Exodus *** (1960, Paul Newman, Eva Marie Saint, Sal Mineo, Ralph Richardson, Peter Lawford) – Classic Movie Review 1,948

Director Otto Preminger’s ambitious 1960 historical epic film Exodus about the birth of the state of Israel just never seems to end at 217 minutes. Comedian Mort Sahl, attending a preview, stood up and shouted: ‘Otto, let my people go!’

The story begins on a ship filled with Jewish immigrants bound for Israel who are being loaded off on Cyprus.

Paul Newman and Eva Marie Saint head the outstanding, if uncomfortable all-star cast as Zionist freedom fighter Ari Ben Canaan and Kitty Fremont, the non-Jewish nurse who falls for him. Sal Mineo also stars as Dov Landau, the man who blows up the King David Hotel, and Ralph Richardson and Peter Lawford play General Sutherland and Major Caldwell, British officers opposing Ari Ben Canaan’s aims.

The film’s scale, length and intentions are impressive and admirable, and there are strong action sequences to keep it going. Screenwriter Dalton Trumbo creates a distinctively clear epic narrative from Leon Uris’s door-stopping 1958 bestseller novel but, what with silly ass British and wise old Jewish characters, there are too many clichés and caricatures on show, and subtlety isn’t exactly its strong point.

Ernest Gold’s Oscar-winning score is effective in warming the spirits, and for all the acting disappointments, Mineo’s fanatic role won him an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe as Best Supporting Actor. Sam Leavitt’s lovely Best Colour Cinematography also gained an Oscar nomination. On the downside, the star couple hardly seem over comfortable with either their casting or performances, which are not quite their best, while Preminger prefers sentimentality and talk to urgency and dynamism in his film-making.

Despite all its very considerable assets, which outweigh the downsides, the audience still needs a lot of spare time and more patience than Job to watch the movie.

Born in the Bronx to Sicilian immigrant parents, Mineo gets to play what he called ‘a sympathetic Jewish boy who shot four Arabs.’

Lee J Cobb (as Barak Ben Canaan), John Derek, Hugh Griffith, Gregory Ratoff, Felix Aylmer, David Opatoshu, Jill Haworth, Alexandra Stewart, Martin Benson, Martin Miller, Marius Goring and George Maharis also star.

The film was influential in stimulating Zionism and support for Israel in the US. It softened the anti-British and anti-Arab sentiments of the novel, but is controversial for its depiction of the Arab–Israeli conflict.

Preminger helped to end the Hollywood blacklist by openly hiring Trumbo, who had been on the Hollywood blacklist for more than a decade for being a Communist and forced to work under assumed names. Exodus and Spartacus, also written by Trumbo, together ended US movie blacklisting.

Lee J Cobb, on the other hand, was accused of being a Communist in 1951 testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) by Larry Parks, an admitted former Communist Party member. Cobb was called to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) but refused to do so for two years until his career was threatened by the blacklist. He relented in 1953 and gave testimony, naming 20 people as former members of the Communist Party USA.

It has no relation to Ridley Scott’s 2014 film Exodus.

Exodus was filmed on location in Israel and Cyprus.

Preminger rejected Uris’s screenplay for the film as too anti-British and anti-Arab, and hired Trumbo, and they collaborated on a script in 40 days, though Trumbo had never been to Israel. After Newman’s suggested changes to the script were rejected by Preminger, who criticised him for making the suggestions, the two were hardly on speaking terms.

The cast are Paul Newman as Ari Ben Canaan, Eva Marie Saint as Kitty Fremont, Ralph Richardson as General Sutherland, Peter Lawford as Major Caldwell, Lee J Cobb as Barak Ben Canaan, Sal Mineo as Dov Landau, John Derek as Taha, Hugh Griffith as Mandria, Martin Miller as Dr Odenheim, 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 as Jordana Ben Canaan, Michael Wager as David Ben Ami, Martin Benson as Mordechai, Paul Stevens as Reuben, Victor Maddern as Sergeant, George Maharis as Yoav, and Esther Ofarim as Mrs Hirschberg.

Israeli singer Esther Ofarim (born June 13, 1941) came second in the 1963 Eurovision Song Contest with the song ‘T’en va pas’, representing Switzerland. She married Abi Ofarim in 1958 and was half of the 1960s husband-and-wife folk duo Esther & Abi Ofarim.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1,948

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