Martin Scorsese on LAWRENCE OF ARABIA
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- Опубліковано 27 вер 2024
- Martin Scorsese discusses David Lean's LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, which had its Los Angeles Premiere on December 21, 1962. The film won seven Oscars, including Best Director and Best Picture, and ranks number 5 on AFI's Top 100 Films List.
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David Lean completely broke cinema's boundaries with this film
i wish i could see it in a theater though ... doesn't work so well on my tv
@@henrikpersson4698 *theatre
@@notgadotthats for non US
@@generaliroh842 theatre is UK thing
@@henrikpersson4698 Of any movie on earth, I wish I could watch this on the big screen. In the old days (before 1980 and VCR's) movies would be reshown on the big screen. Alas, this is no more.
I watched this movie for the first time in 2020 during quarantine and I’m overwhelmed by its magnificence
Same here during lockdown, Easter. Enthralled by it, it was like an event..
I was so impressed that I eventually got out to Wadi Rum in Jordan.
It is beautiful and I can see how Lawrence loved it so much. Thought the whole trip was worth every penny.
same here, watched it a week or two ago, one of the greatest movies I've seen, now its one of my all time fav's
I like your delivery. It's just one of those movies that you either get, or you don't.
@@michaelanderson2881 Read his book or others about him. Is pretty interesting.
My desire is to get back to Jordan, but seems unlikely for a while
The real conundrum is that Peter O'Toole did not win the academy award for best actor for his role. To me, without a shadow of a doubt one of the best acting performances ever.
Because he was against Gregory Peck for Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird. But the winner was movie goers that year.
@@josephwalther5979 O’Toole and Peck should’ve tied as Best Actor that year, like Katharine Hepburn and Barbra Streisand did for Best Actress in 1968. Both actors gave legendary performances that year; neither is better than the other.
@@12classics39 I agree with everything you said, except that Barbra Streisand is an awful actress. She's a singer and an annoying one of that. She's always playing herself in every movie, and I honestly can't understand how anyone thought any differently😂
@@MBB9394 Yeah americans singers can't act
@@josephwalther5979 Peter O'toole perfomance for me is way better demanding , challenging even ...
I have no problem whatsoever if someone says that "Lawrence of Arabia" is the best film of all time. No problem at all.,
I have seen this film with my wife a dzen times on TV (and twice on a big screen when I was young). She always fell asleep after half an hour, she still doesn't know what happened after the scene at fayçal's camp. And when one reads through the comments, one must admit : it is a film for men. Not a single comment by a woman... Strange. There are a few of them about Dr. Jivago though.
@@kb-tu2kf well, in the movie lawrence is probaly gay
Leif Johnson the best film for me is Ben hur
@@rogergomez1 Ben Hur was definitely a great one. Lots of wonderful performances by lots of great actors. Plus a dynamite musical score. Not in my top ten but great nevertheless.
@@matheusribeiro7080 Lawrence wasn't really gay, he had mastered over his instincts and stimuli, and saw sex to be a useless/unproductive thing.
Every single aspect, every professional discipline that was applied to the filming -- casting, writing, acting, cinematography, sets, props, costumes, camera work, dialogue, direction -- all of it adds up to making Lawrence of Arabia the finest film ever made, hands down.
And the human performances of each actor that made it all so believable. Beyond the major parts, let me just point out someone named Claude Raines. I’ll mention a few titles, and in order - The Invisible Man, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Mr Smith Goes to Washington, Now, Voyager, Casablanca, Mr Skeffington, Notorious, etc, etc.
Thats British Acting Skill 4 Ya
I love this film so much, I've watched it many times and never tire of it. Just a supreme work of art. What a great film maker David Lean was. Freddie Young's cinematography, Maurice Jarre's score and all the fine actors who gave magnificent performances. To think it was first screened in 1962 when I was only 6 years of age and movie buffs still rave about it today, it has stood the test of time and will continue to do so for many years.
@@Jimbo.05 ikr
Hands down.
"L of A" is simply one of the greatest films of all time.
Fr
It is my favorite film and Godfather 1 and 2 in second and third respectively
@@caesarvalentin6332 LoA is among my favorite movies of all time, and I will likely put it very high on rewatch
@@caesarvalentin6332 *favoUrite .learn english firzt!
