Lawrence of Arabia (film) - Legacy

Legacy

The use of the locations in Almería, Spain for the train sequences and others made that region popular with international film makers. Most famously, it became the setting of virtually all of the Spaghetti Westerns of the '60s and '70s, specifically those of Sergio Leone. (The oasis set from Lawrence briefly appears in Leone's 1965 film For a Few Dollars More.) Many of the sets used or built for the film were re-used in later films, including John Milius's The Wind and the Lion (1975), which used several of the same palaces in Seville and the Aqaba set as the setting for its climactic battle, while the Plaza de España appears in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002), as the Theed Palace.

The main musical title of the film was used in the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) in the scene where Roger Moore and Barbara Bach's characters have to wander through the desert after their van breaks down. This was done as a joke by one of the editors who liked to play music from the film during the daily rushes.

The main musical title of the film was also used in the 1987 science fiction parody film Spaceballs, when the Winnebago crashes on the sand planet and the crew is forced to walk the desert.

Film director Steven Spielberg considers this his favorite film of all time and the one that convinced him to become a filmmaker. Screenwriter William Monahan, who scripted Kingdom of Heaven and The Departed, among others, is a fan of Robert Bolt and has stated on numerous occasions that viewing Lawrence is what inspired him to be a screenwriter.

The scene of Lawrence showing off the 'match trick' is shown, converted into 3D, in Ridley Scott's 2012 film Prometheus. A piece of viral marketing for the film starring Guy Pearce also references the scene, and Michael Fassbender's android character in the film models his looks and voice after O'Toole's in Lawrence of Arabia.