Of Mice and Men

OF MICE AND MEN (1939) **** Burgess Meredith and Lon Chaney Jr. embody John Steinbeck's tragic migrant workers George and Lennie during The Great Depression facing all the hard work and hard knocks life offers in their pursuit of The American Dream of `livin' off the fatta the lan' and wind up on a ranch with its share of down on their luck characters all enclaved to certain destinies and a heavy fall for our protagonists. Chaney (in his second icon role, the latter would be as the accursed Larry Talbott aka The WolfMan) personifies the gentle souled giant with a dim bulb who obeys his best friend George like a loyal dog and as his brother's keeper, Meredith allows his scrappiness a warmth underneath. Lennie Smalls would be endlessly used as a punchline in Looney Tunes toons to come (`which way did he go George!') and the film would be updated twice - one a tv movie with Robert Blake and Randy Quaid and a theatrical 90s version with Gary Sinise and John Malkovich. This classic was also produced by famed studio maven Hal Roach.