Thats British Acting Skill 4 Ya
Scorsese's eyebrows are approximately the width of 70mm film. Haha.
jslasher1 lmfaoooooo good one
Or a 60’s film
@Gatto Di Ossa don't cry
This brings so much to the conversation and is such an original comment. Does Mommy know you are playing on the internet?
I think that Jimmy Hoffa's body is hidden in one of them.
Lawrence of Arabia is one a the greatest pictures ever made.
Not one of the; the best. Period.
@@jslasher1 EXACTLY. EXACTLY. EXACTLY.
It's up there for the top spot
The best visuals in a '60s movie, right next to 2001: A Space Odyssey.
It looks like it was made yesterday. The blu ray is gorgeous
@@rosebud8175 I just bought the bluray. Cause of the lack of an 4k disc
@@grayfox1975 you can get it in 4K if you buy the Columbia classics box set. One of the best 4K disks out there
I would also add Persona and 8½!
Just remove ‘60s and I’ll agree lol
Lawrence of Arabia is great film, perhaps my all time favorite. But Lawrence is not a hero. Nor is he a true anti-hero. He's a man, in all that this entails.
He's not your hero. But what he did made him more than a hero to the Arab people. Ask Churchill.
sclogse1 ask a dead man
David Stumpfl indeed
@@sclogse1 He isn't our hero, he's a traitor
Hes doing what he belive. Serve some people didnt serve some people. Arab in that time is the mess he doing his best.
Sir David Lean said so nonchalantly when asked how he achieved the editing magnificence that hasn't been replicated since. His single sentence answer was "To hell with the photographer, it's the cutter that makes visuals arresting".
What I like about the ending is the motorcycle sweeping past and ahead of Lawrence's jeep, then drifting across the road and TE's line of sight. To me that is the perfect ending because it foretells the passion that was to dominate the rest of TE's life and that was to finally become the very vehicle (no pun intended) of his death. Brilliant David Lean: looping the movie back - did he foresee that future audiences would skip back to the opening right after seeing that very significant ending?
it is the greatest movie that was ever made in the history of cinema.no movie can come close to this one.
This slice of paradise This sacred throne of Kings you’re missing juice bigalo American gigilo
@Suspicious Black Joggers The Godfather Part I and II, Apocalypse Now, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Once Upon a Time in America, Once Upon a Time in The West etc...
Ben Anderson i thought you were about to say once upon a time in hollywood lmaooo
@@wolfie8890 😂 I enjoyed that movie but it's not up there with those classics
Once Upon a Time in the West maybe.
I think the ending is perfect. Lawrence is trying to find balance between his two worlds, between the world of beduins and the world of British empire (represented by the truck). The guy on the motorcycle just sweeps around both of these worlds, being absolutely free...
Martin has such a love for movies. It's not that he's humble (that's obvious), but he loves the art of movies so much that the notion of jealousy and envy don't arouse.
I love the way Martin talks movies!
He's very enthusiastic, you just sense he loves everything about the art of cinema!
If you can, watch "Martin Scorsese: A Personal Journey Through American Movies". His passion for the art really comes out.
I just think when he sees the camels, at the end, he was looking for Omar Sharif's character Sherif Ali.
Comparing this video against Steven Spielberg talking about Lawrence of Arabia is such a succint encapsulation of how fundamentally different both these directors are. Spielberg is mainly fascinated by the technical and logistical accomplishments of the film - how this shot was captured, how those crowds were managed etc. Scorsese on the other hand, zooms in on the character, his ambitions, his weak points, the larger themes in the context of cinema genres etc.
@shreeshailhingane: Excellent observation.
Finished this recently. I can truly say this is one of the most personally significant films I've ever seen. I think part of Lawrence died when he left Arabia. I've felt the same after living abroad. When you get back it just feels like the familiarity of what you're used to- is unfulfilled. I don't know how else to say it
Reminds me of Frodo returning to the Shire. After all that he had seen, it wasn’t home anymore.
He’s right. I’ve seen the movie seven times and I can’t think of the ending. I only remember him dying at the beginning. It loops itself.
