User reviews

One of Spencer Tracy's top performances; it goes down with "Captain's Courageous." Most often a book is better then the movie but in this case the movie brings the book to life. This is due to the somewhat larger then life character of Tracy. The story, although classic and definitely worth while reading, is best summed up by Tracy's acting technique.

This was no location film which means the greater portion of realism must come from the actor. A story about a man thinking and talking to himself while he is on a boat for three days would be difficult for any actor. Tracy brings the truest sense of humility and courage to this role. It is enjoyable reading but I encourage anyone to see this movie.

Arguably the best novella ever written gets both a reading from Spencer Tracy and a dramatization - neither of which quite mesh with each other. There is a great deal of unnecessary narration, probably owing to the fact that no one thought Hemingway's words could be improved upon. I wish this movie had been made ten years later, when the sparse style of the prose could have been matched by the sparseness of the period.

All that aside, it's a beautiful movie and Tracy is excellent. You wouldn't think that an old-hand white guy actor would be able to carry off being a old-hand white guy actor doing an old Cuban man without looking silly. But he does, without trying to do anything besides portraying an aging fisherman. This is the key to his performance - he looks so comfortable in the role that you absolutely believe him as that fisherman. One of his greatest roles.

Ernest Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea" is a fine story, but it gives every indication of being quite a challenge to any film-maker hoping to adapt it to the screen. This is a good effort, with a well-conceived approach to getting across the story and the main ideas. Yet it required above all the right leading actor, and Spencer Tracy comes through with a poignant performance that pulls everything else together.

Tracy is perfectly cast as the old fisherman. His voice is ideal, not only for the character but also for reading the lengthy voice-over narrations from Hemingway's text. The narration is used to communicate some of the story's key themes, and without just the right reader it probably would not have worked at all. Tracy also seems to identify with the character closely, since his mannerisms and body language almost always seem just right.

The action parts of the story rely heavily on stock footage, and sometimes on rather obvious models, but the action is not nearly as important as are the old man's character and his thoughts. Although there are some exciting moments in his battle with nature, it is what these bring out in him, not the events themselves, that are important.

What works especially well here are the old man's dreams and thoughts of the past. They are all-important in defining the character, and this adaptation manages them better than you could hope for, with the simplest of means. Once again, Tracy's narration matches the content perfectly.

The heart of the story is an honest but compassionate look at a man almost thoroughly ignored by the world, seemingly with little purpose to his life. His importance comes not from any outstanding achievement or valuable talent, but simply because he is a human being, with his own hopes, memories, and worries that are unique to him. This movie version succeeds well in rendering a touching picture of its main character.

Ernest Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea" is a classic literary work but it isn't well suited to screen adaptation. This film has some of the necessary ingredients for success but comes up short in several respects.

Spencer Tracy turns in a fine performance as the titular 'old man', one which was rewarded with an Oscar nomination. Felipe Pazos (as the boy), on the other hand, is a dreadful actor and almost drags Tracy's performance down in the scenes that they share. Tracy does double duty as the omniscient narrator as well, though I don't think that it made much sense to delegate that task to the actor playing the main character of the film.

John Sturges seems to have had to cobble together footage from various shoots and locations, resulting in a somewhat haphazard look. Budgetary concerns were likely a part of the problem along with limitations in technology.

Dimitri Tiomkin's score won an Oscar but I didn't think it was that exceptional. Certainly not nearly as memorable as the scores that Elmer Bernstein provided for Sturges's "The Magnificent Seven" and "The Great Escape".

While some will undoubtedly find the story boring I think that it is easily the best part of this picture. Behind the simple story of a man and his marlin there are layers upon layers of deeper meaning. I could have done without some of the narration, though, particularly when the same thing could have been conveyed with visuals.

In the end, I give the content of the film high points though the film's technical aspects are riddled with inadequacies. It's worth watching but you should be prepared for some decidedly rough edges.

