Alexis Zorbas (1964)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Mihalis Kakogiannis

Writers:

Nikos Kazantzakis (novel)
Mihalis Kakogiannis (screenplay)

Release Date:

17 December 1964 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama

Tagline:

Life. Lust. Love. Zorba.

Plot:

An uptight English writer traveling to Crete on a matter of business finds his life changed forever when he meets the gregarious Alexis Zorba.

Plot Keywords:

Greek | Greece | Book | Dance | Human Relationship

Awards:

Won 3 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 16 nominations

Cast

Anthony Quinn	...	Alexis Zorba
Alan Bates	...	Basil
Irene Papas	...	Widow
Lila Kedrova	...	Madame Hortense
Sotiris Moustakas	...	Mimithos
Anna Kyriakou	...	Soul
Eleni Anousaki	...	Lola
Yorgo Voyagis	...	Pavlo (as George Voyadjis)
Takis Emmanuel	...	Manolakas
Giorgos Foundas	...	Mavrandoni (as George Foundas)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Pia Lindström	...	Peasant Girl (scenes deleted)

Also Known As:

Zorba the Greek (Philippines: English title) (USA)
Alexis Zorbas (Greece)
Zorbas o Ellinas (Greece) (video title)

Runtime:

142 min

Country:

USA | UK | Greece

Language:

English | Greek

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Canada:R (Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M (alternate rating) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | USA:Unrated | UK:PG (video rating) | UK:X (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Crete, Greece

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Cameo: [George P. Cosmatos]the disgruntled boy who writes down the illiterate Zorba's thoughts for him.

Quotes:

Madame Hortense: You are cruel! Why you abandon me? The whole village is laughing at me. Where is my white satin? Where is my wedding dress?

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Bronze Screen: 100 Years of the Latino Image in American Cinema (2002)

Mighty Quinn

What an exuberant film - not to be missed! It chronicles sadness and joy so beautifully that one can't help but want to weep, laugh, and dance along. There are four wonderful performances, led by Anthony Quinn, whose enthusiam for life almost leaps from the screen, giving rise to an almost sacrilegious thought: How could Rex Harrison's stuffy, embalmed Professor Henry Higgins have won the Best Actor Oscar over Quinn as Zorba? Lila Kedrova is heartbreaking as Madame Hortense, the dying prostitute with a colorful past. The always-enjoyable Alan Bates, and the striking Irene Papas as the Widow. Like Anna Magnani, Papas was an actress who transcended any language barrier, who didn't need dialogue at all - her face and body said everything she needed to.

For the most part the film looks great on DVD, with crisp, clear black-and-white photography. But I have one quibble: the transfer seems to have been made from the same source as the videotape prints in circulation, because there are a couple of instances of obvious post-production looping (possibly for prime-time television broadcasts), changing 'goddam' to 'old damn,' for instance - they even do this in the English subtitles. But read Quinn's lips - there's no mistaking what the original lines were! I'd expected that the original unedited soundtrack would have been restored.