Zorba

Zorba the Greek (originally titled Alexis Zorbas) is a 1964 film based on the novel Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis. The film was directed by Michael Cacoyannis and the title character was played by Anthony Quinn. The supporting cast included Alan Bates as a visiting Englishman. The theme, "Sirtaki" by Mikis Theodorakis, has become famous and popular as a song and as a dance (especially at parties). Several of the film's songs & instrumental pieces, with wise, poetic sayings from Zorba, gained cult status for the recorded & widely-released soundtrack.

The movie was shot on location on the Greek island of Crete. Specific places featured include the town of Chania, the Apokoronas region and the Akrotiri peninsula. The famous scene, in which Quinn's character dances the Sirtaki, was shot on the beach of the village of Stavros.

The movie won three Academy Awards. Lila Kedrova won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, Vassilis Fotopoulos won the Oscar for Best Art Direction in black-and-white set decoration, and Walter Lassally won the Oscar for Best Cinematography in black-and-white. Lassally's Oscar is shown in Tavern Christiana in Stavros.

Quinn received the nomination for best actor in a leading role and Michael Cacoyannis received three nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Writing, and Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.

Actor Sotiris Moustakas was almost nominated for Best Supporting Actor but was rejected due to his limited screen time. In Greece the actor is praised for his performance as the town fool.

Plot
Basil (Alan Bates), a young English writer, meets a free-spirited Greek peasant named Zorba (Anthony Quinn) while waiting to travel to the island of Crete. While Zorba pursues a relationship with aging French courtesan Madame Hortense (Lila Kedrova, who won an Oscar for her role), Basil attempts to court a young widow. Along the way, he learns valuable life lessons from the earthy Zorba, who has an unquenchable joie de vivre.

Quotes

Alexis Zorba: If a woman sleeps alone, it puts a shame on all men.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alexis Zorba: Damn it boss, I like you too much not to say it. You've got everthing except one thing: madness! A man needs a little madness, or else...
Basil: Or else?
Alexis Zorba: ...he never dares cut the rope and be free.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alexis Zorba: What kind of man are you, don't you even like dolphins?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Madame Hortense: I too fought breasts to breasts.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Basil: I don't want any trouble.
Alexis Zorba: Life is trouble. Only death is not. To be alive is to undo your belt and *look* for trouble.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alexis Zorba: How can I not love them? Poor weak creatures... and they take so little, a man's hand on their breast, and they give you all they got.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alexis Zorba: Those damn cats!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alexis Zorba: Silly old bitch. She's not alone, she's with Suleiman Pasha having a hell of a time.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alexis Zorba: On a deaf man's door, you can knock forever!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alexis Zorba: No more fooling around, not in this place. We'll pull our pants up and make a pile of money.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Basil: I... couldn't help.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alexis Zorba: Why do the young die? Why does anybody die?
Basil: I don't know.
Alexis Zorba: What's the use of all your damn books if they can't answer that?
Basil: They tell me about the agony of men who can't answer questions like yours.
Alexis Zorba: I spit on this agony!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alexis Zorba: All right, we go outside where God can see us better.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alexis Zorba: There will be no funeral. She was a Frank, she crossed herself with four fingers. The priest will not bury her like everybody else.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alexis Zorba: The lamb, it will burn!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alexis Zorba: Hey boss, did you ever see a more splendiferous crash?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alexis Zorba: God has a very big heart but there is one sin he will not forgive
[slaps table]
Alexis Zorba: if a woman calls a man to her bed and he will not go. I know because a very wise old Turk told me.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alexis Zorba: Am I not a man? And is a man not stupid? I'm a man, so I married. Wife, children, house, everything. The full catastrophe.

After seeing this film in 1964, I memorized all these quotes, and will still recite them at the drop of a scarf or olive. It was then I decided to be an actor; a decision I learned to both rue and covet.

