Review of Lawrence of Arabia (1962) by Greg T — 27 Jul 2012

There's very little that hasn't been said about this film before. Peter O'Toole's piercing, preening performance, the arrival of Omar Sharif on the desert horizon, the staggering one-shot raid on Aqaba, Lawrence's return to the officer's mess in Cairo, dressed in his desert finery, "Nothing is written", the execution and the quicksand, the bloodthirsty revenge attack on the retreating Turkish column and a bloody blade, "The trick, William Potter, is not minding that it hurts", the alien, haunting vistas, presenting the Middle East as the most inhospitable place on the planet, the end, where the legend ends not with a bang but with a whimper.

It is these, and many other reasons, why "Lawrence of Arabia" is without question one of the greatest achievements ever caught on film. A monumental achievement.