User reviews

Anthony Quinn's Zorba became a point of reference, in fact I'm writing this review 54 years after its first release. He is everything and more. Alan Bates is outstanding walking that very thin line but totally committed to that duality that makes him so human, so real. Lila Kedrova won an Oscar for her performance, deservedly so. Simone Signoret had been offered the part and she was the one who suggested Lila Kedrova to the director, Michael Cacoyanis. I love that story. Zorba has also the power of Irene Papas who makes her silent calling absolutely riveting and the contagious Mikis Theodorakis's score all together in a beautiful, savage, compelling film that doesn't show any signs of aging

Nikos Kazantzakis' novels lend themselves to cinematic treatment. Jules Dassin made a great adaptation of "He Who Must Die", and Michael Cacoyannis was equally successful in bringing "Alexis Zorbas" to the screen. Watching this film for a second time puts into perspective a lot of things that escape many a viewer the first time around.

Michael Cacoyannis changed the order of events in the book, as well as Nikos, who he transforms into Basil, the Englishman. The changes are not without merit since all the elements contribute to blend well together in the finished product. The director was fortunate to find such collaborators as Mikis Theodorakis, the genial composer of the music score and Walter Lassally, who photographed the barren area where most of the action takes place. Viewing the film on cable recently, shows Lassally's crisp black and white photography in mint condition.

The film is totally dominated by Zorba, who is a figure larger than life, as he takes Basil under his wing from the start. Anthony Quinn was a perfect choice for playing the title character. Mr. Quinn had worked with other brilliant directors, Federico Fellini, being one of them. It's almost impossible to think of Mr. Quinn as being an American because the magnificent transformation he undergoes here to portray Zorba.

Alan Bates, who is seen as Basil, the Englishman of Greek descent, who is going to Crete to see the family's land and mine. By underplaying Basil, Mr. Bates set the right tone, in sharp contrast with Anthony Quinn's exuberance. Alan Bates, in the end, made perfect sense with the way he played Basil.

Lila Kedrova is another surprise in the film. She is the tragic Madame Hortense, who has lived in the island for quite a while. It's ironic that love always eluded her until she finds in Zorba a reason for keep on living. Irene Papas is equally intense as the widow who is haunted by all the men in town. She has little to say, but just a look from her smolders the screen, be it, for the lust she felt for Basil, or the hatred for the town male population.

Michael Cacoyannis uses these men, as a sort of Greek Chorus, so important in Greek tragedies. The same could be said of the older women of the town who resent the arrivals of strangers. The Greek cast one sees is quite effective in the context of the movie.

"Alexis Zorbas", or "Zorba, the Greek", is a film that will stay with the viewer for quite a while because of what the director accomplished with it.

OK, I admit I've seen this movie a dozen times. But it never fails to inspire. Was there ever a man who lived life as fully as Alexis Zorba? Was there ever a character who understood so much about living and dying, women and men? Zorba ripping a piece of lamb from the spit and biting into it with joy and verve, dancing in pain or dancing from joy, expressing his wonderment at the sight of a dolphin, gives this character a special place in movie history.

If the rich storytelling and great Quinn performance were not enough, we get the young Alan Bates in a fine part doing a fine piece of acting, and the extraordinary pair of performances by Lila Kedrova and, especially, Irene Pappas, who need not speak a word to convey an entire menu of emotions.

The final scenes are among the best in movies. The music is among the best. Indeed, the MOVIE is among the best.

A GREAT movie.

Anthony Quinn's performance is phenomenal. In a world filled with ignorance, lack of vision, hate, and the most shameful examples of human depravity, Zorba provides beautifully imperfect goodness. There is no pretense about who Zorba is. Despite his imperfections (and there are so many), he is genuine love, kindness and passion. The scene where Zorba remains by his dying wife's (Madame Hortense) side is pure and sweet and extremely moving. While the greedy masses, like vultures, swoop in to steal any possible item from this woman's home, Zorba provides profound comfort, while most others would have reacted differently. I can't believe it took me 40 years to see this movie. Gracias, Señor 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.

