when trying to return to his wife is also one that springs to mind, a bit reminiscent of the final scene in The Third Man (1949), the shots of Varykino, the train ride, or any other shot in general of the beautiful winter scenery. It has critically acclaimed cinematography, and for good reason since it is one of the most beautiful movies you could ever see.However, i found that the performances seemed to be a bit flat in general. Omar Sharif doesn't have that ability to absord you as the audience into feeling a lot of sympathy for his character like Peter o'Toole in Lawrence of Arabia could or the raw natural acting talent that Alec Guinness and William Holden show in The Bridge on the River Kwai, except for the couple of teary eyed scenes which he pulled off extremely well. The two women in Zhivago's life, played by Julie Christie & Geraldine Chaplin, also seemed to be able to lack this strong screen presence most characters had in Lean's previous films. The only actors that really had excellent performances were probably Rod Steiger & Ralph Richardson, especially the former as the intelligent businessman. Ofcourse Alec Guinness is in this film too, but surprisingly he also seems a bit flat and does not quite compare to his great role in The Bridge on the River Kwai.The first half of the movie is a character piece whereas the second is more of a romance picture. It does a tremendous job of taking its time to properly set up its characters in the first half of the film, something that if often way too hasty these days. The second probably features more great shots, but still seems inferior to the first as a character development piece. Still, the second half is beautiful enough on its own and as a motion picture it is a stunning achievement.In the end this creates an epic atmospheric historical epic of a film, unfortunately devoid of the performances that made Lawrence of Arabia and The Bridge on the River Kwai stand out, but still a very worthy picture.

The 1940's to the 1960's was the era that was famous for the production of numerous epics, famous for its lavish production design, colorful performances, and a story that can be told on a large canvas usually with some sort of historical background. Unfortunately, the era of epics began to die down around the release of this movie, Doctor Zhivago in 1965. In fact, many film scholars call this film the "last great epic of this era." That is not entirely true as films similar as Doctor Zhivago or Lawrence of Arabia or Ben-Hur springs up every once in awhile. But there is no denying, that epics began to die off as the Hollywood studios began to change the content into more of a modern America cinema.Ironically, Doctor Zhivago was the first epic I have watched from this era and it was the film that brought my attention to these popular films. For the most part, I very much enjoyed it. It took place in a historical period I am interested in-the Russian Revolution that took place in 1917. The film used this revolution as a source to tell a great story. In the past, critics have been vocal in their points that the film fails to talk about the history with too much detail. But that is precisely the point. The film effectively uses the history as a background in order to tell the main story-the sweeping romance story. I am usually not the one to enjoy a romance film, but this film is beautiful, both literally and figuratively. The film features beautiful cinematography and the landscapes are gorgeous which is not surprising because the film is directed by the great David Lean (Lawrence of Arabia, Bridge on the River Kwai), and he is precise when it comes to art direction. Based off the bestseller 1958 novel by Boris Pasternak, this film is about love at the height of turmoil in Russia. The movie begins with a stern Soviet officer, Yevgraf (Alec Guinness) describing some events to this worker girl, who may be related to the people told in the officer's story. Here is how the particular story goes. Lara (Julie Christie) is romantically attached to a man named Pasha (Tom Courtenay), one of the Revolution's leaders. She cannot keep up with his demands for the revolution. Also, her mother and herself were being victimized by this scoundrel named Komarovsky (Rod Steiger) who is a very political man. As Lara goes to shoot Komarovsky at a party in an act of revenge, that is where she meets the true love of her life, Zhivago (Omar Sharif), who happens to be happily married to his wife, Tonya (Geraldine Chaplin). Nonetheless, Zhivago falls in love with Lara. That inspires Zhivago to write poetry, mainly about his love of Lara. Meanwhile, all of this is happening during the events of the Russian Revolution where there is lots of blood and violence as the Russian peasants plan to overthrow the Russian monarchy.One of the film's strengths is the masterful performances from all the actors involved. Omar Sharif was seen in Lean's previous effort, but now he is a star thanks to his career-best performance as Zhivago. It is amazing what Sharif was able to as the title character. He was able to give his character a soul. Julie Christie put herself on the map in her marvelous turn as Lara. She gave her character depth and created a believable portrait of a woman who fell madly in love. Despite the strong lead performances, don't count out the supporting performances which may be even better than the lead ones. I loved Rod Steiger's performance as the rascal, Komarovsky. He really seemed to make his character soulless. We get a good performance from Alec Guinness, as the Soviet officer who narrates the story and he also happens to be the half-brother of Zhivago. I loved Tom Courtenay's performance as Pasha, the man devoted to a new Russia. Finally, I thought Geraldine Chaplin was okay as Tonya, but I felt Tonya was the only offbeat character in the film. She knew what was going on between Lara and her husband, but she takes that romance way too well to give such a believable performance. There is no way she could have been that understanding in reality.In addition to the sweeping shots of beautiful landscapes, this film features a magnificent score by Maurice Jarre. When first released, there were people who hated the main theme known as "Lara's Theme." It's a beautiful theme, but I believe it wasn't well-liked at first because it played constantly over the course of the 200-minute long film. But the fact remains is that it's one of the best themes and most well-known themes of any film in history.David Lean directed this film and it's clear that this is not his greater effort. Lawrence of Arabia and Bridge on the River Kwai are masterpieces. Doctor Zhivago will just have to settle on being a great film. The visuals, the score, and the performances are perfect, but the story has some issues. The film is a bit clunky at times and there are moments where the romance goes to far. I would have loved to see more of the history added into the film, but I'm not too upset because the way it was used as a background to the story was excellent. I also wonder about the end shot, and so apparently have many others. I wasn't too sure if it fit into the context of the movie and if it was meant to be some symbol. But watch the film, and you can make the decision yourself. Not a masterpiece, but it's very close in being so. Featuring breath-taking cinematography, fine performances, and a sweeping romantic story, Doctor Zhivago is another film of David Lean's to add to your collection.My Grade: A-

60's has some epic movies, be it Drama or Romance, History, Fiction etc. That fair and grandeur is missing these days. Doctor Zhivago is a timeless epic movie, one can watch it again and again and would find it interesting. It spreads over 3 hrs but still very gripping and glues the viewers. Everything is very well worked out in detail ... sets, locations (not shot in Russia but no one would miss that), narrative, cast etc. All the characters fit their role very well. Omar Sharif is a powerhouse of acting and this movie along with many are testimony to that. Julie Christie looks tantalizingly beautiful. I would say she is one of the most beautiful actress of all time. It has drama, romance and is also tragic. In the end Yuri reaching out for Lara, trying to call her and not able to do so is very touching. One also sees the dark side of Communism in patches. Perhaps that is why this movie was banned in Russia and not shot there. I wish I had seen it on big screen. It would have looked much more magnificent. There shouldn't be any remakes of such movies. They should be preserved for generations. One can visit that time-line and or get an idea of things from such classics.

DOCTOR ZHIVAGO is another lengthy '60s epic from director David Lean, the man who brought us LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. I didn't enjoy it as much as that movie, as this does feel a little long-winded and dated by comparison, and it suffers from an overload of romance which bogs the story down somewhat. But the film is certainly lavishly mounted and effectively tells the small-scale human story against a massive backdrop of war and revolution. I really appreciated the authentic backdrop, but the lives of the central characters are what left me feeling a little cold and listless while watching.