Monday, March 23, 2009

Of Mice and Men (1939)


"Of Mice and Men" is one movie I have been waiting a long time to see.  I am a huge fan of Lon Chaney, Jr. and this was considered one of his best performances.

I loved the movie.  Burgess Meredith and Lon Chaney are cousins traveling to find work.  They dream of one day having a ranch to themselves where they can be their own boss.  In the meantime, they have to do hard labor to get the funds to buy the place.  Lon Chaney plays the huge, hulking character of Lennie.  Lennie is mentally challenged and he does not know his own strength.  Because of this, he is prone to get into trouble.  Fortunately, he has his best friend George (Burgess Meredith) to guide him along.

Lon Chaney's performance is really amazing.  My favorite role of Lon Chaney's is as Lawrence Talbot in "The Wolf Man", but this role is his best performance.  It really shows that he did have the talent to become a great actor.

Burgess Meredith did a great job as well and went on to be in some of my favorite things.  He played Mickey in "Rocky" and he appeared in some of my favorite episodes of "The Twilight Zone".  

The film is shot wonderfully and the music is some of the best any film has ever produced.

There are several scenes from this movie that are remarkable.  Lennie playing with his dog, the 'trouble' that Lennie gets into, and perhaps the best known scene is the fight that Lennie is forced into with a local hot head.  

I don't want to say what happens exactly in the film, but it is one of the saddest movies I have ever seen.

A  I recommend it. 

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