I can't remember this ... I saw the beach scene but that's about it. Was there something in between the horse-beach scene and the girl scene?
@@alexispapageorgiou72
You mean the blonde girl right?
@@frenchyclown3329 Really don't remember. Now I'm thinking that maybe I mixed things up with Hidalgo? Anyways. Cool little film to watch again :)
@@alexispapageorgiou72 And that's one of my problems with this movie. I just can't get into it. And I love films and understand them. But I can't warm up to this film. So much praise, but I don't see it. You yourself were confused with another film.
Completely disagree with your and Marty's statement. The ending is the saddest thing ever. Past and Future, the soldiers coming into the land to take it over from the beduins on their camels (Balfur is written a year later) while singing goodbye to Lawrence ; Lawrence who feels awful and guilty of betraying the Arabs, and then the bike on which he 's gonna die passes by, and the man says "you're going home", meaning at the same time : you were never from there, you were a stranger and you did your job for your Colonial Empire ; at the same time it's saying : your real home was in the desert you coward. And also, on a more metaphysical : you're going home, cause death on this bike is the next stop, to the final home and womb : the tomb. It is perfect. It is discreet, profound, subtle, it tells so much about what we experience these days. It is perfection and a humble one, moreover in a movie so great and so rich.
At any point in the film you can freeze the frame and put the picture in a frame on the wall. Its a work of art. Plus the music on top nails the atmosphere. Perfect film with 0 flaws.
I first saw it on a tiny black and white tv with one earbud for sound, 10 minutes in, at 15. I wasn’t the same guy at the end and I knew I wanted to conquer and be an artist who painted in splashes of blood and fire.
i saw this movie in *2019* ...!!
at age of 22..!! but still i can say it is epic and greatest movie...everybody should watch it once..
That's a nice piece of analysis by a Great Director himself. He's also correct, the film repays constant viewing as there is always some new element that reveals itself and you find yourself saying, "Ah, I didn't notice that bit (or its significance) before". A superb ensemble acting piece by everyone. Wonderful and clever camerawork and brilliant vistas, yes, my favourite film.
I’ve seen it ten times and still notice new details.
The end of the movie shows Lawrence in "Arabia" en route back to England when a dispatch rider on a motorcycle overtakes the jeep he's riding in, and as he gazes longingly at the speeding motorcycle his driver says "Goin' 'ome, sir" and we're back at the movie's opening sequence bringing Lawrence full circle in a classic aria-da-capo ending.
Marty Scorsese is simply INCAPABLE of being boring.
I only need to listen to him talk for five minutes (at most), and I've gained some new and interesting insights into the World of Film.
Just saw this for the first time this last weekend.. it was my dad’s favorite movie and I tried watching it growing up but couldn’t get into it.. it was so beautiful, if you’ve never seen it, don’t watch it at home.. wait for a theater to do a screening of it
Martin missed the line spoken by the driver in the last seconds of this astonishing film:"Well, sir! Going home!" This is the end of the film and its ultimate irony. T.E. is indeed headed home, but he is leaving the desert, his true home, behind.
What a genius. He has such insight, seems to make the movie better even just by talking about it
I’ve been watching Lawrence of Arabia for 25 years never gets boring such a miracle of a film just like Spielberg said. Jude Law was going to apparently play Lawrence in a 2012 remake fir the 50 year anniversary but plans were ditched
Any fans of Lawrence of Arabia should go to Cloud Hill, his tiny remote home in Dorset where he spent the remains of his days.
One Sunday morning in July 1992, I got off the train at Morton Station and walked all the way across the heath into the dark cottage packed with tourists. (I was not a tourist as I have always thought of myself as a Lawrence scholar.) I stated "Lawrence would have died of mortification." The caretaker of the Cottage said "Oh! You must have known him personally." Several months later I was invited to join a small group to spend an entire morning in the underground vault of the Huntington Library in the Lawrence Collection. I got to hold in my own hands the notebook he carried on his first trip that eventually was eventually published as "Crusaders Castles." I held the Subscriber copy of "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" bound on white leather. To this day it remains one of the highlights of my life. I have lived in the Middle East and carried with me the map of his journeys. Whether Peter O'Toole was absolutely perfect for the part, or he was totally wrong, is no longer relevant. The film was and remains one of the most important ever made. It does both justice and damage to the legend and to history. And I, for one among throngs, revere it as scripture.
