Of Mice and men

Actor Gary Sinise directs this excellent adaptation of John Steinbeck's tragic tale about two migrant farmworkers in Depression-era California. Lennie (John Malkovich), a sweet-natured, mentally-retarded man who doesn't realize his own crushing strength, and George (Sinise), his companion and protector, befriend an aging farmhand (ray Walston) on the ranch where they work as wheat harvesters. The three men resolve to buy a farm together and escape their down-trodden existence as itinerant laborers. But their dream is shattered when the child-like Lennie accidentally commits a grievous crime.