The Old Man and the Sea
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Movie Reviews of The Old Man and the Sea
Movie Review: just what I wanted
Summary: 5 Stars
My 91-year old father wanted to see this movie (and he is so hard to buy for) and this was exactly what he wanted to see again!Movie Review: DVD Old Man and the Sea
Summary: 5 Stars
This was received as promised, it came quickly and brand new. I would definetly buy from the seller again.Movie Review: positive review
Summary: 5 Stars
We bought this video for our neighbor for Christmas....he loved it and we are completely satisfiedMovie Review: i want to do what he did
Summary: 5 Stars
I can watch this move over and over because it is so perfect and simple. I love it.Movie Review: El Viejo y El Mar
Summary: 4 Stars
THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA (1958) for all its legendary greatness is really not all that great. As a lifelong admirer and superfan of Spencer Tracy, I enjoyed watching this film - today, for the first and probably only time. It's just that Hemingway - a writer I will never bother to read - is not my cup of tea.
This film is a good example of why that is ....
Tracy is brilliant, naturally, as Santiago, "the old man" - at least I heard the boy call him Santiago. (Young Felipe Pazos is almost frightening as the boy, a little hood-in-the-making if ever I saw one.) The old man is a simple Cuban fisherman, who goes out in his little skiff like all the others living by the sea near Old Havana. One day as he goes it alone, he hooks a giant swordfish (or giant marlin if you prefer). As it fights, he fights back, and it takes him as far as the Sargasso Sea.
It's bigger than his boat, and he finally lands it after a week. Back in Havana, he mourns the nearly skeletalized marlin - devoured by sharks long before he could hope to land it. There are great, cruel fishing scenes here: a marlin on the hook, sharks being harpooned, stabbed and bludgeoned. I also loved the close-up shots of a pro line fisherman working the line and knotting it as needed.
Sadly, it is plain those are not Tracy's hands or feet.
The production values are great; the Foley and sound are awful. Typical of the 1950s. The funny story I know about this film is Tracy wanted a Cuban to teach him the correct accent, as he wanted to perform the part in English with a perfect Cuban lilt. He couldn't find anyone to teach him! Bless his heart, he tried a bit at the accent early on; sadly, it left him completely after the first 15 minutes of this 80 minute film.
This film is a wonderful, quiet and meditative film ... about what struck me as a simple metaphor for the writer's sometimes miserable life. Directed by the great John Sturges and written for the screen by Peter Viertel, this is a film I recommend to all and sundry. However, it won't find its way into my collection.
I love Spencer Tracy, always have and always will. But not that much!