When I first saw Zorba the Greek 4 years ago, I inwardly thanked my philosophy teacher for having us watch this masterpiece. Today, I am still greatful to him. This movie is definetely one of my all time favorite. The whole cast is great, the story is really close from the book (except for some details that an author can write in a book, but a director can't put easily in a film), images are wonderful, Crete is.perfect. If you have never seen this movie, I recommend it to you.

Top-notch picture based on an adaptation of Nikos Kazantzakis's hugely popular novel . It deals with an uptight and poignant English writer called Basil (Alan Bates was Mihalis Kakogiannis's first choice for this part) traveling to Crete on a matter of business finds his life changed forever when he meets the zesty as well as joyful Zorba (in title role Anthony Quinn displays an awesome acting , he is a delight as Alexis) . Gregarious Zorba is an eye-opener to the visiting stranger . At a tiny village the writer meets an old spinster woman named Madame Hortense (Lila Kedrova was a win an Academy Award, though Simone Signoret was the original choice for this role and turned it down and she came to regret that decision) and a beautiful widow (a young Irene Papas) .

Sensitive and thought-provoking film plenty of drama , emotion , Greek social habits and wonderful performances .Interesting and flavorful screenplay by the same filmmaker from Nikos Kazantzakis' novel who also wrote ¨The last temptation of Christ¨. Special mention to Anthony Quinn as an uncomplicated and jolly man , an earthy and humble peasant with a real lust for life , a character he has become identified with . However , in the earlier stages of filming, the filmmaker and Anthony Quinn had frequent disagreements as the director felt that his leading actor was being too over-the-top . Alan Bates as a sensible as well as intellectual writer is also very good and the young beauty Irene Papas is marvelous as a widow who originates a tragedy . Extraordinary Lila Kedrova as an aging and dying courtesan, she ended up receiving an Academy Award for her role. The original Broadway production of "Zorba" opened at the Imperial Theater in New York on November 16, 1968, ran for 305 performances and was nominated for the 1969 Tony Award for the Best Musical. Anthony Quinn and Lila Kedrova who starred together in this movie version appeared in the revival of Zorba in 1982-3 with Lila Kedrova winning the 1984 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical .

Gorgeous , enjoyable cinematography in white and black by Walter Lassally that also won deservedly an Oscar. Rousing and immortal soundtrack by Mikis Theodorakis based on Greek traditional music , including breathtaking dances performed by Anthony Quinn. However , Anthony Quinn had a broken foot during filming, and thus couldn't perform the dance on the beach as scripted, which called for much leaping around ; instead, he did a slow shuffle . This brooding motion picture was stunningly directed by Michael Cacoyannis ,though the project was turned down by every major studio . Cacoyannis was an expert on adaptations based upon Classic Greek plays such as ¨Iphigenea¨ , ¨Elektra¨ and ¨The Trojan women¨ . ¨Zorba¨ rating : Better than average , worthwhile watching . Essential and indispensable seeing for Anthony Quinn fans .

I can't decide which was Anthony Quinn's best performance ever: "La strada" or "Zorba the Greek". In the latter, he plays Alexis Zorba, a fun-loving Cretan* who befriends bored Englishman Basil (Alan Bates), who has come to Crete to inherit a mine. As the movie progresses, we see Zorba's penchant for living life to its fullest. By the end, you'll probably wish that you could be in the movie dancing with him.

"Zorba the Greek" is quite literally a flawless movie. Virtually anything that you've ever wished that you could do but never had the chance, you can bet money that Zorba does. As he reminds Basil in one scene, "You will live a thousand years." *Yes, a person from Crete is called a Cretan.

