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Of Mice and Men (1992 film)
Encyclopedia
Of Mice and Men is a 1992 American film starring John Malkovich
and Gary Sinise
, directed and produced by Gary Sinise
. It is the third movie adaptation of John Steinbeck
's 1937 novel of the same name
, and was preceded by the 1939 film version
and the 1981 television movie.
) is in a train boxcar, reminiscing upon the events that have just happened. He thinks back to when he and his companion Lennie Small (John Malkovich
), who has a moderate intellectual disability
, are fleeing from their previous employment in Weed
. They were run out of town after Lennie was accused of attempted rape
when he touched and held onto a young woman's pretty red dress (prompted by his love of stroking soft things). After running from Weed, George and Lennie are trying to attain their shared dream of settling down on their own piece of land. Lennie's part of the dream, which he never tires of hearing George describe, is merely to have soft rabbits on the farm, which he can pet. The two go to work at a ranch named Tyler Ranch.
At the ranch, the dream appears to move closer to reality. Candy (Ray Walston
), the aged, one-handed ranch-hand
, offers to pitch in with Lennie and George so they can buy the farm. The dream disappears when Lennie accidentally kills the young and attractive wife (Sherilyn Fenn
) of Curley (Casey Siemaszko
), the ranch owner's son, while trying to stroke her hair; as a result, a lynch mob led by Curley gathers. Realizing She is doomed to a life of loneliness and despair like the rest of the migrant workers, and wanting to spare Lennie a painful death at the hands of the vengeful and violent thug Curley, George shoots Lennie in the back of the head while distracting him with their dream of the ranch before the mob can find him. As George reminisces in the train boxcar, he has one final memory of him and Lennie working together.
in 1993. The film was later released on DVD
by MGM
March 4, 2003. The DVD is featured in widescreen
with English, French, and Spanish subtitles.
. However, the film did not do well at the box office, making $5,471,080 from a total of 398 theaters.
John Malkovich
John Gavin Malkovich is an American actor, producer, director and fashion designer with his label Technobohemian. Over the last 25 years of his career, Malkovich has appeared in more than 70 motion pictures. For his roles in Places in the Heart and In the Line of Fire, he received Academy Award...
and Gary Sinise
Gary Sinise
Gary Alan Sinise is an American actor, film director and musician. During his career, Sinise has won various awards including an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1992, Sinise directed, and played the role of George Milton in the successful film adaptation of...
, directed and produced by Gary Sinise
Gary Sinise
Gary Alan Sinise is an American actor, film director and musician. During his career, Sinise has won various awards including an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1992, Sinise directed, and played the role of George Milton in the successful film adaptation of...
. It is the third movie adaptation of John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck
John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was an American writer. He is widely known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden and the novella Of Mice and Men...
's 1937 novel of the same name
Of Mice and Men
Of Mice and Men is a novella written by Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck. Published in 1937, it tells the tragic story of George Milton and Lennie Small, two displaced migrant ranch workers during the Great Depression in California, USA....
, and was preceded by the 1939 film version
Of Mice and Men (1939 film)
Of Mice and Men is a 1939 film based on the novella of the same title by American author John Steinbeck. It stars Burgess Meredith, Betty Field, Lon Chaney, Jr., Charles Bickford, Roman Bohnen, Bob Steele and Noah Beery, Jr...
and the 1981 television movie.
Plot
George Milton (Gary SiniseGary Sinise
Gary Alan Sinise is an American actor, film director and musician. During his career, Sinise has won various awards including an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1992, Sinise directed, and played the role of George Milton in the successful film adaptation of...
) is in a train boxcar, reminiscing upon the events that have just happened. He thinks back to when he and his companion Lennie Small (John Malkovich
John Malkovich
John Gavin Malkovich is an American actor, producer, director and fashion designer with his label Technobohemian. Over the last 25 years of his career, Malkovich has appeared in more than 70 motion pictures. For his roles in Places in the Heart and In the Line of Fire, he received Academy Award...
), who has a moderate intellectual disability
Intellectual disability
Intellectual disability is a broad concept encompassing various intellectual deficits, including mental retardation , deficits too mild to properly qualify as MR, various specific conditions , and problems acquired later in life through acquired brain injuries or neurodegenerative diseases like...
, are fleeing from their previous employment in Weed
Weed, California
Weed is a city located in Siskiyou County, California. As of the 2010 Census, the town had a total population of 2,967, down from 2,979 at the 2000 census. There are several unincorporated communities adjacent to, or just outside Weed proper. These include Edgewood, Carrick, Lake Shastina, Rancho...
. They were run out of town after Lennie was accused of attempted rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
when he touched and held onto a young woman's pretty red dress (prompted by his love of stroking soft things). After running from Weed, George and Lennie are trying to attain their shared dream of settling down on their own piece of land. Lennie's part of the dream, which he never tires of hearing George describe, is merely to have soft rabbits on the farm, which he can pet. The two go to work at a ranch named Tyler Ranch.
