Exodus (1960)

The state of Israel is created in 1948, resulting in war with its Arab neighbors.

Director:

Otto Preminger

Writers:

Dalton Trumbo (screenplay), Leon Uris (novel)

Stars:

Paul Newman, Eva Marie Saint, Ralph Richardson

Won 1 Oscar. Another 4 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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
Alexandra Stewart	...	Jordana Ben Canaan
Michael Wager	...	David Ben Ami

Storyline

The theme is the founding of the state of Israel. The action begins on a ship filled with Jewish immigrants bound for Israel who are being off loaded on Cyprus. An Intelligence officer succeeds in getting them back on board their ship only to have the harbor blocked by the British with whom they must negotiate. The second part of the film is about the situation in Israel as independence is declared and most of their neighbors attack them.

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Plot Keywords:

israel | jewish | 1940s | jewish refugee | based on true story | 

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Taglines:

The drama and the passion of one of the epic events of the twentieth century !

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Genres:

Action | Drama | History | War

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 January 1961 (Brazil)

Also Known As:

Éxodo

Filming Locations:

Israel

Box Office

Budget:

$4,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$18,966,000

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$21,750,000, 31 January 1970

Company Credits

Production Co:

Otto Preminger Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

208 min

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (35 mm prints) 70 mm 6-Track (Westrex Recording System) (70 mm prints)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film's logo, seen in the opening credits, is an adaptation of the logo of the real-life Irgun, which showed a hand and arm holding a rifle in a similar pose over a map of the entire Palestine Mandate.

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Goofs

The German SS at Auschwitz executed all the Sonderkommandos and selected a new crew 13 times, hence only the last 14th survived. No Jew, therefore, could have had the experience of exploding dynamite to create mass graves. As this process well predated the installation of the crematorium, his Sonderkommando unit would have been liquidated long before liberation.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Cypriot guide: The island of Cyprus, madame. World famous for beauty, and long, tragic history. Been conquered many times, conquered by Phoenicians, Assyrians, Persians, Macedonians; also conquered by Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Turks. Purchased from Turkey by your esteemed self, the British Empire. All Cyprus most wanted the British.
Kitty Fremont: [correcting him] I'm an American.
Cypriot guide: Fond of Americans, also; we Cypriots are fond of everybody.

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Crazy Credits

Opening credits shown over a background of flames.

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Connections

Referenced in Death in Hollywood (1990)

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Soundtracks

Shir HaEmek
(uncredited)
Music Traditional
[Hummed by the children crossing the valley]

User Reviews

Overlong and big budgeted epic about the birth of state of Israel

This historical film is based on real events and Leon Uris'novel.By the late 1945, millions of bewildered and homeless Jews people were on the move-across Europe and the Far East. They were looking for somewhere to live and for many of them that meant a new country. Jews demanded a land of their own. Jewish refugees were at a British camp on their way to Palestine. The Jews on board hoped to sail to Palestine in the first 'exodus ship'. Jewish refugees struggle ashore from island of Cyprus. But the ship (led by Jewish leader Paul Newman, helped by an American widow Eva Marie Saint) will be intercepted. On many of the refugees, by a famine-strike, the conditions were appalling, overcrowded, lacking food and water.The British troops(commanded by Ralph Richardson and Peter Lawford) guard the shipload of Jews in the port, they were rounded up, to be sent to the camp.This is an exodus that succeeded. In Palestine coming so soon after the holocaust, the homeless come home, but these traumatic echoes of Auschwitz and Buchenwald inflamed Zionist feelings. 1946,1947 and early 1948 were a years in which Zionist terrorist was at its height and Independent Israel still seemed heartbreaks away. In 22 July 1946, ninety-one people died when the King David Hotel in Jerusalem was blown up by Zionists. When one of the ringleader(David Opatoshu) of the Zionist anarchist group is placed under arrest, to be taken under close guard to the camp , the movement plans the breakout. The posterior setting is the strife-ridden area of Palestine between Jewish and Arabs fighting cruelly each other.The state of Israel was born in war and spent its youth struggling for survival.The nearly established United Nations did what it could to help, establishing camps for refugees and the supervision of Great Britain over Palestine. And later a voting that declared the independence of Israel under Ben Gurion( similar role played by Lee J Cobb).

This historic film written by Dalton Trumbo is efficiently directed by Otto Preminger. Good performances from Paul Newman as obstinate Israeli leader, Ralph Richardson as commandant of British forces in Cyprus and Sal Mineo as young terrorist who won the Golden Globe for support actor. Also the sensible, emotive soundtrack by Ernest Gold won Oscar 1960 for Original Dramatic Score.Colorful and evocative cinematography by Sam Leavitt, filmed in Israel and Cyprus with spectacular production design by Richard Day. Over budgeted, as cost more than five million dollars , an incredible amount at the time.This chronicle about the post-WWII partition of Palestine will like to historical events enthusiastic.