Based on the Ray Bradbury book that I could never quite get through, this adaptation of the classic sci-fi book was excellent. Thanks in large part to master French director Francois Truffaut (though I have to ashamedly admit I've only seen 1/2 of one of his films), it was tight, it was scary, it was thought provoking, and it had great style.
One of the most important things to me as a sci-fi film fan is the look of a film if its set in the future. You have to put a lot of thought into it, because if it looks gimmicky or silly, its going to be forgotten in 10 years. Though this one had a few silly things (doors that open when you stand near them?! Incredible!), for 1966 this was pretty good. They had a monorail, they had fireman poles that would take send you up them like magic, and they had some pretty cool clothes.
But of course, its the story that counts. This movie/book is about a future where books are banned because they have too many ideas/cause unrest, and fireman are the people who burn them. There was the required witty exchange where some little kid says something like "didn't firemen used to put out fires?". The main character, Montag (they all call him by his last name, even his wife) is a fireman who starts to get curious about books....The cleverest part of the movie was in the credits, though it took me a few minutes to figure out why. In this future world, there is no print (except for numbers; some things you can't do without), no signs, no writing, nothing. So, instead of showing the credits in a montage before the movie really starts, the credits were READ OUT LOUD so nothing shows up on screen. How clever! Great film, great dystopian future, holds up well over time, see it.
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