Trivia

'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. Director 'Michael Cacoyannis' asked 'Anthony Quinn' what the dance was, and 'Anthony Quinn' made up a name and claimed it was traditional.


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


Simone Signoret was the original choice for Madame Hortense. After filming began, director 'Michael Cacoyannis' realized that she wasn't what he wanted for the part and asked permission from Darryl F. Zanuck to replace her. He agreed and he proposed Bette Davis. 'Michael Cacoyannis' though had Lila Kedrova in mind. Darryl F. Zanuck had no idea who Lila Kedrova was, or how she even looked, but he trusted 'Michael Cacoyannis' very much, so he agreed.

Amazon.com
If you think Zorba the Greek is a simple-minded homage to a man with a zest for life, then you haven't seen the movie. Basil (Alan Bates), a reticent British writer, comes to the Mediterranean island of Crete to revive a mine his father owned. On the way, he meets a Greek roustabout named Zorba (Anthony Quinn) and hires him to help, little suspecting that Zorba's exuberance will lead him to some dark and troubling places--frankly, if the last 30 minutes of Zorba the Greek are what it means to embrace life, some viewers will want to shut the door in life's face. But there's no denying the movie's ambitious scope and implacable force, even as it paints an alien and disturbing portrait of life in a Greek village. On top of that, gorgeous cinematography and one of the greatest film scores ever give this movie almost demonic energy. --Bret Fetzer

Zorba the Greek (1964)
If you can handle this stretch, Zorba the Greek is kind of like Harold and Maude. Not only in story—a lovable iconoclast leads a pent-up bookish person towards personal freedom—but in classic consideration. Sure, Zorba was nominated for (and won) multiple Academy Awards, while Harold and Maude was deemed too bizarre on release and became a cult classic, but the two movies bear the distinction of going the test of time with viewers and critics, or (maybe) not. In short, there are those who LOVE Zorba the Greek and Harold and Maude (this critic) and there are those who sit with their curmudgeon arms crossed and PRETEND not to love Zorba the Greek and Harold and Maude. Yes, pretend. Two of the most moving moments in the history of cinema (next to Harry Lime's entrance in The Third Man) are watching Bud Cort play his banjo at the end of Harold and Maude and Anthony Quinn teaching Alan Bates to dance at the end of Zorba. If goose pimples were raves, that scene alone gives Zorba about ten thousand stars.
And, dear God, the whole movie is an inspirational feast, though it moves through that territory with much more darkness and confusion than the naysayer would give it credit. Critics have hurled the word "simplicity" at the story and accused Quinn of hammy acting (one even called it "||Auntie Mame|m|3411|| in Greek Drag," which, if you ask this writer, isn't really a criticism) and as being too drunk on ouzo to make any deep points. What? The world would be a better place if more listened to the tenets of Zorba—a man who can allow "the full catastrophe" (marriage and kids), along with a myriad of other crises, not to break his spirit. In fact, nothing can break his spirit—not even uptight movie critics.

Directed by Michael Cacoyannis and adapted from Nikos Kazantzakis' beautiful novel of the same name (he also wrote "The Last Temptation of Christ"), the 1964 film stars an extraordinary Quinn as Alexis Zorba—a larger-than-life, rambling man who's a Greek second and a force of nature first. He lives his life with his own kind of reflection and, though certainly not stupid, chooses not to "think too much." When he meets Basil (Bates), a timid, prim English writer of Greek origin, while waiting for the late boat to Crete, the two strike up an unusual friendship. And, against what he believes to be his better judgment, Basil hires Zorba as his cook and eventual worker in the mine he has inherited in Crete.

