Fahrenheit 451
What if you had no right to read?
Ray Bradbury's best-selling science fiction masterpiece about a future without books takes on a chillingly realistic dimension in this film classic directed by one of the most important screen innovators of all time, the late Francois Truffaut. Julie Christie stars in the challenging dual role of Oskar Werner's pleasure-seeking conformist wife, Linda, and his rebellious, book-collecting mistress, Clarisse.
Montag (Oskar Werner), a regimented fireman in charge of burning the forbidden volumes, meets a revolutionary school teacher who dares to read. Suddenly he finds himself a hunted fugitive, forced to choose not only between two women, but between personal safety and intellectual freedom. Truffaut's first English language production is an eerie fable where mankind becomes the ultimate evil.
Member Reviews
A Few Flaws Don't Seriously Mar A Good Story - revsdd
Based on a Ray Bradbury sci-fi story, this movie depicts a futuristic society in which books (and therefore real knowledge) are banned, and - if found - burned, sometimes along with the homes they're found in. The result is a society of mindless, thoughtless drones, although, in all honesty, they're content enough in their situation The sets were disappointing. They had a low-budget feel to them, and the futuristic society seemed anything but. The telephones they used looked like wall mounted telephones from the 1930's, and I found it interesting that a supposedly futuristic movie never alludes (explicitly or implicitly) to computers. Anyone can get the future wrong, but a future full of computers was pretty standard fare when this movie was made.
The performances were not bad. Oskar Werner did a fine job as Montag, the fireman who, in the course of his job of burning books develops a love for them, and Julie Christie was quite believable in a double role as both Linda (Montag's wife) and Clarisse, the woman Montag meets who turns him on to books. There's good use of irony - especially that firemen in this futuristic world set fires rather than putting them out. The point is well made that living day after day in such a bland world can become addictive, especially when Linda turns Montag in, because her aimless, thoughtless, meaningless and mindless life is threatened by his interest in books. Overall, this is a bleak story, portraying a bleak society, which makes the ending more powerful.
Montag hears of a society of people who memorize books so that no one can take them away, and he runs off to join them. The people in the society have no names, except the book that they've memorized, which says something about this future. Even the heroes have to give up their personal identities in order to become the knowledge they're trying to save - which is supposed to help individuals be individuals. That's great irony!The book is better, by far - bluealbow4eva
This is a classic example of the book being WAY better than the movie. In fact, that's why I rented it in the first place, despite my better judgement. I heard it was bad, I just wanted to see what they had done with the material.
What struck me the most was how dated it was, despite being "futuristic". It looked very much like the 60s, except with widescreen TVs like we have now, and subways. He used a rotary phone...it was just hard to watch. It was very silly looking.
The performances were terrible on everyone's part, and I hate how they changed the ending.
The Opinion: I now want a remake of this, except make it way, way better and more like the book.Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451" Underwhelming - bwod
What started out as a potentially great film, ends up being just fair. Adapted from science-fiction author Ray Bradbury's novel of the same name, director Francois Truffaut has tried to create the vision of a future without books. Starring Oscar Werner and Julie Christie (in two parts), the story plods along just a bit, and since it was made in 1966, the special effects are less than great. If you are a fan of Ray Bradbury, you might like it. One marginal thumb up.
Member Reviews
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A Few Flaws Don't Seriously Mar A Good Story - revsdd
Based on a Ray Bradbury sci-fi story, this movie depicts a futuristic society in which books (and therefore real knowledge) are banned, and - if found - burned, sometimes along with the homes they're found in. The result is a society of mindless, thoughtless ...The book is better, by far - bluealbow4eva
This is a classic example of the book being WAY better than the movie. In fact, that's why I rented it in the first place, despite my better judgement. I heard it was bad, I just wanted to see what they had done with the material.
What struck me the ...Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451" Underwhelming - bwod
What started out as a potentially great film, ends up being just fair. Adapted from science-fiction author Ray Bradbury's novel of the same name, director Francois Truffaut has tried to create the vision of a future without books. Starring Oscar Werner and ...