Exodus (film)
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| Exodus | |
|---|---|
 Original film poster |
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| Directed by | Otto Preminger |
| Produced by | Otto Preminger |
| Written by | Dalton Trumbo Leon Uris (novel) |
| Starring | Paul Newman Eva Marie Saint Ralph Richardson Peter Lawford Lee J. Cobb Sal Mineo John Derek Hugh Griffith |
| Music by | Ernest Gold |
| Cinematography | Sam Leavitt |
| Editing by | Louis R. Loeffler |
| Distributed by | United Artists MGM (DVD) |
| Release date(s) |  15 December 1960 |
| Running time | 208 min |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Exodus is a 1960 epic war film made by Alpha and Carlyle Productions and distributed by United Artists. It was produced and directed by Otto Preminger from a screenplay by Dalton Trumbo from the novel, Exodus, by Leon Uris. The Super Panavision 70 cinematography was by Sam Leavitt.
The film stars Paul Newman, Eva Marie Saint, Ralph Richardson, Peter Lawford, Lee J. Cobb, Sal Mineo, John Derek, Hugh Griffith, Gregory Ratoff, Felix Aylmer, David Opatoshu, Jill Haworth, Marius Goring, Victor Maddern and George Maharis
Contents |
[edit] Story
The film depicts events associated with the founding of the State of Israel in 1947.
Nurse Katherine (Kitty) Fremont (Eva Marie Saint) is an American volunteer nurse at a detention camp in Cyprus where thousands of Jews, holocaust survivors, are being temporarily held, as they have no homeland to return to. They sit in anticipation of the day they will be liberated. Ari Ben Canaan (Paul Newman), a Haganah rebel with a cargo ship, is able to secure 611 Jewish inmates for his voyage before being found out by military authorities. The refugees stage a hunger strike and the British relent and allow the Exodus safe passage.
Meanwhile, Kitty has grown very fond of Karen (Jill Haworth), a young Jewish girl searching for her estranged father. She has taken up Ben Canaan's cause, much to the chagrin of Kitty, who had plans to take young Karen to America in the hope of starting a new life.
Meanwhile, opposition to the Jewish liberation partition is heating up, and Karen's misguided young beau Dov Landau (Sal Mineo) joins a radical Jewish network, led by Ari Ben Canaan's uncle Akiva (David Opatoshu), an anarchist disowned by his family and hated by Palestine's British government. When their fatal bombing of the King David Hotel backfires, they are immediately taken into custody and sentenced to hang. Just blocks away from the ill-fated King David Hotel, Karen meets her shell-shocked father and now takes up residence in a thriving Jewish village. Kitty and Ari have fallen in love, but they must hold off on their romantic involvement until things have settled with the liberation. But Uncle Akiva's imprisonment is an obstacle and Ari must devise a plan to free the convicts.
Dov Landau, who managed to evade the arresting soldiers turns himself in so that he can use his knowledge of explosives to rig the prison and plan an escape route. All goes according to plan when the equipment is set off and violence erupts in the prison, giving Ari and the prisoners the perfect opportunity for escape. But the authorities are crafty, and manage to put a bullet in Akiva's back during a frantic high-speed car chase. The old man soon dies, but not before causing a major uproar at the prison.
A liberated Israel is now in plain view, but Arab radicals, angered by the proposition of sharing their land with an "inferior race" plot to attack Ari's camp and kill its leaders. Ari receives prior warning of this attack, and manages to get the group out in a mass overnight escape. Karen, ecstatic over the hopes of a new nation, proclaims her love for Dov, and Dov reciprocates. They while away the night-time hours thinking of the long and happy life together that lies ahead of them. But as Dov sleeps, a wandering Arab radical assaults Karen, and in the morning, Dov's patrol find her lifeless body together with that of one of their loyal compatriots.
At the Jewish burial ceremony, Ari swears on their bodies that someday, Jews and Arabs will live together and share the land in peace.
[edit] Cast
- Paul Newman - Ari Ben Canaan
- Eva Marie Saint - Kitty Fremont
- Ralph Richardson - Gen. Sutherland
- Peter Lawford - Maj. Caldwell
- Lee J. Cobb - Barak Ben Canaan
- Sal Mineo - Dov Landau
- John Derek - Taha
- Hugh Griffith - Mandria
- Gregory Ratoff - Lakavitch
- Felix Aylmer - Dr. Lieberman
- David Opatoshu - Akiva Ben-Canaan
- Jill Haworth - Karen
- Marius Goring - Von Storch
- Michael Wager - David
- Victor Maddern - Sergeant
- George Maharis - Yaov
[edit] Awards and nominations
[edit] Academy Awards
- The music score, written by Ernest Gold won the Academy Award for Best Original Score at the 1960 Oscars. The main theme from the film has been widely remixed and covered by many artists (such as piano player Anthony Burger for the Homecoming titled "I Do Believe"), remixed by techno-crossover pianist Maksim, even being used as the sample for the T.I. song Bankhead, and the original version was used as theme song for professional wrestler "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig
- The film was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor (Sal Mineo) and for Best Cinematography (Sam Leavitt)
[edit] Golden Globe
- Sal Mineo won the Best Supporting Actor Award
[edit] Grammy Award
- The Best Soundtrack Album Award was won by Ernest Gold
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Exodus at the Internet Movie Database
