Of Mice and Men

Released: 1992
Drama
Starring: Gary Sinise, John Malkovich
Director: Gary Sinise
Running Time: 115 minutes

The breakdown:
This is based on the 1937 John Steinbeck novel of the same name.  I have not read the book, so I do not know how close the movie follows the book.  This is a review of the movie only.

Lenny and George are friends trying to make enough money during the depression to fulfill a simple dream of owning a farm of their own.  Lenny (Malkovich) is a simple minded man who needs to be looked after or else he'd certainly be killed or in prison.  George (Sinise) is the man who's decided to give up a normal life and help Lenny make it by in this world.  They work on farms together throughout California trying to save up money for their dream of having no bosses and just living on the land.  Lenny is constantly getting into major trouble through a series of misunderstandings.  To explain his character - he used to be given live mice to play with and pet, but he would always kill them because he was too rough.  George is a smart, kind man. He genuinely cares for Lenny's safety and is incredibly big hearted considering he could have a normal life with friends, a stable job, and a woman if it weren't for him taking care of Lenny.  Due to Lenny's troubles, George is constantly moving them around from farm to farm to get away from the consequences of Lenny's trouble-making.

They finally find a large farm that takes them in and they fit in well with the other farm hands.  Just when they get a plan together to save up enough money and everything is looking up, the bottom drops out and Lenny does something tragic.  Their dreams are obliterated and George has to make the ultimate decision to help Lenny.

It was a very well done movie, and it kept me engaged.  I thought Sinise did a good job of both acting and directing this one.  The movie is heartbreaking and I can see why the story is a classic.  Seeing the movie makes me want to read the book of course, for comparison.  If I do, I'll post it here.

4 out of 5 ticket stubs for it's drama filled thoughtfulness.