An American drama; A story about an old Cuban fisherman who has not caught anything in 84 days. This is a film adaptation of Hemingway's Pulitzer-winning novella. The best that can be said about it is Spencer Tracy's Academy Award-nominated performance, its winning score, and the sumptuous colour photography also recognised that year by the Academy. It is a faithful adaptation in terms of narrative. Tracy embodies the old man wonderfully, particularly in capturing the modesty and kindliness of Santiago, the Cuban apprentice boy's hero. The film's shortcomings can be said to be the production values, i.e., the scenes at sea. The producers also failed to effect Santiago's wrestling with the fish, scenes that were key to the source material as well; the brilliant stock footage of big fish only goes so far to assuage the disappointment in these sequences. All in all, viewers will admire Tracy for his naturalism on screen, something that comes easy to very few film actors.

From the brilliant literally mind of Earnest Hemmingway, comes the touching story of " The Old Man and The Sea ". Spencer Tracy, plays The Old Man and his fine acting in this movie, garnered him an Oscar nomination in 1958. Tracy stars in the film and narrates the story. One follows attentively as he tells his tale of the Old Cuban and the native boy. Felipe Pazos plays the Boy and the two become life long friends. The simple quest of the Old Fishman to go out into the vast ocean in his little skiff to bring back enough fish to eat is a daily chore. What transpires is that many days go by without the Old Man catching anything at all. When the boy reminds him, he can bring the old man some luck, the old man prays earnestly to catch something worthy of his life at sea. When his prayer is answered, the old man is unsure of his amazing luck. The 'Catch of a Lifetime ' sends the old man into a retrospect of his life and it's recollection become the heart of the story. This is one of those stories where, the right actor was chosen to bring life to the novel and succeeded. A great film which has become a Classic to any who enjoy a great movie. ****

I read the book again before viewing the movie on video. The book is very short and the movie follows the narration very closely. Some of the narration is dropped, however, in the version I viewed. The fisherman is a lot like many of us as we grow older and it is very heartwarming to see how he faces his tribulations with such a wise philosophy. He does not harbor ill will toward anyone or anything, including the great fish, but accepts life and makes no judgements.

Spencer Tracy provides an excellent portrayal, as usual, of the main character. The boy acted very well and I wondered what his future had in store for him. I wondered if He would be effected by the Cuban Revolution a few years later. I told my wife that it would be interesting if he became a revolutionary if the story continued. It was very interesting to find that in real life, according to the Movie data base biography, his father was an economist and a principal participant in the Cuban Revolution a few years later.

A book well written and a film adaption that presents the story as I imagined it while reading the book.

Based on the novel by Ernest Hemingway with screenplay by Peter Viertel about a an aging fisherman (Spencer Tracy won an Oscar nomination for the role) who fights a band of hungry sharks for an enormous Marlin in the Gulf Stream to bring his trophy home . Santiago goes out on his usual fishing trip and makes a huge catch , the biggest of his life . Then a shark attacks and tries to steal his catch . Santiago is making slow progress toward shore, humming to himself . He notices a fin in the water approaching fast . It's a Mako shark, coming after some free marlin meat. Santiago thrusts his harpoon into the shark, but loses hold of the rope and the shark swims away with the rope and the harpoon. The shark had taken a bite of the marlin, releasing blood into the water . Later on , Santiago battles many sharks for days . As several more sharks approach and Santaigo stands up with his new spear and prepares to do battle . They feed, he stabs, over and over, until the blade of the knife snaps off. He apologizes to the marlin and regrets having gone out so far, for both their sakes . He returns to the shore beaten , tattered and torn, and his catch consisting now of mostly bones .

Enjoyable tale deliberately narrated plenty of sensitivity , stubbornness , dreams and color . It is an Ernest Hemingway's story of heroism , defeat , obstinacy and Victory . The flick is pretty well , but a little bit boring and slow . Humphrey Bogart attempted to purchase the film rights to Ernest Hemingway's novel through his production company, Santana Productions , Bogart identified strongly with the character of the old man and wanted to play the fisherman ; but the film wasn't made until the year following his death , with his close friend Spencer Tracy . The main starring , Spencer Tracy , is marvelous as Ernest Hemingway's aging fisherman who hooks a gigantic fish that drags him out to sea . He garnered his sixth Academy Award Nomination as as the tough , likable as well as dreamer fisherman . After seeing the film , Ernest Hemingway expressed his disappointment and said that Spencer Tracy looked less the Cuban peasant fisherman and more the rich old actor that he was . Ernest Hemingway himself was initially involved in the production, although the extent of his participation after selling his book was to go marlin-fishing off the coast of Peru to try to find a fish worthy enough for the movie . In the end , the producers used a rubber marlin and stock footage of marlin fishing in which Hemingway didn't participate in . Colorful and brilliant cinematography in Warnercolor by James Wong Howe and Floyd Crosby . Dimitri Tiomkin's wonderful musical score was Oscar winner .