@@sharonholdren7588 that sounds amazing, you're very fortunate
He calls Lawrence a screw-up but misses the obvious point that Lawrence is an extraordinary human being. He's larger than life, bold and visionary, and perfectly suitable for the epic treatment.
A true classical hero, hubris and what makes him great also brings about his own distruction.
Saw L of A in 70 mm when it came out and am still overwhelmed by the experience when I watch it on the small screen
I could listen to him talk about movies all day. It's sitting at the feet of The Master.
Producing a film as epic and grand as Lawrence of Arabia these days would be impossible. Any attempt at a remake of this masterpiece would undoubtedly be 95 percent CGI. Regardless of how capable computer technology has become, a CGI Lawrence of Arabia would look artificial compared to the original.
I saw it with my parents at the Fox in Detroit. I was captivated by the beauty of it. I was eight. I went home and wrote a long ode to the desert, winning me my first accusation of plagiarism. All my life I remembered that haunting theme. As a young teen I read a biography of Lawrence. Fascinating story.
I've enjoyed every viewing since. I credit masterpieces like this with making me a lifelong film buff.
I always thought Quinton was a talker until I started hearing Scorseses in interviews 😆
Excellent commentary. Lawrence book "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom" is itself a masterpiece>. David Lean took some poetic license in making the film, but the movie is so great that one can overlook that.
Scorsese has an encyclopeadic mind of cinema along with that ofWilliam Friedkin
I am getting ready to see this film for the first time. It will be in 70mm, on the big screen. I've been working with a personal trainer, and hope to be ready for the event. Wish me luck.
I personally think it is THE greatest
I watched this film during a Fathom event at an AMC recently. It is in my top ten favorite movies of all time
A Cinematic masterpiece.
ah, I was waiting to hear a reason why I loved this so much. I seem to love characters who self loathe, who torture themselves (mainly mentally and spiritually). A very Catholic, guilt ridden conscience that guys like Scorsese would pick up on. A great articulater. Thanks, Martin.
I don't recall who said this but it's very true. "Art is never finished, it's abandoned." I've read "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom" and the major biographies about him. None seem to have realized why Lawrence was self loathing and self destructive. He was born (illegitimate) during the reign of Queen Victoria and lived during that and the Edwardian era. Sadly in those times being illegitimate was considered to be quite shameful.That haunted him his entire life and is likely why he was asexual. Arabs today of course love to demean and piss on him but even when that film was made he was a great hero to them. I've seen documentaries with Arabs who knew and served with him and they had only good to say about him. The British and French governments shafted the Arabs in the peace negotiations but Lawrence continued to fight them and defy them. He got Prince Feisal into the peace conferences by writing an open blistering letter to the Times. Feisal had Lawrence with him during the conferences. It certainly was not Lawrence's fault that the Arabs got screwed. He did all he could to help. R I P.
TRUELY THE BEST MOVIE AND THE BEST SCORE OF ALL TIMES
Yeah, that's one of Scorsese's themes, isn't it? TAXI DRIVER, MEAN STREETS, RAGING BULL, BRINGING OUT THE DEAD...all deal with self-loathing characters trying to find grace.
Motorbike??? It wasn't just a guy on a motorcycle. In a day when the average momo engine size was 125 -250cc displacement and could reach speeds of 50-60 mph, Lawrence owned and was riding a 1000cc Brough (Bruff) Superior SS 100. SS = super sport. 100 = top speed of at least 100mph. The most massive and expensive custom , hand built, hand fitted ride of it's day. 1 of less than 400 ever made. Sort of like having your own F-16. Lawrence owned 8 of those monsters. We are talking a VERY serious rider here.
The Brough Superior motorcycle that he died on is the only exhibit in the Imperial War Museum in London that has a room all to itself. Yes, I would say it's the greatest film ever made but choice is subjective. 2001 comes close, so does "The Four Feathers" with Ralph Richardson.
It' s a british film about a british who help a friendly nation for the empire.It' s also so kitsh in his casting,dialogue,etc,nice landscape s can't save it.
