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| Zorba the Greek | |
|---|---|
| Original film poster | |
| Directed by | Michael Cacoyannis |
| Screenplay by | Michael Cacoyannis |
| Based on | Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis |
| Produced by | Michael Cacoyannis |
| Starring | Anthony QuinnAlan BatesIrene PapasLila KedrovaSotiris MoustakasAnna Kyriakou |
| Cinematography | Walter Lassally |
| Edited by | Michael Cacoyannis |
| Music by | Mikis Theodorakis |
| Distributed by | Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation |
| Release date | 14 December 1964 (Greece)16 December 1964 (United States) |
| Running time | 142 minutes |
| Countries | GreeceUnited States |
| Languages | EnglishGreek |
| Budget | $783,000 |
| Box office | $23.5 million |
Zorba the Greek (Greek: Αλέξης Ζορμπάς, Alexis Zorbas) is a 1964 Greek comedy-drama movie written, produced, edited, and directed by Greek Cypriot Michael Cacoyannis and featuring Anthony Quinn as the titular character. Based on the 1946 novel The Life And Times Of Alexis Zorba by Nikos Kazantzakis, the movie’s cast includes Alan Bates, Lila Kedrova, Irene Papas, and Sotiris Moustakas.
Igor Moiseyev Ballet. Suite Greek dance «Sirtaki»
Zorba The Greek Dance
Zorba the Greek Trailer
Production
Simone Signoret began filming the role of Madame Hortense; Lila Kedrova replaced her early in the production.
The film was shot in black and white on location on the Greek island of Crete. Specific locations featured include the city of Chania, the village of Kokkino Chorio in the Apokoronas region and Stavros beach in the Akrotiri peninsula. The scene in which Quinn’s character dances the Sirtaki was filmed on the beach of the village of Stavros.
Reception
Box office
The film was a smash hit. Produced on a budget of only $783,000, it grossed $9 million at the U.S. box office, earning $4.4 million in U.S. theatrical rentals. At the worldwide box office, the film earned $9.4 million in rentals, placing the worldwide gross between $18.8 million to $23.5 million. It was the 17th highest-grossing film of 1964.
According to Fox records, the film needed to earn $3,000,000 in rentals to break even and made $9,400,000. By September 1970 it earned the studio an estimated profit of $2,565,000.
“Zorba the Greek” ShakallisDance2019/Just Dance
Critical
Contemporary reviews were generally positive, with Anthony Quinn and Lila Kedrova receiving numerous accolades for their performances, although a few critics found fault with the screenplay. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times lauded Quinn for a “brilliant performance” and Kedrova for her “brilliantly realized” character, citing the only real weakness of the film as a lack of “significant conflict to prove its dominant character. Zorba is powerful and provocative, but nobody gets in his way.” Margaret Harford of the Los Angeles Times declared that the film would “stand among the year’s best motion pictures, an unusual, engrossing effort” with spots both “outrageously funny” and “painfully sad and tragic.”
Richard L. Coe of The Washington Post deemed it “a memorable picture” with a “bravura performance” from Quinn, adding that “Lila Kedrova as the dying Mme Hortense is spectacularly touching.” Variety found the film excessively long and overstuffed, writing that Cacoyannis’s screenplay was “packed with incidents of varying moods, so packed, in fact, that some of the more important ones cannot be developed fully.” Brendan Gill of The New Yorker wrote that Cacoyannis had directed the film with “enormous verve” but had written a “not very tidy, not very plausible screenplay.” Gill particularly praised Kedrova’s performance and thought that she “comes within an ace of stealing the picture from Quinn.” The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote that the film began well, but by the time the characters went to Crete “the pace slows to a crawl, and the narrative line becomes blurred in a series of unrelated incidents of doubtful significance.” The review concluded that for all its length, “the film never gets down to a clear statement of its theme, or comes within measuring distance of its vast pretensions.”
The film won three Academy Awards.
| Award. | Result | Winner |
|---|---|---|
| Best Picture | Nominated | Mihalis Kakogiannis Winner was Jack L. Warner – My Fair Lady |
| Best Director | Nominated | Mihalis Kakogiannis Winner was George Cukor – My Fair Lady |
| Best Actor | Nominated | Anthony Quinn Winner was Rex Harrison – My Fair Lady |
| Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium | Nominated | Mihalis Kakogiannis Winner was Edward Anhalt – Becket |
| Best Supporting Actress | Won | Lila Kedrova |
| Best Art Direction (Black-and-White) | Won | Vassilis Photopoulos |
| Best Cinematography (Black-and-White) | Won | Walter Lassally |
The film has an 86% rating at Rotten Tomatoes. On both sides of the Atlantic, Zorba was applauded and Quinn came in for the best reviews. He was lauded as Zorba, along with the other stars, including Greek-born Papas, who worked with Quinn on The Guns of Navarone.
Also, the film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:
- 2006: AFI’s 100 Years…100 Cheers – Nominated
Preservation
The Academy Film Archive preserved Zorba the Greek in 2004.
Zorba the Greek
Andre Rieu – Zorba’s Dance
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