Briefly on Zhivago

Caught Doctor Zhivago for the umpteenth time on TMC yesterday--it almost qualifies for the "Movies You Have to Watch When Stumbled Upon While Channel Surfing" list. Almost. In all, it's uneven, overly sentimental, drags, and doesn't tie things together very well. But, it's interesting to watch for the spectacle of revolutionary Russia that Lean creates and for some great star turns, notably that of Rod Steiger as the horny, despicable, and very clever Komarovski. The guy could eat up the screen and he takes the very delicious role and runs with it. The "There's two kinds of men in this world" scene with Julie Christie is worth the price of admission, alone. When I think of Steiger and his performance, it also reminds of Richard Boone and his role in Hombre opposite Paul Newman. Like Steiger, Boone was a pro and he chews up the movie--even Newman looks like a hack against him. In fact, Boone should have won the Oscar twice for two choice scenes in the film, he was that good. Oh, back to Julie Christie. I know she was/is an utter loon with some typical arts type loon outlooks on life, etc. but was there ever a hotter looking actress than Christie? Was there? She melts MELTS the camera. She was the total package and it pains me to think that Warren Beatty passed PASSED on making her his steady strange. What the hell was he thinking? Uh, maybe that the entire world was his harem, I guess. Asshole.