In case you haven’t heard, Sir Alec Guinness died at age 86 Monday morning. I thought I’d take the oportunity to discuss his movies and ask all:
What’s your favorite Alec Guinness movie?
For my money, Bridge on the River Kwai* is *Alec Guiness.
RIP, Sir Alec.
Not a film, but television series: Tinker Tailor and Smiley’s People, based on the Le Carre books.
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Our Man in Havana
Kind Hearts and Cornets
(I have heard Robin Williams is planning to do a remake. What can we do to stop this?)
I’ll second Bridge.
Wow, I found out about Walter Matthou’s (sp?) death here as well.
Alec Guinness, one of the greats. Lawrence of Arabia, he was King Faisel. A couple of good quotes:
General Allenby: I thought I was a hard man, sir.
Prince Feisal: You are merely a general. I must be a king.
Prince Feisal: Young men make wars and the virtues of war are the virtues of young men: courage and hope for the future. Then old men make the peace, and the vices of peace are the vices of old men: mistrust and caution.
My favorite is Kind Hearts and Coronets, in which he portrayed eight members of the d’Ascoyne family - Ascoyne d’Ascoyne, Henry d’Ascoyne, Canon d’Ascoyne, Admiral d’Ascoyne, General d’Ascoyne, Lady Agatha d’Ascoyne, Lord d’Ascoyne, and Ethelred d’Ascoyne.
(The rumor is Will Smith will co-star in the remake, playing the Dennis Price role.)
Also, The Lavender Hill Mob, The Man in the White Suit, The Captain’s Paradise, and The Horse’s Mouth.
I love all of his Ealing comedies( which have already been mentioned).
Tinker Tailor was great .
And who can forget Obi Wan .
Sigh , a great loss .
Best ? Impossible but today I’d go with either the rough Scot in (I think the title’s right - get confused with the similarly titled American anti-war film) ‘Tune of Glory’ – the antithesis of the man himself, or, my own personal favourite: playing George Smiley in ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy’ and ‘Smiley’s People’.
INHO, in these two BBC series his characterisation of a quiet, masterful, ruthless spymaster was beyond definitive. Sir Alec shared the same chillingly cold blood as Smiley.
A good man, a long, good life and great work – I’d settle for that. Rest in Peace, Sir Alec.
The Man in the White Suit.
I’d forgotten about The Man in the White Suit.
How can you pick a best from this great artist? Tunes of Glory, Kind Hearts…, Lawrence of Arabia, Lavender Hill Mob, Captains Paradise were my favorites.
Local (Denver) papers mentioned him as if Obi Wan was his ONLY work! We’re SOOOOOO sophisticated here in Colorado!
Rest in Peace.
Definitely the Ealings. The abovementioned KIND HEARTS & CORONETS, LAVENDER HILL MOB, and MAN IN THE WHITE SUIT…plus my favorite, THE LADYKILLERS.
I also loved him in THE HORSE’S MOUTH, not a comedy.
I heard on NPR today that he didn’t particulary care much for Star Wars when it was being filmed (though it made him filthy stinking rich), and it was actually at his request that he be killed off. I’ll bet they had to pay him some serious coin to get him back for his small parts in the sequels…
Has anyone ever seen David Lean’s 1946 version of Great Expectations? Sir Alec was just a young man. I saw his name in the opening credits, but didn’t even recognize him on the screen. He worked again with Lean on Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia.
Yeah, I’ve seen it. Very good. He played Herbert Pocket, a best-friend-of-the-Hero role, so it’s not particularly memorable. He was also in Lean’s OLIVER TWIST, where he played Fagin, a part which makes much more of an impression.
I go for Kind Hearts.
I also nominate that if anyone so much as thinks of bringing up star wars, they get their ass summerily beaten.
“Tunes of Glory” or “Kind Hearts and Coronets”.
As for Lawrence of Arabia quotes, this is my favorite:
“To Colonel Lawrence, mercy is a passion. To me, it is just good manners. You may judge for yourself which is more reliable.”
Ukelele Ike: Thanks for mentioning The Ladykillers. Not only a great early performance from Peter Sellers, but a funny damn movie. And you put Guinness’s role next to the clever nebbish he played in The Lavender Hill Mob, and you see what a versatile actor he really was.
P.S. Random trivia: The Lavender Hill Mob was directed by the same guy who later directed A Fish Called Wanda.
P.P.S. The Kind Hearts and Coronets rumor is more than a rumor: it’s in pre-pre-production. Robin Williams and Will Smith are attached (though not officially signed), as mentioned. Director is Mike Nichols, who recently gave us What Planet Are You From? which doesn’t bode well at all.
Doctor Zhivago, one of my favorites. Omar Sharif was tasty back then.
Besides, it’s kind of sureal seeing Obi Wan as a Bolshevik!
Murder By Death. Don’t ask me why. I just liked that crummy movie.
I remember an anecdote he shared in an interview, that he hated children coming up to him, adulant, being recognized as Obi-Wan. One one particular occasion a mother and child approached him for an autograph, and he agreed to give it to the kid on one condition: “you must never, ever, watch that terrible film again”. The poor kid burst out crying and the furious mom laid into him about being an evil old man. But he hated that film so much, and was so appalled at the level of worship it garnered, that he didn’t care.
I hread that he was upset at being killed off in the first one!
I heard that he later thought he was a bit rude, he would rather have said he hoped the boy would broaden his horizens.
Still I thought that was EXTREMELY rude.