Review of Zorba the Greek (1964) by Chris G — 16 Dec 2010

This movie looked so incredibly boring, that it took me an entire year to work up the nerve to watch it. Maybe more maybe less. I almost didn't. Especially because it is almost 2 1/2 hours long. I have to watch this because of my Oscar list. If I didn't have that I would never ever bother.

Acting/Characters: Anthony Quinn as Zorba is the only reason to even watch this movie. He did an absolutely fantastic job. Were it not for Peter sellers in Dr. Strangelove, I would be perfectly alright with giving Best Actor to him (I to this day am still trying to find out why on earth they gave it to Rex Harrison that year). But he is the only remotely interesting character in the film. I just didn't care about anyone else. I was never really given any reason to to be honest. There was one other character who was interesting to watch and that was the town idiot. There was actually a character whom annoyed me to the point where I didn't care about her fate (Incidentally it was an Oscar winning performance). Maybe that was the point if so, bravo. I only really cared about Zorba. He was a lot of fun to watch. 5/10.

Plot: Like the rest of the movie, I just didn't care. I felt like I should care but I didn't. I know that this is an Oscar winning film and that it is culturally important but yeah. Meh. The plot did get really interesting at the end though which I liked a lot. It was kinda too little too late though. But the film didn't need to be nearly as long as it was. And it was almost much longer too. It was kinda too little too late though. 5/10.

Screenplay: This was the best part I will say. Zorba had a lot of excellent lines. He was always really interesting to watch and what he would say was always very interesting too. But I don't think that this fully redeemed the film but I dunno. I still liked it. 8/10.

Likableness: When Zorba was onscreen it was great. he was a lot of fun to watch. When he wasn't I just didn't care. Maybe I'm being way too hard on this film. I probably am. But I just didn't care. I dunno. Sorry if this is incoherent, a 2:00 AM review isn't the best. 6/10.

Final Score: 24/40 60% (M).

TRIVIA TIME: 1. 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 Mihalis Kakogiannisasked Anthony Quinn what the dance was, and Anthony Quinn made up a name and claimed it was traditional.

2. 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.

3. The project was turned down by every major studio in town.

4. In the earlier stages of filming, Mihalis Kakogiannis and Anthony Quinn had frequent disagreements as the director felt that his leading actor was being too over-the-top.

5. The original cut was over 3 hours long.

6. Lila Kedrova learned English specially for the film.

7. Such was the interest in an adaptation of Nikos Kazantzakis's hugely popular novel, the film was already in the black before it opened.