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Rating:  -
This is an excellent movie, but could have been even better. And as a previous reviewer noted, it would have made a great mini-series. Even at 3 ½ hours the plot is very compressed. What took years to happen in real life seems like only months in the movie. I found myself looking up events on the Internet in order to keep track with what year it was in the movie. Some of the plot seems far fetched at first: Subjecting children to a hunger strike for example. And the prison break scene is right out of "Robin Hood." I was amazed, therefore, to learn these events really happened. The acting is wooden in places, but nevertheless you grow to care about the characters. The scenery and music are magnificent. The ending is a disappointment though. (Here comes a spoiler.) We never get to see the actual birth of Israel in May 1948. Instead the movie ends shortly before that with Paul Newman's character giving an idealistic speech about Arabs and Jews living in peace. The viewer is cheated out of seeing how Newman's character reconciles his idealism with the reality of the War for Independence. The movie is also quite poignant. It was made in 1960, and all the extras we see dancing around the kibbutz were real Israelis. It's sad to think that all those children and happy young people grew up to experience no end to war. Another irony is that Jewish terrorists play a prominent role in the film using bombs in an attempt to drive the British out of Palestine.
Rating: -
It gets harder and harder to watch this movie, especially the young Paul Newman's final screed on the death of Karen (relax, Butch! Jill Haworth's only pretending to the dead!). As a document of the transition from Gandhi's hunger strike, intended to embarass the British into behaving decently, to the Irgun's ruthless bombing of the King David Hotel, intended to bloody the British into leaving Israel alone and unprotected in the exact middle of her traditional blood enemies (Arabs? what Arabs?), it's informative. The movie barely scratches the surface of hatreds that have festered in the Middle East for millenia, and the glossy Hollywood overcoat has peeled away from the history over the years, but as a faithful reflection of a naivete we Americans will have to overcome to have any hope of surviving nuclear armageddon on Ariel Sharon's cattle ranch, it's pretty good. In today's hip-hop world, Sal Mineo's deep dark secret that he was raped by Nazis in Dachau seems laughable -- these days, you can hear that kind of gangsta rap from the Toyota next to you at a red light. As a call to menschlichkeit in a harsh world, 4 stars.
Rating:  -
Love this movie BUT the transfer was so pathetic that I returned it to the vendor. This DVD is absolutely the WORST transfer I have ever seen. MGM goofed on this classic.
Rating:  -
I saw this movie when I was 13 and thought is was good. Times and relations were different with Israel then. Today the movie still has such relevance even though our relation with Israel is quite different. It is a classic and one of the best from this era.
Rating:  -
"Exodus" is a film not easily forgotten. It transcends the words "amazing" and "awesome". That said, you are probably wondering why i gave it only 3 stars, right?
First, let me say that the only reason i became interested in this film was because I absolutely LOOOOOVE the theme song by Ernest Gold (and the even more awesome Ferrante and Teicher version); and I wanted to see the film from which it came. So, when my dad turned on MoviePlex the other day and it came on, I dropped what I was doing and joined him. Boy, was I surprised!!!
"Exodus" had that "wow"-factor I love so well and certainly lives up to the mighty music it is known for. But it did have its drawbacks.
1) Paul Newman and Eva Marie Saint are NOT, I repeat, NOT a good couple OK! Sure Eva Marie is a great actress (I love her in "On the Waterfront") and Newman is supposedly (though he didn't show it in this film) really great too; but together as a couple? I'm just not seeing it.
2) What was up with the acting in this movie? Wooden and over the top seemed to be the name of the game here. The younger actors and supporting characters were a whole lot better than the leads if you ask me! I sure liked the character of Karen better than Kitty, but though the performance of Paul Newman left something to be desired, I stll liked Ari over Dov. So what if Sal Mineo got an Oscar nomination for his efforts? He's still pathetic. i wish he had died instead of Karen!
3) This movie is soooo dang LONG! 3 and a half hours is a long time for a teenager like me to sit in one place and watch a film, even a great one like "Exodus". They could have shortened some of the scenes a little in the editing room, or better yet, turned it into a mini-series. Of course, if it had been presented in that format, it would never have become so famous or recieved its Best Music Oscar. So maybe it is ok as it is!
All and all, "Exodus" is a grand spectacle that is not to be missed, no matter what Your genre preference is (mine just happens to be Science Fiction and Action-Adventure). And yes, you can laugh at Paul Newman's final speech; it is corny (and just for kicks, watch Eva Marie behind him: doesn't she look like she forgot she was still in the movie?).
Just two questions: why isn't this movie in the revised version of "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" and what was its placement on the AFI list of best movies? I'd really like to know!
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