Zorba the Greek (1964)

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

The acting in this movie is really good.

In Zorba the Greek, it's the same old adage of foreigners who are uncouth, sloppy, dumb, violent, and ruled by lust. It's the familiar case of young, uptight person learning how to really live by an earthy, coarse mentor. Except it isn't. No matter how many times we've heard this story before, when we watch Zorba the Greek, somehow it's different.Alan Bates serves as the young, uptight person who doesn't really know how to live, and since he's so young and handsome, the audience has no problem putting themselves in his place-that's really the point in these types of stories, for the audience to learn the mentor's lessons, not the character. He goes to Greece and is somewhat enchanted, somewhat repelled by the different culture. There's a healthy amount of stereotypes present in the film that might come across as offensive, but somehow the black-and-white quaint, archaic quality of the movie unites all the elements and makes us think it's just a slice of the past, rather than a regular "foreign people are slobs" movie.Zorba is Anthony Quinn's most famous role, the tour-de-force everyone references and tries to emulate, even if they don't really know who Anthony Quinn is. The warmth, wisdom, freedom, love, acceptance, and of course, the dance, are all classic Anthony Quinn traits, and therefore Zorba traits. The Academy, in its infinite wisdom, awarded Tony Oscars for roles he never should have even been nominated for, and when he gave a tour-de-force performance, he was snubbed. Zorba the Greek was the only time he was nominated for Best Actor, but it's my sneaking suspicion that The Academy used Tony as their "token ethnic winner". They gave him two awards for supporting roles, letting him know his "place", and refused to give him an award for a leading role. Zorba the Greek is the type of movie you watch and say, "Of course he won the Oscar for this!" and in fact, some people think he did win for it. Beaten out by possibly the least deserving Oscar-winning performance of all time, Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady, Anthony Quinn's quintessential performance is a favorite among fans and even non-fans. It's just impossible not to like him when you watch this movie. He's so full of love, life, and love of life.This highly successful film was nominated for seven Academy Awards and took home three, although for the life of me, I can't understand why Lila Kedrova was even nominated, let alone won. Ironically, the incredibly famous music, by Mikis Theodorakis, that's spoofed and repeated as often as the "Zorba dance" was not nominated for an Oscar. If you've never seen this classic, rent it this weekend. Pick out a nice bottle of wine and put together a little picnic of cheeses, meats, bread, and of course, olives. The movie was filmed on location, and you'll feel like you're really there!

The music from Zorba the Greek has been much imitated its become a cliché of a certain part of Greek life and strips the film and the novel it is based on part of its underlying dark themes.I was surprised that the film was based on the novel by Nikos Kazantzakis, author of The Last Temptation of Christ. Knowing that I knew in an instance that this was going to be more than some cod Greek feel good drama/comedy.Alan Bates plays Basil, a stiff English writer of Greek origin who has come to Crete where he has inherited a mine. On the way there he meets Zorba (Anthony Quinn) who is looking for a job and Basil takes a chance on him and they sail some choppy waters.The film is episodic filmed in startling black and white photography.Basil with whatever money he has entrusts Zorba to get the mine working. Zorba charms the well to do but lonely old French lady, Madame Hortense (Lila Kedrova). He also charms the local monks at the nearby monastery to help get the mine working. Basil is attracted to the ravishing wild widow (Irene Papas) someone every male in the village is also attracted to. She only has eyes for Basil but its a relationship that is imbued with tragedy as we come to understand the ways of local village life in Crete, something Zorba understand but not Basil. This also comes to the fore when Madame Hotense dies and local villagers descend like vultures to strip her house to prevent the government getting it all.A lot of the film is about Basil trying to understand Crete life. He is a genteel man of letters, shy and rather gauche. Just watch how hesitant he is with talking to the wild widow.Zorba on the other hand is passionate, life affirming, loyal, brave, foolhardy, hot headed and reckless. He also understands people and the underlying darkness of the villagers.The film is a drama with tragedy, comedy, music and dance. Bates, Quinn and Irene Papas are very good but the film is actually rather light on plot and Bates reaction when the widow is attacked and the aftermath is rather perplexing. Lila Kedrova who won an Oscar is also hard to understand.

Anthony Quinn's title character is a force of nature, and the rest of the people in the movie are tossed and buffeted helplessly by his whims. The writer played by Alan Bates is stunned into almost catatonic inaction by the strange, harsh society he encounters on Crete. Why he comes, and why he stays despite unnerving and sometimes horrific experiences, are questions that the movie raises but cannot answer. The pervasive unpleasantness of the place dims even Zorba's spirit until his only option is to embrace his powerlessness over his surroundings. Irene Papas, who had shown great chemistry with Quinn in "The Guns of Navarone" (1961) is tragically underutilized here.

When folks think of "Zorba the Greek" they think of Anthony Quinn. Many actors get forever associated with one of their film roles but few more than Quinn in this movie. That's because the film is a good match for his acting talents and it gave him a chance to show off his stuff. And, as such the film is a great character study for him. However, while many consider it to be a classic, Quinn's performance cannot make up for weak writing--and, aside from his character, the film is quite difficult to love. First, the plot is meandering--too meandering. It strains a person's attention span since it is so slow and, at times, plot-less. Second, although Quinn's character as well as the French woman's (Lila Kedrova) were very good, the rest of the characters are pretty flat. The other Greeks seem more like window dressing than people. I am not Greek but I wonder if the film does them a disservice. Surely they are not all knife-wielding men and SHREIKING women--but in this film, apart from a few exceptions, that's all they seem to be. But the worst of them is the role given to the British man (Alan Bates), as he is almost zombie-like in the film. Sure, I understand that he was supposed to be repressed and stiff--but not to the point of rigor mortis! He had all the emotional range and intensity as Mr. Potatohead--and he SHOULD have been far more complex and interesting as a counterpart to Quinn's fun-loving Zorba.My advice is to see the film for Quinn's bravura performance but accept that it really isn't that great a film. A classic? Hardly. But a darn good part for an actor who, up until this point in his career, was seen as a supporting actor and not a major player.