Lawrence of Arabia is excellent. I like it way more than Citizen Kane and Casablanca. I’m watching all these old movies now and I’m trying to see why people say they are the greatest. I can see why Lawrence of Arabia is considered one of the greatest
Peter o toole is the image of Lawrence, and I'm surprised no one seems to have notice this. Look up a pics of them and you'll see.
I agree. Peter was just taller.
I feel like the Character is constantly trying to undue the “written” or constantly trying to test his capabilities, like when he goes back to save gasim, he was told “it’s already written” or even the start when he’s riding the motorbike he’s driving extremely fast for no reason other than wanting to tempt fate. A beautiful movie with a deeply intriguing character.
Everything Scorcese describes about it being an "open ended" or "incomplete" film sounds awesome to me. It sounds liek a format that the film community simply hasn't canonized and embraced yet. Imagine "open source" movies, that can be edited again and again over time.
Scorsese's manner of speech for some reason reminds me of Dennis Hopper's character in True Romance.
His scatological phrasing and joy are so pronounced when he waxes on things he loves...
T E Laurence was integral to the development of fast rescue boats during and after the Battle of Britain, he joined as an enlisted other rank and served on them until his accidental death, imagine that after his officer exploits in WW I, is there any historical parallel? not many on his scale.
Lawrence died five years before the Battle of Britain began.
Bicycle? Motorcycle? No sir that’s an Brought Superior
I have this movie in a cloth deluxe edition for a dollar at a book sell during the early spring sell, at locust Grove here in Louisville Kentucky. Lol
Amazing. Scorsese so completely misses what is in L of A. Even such a simple thing as that it opens with a motorcycle and closes with a motorcycle. It isn't about someone self-destructive in any sense, but of a man with dreams who saw one of his most important dreams, a free and independent Arabia, destroyed. It is about the lengths he would go to in order to accomplish what he wanted, even as he abhorred what was needed. The REAL T.E. Lawrence was even more complex.
EXACTLY. Isn't it amazing, how simple minded even many of Hollywood's great are and always have been?
How fortunate are we, that LoA was done by David Lean & his cast and crew. They are not "Hollywood" and they never were...
A movie about a man who only thinks about and cares about a single thing is the opposite of complex. But you are only able to see the surface details.
@@aolson1111 Clearly, you have not studied the life of T.E. Lawrence. He was a first-rate scholar, a rather good archeologist and more. It doesn't matter whether Seven Pillars of Wisdom is factually flawed and self-aggrandizing, it is first-rate writing. The movie doesn't do the man justice ... and justice isn't always painting someone the hero. It is showing the man for what he actually was.
Exactly. Bizarre how Scorsese initially refers to a "bicycle" - and then completely misses the motorbike in the final scene. A scene he superficially recalls as "He's in a jeep and some camels go by."
How on earth can he consider the film "open-ended"?
See Spielberg's assessment - far better, plus he evidently actually watched the thing!
@@aolson1111I think complexity fells out of the singular vision or idea that he had and lived his life according too.
It’s my favorite film
Wow he really opened up my mind about the film
Funny how we get different answers from this. He told me nothing at all.
Without bragging on my stellar reply to D Weir about visiting Lawrence's little cottage Cloud's Hill, I welcome any comments about the impact both the man and the movie.
In my top ten of the best films ever made.
I didn't mind a lack of a traditional ending, but I watched it with someone who did.
I think Scorsese ought to have read up on Lawrence. Then he would have understood how beautifully the end links to the beginning - that deliberate post of that motorcycle pulling easily ahead of Lawrence's jeep and the camel party, leading to or catalysing Lawrence's fascination for motorcycles, leading to his eventual death on one.
asinine to suggest martin scorsese needs insights into lawrence of arabia. beyond which, the 'link' is obvious (after crash-funeral sequence, entire film is retrospective), and the film does not deal with lawrence's fascination with motorcycles, so it's immaterial and that's why martin doesn't go into it
FloydPink23 lol
I always loved the scene in the jeep. The camel, what he was, and the motorcycle, what he will become. The voice asking "who are u" and we see Lawrence through a dirty window. We don't know who he is, and neither does he. It's great storytelling.
Well, that's what's great about movies, isn't it? We all come away with different interpretations.
