Exodus (film)

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Exodus
Original film poster
Directed by	Otto Preminger
Produced by	Otto Preminger
Written by	Dalton Trumbo Leon Uris (novel)
Starring	Paul Newman Eva Marie Saint Ralph Richardson
Music by	Ernest Gold
Cinematography	Sam Leavitt
Editing by	Louis R. Loeffler
Distributed by	United Artists MGM (DVD)
Release date(s)	15 December, 1960
Running time	208 min
Country	U.S.A.
Language	English
IMDb profile

Exodus is a 1960 epic war film made by Alpha and Carlyle Productions and distributed by United Artists. It was produced and directed by Otto Preminger from a screenplay by Dalton Trumbo from the novel, Exodus, by Leon Uris. The Super Panavision 70 cinematography was by Sam Leavitt.

The film stars Paul Newman, Eva Marie Saint, Ralph Richardson, Peter Lawford, Lee J. Cobb, Sal Mineo, John Derek, Hugh Griffith, Gregory Ratoff, Felix Aylmer, David Opatoshu, Jill Haworth, Marius Goring, Victor Maddern and George Maharis

Contents 1 Story 2 Cast 3 Awards and nominations 3.1 Academy Awards 3.2 Golden Globe 3.3 Grammy Award 4 See also 5 External links

[edit] Story

The film depicts events associated with the founding of the State of Israel in 1947.

Nurse Katherine (Kitty) Fremont (Eva Marie Saint) is an American volunteer nurse at the Karaolas detention camp in Cyprus where thousands of Jews, Holocaust survivors, are being held, as they have no homeland to return to. They sit in anticipation of the day they will be liberated. Ari Ben Canaan (Paul Newman), a Haganah rebel with a cargo ship, is able to smuggle 611 Jewish inmates out of the camp for an illegal voyage to Palestine before being found out by military authorities. The refugees stage a hunger strike and the British relent and allow the Exodus safe passage.

Meanwhile, Kitty has grown very fond of Karen Hansen (Jill Haworth), a young Danish Jewish girl searching for her father, from whom she was separated during the war. She has taken up the Zionist cause, much to the chagrin of Kitty, who had hoped to take young Karen to America in the hope of starting a new life.

Meanwhile, opposition to the partition of Palestine into Arab and Jewish states is heating up, and Karen's young beau Dov Landau (Sal Mineo) joins the Irgun, a radical Jewish underground network, led by Ari Ben Canaan's uncle Akiva (David Opatoshu). Because of his activities, Akiva has been disowned by Ari's father, Barak, who heads the mainstream Jewish Agency trying to create a Jewish state through political and diplomatic means, and who fears the Irgun will hurt his efforts, especially since the British have a price on Akiva's head. When their bombing of the King David Hotel leads to dozens of fatalities, Akiva is arrested and sentenced to hang. Meanwhile, Karen's father has been found, but he is suffering from deep melancholia and does not recognize her. Karen has gone to live at Gan Dafna, the Jewish kibbutz at which Ari was raised.

Kitty and Ari have fallen in love. But Uncle Akiva's imprisonment is an obstacle and Ari must devise a plan to free the prisoners.

Dov Landau, who managed to evade the arresting soldiers turns himself in so that he can use his knowledge of explosives to rig the Acre prison and plan an escape route. All goes according to plan; hundreds of prisoners, including Akiva, manage to escape. But Akiva is fatally shot by British soldiers while evading a roadblock in search of the escaped prisoners. Ari, who was driving, is badly wounded. He makes his way to Abu Yesha, an Arab village where his friend, Taha, is the mukhtar. Kitty is brought there and treats his wound.

A liberated Israel is now in plain view, but Arab radicals plot to attack Gan Dafna and kill its villagers. Ari receives prior warning of this attack from Taha, and manages to get the group out in a mass overnight escape. Karen, ecstatic over the hopes of a new nation, proclaims her love for Dov, and Dov reciprocates. They while away the night-time hours thinking of the long and happy life together that lies ahead of them. But as Dov sleeps, a wandering Arab radical assaults Karen, and in the morning, Dov's patrol find her lifeless body together with that of one of their loyal compatriots.

At the Jewish burial ceremony, Ari swears on their bodies that someday, Jews and Arabs will live together and share the land in peace.

The movie was shot entirely on location in Cyprus and Israel.

[edit] Cast

• Paul Newman - Ari Ben Canaan
• Eva Marie Saint - Kitty Fremont
• Ralph Richardson - Gen. Sutherland
• Peter Lawford - Maj. Caldwell
• Lee J. Cobb - Barak Ben Canaan
• Sal Mineo - Dov Landau
• John Derek - Taha
• Hugh Griffith - Mandria
• Gregory Ratoff - Lakavitch
• Felix Aylmer - Dr. Lieberman
• David Opatoshu - Akiva Ben-Canaan
• Jill Haworth - Karen
• Marius Goring - Von Storch
• Michael Wager - David
• Victor Maddern - Sergeant
• George Maharis - Yaov

[edit] Awards and nominations

[edit] Academy Awards

• The music score, written by Ernest Gold won the Academy Award for Best Original Score at the 1960 Oscars. The main theme from the film has been widely remixed and covered by many artists (such as piano player Anthony Burger for the Homecoming titled "I Do Believe"), remixed by techno-crossover pianist Maksim, even being used as the sample for the T.I. song Bankhead, and the original version was used as theme song for professional wrestler "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig. Another profesional wrestler, Bill Goldberg, used a version of the main theme as his entrance music while in WCW as a nod to his Jewish heritage. Furthermore, Howard Stern tends to use it for comedic effect when discussing aspects of Jewish life.
• The film was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor (Sal Mineo) and for Best Cinematography (Sam Leavitt)

[edit] Golden Globe

• Sal Mineo won the Best Supporting Actor Award

[edit] Grammy Award

• Ernest Gold won Best Soundtrack Album and Song of the Year at the Grammy Awards of 1961 for the soundtrack and theme to Exodus respectively.

[edit] See also

• Exodus (ship)
• List of Holocaust films

[edit] External links

• Exodus at the Internet Movie Database