Exodus

US (1960): Drama/War

Produced and directed by Otto Preminger, Exodus is a sprawling 212-minute screen adaptation of the best-selling novel by Leon Uris. The film is concerned with the emergence of Israel as an independent nation in 1947. Its first half focuses on the efforts of 611 holocaust survivors to defy the blockade of the occupying British government and sail to Palestine on the sea vessel Exodus. Paul Newman, a leader of the Hagannah (the Jewish underground) is willing to sacrifice his own life and the lives of the refugees rather than be turned back to war-ravaged Europe, but the British finally relent and allow the Exodus safe passage. Once this victory is assured, 30,000 more Jews, previously interned by the British, flood into the Holy Land (the mass escape of insurgents from the prison at Acre is a highlight of the film's midsection). The final portion of the film involves the struggle of the infant nation to survive attacks from its middle-eastern enemies -- and to weather its own internal struggle between the moderate Hagganah and the Irgun, a Jewish terrorist organization.

With the possible exception of Anatomy of a Murder (1959), Otto Preminger never put together a 100% satisfying "epic": thus Exodus is distinguished by extreme high and low points. While Paul Newman, Eva Marie Saint, Sal Mineo and newcomer Jill Haworth are all excellent, Preminger permits such veterans as Lee J. Cobb to overact outrageously. And while the spectacular location-filmed crowd and battle scenes are virtually faultless, Preminger is occasionally careless with "inconsequential" scenes, as witness the shadow of the microphone boom during one romantic tete-a-tete between Newman and Saint. And while most of the reviews were laudatory, the one assessment of Exodus that is most often quoted is the quip made by comedian Mort Sahl, who, after sitting through the film's four-hour premiere, turned to Otto Preminger and cried "Otto! Let my people go!" Still, Exodus was a hit, making back its $4 million cost several times over. (Alpha-Carlyle/United Artists) (Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide)

 View the original theatrical trailer for this film on YouTube.com.

3 nominations, 1 Award