Once on Crete, they at first stay with Madame Hortense (a potentially annoying but ultimately moving Lila Kedrova), an ex-prostitute and "actress" whose beauty has faded but who chooses to live in hazy Blanche DuBois-type denial. Her stories of her wild past delight Zorba, but once Basil witnesses the seduction between the Madame and Zorba, he is uncomfortable. Zorba, a big heart, knows this woman's life is about attention, and why should he not comply? As he later berates Basil about the "greatest sin"—that is, "When a woman calls a man to her bed and he will NOT go!" Basil begins to understand: He NEEDS to loosen up. Especially when it comes to the most beautiful widow in Crete (the staggeringly gorgeous and intense Irene Papas), a woman Basil yearns for but is too scared to court. The outcome of this is one of the film's ugliest and most disturbing scenes, a tribal moment that separates the Greek Zorba (who, like his boss Basil, is not steeped in tradition—it's one thing they DO have in common) from the ugly masses. Basil is beside himself, and Zorba rages about all the learnings from Basil's books. "What the hell do they tell you?" says Zorba. And Basil answers, "They tell me the torment of men who can't answer questions the way you can." Yes, Zorba the Greek in a nutshell.

But things continue to snowball—Madame Hortense dies (the widows raid her home), and Zorba creates a grand contraption, his rather good plan for moving lumber into the old mine, and the film appears to be hinging on tragedy. But though a life of pain, calamity, and heartbreak lives in Zorba, he won't allow it to drag him down, leading to the film's awe-inspiring ending, which should teach anyone who's complaining about how awful THEIR life is to, quite simply, cool it.

Quinn is superb—all big gestures, booming voice, and carnal mischievousness. This man's thirst for adventure works as an archetype next to the man most viewers REALLY relate to—Alan Bates, whose subtle, gentle performance is just as powerful. But the point of the movie is to find a little Zorba in you (it's there) and let out the "madness." The madness Zorba describes as the only way we know we are free.

Splendidly shot in an artistically rough black and white, with iconic music by Mikis Theodorakis, Zorba the Greek is an inspirational story about finding your own personal freedom, even if the world tells you different.

And, being the classic that it is, it's quite surprising that the film has only now been given the DVD release treatment. Lovingly transferred in widescreen anamorphic (1:85:1), the picture is crisp and detailed, looking as clean and new as the print re-released to the big screen a few years back. The important audio track comes in the choices of English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, Dolby Digital 1.0), Spanish (Dolby Digital 1.0), or French (Dolby Digital 1.0). The music never sounded better.

The extras on this DVD are a treat. First off, we get a wonderful commentary track by director Cacoyannis and Demetrius Liappas. It's rare to get a director audio track on a film this legendary (though it WAS made in the '60s), and Cacoyannis fills the time with stories about the film's inception, how he came to the actors, his initial worries about Quinn's performance (he thought it too "big" and had to tone him down at times, but halfway through shooting realized it was becoming something special), and shooting on Crete.

Also on board is the film's alternate introduction, in which Quinn is God with Zorba's voiceover, playing the type of higher power he believes in (one is sent to hell); Movietone news footage of the film's shoot and premiere in Paris; "Behind the Scenes Stills Gallery"; Theatrical trailers; and the terrific A&E Biography "Anthony Quinn: A Lust For Life." This near hour-long documentary tells Quinn's intriguing life story, from his beginnings as a dirt-poor Mexican immigrant living in the LA barrio to his marriage to Cecil B. Demille's daughter to his many affairs, new marriages, and loads (loads!) of children and, most importantly, to his fascinating and varied career. From LA to New York (where he trained alongside Brando and later played his brother in Viva Zapata) to Europe (where he met Federico Fellini and starred in one of his greatest picture's, La Strada) and back around again, Quinn never stopped. He was also a talented artist. It's a wonderful portrait of the man, though you wish it were longer and more detailed.

Like Quinn's life, Zorba the Greek is textured, controversial, beautiful, ugly, and inspirational. Again, unless you keep your arms tightly crossed, it's tough not to be moved by this timeless film. As Cat Stevens sings in Harold and Maude, "If you want to sing out, sing out; if you want to be free, be free…" Zorba would second that sentiment.

— KIM MORGAN Reel.com