The director Spike Lee called a master: “We were looking at the great epics”
Plenty of film fans and fellow directors refer to the great Spike Lee as ‘a master’. His body of work speaks for itself, diving into subjects that no other filmmaker would touch with a ten-foot pole and presenting those ideas in his unique way. His razor-sharp scripts are truly one of a kind, just as thrilling today as they were when he burst onto the scene in the mid-1980s
In terms of Lee’s inspiration, he’s had a lot to draw from. The outspoken auteur is a true connoisseur of cinema. He holds a master’s degree in Fine Arts from New York University and, in 1991, joined an elite list when he was given the chance to teach a class at Havard. Now, he’s a tenured professor at NYU, imparting his wisdom to the next generation.
When the man behind Do the Right Thing was himself a student, there was one legendary director who caught his eye in a big way. “Ernest Dickerson—my NYU classmate and the great cinematographer—and I, we were looking at the great epics of David Lean,” Lee told Vulture. “The Bridge on the River Kwai, Doctor Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia. That trilogy. David Lean was the master of the epic film, and that’s what Ernest Dickerson, Denzel [Washington], and I wanted to do with Malcolm X; we wanted to make an epic film.”
English director Lean is a hugely influential figure in British cinema. Following a lengthy stake making and adapting Noël Coward plays and Charles Dickens novels for the screen, he made his first epic, 1957’s The Bridge on the River Kwai. For this gigantic exploration of prisoners of war in Burma (modern-day Myanmar) and the horrors they faced building a railway for the Japanese, Lean was honoured with the Oscar for ‘Best Director’. The movie itself was the highest-grossing of the year, which is a telling reflection of where society was at the time.
Buoyed by the success of his most recent picture, Lean went for another World War II monster venture for his next project. Lawrence of Arabia, all 222 minutes of it, was another instant classic. It defined the legacy of Peter O’Toole and is widely regarded as another all-time British staple, earning Lean another ‘Best Director’ acclaim for his efforts. Three years later, he adapted Boris Pasternak’s novel Doctor Zhivago. Starring Omar Sharif in another career-cementing role, the film was another critical and commercial hit. Lean was nominated for ‘Best Director’ yet again, but Robert Wise denied him the three-peat.
Lean’s penchant for the long film—the average length of his three biggest movies is three hours and 12 minutes—clearly inspired Lee when he was making 1992’s Malcolm X. Clocking in at three hours and 22 minutes, still a full 20 minutes shorter than Lawrence of Arabia, the movie follows Washington’s interpretation of the titular civil rights leader up until his assassination. In an era where movies of this length were far less common, Lee bucked the trend and attracted serious acclaim for his work. Disgracefully, he wasn’t even nominated for ‘Best Director’.
He may not be a household name these days, but the influence of David Lean lives on in directors like Spike Lee. Although, with people’s attention spans getting shorter and shorter, his work might struggle to find an audience going forward.