This seems to be the best part of Anthony Quinn ever. The exuberance of Zorba, the character's capacity of seeing only the bright side of life and of transferring this optimistic attitude to the others and the metaphor of dance on the deserted beach, after the failure - some of the things that make a masterpiece of this movie. Also, actors like Irene Papas and Alan Bates play their parts with great professionalism, creating strong characters and giving them a real authenticity. This film is a must-see for all those who think defeats are only simple obstacles that we all have to pass beyond by smiling and, why not, dancing in the sun.

• Includes spoiling -

I was looking forward to seeing this movie, since I had gotten the impression that this classic was somewhat concerned about the issues of happiness and life. But after watching it I've hard to see the morale of the story. The scene where the beautiful widow, played by Irene Pappas, is being chased and killed was one of the strongest scenes I've ever seen in a movie, and affected me a lot. Yet the main character, Alan Bates, doesn't seem sad at all. He says that he couldn't have done anything, and that's it. He never reflects about the girl, that it was his fault because he visited her, no; he's completely heartless, which surprises me, him being a soft, shy and cowardly guy and all. In the next scene, the second widow, Lila Kedrova, is dying and the local citizens are gathering around waiting for her to die so they can steal her possessions. Another great scene, in my opinion, giving some social criticism showing human greed and lack of compassion. And still, no emotional flow. Not long after the horrible death of these two women, Zorba and the Englishman are having a great time dancing. They don't seem to care at all about those mishappenings. Their behaviour and the way they feel...it's almost criminal. Imagine their outcome in case L'Étranger (Albert Camus)... I think those scenes could have been better developed, though they are the highlights of the movie. Is the happy ending forced? Maybe, but I guess it fits better with the movie as whole. They could however, instead of holding back the emotions, have let the tragedy blossomed in these two, or three, scenes, and then more slowly have turned the pattern towards a happy ending. I think Frank Capra would have been the ideal man for that job.

So, is this film trying to say anything? That you should be happy, drink, dance, enjoy life and have fun? Or is it just putting a strictly bounded Englishman together with a more or less mad and life enjoying Greek? Or does it want to tell, like Zorba says in the end, that a touch of madness is good element in every man's life?

3/5

A young Englishman is writing on a manuscript about the Buddha. He meets Alexis Zorba who greatly influences his outlook on life. The narrator, whose name is not revealed, hires Zorba to superintend the workmen in his lignite mine in Crete. Zorba the Greek is a book and a movie by nature on the contrast between the Apollonian and the Dionysian outlook on life. Apollo/the boss(Alan Bates) represents the spirit of order and rationality, while Dionysus/Zorba(Anthony Quinn) represents the spirit of ecstatic, spontaneous will to life. Anthony Quinn's performance is really great. I read the book about a month ago and I guess I couldn't visualize the Zorba image in my mind that well. His looks,one-liners,his dancing sirtaki on the beach,his harmony with Madame Hortense(Lila Kedrova)just looks so nice.It is really surprising that Lila Kedrova got "Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress" while Anthony Quinn just got the nomination for best actor in a leading role.(Such a pity that he didn't get it.) Well that work of art is not so great as "Jesus Re-crucified" or "The Last Temptation of Christ " but is a still great Kazanthakis art.And the adapted movie is a really good one coz given that the whole book is based on a contrast introduced by Friedrich Nietzsche and it is not supposed to be easy to cinematize a philosophical book.Great Quinn! Great movie!(But I Don't THINK LILA KEDROVA DESERVES THAT AWARD) If you have ever read Kazanthakis you should absolutely see this movie!

... needs a little madness or else he (or she) never dares cut the rope and be free' An abzorbing life's what you make it film, albeit critical (we hope) of some traditions that belong in the past, not that they ever belonged at all!

The music from Zorba the Greek has been much imitated its become a cliché of a certain part of Greek life and strips the film and the novel it is based on part of its underlying dark themes.

I was surprised that the film was based on the novel by Nikos Kazantzakis, author of The Last Temptation of Christ. Knowing that I knew in an instance that this was going to be more than some cod Greek feel good drama/comedy.

