Of Mice and Men

Summary

“Guys like us that work on ranches are the loneliest guys in the world.”

MGM has recently given Gary Sinise’s adaptation of John Steinbeck’s classic novel Of Mice and Men a Blu-ray release. This is the second opportunity to own this picture, because it was given a release in 2016 by the defunct label Olive Films. I was happy to revisit the movie for the first time since I saw it in high school in my English class. My oldest son was actually reading the novel in his English class, so it was nice to be able to show the film to him. I decided to reread the novel and see how the adaptation holds up. I am happy to report that the screenplay by Horton Foote capably adapts every aspect of the short novel with almost nothing left out of the picture. I watched it with my son in preparation for his upcoming exam and it would have to rank as one of the most faithful literary adaptations ever made.

The story focuses on two ranchhands – short and clever George (Gary Sinise) and large and mentally challenged Lennie (John Malkovich.) As the film starts, the men have had to make an escape from their ranch job in the town of Weed when Lenny scares a woman and tears her dress. The two men make their way to Salinas to get another job on a ranch. George has looked out for Lennie since Lennie’s Aunt Clara died. This is no easy task because Lennie struggles to remember things. George needs Lennie’s bulk to help do heavy lifting jobs, and Lennie needs George to watch out for him. They dream of having a couple acres of land with a house and a cow and a horse and a garden where Lennie can tend to the rabbits. Ranch life is lonely without a friend and they care for each other. Before they make their way to the ranch, George catches Lennie carrying a dead mouse that he is petting. Lenny likes to pet things compulsively which typically leads to their deaths. George makes Lennie throw away the dead mouse. Arriving at the ranch, George and Lennie meet Candy (Ray Walston) who has worked there for years and has been kept on ever since a bad accident ruined one of his hands. Candy has an old dog that used to herd sheep with him that is beginning to deteriorate. They meet the boss who is pretty hard nosed. He doesn’t want any trouble out of them and he doesn’t like that George does all the talking for Lennie. Putting away their things they meet the hotheaded short and stocky son of the boss, Curly. Curly wears a glove full of Vaseline because he has just married a tart (Sherilyn Fenn) a few weeks earlier who has a wandering eye. Curley immediately sizes up George and wants to intimidate him. Curley is a featherweight boxer with a Napoleon complex. When George and Lenny meet Curley’s wife, George knows that she spells trouble for them. He wants Lennie to stay away from her so that they can get enough money for work and find a safer place. After a month of work, they would have fifty bucks each which could last them long enough to find work elsewhere. The men work with kind natured Slim who appreciates the kind nature of Lennie and the good working relationship between the two men. His dog has just had some pups, so he gives one to Lennie. While on the ranch, talking with Candy, the men discover that they might be able to afford that house after all with Candy’s financial assistance. If they can just make it a month, they might fulfill their dreams, but they are in a volatile situation from Curley and his wife.

The book (and film) is about hardworking simple people and the small dreams they have that are seemingly out of reach in an unforgiving world. Both the film and novel are relentlessly depressing, but very well written. The film is beautifully done and it is truly emotionally wrenching. Performances are exceptional across the board with great turns by both Gary Sinise and John Malkovich. The two actors had worked together at the Steppenwolf Theater years earlier, and they play off each other perfectly. While Malkovich is probably more remarked upon for his excellent portrayal of Lennie, I was equally impressed by the quietly intense performance by Gary Sinise. Ray Walston is well cast as the aged and injured Candy. His performance was even more impactful than when I read the character in the novel. Sherilyn Fenn was a good choice to play Curley’s wife. Like most people, I was infatuated with her in Twin Peaks, so I enjoyed her in this role. Casey Siemaszko has the right physique for the role of Curley and he is appropriately dislikable. Joe Morton brings energy to the role of Crooks, who is hunchbacked and discriminated against. John Terry is also very good as Slim. It really is a great cast and Gary Sinise does a wonderful job of realizing the characters from the book.  The film benefits from an excellent score by Mark Isham and strong cinematography by Kenneth MacMillan. Macmillan’s cinematography does not try to overwhelm the viewer stylistically, but it manages to bring the best out of the hilly California farmlands. I had recently been  in that area in some of those fields, and the film portrays that setting very convincingly.

Overall – Of Mice and Men is a great adaptation of a great novel. It may not be a film that I would revisit frequently due to how depressing the picture is, but there is no doubt that the adaptation is one of the most faithful to a source novel ever made. I echo the sentiment of other reviewers that have mentioned that this film should be shown to any English classes which study the novel.

Video:

MGM has presented Of Mice and Men in 1080p using an MPEG-4 AVC encode in 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The master used is not new, but I thought the picture looked pretty good overall. I can not perform a direct comparison to the out of print Olive Films disc because I do not own it, but I imagine that it is the same master used for that release. Cinematographer Kenneth MacMillan does a solid job of painting the scene of farm life in California’s valleys. Fans of the picture will be pleased with how it looks.

Audio:

Like the video transfer, the DTS-HD MA 2.0 track is not anything mind-blowing, but it presents the  score by Mark Isham well. Clarity of dialogue is solid. It is a pretty solid track overall.

Supplements:

None

Overall Scores:

Video: 4/5

Audio: 4/5

Supplements: 0/5

Overall: 4.25/5

With Of Mice and Men, Gary Sinise excels in front of and behind the camera. The film is one of the most faithful adaptations of a piece of literature ever made. The picture captures everything that made the book so special and so heartbreaking. John Malkovich leads an exceptional cast. The music and cinematography accentuate the drama onscreen perfectly. The film is excellent, but replay value may be somewhat limited due to the relentlessly depressing nature of the picture. The MGM Blu-ray features an older master, but I thought it looked and sounded pretty good overall. There are no special features on the disc. Fans of the film will be happy to have another chance to own the picture, and I hope that it finds its way in front of the eyes of teenagers that are reading the novel for the first time.

The film can be purchased at www.moviezyng.com.