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Movies / On DVD / Doctor Zhivago
Doctor Zhivago

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Doctor Zhivago (1965)

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Reviews Counted:30

Fresh:25

Rotten:5

Average Rating:7.3/10

Consensus: It may not be the best of David Lean's epics, but Dr. Zhivago is still brilliantly photographed and sweepingly romantic.

Runtime: 3 hrs 20 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: David Lean's DOCTOR ZHIVAGO is an exploration of the Russian Revolution as seen from the point of view of the intellectual, introspective title character (Omar Sharif). As the political landscape... David Lean's DOCTOR ZHIVAGO is an exploration of the Russian Revolution as seen from the point of view of the intellectual, introspective title character (Omar Sharif). As the political landscape changes, and the Czarist regime comes to an end, Dr. Zhivago's relationships reflect the political turmoil raging about him. Though he is married, the vagaries of war lead him to begin a love affair with the beautiful Lara (Julie Christie). But he cannot escape the machinations of a band of selfish and cruel characters: General Strelnikov (Tom Courtenay), a Bolshevik General; Komarovsky (Rod Steiger), Lara's former lover; and Yevgraf (Alec Guinness), Zhivago's sinister half-brother. This epic, sweeping romance, told in flashback, captures the lushness of Moscow before the war and the violent social upheaval that followed. The film is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Boris Pasternak. [More]

Starring: Omar Sharif, Julie Christie, Geraldine Chaplin, Alec Guinness

Starring: Omar Sharif, Julie Christie, Geraldine Chaplin, Alec Guinness, Tom Courtenay, Siobhan McKenna, Ralph Richardson, Rod Steiger, Rita Tushingham, Klaus Kinski, Adrienne Corri, Geoffrey Keen, Noel Willman

Director: David Lean

Director: David Lean
Producer: Carlo Ponti
Composer: Maurice Jarre

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Jul 28, 1998

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for Doctor Zhivago

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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[Lean] seems out of his element.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
01/29/09
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

Literate, oldfashioned, soul-filling and thoroughly romantic.

Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | comment Comment
08/24/08
TIME Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Laborious, but beautifully crafted 193 minute opus from the master of epic cinema, David Lean.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
03/04/08
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

No review available.

comment Comment
10/17/07
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

Combining skill and kitsch in equal measure, David Lean's overbloated epic (a disappointing follow-up to Lawrence of Arabia) offers guilty pleasure so long as you don't expect a faithful adaptation of Joe Pasternak's novel about the Russian Revolution.

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
08/17/07
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

David Lean's 1965 adaptation of Pasternak's romance of the Russian Revolution is intelligent and handsomely mounted, though it doesn't use its length to build to a particularly complex emotional effect.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
08/13/07
Dave Kehr
Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

As always, Lean's handling of the purely physical aspects of the material is spectacular.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
08/13/07
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

One of the most meticulously designed and executed films.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
08/13/07
A.D. Murphy
A.D. Murphy
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Beautiful cinematography...and set design...together with excellent performances combine to form Zhivago's timeless appeal

Full Review Source: Perihelion Journal | comment Comment
08/21/06
Jay Antani
Jay Antani
Perihelion Journal

Steiger and Courtenay excepted, all the performances are very uncomfortable.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
01/26/06
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

No review available.

comment Comment
09/21/05
Kevin N. Laforest
Kevin N. Laforest
Montreal Film Journal

David Lean masterpiece has great performances, sets

comment Comment
07/13/05
Steve Crum
Steve Crum
Video-Reviewmaster.com

No review available.

comment Comment
07/07/05
Joe Williams
Joe Williams
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

No review available.

comment Comment
06/10/04
James O'Ehley
James O'Ehley
Sci-Fi Movie Page

Fails to excite the imagination.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment 3 Comments
05/01/04
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

No review available.

comment Comment
09/05/03
Carol Cling
Carol Cling
Las Vegas Review-Journal

Mr. Bolt has reduced the vast upheaval of the Russian Revolution to the banalities of a doomed romance.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
05/20/03
Bosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

No review available.

comment Comment
10/11/02
Christopher Smith
Christopher Smith
Bangor Daily News (Maine)

Long, but lovely and romantic, and epic!

comment Comment
08/30/02
Michael Szymanski
Michael Szymanski
Zap2it.com

No review available.

comment Comment
07/30/02
Philip Martin
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
 
 
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