Alan Bates plays Basil, a stiff English writer of Greek origin who has come to Crete where he has inherited a mine. On the way there he meets Zorba (Anthony Quinn) who is looking for a job and Basil takes a chance on him and they sail some choppy waters.

The film is episodic filmed in startling black and white photography.

Basil with whatever money he has entrusts Zorba to get the mine working. Zorba charms the well to do but lonely old French lady, Madame Hortense (Lila Kedrova). He also charms the local monks at the nearby monastery to help get the mine working.

Basil is attracted to the ravishing wild widow (Irene Papas) someone every male in the village is also attracted to. She only has eyes for Basil but its a relationship that is imbued with tragedy as we come to understand the ways of local village life in Crete, something Zorba understand but not Basil. This also comes to the fore when Madame Hotense dies and local villagers descend like vultures to strip her house to prevent the government getting it all.

A lot of the film is about Basil trying to understand Crete life. He is a genteel man of letters, shy and rather gauche. Just watch how hesitant he is with talking to the wild widow.

Zorba on the other hand is passionate, life affirming, loyal, brave, foolhardy, hot headed and reckless. He also understands people and the underlying darkness of the villagers.

The film is a drama with tragedy, comedy, music and dance. Bates, Quinn and Irene Papas are very good but the film is actually rather light on plot and Bates reaction when the widow is attacked and the aftermath is rather perplexing. Lila Kedrova who won an Oscar is also hard to understand.

For a movie about actively cultivating a lust for life, "Zorba the Greek" is a real downer.

Anthony Quinn famously plays Zorba, a larger-than-life Greek who befriends strait-laced, uptight Alan Bates when the latter comes to claim a family home on the Greek seashore. Bates wants to reinvigorate the local mining business, but in a roundabout plot development decides he first needs timber to refurbish the mine. So he and Zorba concoct this plan to get trees down from the hillside on a sort of zip line, so that they can use them to beef up the mine, which can then be used to revitalize the mining industry. If all of this seems both impractical and needlessly complicated, it is, but don't worry, as this whole story line is treated as an aside and the whole thing fails anyway. The movie instead is much more about the two men and their interactions with local women, namely a sad French lonelyhearts played by Lila Kedrova, and a surly widow played by Irene Papas. She has good reason to be surly, as this particular Greek island is inhabited by men who want to stone her because she doesn't like any of them. That this is ultimately allowed without any of the men involved having to face justice is infuriating and puzzling, and I had to chalk it up to my own lack of understanding of the cultural context of the time and place.

The women in this film are treated miserably, and what happens to them is depressing. But even without that, this whole Greek community is depressing, populated by uneducated people who live and act not much better than animals. Zorba consciously sets out to not be like them and make a joyous life out of this not very joyous situation. But one does wonder why he sticks around at all. Alan Bates's character is infuriating for a whole different reason. He's our main protagonist, yet he's so ineffectual as a human being, just standing around gazing upon the horror he witnesses without doing a damn thing about any of it, that he's awfully hard to care about. I guess we're supposed to think he's grown as a person because at the end he's able to dance wildly with Zorba on the beach, but I didn't see much of a change in his character as Bates plays him.

I guess this was a pretty well made movie and a much meatier one than I expected it to be, but as I'm thinking back on it I'm realizing that I didn't really enjoy it that much.

Winner of three Academy Awards in the year that saw it go up against studio juggernauts "My Fair Lady" and "Mary Poppins": Best Supporting Actress (Kedrova), Best B&W Art Direction, and Best B&W Cinematography. Additionally Michael Cacoyannis was nominated for the trifecta of Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay while Anthony Quinn received his fourth career nomination, this time as Best Actor.

