Customer Reviews

Exodus (Widescreen)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Ok, yes, watch this film for it's haunting tale of war..But the reason I love this film is the love story of characters Dov and Karen, played by Sal Mineo and Jill Haworth. Their onscreen chemistry is heartbreaching. Sal Mineo won an Oscar Nomination(his 2nd) in "Exodus", and he also won the Golden Globe award in "Exodus" for best supporting actor. Mineo was robbed as he should have also won the OSCAR!

As the story opens in Cyprus, several hundred Jewish refugees have just been taken off a boat headed for Palestine and incarcerated in a British prison camp. Jewish activist Ari Ben Canaan (Paul Newman) decides to stage a mass escape and send them all to Palestine on a new ship, which is dubbed "Exodus." On board the ship are teen refugees Karen and Dov (Sal Mineo) and Kitty Freeman (Eva Marie Saint), an American nurse.

It was a formidable task trying to transfer the huge novel to the screen, and it isn't completely successful. Newman is an odd choice, but gives a good performance as the stalwart hero. Saint is completely wrong for her part; she's unattractive and unappealing. The script doesn't help either; their so-called romance is practically non-existent. Sal Mineo was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his convincing portrayal of a child who survived the Warsaw ghetto.

The soundtrack by Ernest Gold is magnificent and the movie is actually filmed on location. While it may be a disappointment to those who have read the book, "Exodus" is still interesting and even inspiring.

This is an excellent movie to give a historical perspective on the ongoing struggles between Israel and Palestine. Very good movie!

This is one of the best films of all time. With Paul Newman, Eva Marie Saint, and Lee J. Cobb, and Sal Mineo, among the ensemble cast, it doesn't get any better than this. The movie tracks the crew of a ship which ultimately wants to go to Israel- they are Jews from Europe who want to repatriate, and Paul Newman is highlighted as the son of Lee J. Cobb, who represents Ben Gurion.

There's lots of action in this movie, and the additional casting of Peter Lawford as an American attache is real interesting as well. There's intrigue, a prison break, romance, a great soundtrack, and an ending which points to the headlines of today.

A marvelous film, and highly recommended!!

The movie itself is what I expected, having seen it before. It is a captivating epic motion picture faithful to the book by Leon Uris.
Sadly, the transfer to DVD was done on the cheap. Occasional artifacts from the worn master film are evident. And while it is a "Widescreen" format, it is not Anamorphic or "Enahanced for 16x9 TVs". This means that if you have a wide-screen TV, the picture needs to be viewed is zoomed 4X3 mode to fill the screen. This lowers the resolution of an already poor copy.
In sum, buy it for the story but don't expect a vivid viweing experience for your home theater system.

I wasn't sure why Paul Newman did this movie until I heard Adam Sandler's Hannukah Song and found out the man was half Jewish. I've seen where this movie has been compared to "Cast a Giant Shadow" with Kirk Douglas, that's why I bought it. I don't see the comparison other than its a movie about the forming of the nation of Israel. The movies tell totally different stories.

I learned a few things about the time and the struggle and the story. I'd call that a good purchase.

My two biggest complaints: 1. Too long 2. Paul Newman's almost non-reaction to the murder of John Derek's character. Come on, you two were supposed to be like brothers.

Even some post-WWII Nazis showed up in the movie. I'm not sure if that was factual, but hey a movie never suffered by having Nazis as bad guys.

Exodus is a sprawling, 3 and half-hour epic that sets several fictional characters against the backdrop of the founding of modern Israel after the Second World War. The story opens in Cyprus, where thousands of European Jewish refugees are being detained by the British. The refugees are trying to make it to Palestine--which the British control--and form a new Jewish state. Eva Marie Saint plays an American nurse, recently widowed, who becomes involved in the refugees' plight, especially that of a young girl, Karen (Jill Haworth), searching for her father. Paul Newman is an Israeli freedom fighter who is determined to get a shipload of the refugees out of Cyprus to Palestine--while finding time to romance Saint. Karen worries about her friend Dov (Sal Mineo), an Auschwitz survivor who wants nothing more than to join a Jewish terrorist organization, which happens to be facilitated by Newman's uncle (David Opatoshu).