This motion picture was well produced by Leland Hayward and compellingly directed by John Sturges who replaced Fred Zinnemann . John began his directing career at Columbia Pictures, where from 1946-49 he he worked on "12-day wonders" ("B" pictures shot on a 12-day schedule). From there he moved on to MGM where he filmed more "B" pictures, albeit on a larger budget . He established an independent production company in 1959, releasing through United Artists. From 1960-67 he worked under contract for United Artists. His first major hit was the western Dog Day at Black Rock (1955) , which he shot in just three weeks, wrapping up virtually every scene in a single take . He specialized in robust action pictures, particularly westerns . He excelled at bringing to life tautly written stories about tough characters facing difficult circumstances . Throughout his career he regularly alternated hits with misses . He has also been criticized for his lack of stylistic trademarks , though his best films remain exciting to watch . Sturges was expert on all kind of genres , but especially warlike such as : ¨Great Escape¨, ¨Ice Station Zebra¨ and ¨Eagle has landed¨ and Western such as ¨Last train of Gun Hill¨, ¨Magnificent Seven¨, ¨Backlash¨, ¨Law and Jake Webb¨, ¨Joe Kidd¨ and Chino¨, among others . This high-level film will appeal to Spencer Tracy fans .

There is a second rendition made-for-TV , ¨The old man and the sea¨ (1990) by Judd Taylor with big name cast , though , unfortunately , this reboot is ordinary and inferior to original ; being starred by Anthony Quinn , Alexis Cruz , Patricia Clarkson , Gary Cole, Francesco Quinn ; photographed by Tony Imi and soundtrack by Bruce Broughton .

This is an interesting movie for someone who is more into "Hearing" than "watching" a movie. Its a good adaptation of the book, made almost LIKE a book which makes it both interesting as well as a little boring for viewers with taste for changing scenes. It's about this Old Cuban fisherman who wakes up on an ordinary day after several UNLUCKY days & heads to his beloved sea to find a bite. He gets lucky hooking a big catch that he kept on holding to for 3 days non stop & then how he struggles with his age, sleep & hunger to bring it back home. The story's simple, but for someone with taste for exclusive art, this is a must watch!

Everyone knows I'm sensitive to the annoying sound of people's voices. You've heard me complain about William Holden, Joel McCrea, Deborah Kerr, and of course, Spencer Tracy. "Why doesn't he blow his nose?" I've frequently asked, lamenting the poor choices of studios asking him to narrate a movie. You can imagine how much I wasn't looking forward to The Old Man and the Sea, in which he both narrated and talked to himself.

However, he must have listened to me and blown his nose before recording of the narration. His seemed to be the perfect voice to read aloud monotonous and soothing passages of Ernest Hemingway's novel. As much as I was prepared to cringe to hear him give another terrible attempt at Hispanic accent, after his disastrous attempts in Captains Courageous and Tortilla Flat, I was happily spared. He didn't try so hard, and he didn't torture anyone by saying "feeshes" instead of "fishes." No, he didn't fool anyone into thinking he was Cuban, but at least it wasn't laughably awful.

All in all, I didn't hate this movie as much as I thought I would. In itself, it's a pretty boring story. An old man goes out into a little fishing boat and tries to hook a really big fish. He's alone so he talks to himself and thinks back on his memories. If you know Ernest Hemingway, you know how difficult it can be to adapt his internal books into a movie, and Peter Viertel's screenplay does an excellent job translating the tone and communicating to the audience the Why in an extremely simple story. If you really hate Spencer Tracy, you might want to try the Anthony Quinn version, but if I didn't mind watching this version, it can't possibly be that bad.

