America, America (1963)

A young Anatolian Greek, entrusted with his family's fortune, loses it en route to Istanbul and dreams of going to America,

Director:

Elia Kazan

Writer:

Elia Kazan

Stars:

Stathis Giallelis, Frank Wolff, Harry Davis

Won 1 Oscar. Another 5 wins & 11 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview:
Stathis Giallelis	...	Stavros Topouzoglou
Frank Wolff	...	Vartan Damadian
Harry Davis	...	Isaac Topouzoglou
Elena Karam	...	Vasso Topouzoglou
Estelle Hemsley	...	Grandmother Topouzoglou
Gregory Rozakis	...	Hohannes Gardashian
Lou Antonio	...	Abdul
Salem Ludwig	...	Odysseus Topouzoglou
John Marley	...	Garabet
Joanna Frank	...	Vartuhi
Paul Mann	...	Aleko Sinnikoglou
Linda Marsh	...	Thomna Sinnikoglou
Robert H. Harris	...	Aratoon Kebabian
Katharine Balfour	...	Sophia Kebabian

Storyline

Elia Kazan, ethnic Greek but Turkish by birth, tells the story of the struggles of his uncle - in this account named Stavros Topouzoglou - in emigrating to America. In the 1890's, the young, kind-hearted but naive Stavros lived in Anatolia, where the Greek and Armenian minorities were repressed by the majority Turks, this repression which often led to violence. Even Stavros being friends with an Armenian was frowned upon. As such, Stavros dreamed of a better life - specifically in America - where, as a result, he could make his parents proud by his grand accomplishments. Instead, his parents, with most of their money, sent Stavros to Constantinople to help fund the carpet shop owned by his first cousin once removed. What Stavros encountered on his journey, made on foot with a small donkey, made him question life in Anatolia even further. Once in Constantinople, his resolve to earn the 110 Turkish pound third class fare to the United States became stronger than ever. But try after try,...

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Plot Keywords:

greek | america | dream | turk | money | 

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Taglines:

A trail to the light!

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 June 1964 (France)

Also Known As:

Amerika, Amerika

Filming Locations:

Alfa Studios, Athens, Greece

Company Credits

Production Co:

Athena Enterprises, Warner Bros

Technical Specs

Runtime:

174 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Estelle Helmsley, who plays the Greek grandmother, was actually an African-American actress.

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Quotes

Garabet: [Talking about money] Now then, big money. Big money is fertile. It procreates. How I don't know. But it reproduces itself. Every time you look, there's more, but there's only two ways men like us can get big money... steal it, or, if you're young, marry. But you can't get it by work.

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Crazy Credits

Director Elia Kazan narrates the main portion of the closing credits, reading the words as they appear on the screen, using complete sentences such as "The cinematography was by Haskell Wexler."

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Connections

Featured in The 71st Annual Academy Awards (1999)

User Reviews

A touching movie showing how a personal story fits into world history.

Elia Kazan has been often criticized about his personal choices in some parts of life that are now history. It is understandable that this kind of criticism -though totally justified in some cases- should not be the lens through which we will judge his works of art. In particular, "America America" can only be described as a very well directed film "carrying" many of the truths of multicultural Asia Minor during the last decades of Ottoman Empire. It accurately depicts the contradiction between cosmopolitan Constantinople and the more "oriental" villages of Asia Minor. The dream of a new life in a new and free land like America is excellently presented in the movie together with the strong bonds of the members of a family and the social status of Greeks, Turks and Armenians at that region back then. The fact that Elia Kazan put a great deal of himself in the movie makes it more worth-seeing. Thank you for reading.