Fahrenheit 451 1966

     This film is based on the 1951 Ray Bradbury novel with the same name.  Guy Montag is a fireman who lives in a lonely, isolated society where books have been outlawed by a government fearing an independent-thinking public.  It is the duty of firemen to burn any books on sight or collections that have been reported by informants.  People in this society, including Montag's wife are drugged into compliance and get their information from wall-length television screens.  After Montag falls in love with book-hoarding Clarisse, he begins to read confiscated books.  It is through this relationship that he begins to question the government's motives behind book burning.  Montag is soon found out and he must decide whether to return to his job or run away?  He knows full well the consequences that he could face if he is captured!!

     Is François Truffaut trying to make literature seem dull and the whole hideous practice of book burning seem no more shocking than putting a blow-torch to a pile of leaves?  He could not have accomplished his purpose much better than he unintentionally has in his first motion picture made in English!!  Since the release of this film, it has also received plenty of more favorable attention.  Martin Scorsese says the film is underrated and it had a big influence on him?  That could sway some viewers to change their thoughts about the film but others may stick to their own beliefs??

     It could be interesting to talk about how and why the film differs from the book?  The most notable difference is probably the fact that Clarisse dies in a hit-and-run in the novel but she survives in the film?  This change can be unnerving due to this alteration?  Truffaunt came to like it and included it in his own later stage adaptation of the novel.  It certainly seemed natural that she should re-emerge at the end but is that softening things up?  There are also other differences that can leap out at you?  I have not read the book so I cannot speak about the differences or changes.  3 1/2* ( liked this movie)

112 min, Drama directed and written by Francois Truffaut and also written by Jean-Louis Richard, Ray Bradbury, David Rudkin and Helen Scott with Julie Christie, Oskar Werner, Cyril Cusack, Anton Diffring, Jeremy Spenser, Bee Duffell, Alex Scot, Gillian Adam, Michael Balfour, Ann Bell, Yvonne Blake.

Note:  Amazon 4.6* out of 5* with 20,260 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes 33% with 80 critic reviews 22% with 500+ audience scores, Roger Ebert 2* Odie Henderson, Common Sense Media Michael Berry 13+, 5* age 13+, Goodreads gives the book 3.99* out of 5* with 1,792,252 ratings and 51,446 reviews, Letterboxd 2.3* out of 5*,

Special Note:  Oskar Werner cut his hair for the final scene to purposely create a continuity error.  This was due to his hatred for the director.  According to producer Lewis M. Allen, Francois Truffaut and Oscar Werner hated each other by the end of filming.  For the last two weeks on set, they didn't speak to one another!!  The film's credits are spoken and not read in keeping with the film's theme of destruction of reading material.  The location filming of the final sequence with the "Book People" took place in poor weather.  It was hoped the weather would improve for the final days of shooting.  Instead, they discovered that it had begun snowing during the night.  The presence of snow in the final shots were an unplanned contribution to the film's memorable ending.  

Mistakes:  In the first scene in the monorail, the view through the windows shows they keep passing the same house.  While the foliage indicates that most of the film was shot in late winter into early spring, the trees are in full leaf as the fire engine is going to Montag's house?  As the firemen leave the apartment in the first raid, the sack is half full of books.  The bag they toss over the balcony is twice as full.  When the books are being burned in the beginning of the movie, some books that are on the ground suddenly appear in the fire pit even though no one has moved them?