John Sturges directed this reportedly-troubled production, a handsome adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's story about an old salt who wants one last chance to catch a prized fish before he dies. This scenario puts extraordinary demands on lead actor Spencer Tracy, who is forced to hold the screen nearly alone for ninety minutes. Although he manages to ingratiate himself early on to the viewer, one still doesn't know how to take this character--is he likably stubborn or stubbornly foolish? Either way, Hemingway's tale doesn't quite make its mark as rousing cinematic material, however the finish is very satisfying. It gets a helping hand from Dimitri Tiomkin and his score, which won an Oscar. Remade as a TV-movie in 1990 starring Anthony Quinn. ** from ****

Excellent adaptation of Ernest Hemmingway's award winning work makes the following point: That catching the ordinary one is a function of individual luck. Catching the extraordinary one, however, is a delicate balance of an individual's strength, experience, and skill. Storyline: An old, master fisherman, second-guessed by his younger peers for a failure to make a catch in 84 days, nevertheless perseveres day-after-day -- steadfastly driven by a tremendous belief in self, ability, and the anticipation that puts him only one day's luck away from landing the "big one." When the big one is finally hooked, it turns out that hauling it in is more important for reaffirming belief in self and disproving detractors than it is for the prize itself.

Spencer Tracy acts and narrates in this film about an old fisherman getting the catch of his life. The small boy, the terrace owner and any other characters are really there for a few scenes. The entire story is about the old man and the struggle with the fish a metaphor for life: it's hard and it sucks, and then you die. It was funny that my wife was always asking me "is he going to die?" like there was any chance the old man could be immortal. In the film he doesn't die, but that is clearly besides the point.

Tracy was nominated for an Oscar for his performance, but really, it's just a guy in a boat, talking to himself and to a fish and nothing much is going on. The film is just one hour and a half, but its simplistic plot makes it feel a bit too long, especially now, more than 50 years later since the movie was made. I guess it is a nice movie and it helps if you want to not read the written story, just don't expect too much.

Do you stay faithful to the book or do you adapt a work so that it presents itself as the best film? Always an issue and for this film the adaption kills the work it does not suit the cinema and feels like a plodding piece instead of the insightful tale of humanity that the novella was. The framing of shots is poor and the blurring of the frame to hide the low quality of the special effects should have been better done, I felt like I was seeing a film from the late 30's rather than nearing the sixties. You could place anyone into the role of the old man and come away with a decent performance and Tracey does not give us anything that one may consider amazing.

The Old Man (Spencer Tracy) is a struggling Cuban fisherman. He lives alone and misses his departed beloved wife. The other men laugh about his lack of luck. His only supporter is the Young Boy. He rows out further than everyone and faces a battle with a huge marlin.

Based on Ernest Hemingway's iconic story, this requires two essential elements; the old man and the sea. The legendary Spencer Tracy has his hair whitened and brings his gravitas. The Young Boy could be more compelling but it's probably asking too much. The Cuban village has its scenic moments. Then there is the sea. It is mostly Tracy in a tank with rear projection and a mechanical fish. It is mixed with long range shoots in the real sea. It doesn't have the intensity or the epic adventure. The constant narration is distracting although I understand the literary motif. Tracy puts in a valiant effort and it's barely enough.

After eighty-four days without a catch, seafaring "old man" Spencer Tracy (as Santiago) finds his prowess as a Cuban fisherman slipping away. Hero-worshiping young sidekick Felipe Pazos (as Manolin) is advised, by his parents, to seek fairer waters with another mate - but, the boy won't abandon Mr. Tracy. His unlucky streak ends when Tracy's small boat gets pulled to new waters, where he finds the biggest fish in the sea. As he struggles alone against the elements, you'll wonder who caught who…

Like the classic Ernest Hemingway story from which it is adapted, there is much to read into "The Old Man and the Sea" - and Tracy earnestly tackles some of the reading, in frequent narrative interludes. The award-winning efforts by Tracy, director John Sturges, and cinematographer James Wong Howe (in color, this time) are certainly worth a look. The "National Board of Review" considered this the best picture of the year. But, this film doesn't catch the wave you can ride in the original story.

