Exodus (1960 film)

Exodus
Theatrical release film poster by Saul Bass
Directed by	Otto Preminger
Produced by	Otto Preminger
Written by	Dalton Trumbo
Based on	Exodus by Leon Uris
Starring	Paul Newman Eva Marie Saint Ralph Richardson Sal Mineo Jill Haworth Lee J. Cobb John Derek
Music by	Ernest Gold
Cinematography	Sam Leavitt, ASC
Editing by	Louis R. Loeffler
Distributed by	United Artists MGM (DVD)
Release date(s)	December 15, 1960 (1960-12-15)
Running time	208 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Exodus is a 1960 epic war film made by Alpha and Carlyle Productions and distributed by United Artists. Produced and directed by Otto Preminger, the film was based on the 1958 novel Exodus, by Leon Uris. The screenplay was written by Dalton Trumbo, which represented the breaking of the Hollywood Blacklist. The film features an ensemble cast, and its celebrated soundtrack music was written by Ernest Gold.

Widely characterized as a "Zionist epic", the film has been identified by many commentators as having been enormously influential in stimulating Zionism and support for Israel in the United States. Although the Preminger film softened the anti-British and anti-Arab sentiment of the novel, the film remains controversial for its depiction of the Arab-Israeli conflict, and for what some scholars perceive to be its lasting impact on American conceptions (or misconceptions) of regional turmoil.

Because of early 1960's censorship, the film also eliminated several sex scenes found in the novel.

Plot summary

The film is based on the events that happened on the ship Exodus in 1947 as well as events dealing with the founding of the state of Israel in 1948.

Nurse Katherine "Kitty" Fremont (Eva Marie Saint) is an American volunteer at the Karaolos Internment camp on Cyprus, where thousands of Jews - Holocaust survivors - are being held, as the British won't let them go to Palestine. They anxiously wait the day they will be liberated. Ari Ben Canaan (Paul Newman), a Haganah rebel who previously was a captain in the Jewish Brigade of the British Army in World War II, obtains a cargo ship and is able to smuggle 611 Jewish inmates out of the camp for an illegal voyage to Mandate Palestine before being discovered by military authorities. When the British find out that the refugees are in a ship in the harbor of Famagusta, they blockade the harbor. The refugees stage a hunger strike, during which the camp's doctor dies, and Ari threatens to blow up the ship and the refugees. 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 so that she can begin a new life there.

During this time, opposition to the partition of Palestine into Arab and Jewish states is heating up, and Karen's young beau Dov Landau (Sal Mineo) proclaims his desire to join the Irgun, a radical Zionist underground network. Dov goes to an Irgun address, only to get caught in a police trap. After he is freed, he is contacted by members of the Irgun and is interviewed by Ari Ben Canaan's uncle Akiva (David Opatoshu). Before swearing Dov in, Akiva forces the boy to confess that he was a Sonderkommando in Auschwitz and that he was raped by Nazis. Because of his activities, Akiva has been disowned by Ari's father, Barak (Lee J. Cobb), who heads the mainstream Jewish Agency trying to create a Jewish state through political and diplomatic means. He fears that the Irgun will damage his efforts, especially since the British have put a price on Akiva's head. When Dov successfully bombs the King David Hotel in an act of terrorism, leading to dozens of fatalities, Akiva is arrested and sentenced to hang. Meanwhile, Karen's father has been found, but he is suffering from clinical depression and does not recognize her. Karen has gone to live at Gan Dafna, a fictional Jewish kibbutz near Mount Tabor at which Ari was raised. (An actual kibbutz named Dafna is located near the present Lebanese border.)

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 had managed to elude 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. (For the historical incident on which this is based, see Acre Prison break.) Akiva is fatally shot by British soldiers while evading a roadblock set up to catch the escaped prisoners. Ari is also badly wounded. He makes his way to Abu Yesha, an Arab village where his lifelong friend, Taha, (John Derek) is the mukhtar. Kitty is brought there and treats his wound.

An independent Israel is now in plain view, but Arab nationals commanded by Mohammad Amin al-Husayni, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, plot to attack Gan Dafna and kill its villagers. Ari receives prior warning of this attack from Taha, and he manages to get the children of the town out in a mass overnight escape. Karen, ecstatic over the prospect of a new nation, finds Dov (who was out on patrol outside the town) and proclaims her love for him; Dov assures her that they will marry someday. As Karen returns to Gan Dafna, she is ambushed and killed by a gang of Arab militiamen. Dov discovers her lifeless body the following morning. That same day, the body of Taha is found hanging in his village, killed by Arab extremists with a Star of David symbol carved on his body. Karen and Taha are buried together in one grave. 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 then ends with Ari, Kitty, and a Palmach contingent entering trucks and heading toward battle.

Cast

Paul Newman on Exodus DVD cover

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

Awards and nominations

Academy Awards

Composer Ernest Gold won the Academy Award for Best Original Score at the 1960 Oscars.

The film was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor (Sal Mineo) and for Best Cinematography (Sam Leavitt).

Golden Globe

Sal Mineo won the Best Supporting Actor Award

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. It is the only instrumental song ever to receive that award to date. Oddly, the first notes of the great dramatic theme are identical to the opening theme of a somewhat obscure orchestral piece by Quincy Porter, New England Episodes, premiered in 1958 in Washington, DC.^{[citation needed]}

Cannes Film Festival

The film was screened at the 1961 Cannes Film Festival, but was not entered into the competition for the Golden Palm.

Soundtrack

Main article: Exodus (soundtrack)

The main theme from the film has been widely remixed and covered by many artists. A version by Ferrante & Teicher went all the way to number 2 on the Billboard Singles Chart. Another notable version was recorded by jazz saxophonist Eddie Harris. Other versions were recorded by Mantovani, Peter Nero, Connie Francis, and the Duprees, who sang the theme with lyrics written by Pat Boone. Other artists include Gospel pianist Anthony Burger (in the Gaither Vocal Band's "I Do Believe"), singer Edith Piaf who used French lyrics, Classical pianist Maksim Mrvica. Trey Spruance of the Secret Chiefs 3 rescored the theme for "surf band and orchestra" on the album 2004 Book of Horizons. Howard Stern uses it for comedic effect when discussing aspects of Jewish life. Different samples of the Exodus theme have been used in several hip-hop songs, including Ice-T´s song "Ice's Exodus" from the album The Seventh Deadly Sin, Nas's song "You're Da Man" from the album Stillmatic, and T.I.'s song "Bankhead" from the album King. A portion of the main title was included in a montage arranged by composer John Williams and performed at the 2002 Academy Awards ceremony.

Apochryphal (?) story

An often told, probably apocryphal story included in the reference book The Filmgoer's Companion relates how comedian Mort Sahl attended the premiere of Exodus, which of course included the director Otto Preminger and, apparently bored by the lengthy film, stood up after three hours and exclaimed, "Otto, let my people go!"

See also

• SS Exodus

External links

• Exodus at the Internet Movie Database
• Exodus (1960 film) at AllRovi
• Exodus at the TCM Movie Database