At the ranch, the dream appears to move closer to reality. Candy (Ray Walston
Ray Walston
Ray Walston was an American stage, television and film actor best known as the title character on the 1960s situation comedy My Favorite Martian. In addition, he is also remembered for his roles as Luther Billis in South Pacific , Mr. Applegate in Damn Yankees , J.J...
), the aged, one-handed ranch-hand
Cowboy
A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the vaquero traditions of northern Mexico and became a figure of...
, offers to pitch in with Lennie and George so they can buy the farm. The dream disappears when Lennie accidentally kills the young and attractive wife (Sherilyn Fenn
Sherilyn Fenn
Sherilyn Fenn is an American actress and filmmaker. She came to international attention for her performance as Audrey Horne on the 1990 cult TV series Twin Peaks...
) of Curley (Casey Siemaszko
Casey Siemaszko
Casey Siemaszko is an American actor and the brother of actress Nina Siemaszko. He was born in Chicago, Illinois on March 17, 1961 to a Polish American father, a fighter in the Polish Underground who survived the Sachsenhausen concentration camp and an English mother.Siemaszko's best known film...
), the ranch owner's son, while trying to stroke her hair; as a result, a lynch mob led by Curley gathers. Realizing She is doomed to a life of loneliness and despair like the rest of the migrant workers, and wanting to spare Lennie a painful death at the hands of the vengeful and violent thug Curley, George shoots Lennie in the back of the head while distracting him with their dream of the ranch before the mob can find him. As George reminisces in the train boxcar, he has one final memory of him and Lennie working together.
Cast
- Gary SiniseGary SiniseGary Alan Sinise is an American actor, film director and musician. During his career, Sinise has won various awards including an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1992, Sinise directed, and played the role of George Milton in the successful film adaptation of...
as George Milton - John MalkovichJohn MalkovichJohn Gavin Malkovich is an American actor, producer, director and fashion designer with his label Technobohemian. Over the last 25 years of his career, Malkovich has appeared in more than 70 motion pictures. For his roles in Places in the Heart and In the Line of Fire, he received Academy Award...
as Lennie Small - Ray WalstonRay WalstonRay Walston was an American stage, television and film actor best known as the title character on the 1960s situation comedy My Favorite Martian. In addition, he is also remembered for his roles as Luther Billis in South Pacific , Mr. Applegate in Damn Yankees , J.J...
as Candy - Casey SiemaszkoCasey SiemaszkoCasey Siemaszko is an American actor and the brother of actress Nina Siemaszko. He was born in Chicago, Illinois on March 17, 1961 to a Polish American father, a fighter in the Polish Underground who survived the Sachsenhausen concentration camp and an English mother.Siemaszko's best known film...
as Curley - Sherilyn FennSherilyn FennSherilyn Fenn is an American actress and filmmaker. She came to international attention for her performance as Audrey Horne on the 1990 cult TV series Twin Peaks...
as Curley's Wife - Noble WillinghamNoble WillinghamNoble Henry Willingham, Jr. was an American television and film actor.-Career:Willingham had appeared in more than thirty feature films, including Harry's War , Up Close and Personal , City Slickers , The Last Boy Scout , City Slickers II , Ace Ventura: Pet Detective , Chinatown...
as the Boss - John Terry (actor)John Terry (actor)John Terry is an American film, television, and stage actor.-Early life:Terry was born in Florida, where he attended Vero Beach High School. He was also educated at the prestigious Loomis Chaffee prep school in Windsor, Connecticut, and began a career building original custom log homes in North...
as Slim - Mark Boone JuniorMark Boone JuniorMark Boone Junior is an American actor perhaps best known for his roles as Bobby Munson in FX's Sons of Anarchy and in two films by Christopher Nolan, Memento and Batman Begins...
as the Bus Driver - Moira HarrisMoira HarrisMoira Harris is an American actress.Harris was born in Pontiac, Illinois and is Roman Catholic. She graduated from Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois. During her college years, she met her husband Gary Sinise, and they have been married since 1981...
as the Girl in the Red Dress
Home video
Of Mice and Men was made available on VHSVHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
in 1993. The film was later released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
by MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
March 4, 2003. The DVD is featured in widescreen
Widescreen
Widescreen images are a variety of aspect ratios used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than the standard 1.37:1 Academy aspect ratio provided by 35mm film....
with English, French, and Spanish subtitles.
Reception
The film received very positive reviews, earning a 96% score on Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
. However, the film did not do well at the box office, making $5,471,080 from a total of 398 theaters.
Awards and nominations
1992 Cannes Film Festival1992 Cannes Film Festival
- Jury :*Gérard Depardieu *John Boorman *Carlo Di Palma *Jamie Lee Curtis *Joële Van Effenterre *Lester James Peries *Nana Djordjadze *Pedro Almodóvar *René Cleitman...
- Nominated – Palme d'OrPalme d'OrThe Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du...
: Gary SiniseGary SiniseGary Alan Sinise is an American actor, film director and musician. During his career, Sinise has won various awards including an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1992, Sinise directed, and played the role of George Milton in the successful film adaptation of...