Grade: B

When folks think of "Zorba the Greek" they think of Anthony Quinn. Many actors get forever associated with one of their film roles but few more than Quinn in this movie. That's because the film is a good match for his acting talents and it gave him a chance to show off his stuff. And, as such the film is a great character study for him. However, while many consider it to be a classic, Quinn's performance cannot make up for weak writing--and, aside from his character, the film is quite difficult to love. First, the plot is meandering--too meandering. It strains a person's attention span since it is so slow and, at times, plot-less. Second, although Quinn's character as well as the French woman's (Lila Kedrova) were very good, the rest of the characters are pretty flat. The other Greeks seem more like window dressing than people. I am not Greek but I wonder if the film does them a disservice. Surely they are not all knife-wielding men and SHREIKING women--but in this film, apart from a few exceptions, that's all they seem to be. But the worst of them is the role given to the British man (Alan Bates), as he is almost zombie-like in the film. Sure, I understand that he was supposed to be repressed and stiff--but not to the point of rigor mortis! He had all the emotional range and intensity as Mr. Potatohead--and he SHOULD have been far more complex and interesting as a counterpart to Quinn's fun-loving Zorba.

My advice is to see the film for Quinn's bravura performance but accept that it really isn't that great a film. A classic? Hardly. But a darn good part for an actor who, up until this point in his career, was seen as a supporting actor and not a major player.

However, the movie has nothing to do with the Crete of today. There are no tourists in Mihalis Kakogiannis's adaptation of the novel with the same name, no beautiful landscape and almost no feeling of the dramatic, even stunning landscape of Crete.

In fact, the movie is about a wild, uncivilised, rural, backward Crete. Anthony Quinn is simply magnific and the film is worth watching only for his performance, which I dare to say it is one of the best I have ever seen in any movie ever. Everything is beautiful shot, the plot develops nicely, the actors and the action is vivid and convincing. The movie diverges from the book in one, perhaps essential, detail. One of the main characters, the one who comes to Crete to revive the lignite mine as a hero full of good intentions and care for the locals is not a young Greek intelectual but a British one. From the perspective of our time this is a twist that turns the movie from what could have been a commentary about modernisation, traditions and rural/urban gaps in Greece to a neo-colonial narative about a civilised Westerner wanting to and ultimately failing to modernise a backward place. The director, even if Greek himself, does not care to look closer and to understand or perhaps only to give the point of view of the locals about their traditional habits, religion, actions. The camera lens are in fact a pair of Western eyes looking at everything with curiosity, sometimes with repugnance, sometimes with patronising understanding. Women are there just for love affairs, household chores and stealing. Men are cruel, heavy drinkers, weak and lazy. Maybe they are, maybe they have always been like this. The problem is not the historical veridicity but the striking lack of interest in the local culture from a Greek director of a film ultimately about Crete.

The movie is well worth watching but not to understand or to accompany your holiday in Greece.

Zorba The Greek is one of those films totally dominated by its star. Had Anthony Quinn not already won two Oscars albeit in the Supporting Actor category he might have copped The Best Actor award for this lusty portrayal of a middle aged Greek who just takes life as it comes. This film is what is meant by the expression star vehicle.

Having said that I do have to wonder why half English, half Greek Alan Bates didn't just pack up and leave Crete after what he had been through? Bates who has lived in the United Kingdom all his life and is the quintessential Englishman, a bit on the shy side who falls in with the older Quinn. Part of his inheritance is a lignite mine which Bates would like to see activated again. You would hope he would have hired a geologist to see if it was worth the effort.

Bates is completely enthralled with Quinn who just lives from day to day. Quinn builds him a Rube Goldberg like contraption to bring shoring timber from a mountain top forest for the mine. That ends very chaotically.

Both get involved with women and it ends rather badly for both. In fact the manner of death for both Irene Papas and Lila Kedrova would have sent this one if he were Bates's place scurrying back to London. But as the British were wont to say back then, Bates has gone native.

Managing to get a few innings in herself in the face of the domineering Quinn is French actress Lila Kedrova who plays an aged Frenchwoman who was set up real nice in a hotel that a former paramour and she had. Kedrova got an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress and she does well for herself.

I have to say I liked the film, didn't really like the people it portrayed. They do have a hard life, but there are some things there are not any excuse for.