Doctor Zhivago (1965)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

David Lean

Writers:

Boris Pasternak (novel)
Robert Bolt (screenplay)

Release Date:

22 December 1965 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | War

Tagline:

The entertainment event of the year!

Plot:

Life of a Russian doctor/poet who, although married, falls for a political activist's wife and experiences hardships during the Bolshevik Revolution.

Plot Keywords:

Epic | Russia | Bolshevik | Russian Revolution | Poetry

Awards:

Won 5 Oscars. Another 15 wins & 10 nominations

Cast

Omar Sharif	...	Dr. Yuri Zhivago
Julie Christie	...	Lara
Geraldine Chaplin	...	Tonya
Rod Steiger	...	Komarovsky
Alec Guinness	...	Gen. Yevgraf Zhivago
Tom Courtenay	...	Pasha
Siobhan McKenna	...	Anna
Ralph Richardson	...	Alexander
Rita Tushingham	...	The Girl
Jeffrey Rockland	...	Sasha
Tarek Sharif	...	Yuri at 8 years old
Bernard Kay	...	The Bolshevik
Klaus Kinski	...	Kostoyed
Gérard Tichy	...	Liberius (as Gerard Tichy)
Noel Willman	...	Razin

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for mature themes.

Runtime:

197 min | UK:192 min (1999 re-release) | UK:193 min | UK:200 min (1992 re-release)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Russian

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (35 mm magnetic prints) | 70 mm 6-Track (Westrex Recording System) (70 mm prints) | DTS (re-release) (35 mm prints) | Mono (35 mm optical prints)

Certification:

Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Iceland:12 | South Korea:12 | Brazil:Livre | West Germany:12 (f) | USA:Approved (original rating) | USA:GP (re-rating) (1971) | Canada:PG (video rating) | USA:PG-13 (re-rating) (1995) | UK:15 (1987) | UK:A (1966) | UK:PG (1992) | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Chile:14 | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Spain:13 | Sweden:11

Filming Locations:

Alberta, Canada

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

The shooting exceeded the ten month schedule because of David Lean's wish to capture the different seasons during which the story took place. Filming took place during one of the mildest winters in Spain, leading to delays and the need to simulate snow with marble dust and plastic snow in the height of summer. The actors had to have their faces dabbed by make-up artists every few minutes because of their sweating.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: During the "peaceful protest" scene, in a close-up of the crowd the mouth movements don't match the soundtrack.

Quotes:

Gromeko: What I want to know is how we're going to stay alive this winter.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Dancing with the Stars: Round Six (#8.12)" (2009/I)

Soundtrack:

Prelude in G minor, Op.23-5

A Grand and Elegant Entertainment

David Lean's "Doctor Zhivago" is a classic film, one that will live on as long as their are films. There are scenes in this movie that will invariably become

indelibly etched in the viewers imagination: The opening funeral march through the vast Siberian landscape, the grandeur of the Czarist Russian palaces, the march of the revolutionaries through the Moscow boulevards, the train ride

straight out of Dante's Inferno, the Ice-covered interior of the Zhivago country estate (a truly magical moment in the film), the wealth of beauty captured in the cinematography of this film is astonishing. Julie Christie's Lara is one of those great screen personas--she becomes a woman of such mysterious beauty. The

final scene of Yuri's desperate attempt to reach her in the crowded Soviet

Moscow is heartbreaking. And that music score! The opening film credits with Jarre's genuinely beautiful music, complete with balalaikas sets the mood for this great, grand entertainment. One of the best ever!