Exodus was a huge blockbuster back in 1960-61, with Ernest Gold's memorable, Oscar-winning score even making the Top 10 charts. The film also places a footnote in Hollywood history, as it was one of two films that year that dared to credit blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo (his other 1960 credit was Sparticus); Trumbo's adaptation of the Leon Uris book is largely straight-forward, focusing more on the plotting than on the characters. Fortunately, with Otto Preminger in command, the flick moves along briskly, what with glorious wide-screen vistas of Cyprus and Israel and several genuinely exciting action sequences--especially a terrific prison break-out. The film's somber coda is even more moving considering that the issues it raises are still unresolved to this day.

Newman and Saint are nice to look at, but there's not much chemistry between them--he seems stiff and she's just, well, saintly. The supporting cast is much better. Mineo received an Oscar nomination for this (he lost to Sparticus' Peter Ustinov), primarily for his emotional interrogation scene where he recounts his experiences at Auschwitz. Haworth is delicate but headstrong. Opatoshu, for my money, was the best thing in the whole movie--methodical, yet quietly commanding--there's a wordless scene between him and Lee J. Cobb (playing his brother) that is just marvelous. The cast of thousands also includes Ralph Richardson, Peter Lawford, Hugh Griffith, John Derek, Gregory Ratoff, and George Maharis.

This being an MGM DVD, there isn't much in the way of extras--just the original theatrical trailer and several choices for subtitles. As noted elsewhere, the quality of the transfer isn't as high as one would like--the sound, especially, should've been remixed while the the picture quality is terrific sometimes and other times less than perfect. Hopefully, they'll reissue it with improved specs.

EXODUS has become one of those long forgotten epics and to finally see it on DVD brought back great memories. The journey from Cyprus to Palestine/The fight for independence are only two of the highlights of this wonderful movie. I only hope more epics are released soon on DVD. (What about EL CID IN Widescreen?)

During a preview screening of EXODUS, George S. Kaufman is reputed to have yelled, not quite near the end of the film, "Otto, Otto, let my people go!" (I have seen this attributed to others as well, but most frequently to Kaufman.) Long, long, long. Needlessly long. Just why this film is so long isn't quite clear. Perhaps it is because Preminger, with Alfred Hitchcock perhaps the most economical and efficient director in the history of Hollywood (though Robert Rodriguez is developing a similar reputation) prominent director in Hollywood history, couldn't bear to throw any film away. But if there is a consensus about this film, it is that there is just too much of it. Less would have been much more.

The second major problem in the film is the casting of Paul Newman in the main role. Newman is one of my favorite actors, and he has been making good films even better for decades, but he is just entirely unbelievable as a Jewish freedom fighter. So many actors would have been better in the role. Moreover, Newman doesn't seem as at ease in this film as in others, as if he himself had a sense he didn't quite belong.

Finally, for an event as seminal as the founding of modern Israel, you would think there would be more drama and action. Instead, most of the film's scenes are rather uneventful and unexciting. Instead of big things happening throughout, one gets a sense that people merely stand around talking to one another.

Still, if there are few truly outstanding things about the film, apart from the length and the misfortune of Newman being in the lead role, there is nothing truly bad about the film. Solid, relatively enjoyable, but just not thrilling. Indeed, despite telling a truly epic story, it just wasn't very epic in effect. Not one of Preminger's best efforts.

EXODUS contains one of the great goofs in film history, and one that illustrates perfectly Preminger's sense of economy. A scene was being filmed in which Newman kisses Eva Marie Saint just as the sun is going down. The lighting is key to the scene, and there was only a very brief window in which to film. They shot the scene and wrapped up, only to find upon viewing the rushes that right as Newman and Saint kissed, a mike boom cast a shadow directly on their faces! Everyone assumed they were going to reshoot, but Preminger, who never failed to bring a film in on time or under budget, calculated the cost, and deemed it not financially justifiable to reshoot. So, today we still see that mike boom interfering with their great romantic moment.

1,000 words is NOT ENOUGH to describe this OUTSTANDING drama of the re-birth of Israel by Otto Preminger. Paul Neuman stars as "Ari", a revolutionist who is trying to regain his people's land. He is joined by the lovely Eva Marie Saint. Together, they strive to bring about liberty for the Jews. If you walk away without being moved by the passion of this story, you'd better check your pulse. Utterly fantastic! Compelling musical score! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!