Zorba the Greek (1964)

Zorba the Greek (Alexis Zorba)
Directed by Michael Cacoyannis
Written by Michael Cacoyannis from a novel by Nikos Kazantzakis
1964/Greece/USA
Twentieth Century Fox
Repeat viewing/Amazon Instant

Alexis Zorba: Life is trouble. Only death is not. To be alive is to undo your belt and *look* for trouble.

Anthony Quinn is such an infectious life force that it is easy to forget how sad much of this movie is.

Basil (Alan Bates) is a bookish young Brit who has returned to his father’s native island of Crete to try his hand at reopening the old family coal mine.  His boat is delayed by a storm and he meets Zorba (Anthony Quinn) who instantly takes a liking to him and offers to accompany him as cook and “mining engineer”.  The two could not be more different but Zorba quickly becomes a father figure and cultural guide to the younger man.

The earthy Zorba has sexual energy to spare and soon starts an affair with Parisian widow Madame Hortense (Lila Kordova) who lives in her very colorful past.  He advises Basil to set his cap for an aloof young widow (Irene Pappas) who has rejected the advances of most of the single men in town, including the mayor’s son who is obsessed by her.  The joys of life on Crete are counterbalanced by some genuine tragedy.

Anthony Quinn is absolutely amazing in this picture.  He becomes Zorba and you fall in love with him.  The women match him in intensity.  Bates is something of a cipher and his plummy upper-class accent sounds odd on him.  The production values are outstanding. One would want to move to Crete if it didn’t rain so much.  Then again the Cretan people are not seen in the best light.

Zorba the Greek won Academy Awards in the categories of Best Supporting Actress (Kedrova); Best Cinematography, Black-and-White; and Best Art Decoration-Set Decoration, Black-and-White.  It was nominated in the categories of Best Picture; Best Actor (Quinn); Best Director; Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Media.