There’s legit nothing else like it and it’s the most plodding movie ever. It just goes along at its own pace and takes its time with everything. Ryan O’Neal has to be the most uncharismatic and uninteresting actor to have ever starred in a masterpiece. Yet it’s his nothingness that makes the picture work. He’s a vacuum, a character we can superimpose ourselves onto. And those visuals! You often read in reviews that the film is “like a painting”, which is stating the obvious. It’s more a portrait of a repressive age, mostly static but with occasional exuberance and some avenues for advancement, And once again, Kubrick shows he is the master of assembling soundtracks.
Best quote:
‘It is well to dream of glorious war in a snug armchair at home, but it is a very different thing to see it first hand. And after the death of his friend, Barry’s thoughts turned from those of military glory to those of finding a way to escape the service to which he was now tied for another six years. Gentlemen may talk of the age of chivalry, but remember the ploughmen, poachers and pickpockets whom they lead. It is with these sad instruments that your great warriors and kings have been doing their murderous work in the world.’
Wow!
Wanderings and ... wonderings. 