Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Lawrence of Arabia (1962), ranked fifth on the American Film Institute's list of 100 greatest American movies of all time, is considered by some to be the greatest action/adventure movie ever made. It runs over 3.5 hours and includes many, many speaking parts, as well as several significant male characters (Peter O’Toole, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Jack Hawkins, Omar Sharif, Claude Rains, etc.). It is an entertaining epic. However, it is completely devoid of female characters. No women ever speak. Not once. In fact, females get less than two minutes of screen time, divided up between four scenes. In the first scene to include females ​they watch O’Toole and Quinn drink. In the second they watch men ride away. In the third the women are dead. In the fourth half a dozen nurses walk around a military hospital. ​So this Technicolor classic, considered to be an example of great filmmaking, scores terribly for women's presence and voice. For male viewers this may not constitute a problem, but many women, myself included, enjoy hearing women speak. 

© 2019 Alline Cormier