Of Mice and Men *** (1992, John Malkovich, Gary Sinise, Ray Walston, Casey Siemaszko, John Terry, Ray Walston, Joe Morton, Sherilyn Fenn ) – Classic Movie Review 9150

Director Gary Sinese’s 1992 honourable big-screen version of John Steinbeck’s tragic story drama from his famed novella Of Mice and Men stars John Malkovich as the sweet, simple, childlike Lennie Small, the over-sized, mentally disabled man travelling Thirties Depression-era California with his caring, resourceful and clever migrant farm worker cousin George Milton (Sinese). George tries to take care of Lennie as they wander the country try to make money working the fields so they can fulfill their dream of owning their own ranch, and they hove up at a Western ranch, owned by boss Jackson (Noble Willingham).

However, honourable though it is, a feeling of over-reverence pervades the project, and there is a theatrical air about it that would work more movingly on stage, unsurprisingly so, as it is based on Sinese’s theatre version from Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre. Horton Foote adapts the story for film.

The drama remains muted, the playing lacks attack and the handling is low on pace. There is insufficient power in the characters’ expressions of anger and fear, though Sinese and Malkovich suggest a relationship with a surprising amount of love and dependency, and their quiet performances do resonate quite strongly.

Ray Walston steals the show as Candy, an old man missing a hand in love with a mangy dog that has to be put down, in a reflection of the heroes’ relationship. Casey Siemaszko and Sherilyn Fenn have unrewarding, stereotypical one-note roles as the farm boss’s nasty, jealous and sadistic son Curley Jackson and his lovely flirtatious and conniving wife.

Also in the cast are John Terry, Richard Riehle, Alexis Arquette, Joe Morton, Noble Willingham, Joe D’Angerio, Tuck Milligan, David Steen, Moira Sinise and Mark Boone Junior.

Moira Sinise, the wife of Gary Sinise, is the girl in the red dress, running through the field at the beginning of the movie.

It was Sinise’s second film to compete at Cannes, after the 1988 feature Miles from Home.  Sinise was nominated for the Palme d’Or but the film did not win an award.

It follows Of Mice and Men directed by Lewis Milestone in 1939 and Of Mice and Men directed by Reza Badiyi in 1981.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 9150

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