****** The Old Man and the Sea (10/7/58) John Sturges ~ Spencer Tracy, Felipe Pazos Jr., Harry Bellaver

It could easily have been a Jean De La Fontaine's tale, about the purpose of life, the meaning of achievement, the importance to succeed or not. You may argue, discuss concerning the way of filming and story telling, about the performance of Spence Tracy - whom I consider excellent here - but this story is really compelling for those who like thinking about a movie when getting out of the theater. And I guess that's the most important in a film. Good or not. Anyone already know the topic, so useless to come back to it. There is no John Sturge's trade mark here, but after all, has he ever had a real one? Hmmm....yes, maybe a bit, but the scheme of an individual fighting for something unaittable is something that many directors have already told about. One of the most interesting scheme for me.

For a mid-'50s (okay, that tired phrase, "mid-century") film, it is a half-decent depiction of Hemingway's classic, though Spencer Tracy's Cuban accent is obviously forced, if even available, and Tracy needed a good week under a tanning bed if the producer expected us to believe that even a gringo fisherman would look as pale as Tracy's character looked. The scenery was not as much in the studio appearance as I would have expected, except with the fish-fighting scenes looking forward in the boat to the fish. Wasn't the Old Man (Tracy) fighting a swordfish in one scene, or am I mistaken? I'm told by TMC's anchor that it was a fake fish because they couldn't catch a decent fish when shooting for the flick, and Hemingway wasn't a fan of the movie, making comments about Tracy not passing for a Cubano at all. But at least on my old Sony 19" Trinitron television (no digital here), the expired fish, its long backbone exposed, was perfect! And I love the ending shots of the fishermen silhouetted against the sunset, which as a former west Floridian, was totally real.

Spencer Tracy gives an amazing performance as the old man in the film. A film that need to be shown by younger audiences around, and it's truly a film about determination, and the value of life.

I should first admit that I've never read Ernest Hemingway's novel. My interpretation of John Sturges's adaptation of "The Old Man and the Sea" is that the title character, a Cuban fisherman (Spencer Tracy), is making what appears to be his last attempt at greatness. Teased by everyone for his lack of catch over the past few months, the old man sets out with a well defined goal and does everything that he can to fulfill it. I guess that the movie, released in autumn 1958, also served as a last look at Cuba before the revolution (although a full history of the country requires a much more detailed explanation).

Anyway, it's definitely worth seeing.

Ernest Hemingway's books have been filmed by Hollywood with varying degrees of success. Such stars as Gary Cooper, Gregory Peck, Tyrone Power, Rock Hudson, and Humphrey Bogart have taken a turn at being Hemingway heroes. I guess it was Spencer Tracy's turn to do it now.

I'm not sure that any actor no matter how good they are could keep the audiences attention on him for 90 minutes just alone in a boat, struggling to hook the mother of all marlins. But Spencer Tracy is as good as they get and I'm not sure he did it either. But Tracy ought to be commended for trying, in fact an Oscar nomination came in the way of a commendation.

One thing I will say, Tracy may have been the least vain actor on the screen. When a whole lot of his contemporaries were still doing romantic leads, Tracy let his age and everything else all hang out in this story of an old Cuban fisherman with two passions, baseball and fishing. His favorite ball player, who else but Joe DiMaggio the son of an Italian fisherman. The old man's passion; to go fishing with Joe DiMaggio. Actually in real life, DiMaggio honed his baseball skills to get away from the life his father and the old man led.

Of course there's that epic struggle with the marlin and what happens after. Hemingway goes Melville on us here, the big fish is the old man's white whale. Of course unlike Captain Ahab, it's an individual struggle, Tracy doesn't take a whole crew down with him because of his obsession.

It was a great effort and Tracy and director John Sturges deserve an A for effort here in trying to film an essentially plot less story. I suppose The Old Man and the Sea found an audience with fishermen and Spencer Tracy fans.