Pasternak's Russia via David Lean
Watching Dr. Zhivago (1965)âI most likely have not seen this film for thirty-five years or more.
The distinctive music gets me of courseâit played on AM radio when I was a kid (mid- to late-1960s), so that's burned into the brain deeply. But look at just one of the shots David Lean (or perhaps Freddie Young, his Director of Photography) cooked upâreally outstanding. The aspect ratio of Panavision matches Lean's penchant for the awe-inspiring, expansive landscape.
Omar Sharif and Julie Christie carry the film. Of course seeing, and listening to, Alec Guinness is always a treat. And, much to my surprise, this film had a small part for Klaus Kinski. [He and Werner Herzog nearly killed each other (literally) during the making of Fitzcarraldo.] In the end, Dr. Zhivago won four Oscars (including Freddie Young for his fine cinematography) and a truck load of Golden Globes.
I used to watch films like this on television while I was in art school back in the early 1980s. My friends and I would stay up, drinking beer, taking in staples such as Casablanca, 12 Angry Men, works by Hitchcock, etc. Prior to the diffusion of content via cable TV (akin to what happened with music with the rise of FM and streaming much later), these works were shown more regularly on network television: a comforting and recurring presence.
