The music is now struggling to be heard against the noise of a train, it fades away as the camera pans around to get a shot of a man sat in the dark with his back against a wall. As the camera zooms in on the man it is obvious at once that he is sad. The atmosphere changes as the director quickly cuts from scene to scene to show a woman running towards the camera in a red dress. The audience again wonders what is happening as the woman draws closer, her sobs and panting are clearly audible. The director cuts to two men running away, at first their faces are not seen as Sinise wants them to remain mysterious for a few seconds more. Then their faces are seen and the man from the train is with someone new, the audience again is questioning what is happening, the director cuts back to the woman running, this time towards some men who are working in a field. The two men running away are shown again from a high angle shot, this may be to show that they are vulnerable at this time, the director quickly cuts between the two men running away and the men chasing with dogs, guns and horses.
The ending of the film starts just after Lennie has killed Curley’s wife and Candy discovers the body, he tells George who realises, when he sees what Lennie has done, that their dream is over; he tells Candy to alert the other men, while George goes back to the bunkhouse. When Candy tells the other men that something has happened to Curley’s wife they come running. The director focuses on Curley to remind the audience of his and Lennie’s fight, and how much he dislikes Lennie. To reduce the time this scene takes Sinise has Curley as being first to the body. Curley finds Lennie’s hat on the floor and gets the other men to arm themselves and prepare to chase Lennie. George walks into the barn behind the rest of the men. Carlson returns to the barn with the news that Lennie stole his gun.
Now the men are preparing for a chase like the one at the start of the film. Curley is shouting orders to the men and is very enthusiastic about hunting Lennie down. Slim however is seemingly very reluctant to go chasing Lennie, he keeps giving George hesitant glances as if he feels sorry for him.
After the men have left, George runs straight to the place where he knows Lennie will be hiding. When he arrives he can’t find Lennie but sees the men pass over him on a hill. He finds Lennie shortly after this and has a long relaxed conversation with him in which Lennie tells George to “give him hell” and asks to be told about their dream and as George gets to the part about rabbits he shoots Lennie so that he dies happy. The shot fades to show the train scene again with George in the dark, then it fades again to George and Lennie walking away over the barley fields.
I will now analyse the true character of Curley’s wife:
In the film we are made to feel more sympathetic towards Curley’s wife – to achieve this Sinise cuts out the scene in which Curley’s wife shouts at Crooks and replaces it with a scene in which she tells how Curley destroyed her only means of entertainment which is her records.
As the film progresses she seems to become less of the ‘tart’ the men portray her as and more the vulnerable young woman she is. For example her dresses become less patterned and less brightly coloured, she wears more white – the colour which symbolises innocence and purity. In the scene when she dies, she seems more friendly than ever and she tells Lennie all her dreams and they become friendly.
To conclude: I think Sinise has been successful in his adaptation of the book “Of mice and men”.
By Daniel Lovegrove 10CW