Masterpiece film
I wish he would discuss The Bridge on the River Kwai.
Talk to Stephen Speilberg. - He 'gets it'.
I think every director after watching the final cut always wishes they had done something differently, its human nature. Obviously, other directors watching it think about how they would do it differently.
I love Lawrence of Arabia -movie, it´s so awesome.
He was an English guy
He came to fight the Turkish....
It's funny, a few days ago I was trying to recall the ending of this movie, and like Scorsese, I just couldn't remember what it was.
we believe you Martin - we believe you - we watched the Irishman 😁
My god, that was so boring for being drawn out for so long. It could have been told in half the time.
I love a great film like that.
What is "unwar?" Does he mean Ennui?
I have been told that the 7 pillars of wisdom is the greatest read ever, however, as of yet I have not read them.
I've read it, but I wouldn't say that. Good, yes, absolutely, but not the greatest read ever.
The only part you need to read is a magnificent quote by T.E. Lawrence himself, "All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, awake in the morning to find that it was vanity. But those dreamers of the day are dangerous, for they may live their dream with open eyes to make it happen."
It is the movie
"He's filled with self-loathing and self-destruction, I think...He's constantly testing himself and pushing himself." By the time of his desert expedition, the historical T.E. Lawrence had already lost two younger brothers in the European theater of the Great War. Survivor's guilt?
guilt from lying to the arabs about giving them self-government, knowing full well about the Sykes-Picot treaty soon after it was enacted in 1916.
That and the fact that he basically became a traitor and a liar due to conflicting loyalties and the fact that he knew what the plans for Arabia were (although he did try to talk sense into the Brits but him and Gertrude Bell were shut down)
A lot of guilt for a lot of reasons
What’s scary about Lawrence of Arabia is that it could have been any of us...
THAT is the nature of great story telling. Exposing the monsters and kittens in us.
If Lawrence was maked in Hollywood been a disaster.
There are only three epic films: 2001, Intolerance and Lawrence of Arabia
Note that there are no speaking parts for women in the picture and very few females,only in the background
I think Lawrence self loathing was the fact he was gay in a time that he could not accept his sexuality
"He never really finished the film..believe me that can happen" Looking at you Harvey Weinstein.
"and the, of course, he dies, and..."
shit.
it's the first scene
Scorsese director is good, but Martin critic is better ...
Interesting viewpoint and I admire and respect Scorsese, but I think he is wrong about Lawrence's motivations. Even as presented in the film. Scorsese is correct in his admiration of it though. It was magnificent.
Marty speaks in 2x speed
Shows why Scorsese is in the 2nd or 3rd tier of important directors. What a lame analysis. Lawrence of Arabia is not a mobster film.
Structure-less in the way that Moby Dick is structure-less. I'm gonna be stuck on that word I'm looking for all f'n day now😢😢
Y does Martin have those caterpillars above his eyes?
Scorsese talks as if Lawrence was a fictional character, comparing him to someone who appears in some author’s novel. Lawrence, of course, was a real man who wrote a number of books, one of them, during the 1920s when he was in the RAF, under the name Ross. Anyone interested in his life should read his own words....perhaps then they will learn why he was such a complex and interesting individual.
The Mint. I enjoyed reading that.
Scorsese sounds jealous. He is a grubby man who makes grubby movies. He is a different specie from David Lean, who is magnificent and elegant.
I hated the movie when I was 18. I wanted Lawrence to be this knight in a shiny armor type of perfect hero. But as I grew older I came to admire the flaws in his character and tue great study of human natire that Lean put on screen.
Because not all people are perfect.
It's a great film, though we never find out anything about Lawrence.
the character of laurance wasnt to me a likable person the reoccuring theme in the movie was "who are you?" he wasnt a person you felt any empathy for, even t those close to him like sheriff ali never understood him
ludlow 889 very interesting thanks for sharing
Scorsese fails to articulate the nature of Lawrence. Colin Wilson views him as the classic Outsider, one who needs high purpose and intensity and does not identify with the all too human consensus reality, which is on the money.
It doesn’t end because the subtext of the movie has never nor will never end eg. the Middle East Conflicts among Bronze Age religions!
Gosh, that is a huge leap.