 | |
List Price: $19.98 | | Label: MGM (Video & DVD)
Salesrank: 1764
Released: March 4, 2003 |
| Our Price: $8.64 |
| Used Price: $7.74 |
|
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
|
Editorial Review:
John Steinbeck’s classic comes magnificently to life in this beautiful and stirring film starring Oscar® nominees* John Malkovich and Gary Sinise. Directed by Sinise from an adaptation by Oscar® winner** Horton Foote, this "flawless miracle of movie-making" (Susan Granger, "American Movie Classics") is a must-see for all audiences. Best friends Lennie (Malkovich) and George (Sinise) find themselves unemployed in Depression-era California, unable to keep jobs because of Lennie’s childlike mentality. But once they get hired at the Tyler Ranch, they enjoy a brief period of stability – until their supervisor’s wife (Sherilyn Fenn) becomes the victim of Lennie’s compassion, forcing George to make a compassionate decision of his own.
Description of Of Mice & Men:
A strong argument favors Gary Sinise's 1992 Of Mice and Men over the classic 1939 version that critics have historically preferred. As adapted by the great playwright-screenwriter Horton Foote, John Steinbeck's Depression-era masterpiece comes alive with timeless simplicity, more candid in language and behavior, and therefore more honest in its embrace of Steinbeck's beloved pair of lowly dreamers George (Sinise) and his retarded cousin Lennie (John Malkovich). On the lam, they find work as farmhands, joining a close-knit crew and trying to avoid trouble stirred by the dangerously seductive wife (Sherilyn Fenn) of the boss's sadistic son (Casey Siemaszko). There's not a false note or bad performance in the entire film; as veterans of Chicago's acclaimed Steppenwolf Theater, Malkovich and Sinise possess the compassionate chemistry that makes George and Lennie inseparable until the tragic, inevitable final scene. As director, Sinise serves the material with no-frills fidelity; it's easy to believe that Steinbeck would have approved. --Jeff Shannon
Of Mice & Men Reviews:
Of Mice and Men DVD 
2009-10-30 - I ordered and received this product efficientlly and in great shape. I haven't viewed the movie yet to see if it works but I am assuming it does. Thank you!
You are better off seeing a live stage performance! 
2009-09-25 - I have seen five versions of this Steinbeck's classic - three on film:
Of Mice and Men w/ B. Meredith & L. Chaney, Jr. Of Mice And Men w/ R. Blake & R. Quaid
... and this one.
and two on stage.
You are better off seeing it on stage where performances ore more life-like. I have yet to see a film version that captures the "Steinbeck Sentiment." The three stars here are a generous gift.
Good portrayal of the Essence of "Mice" 
2009-09-20 - The essence of Steinbeck's novel is fairly accurate, if you can accept John Malkovich as the extremely physically powerful Lennie. Gary Sinise is a very good George.
NOT being John Malkovich
2009-09-19 - Simply the most beautiful, without-flaw movie adaptation of a novel I have ever seen. Gary Senise is wonderful in everything, but never as good as he is here, and the role of George was never done so unforgettably. John Malkovich, whom I usually have no opinion of because he always seems to just play John Malcovich, is so spellbinding in this, gives the role such dimension, that over the years since I first saw it, I many times found myself reflecting on him as Lenny.
The old "Of Mice and Men" story from Steinbeck, made famous even in cartoons, is spun out with such intensity in this version that, when we rented it years ago, my jaded teenagers went away claiming it as a find of their own. This is the movie to show your kids (11 and up?) if you have trouble finding ways to expose them to "some of the good things" to balance out the difficult modern diet of video games, fast food, and abductor-strangers cruising past the house, making it a job for them to even play outside.
Regarding the strange fate of this movie, the way it fell from sight almost before it could be seen, is simple, I'm afraid. I've wracked my brain wondering, but the other day I caught it on Ovation TV. There's a word used in the movie, just like in the book, and an attitude that was real in the time of the story's setting, that keeps movies these days from making it, in my opinion. There's also the girl, wife of the boss's good-for-nothing son. Does she make all women seem destructive, shallow, the unfeeling ruiners of peace among men? Not to me, but these days, "old, good stuff" is censored and buried to be on the safe side, while new, bad stuff runs more rampant every day. It's like a mini Chinese cultural revolution around here.
Watch it, you'll see what I mean. Buy it before it's not around at all anymore. That's why I'm here.
Oh yeah, and don't think you gotta read the book to appreciate the movie! This movie stands alone. You don't have to know a thing about it walking in.
Nicely done adaptation with good direction
2009-08-23 - Gary Sinise and John Malkovich were good choices for the roles of George and Lenny in this adaptation. I'd never realized Malkovich was such a big guy...or perhaps Sinise is shorter than I thought. Anyway...the California setting and production design are nicely realized, and the performances from the other cast members, especially Casey S., operating in full jerk mode, are equally strong. You can't help feeling for Lenny, who does not know his own strength or when to keep his mouth shut; or for George, who is stuck looking after the big lug but does not want to abandon him or see him sent into an institution. George's final solution to the quagmire is heartbreaking, yet totally understandable.
