Of Mice And Men Film Critique Essay

, Research Paper

Of Mice and Men Movie Critique

Overall, I thought the Of Mice and Men movie was fantastic and very well done by Gary Sinise. Gary Sinise is the director of the movie and also plays the role of George. This movie was made in 1992, and for a fairly old movie it is very nice. I feel that the movie is at a much higher level in entertainment than the book it was derived from. In the movie you can actually see and hear things that you probably would not catch on to in the book. For example there are the facial expressions from the talented actors and actresses.

The music soundtrack of Of Mice and Men is very well composed. At the very beginning of the movie, a spirited mood was set in the audience when we saw Lennie and George running away from these men who were chasing them. I especially liked how the music is classical, which is very appealing to all age groups and genders. The music was a huge part of the movie; it set the mood for the scene the audience was seeing. The instruments used in the songs were very effective, such as the violin.

The setting in the movie was just as it was described in the book. The time setting of the story takes place in the 1930s, when there is the Great Depression. It seems to take place in the southern part of the United States, because of the increased ethnic tensions we see in the movie. For example there is Crooks, who is isolated from everyone else because of the color of his skin. Also, the clothing worn by the actors were very true to the time frame. The audience can actually feel that they are back in that time period by watching this movie. The clothing worn by Lennie and George showed that they were not well off, as were the majority of the population during the Great Depression. In the movie, the actors were very good. In scenes the audience would get emotional. An example is when Carlson shoots Candy’s old dog, and Candy lies down on the bed and tosses and turns in pain. In the movie, I actually felt sympathetic for Curley’s wife since she seemed to always be the victim. This is something I had not felt in the book. Also, the very last scene when George shoots Lennie and then he starts to cry.

In many ways the movie is very similar to the book. Right from the beginning of the movie you can see that Lennie has a mental illness, and George is taking care of him like a father. Also, you can tell that George gets impatient with Lennie numerous times and that he gets frustrated very easily. The character’s speeches were very strong in language, just like the speeches were in the novel. The characters in the movie are almost exactly like their book counterparts. Lennie is very big and bulky, while George is small with a tanned face. In the movie, Lennie is absolutely crazy about rabbits, if not more than in the book. Throughout the movie we see time and time again how much Lennie cares for rabbits, he says numerous times, “An’ I get to tend the rabbits!” Whenever he says that you can see the gleam in his eye. Slim is well respected, and he acts and dresses like he is the best without being a showoff. We get this feeling that Curley OWNS his wife and pushes her around. This is evident when we actually see him yelling at her to “go home where she belongs,” and “shutup, I wasn’t talking to you!” Also, Curley’s wife tells George and Lennie outside the barn one night how Curley broke all her records because she would charge ten cents for a dance.

Like most films derived from novels, there are many differences. In the very beginning of the movie we see why George and Lennie are running away. They are running away because Lennie had accidentally harassed a girl by grabbing on to her dress and not letting go of it. In the movie I had felt that George only took care of Lennie because he had to, not because he wanted to. Even though George had promised Lennie’s Aunt Clara to care for him, he did not seem to enjoy it one bit. This was evident when George kicks Lennie several times when he was drinking water saying to “not drink too much.” By the book I had sensed that Lennie and George were young and in their late 20s. In the movie, Lennie looked much older since he was beginning to get bald, but that may have been due to the mental illness. In the movie several scenes contained some sprinkles of humor, while the movie did not seem to have any funny moments. Humor was shown when George tells Lennie that “if I were a relative of yours, I’d shoot myself!” When Candy told George that Curley had “a glove full of Vaseline for his wife,” everyone started laughing. Even though it seemed to be a humorous moment, I found nothing funny about that at all. There is no scene in the movie, which Candy curses at Curley’s wife (who is dead in the barn) about messing things up. Also, there is no scene in the movie where Candy tells Crooks of his plan to live with Lennie and George. Even though there were some differences that the novel, these omitted or added scenes helped the level of entertainment in the movie. These are all the reasons why I think the Of Mice and Men movie was very good.

Bibliography

Of Mice and Men movie; 1992; Director: Gary Sinise