Matcollis This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Maidexpl Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

Micah Lloyd Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

gehad_aldaoudi For me this film is one best films I had ever seen. I watched it around ten times for the past fifty yeas and never stopped being astonished by this great movie. Perfect choice of actors, director, music, screenplay and every tiny piece of this film were put together in such a harmonious and strong manner. Zorba taught us a new way of love, joy and happiness. Happinesses is not always being relaxed and comfortable. We have to suffer in our lives so we can appreciate the simple beautiful moments. From the profound deep sorrow we can dance and sing.

G G Gwalles Anthony Quinn's Zorba became a point of reference, in fact I'm writing this review 54 years after its first release. He is everything and more. Alan Bates is outstanding walking that very thin line but totally committed to that duality that makes him so human, so real. Lila Kedrova won an Oscar for her performance, deservedly so. Simone Signoret had been offered the part and she was the one who suggested Lila Kedrova to the director, Michael Cacoyanis. I love that story. Zorba has also the power of Irene Papas who makes her silent calling absolutely riveting and the contagious Mikis Theodorakis's score all together in a beautiful, savage, compelling film that doesn't show any signs of aging

grantss Would have been good but for the barbarism.An Englishman, Basil (played by Alan Bates), is en route to Crete where he owns a long-disused mine. Along the way he encounters, befriends and employs Zorba (Anthony Quinn). Once in Crete they set about trying to get the mine operational. Basil is quite risk averse, studious and introverted while Zorba is extroverted, gregarious, happy-go-lucky and lives life to the fullest. Over time, Zorba's zestfulness starts to rub off on Basil...Starts slowly but over time the movie starts to accumulate a feel- good factor, especially when we see Zorba's antics and Basil start to open up. However, this is all ruined by two acts of sheer barbarism towards the end, both committed by the moronic inhabitants of the village. What's worse, both these acts are just taken as par for the course, and there is no ultimate justice for these acts. You could understand the imbecilic villagers feeling that way, but both Basil and Zorba continue as if nothing had happened. What's more, the first case involves someone quite dear to Basil.From the point of the first atrocity, the air goes out of the movie and this is made worse by the second act. There are some lighter moments in the last few scenes but these can't repair the damage. What should have been a light, happy movie, even a comedy of sorts, ends as an uneven study in the barbaric customs and thinking of primitive people.

gsygsy Let us now praise big performances, and the actors who dare to put them on screen. Charles Laughton, Orson Welles, Bette Davis...Risk-takers who sometimes fail but more often than not succeed. Much more satisfying to watch than the ever-increasing number of dare-nothings whose skills have been forged on TV soaps or by modelling knitwear.Here we have three very different actors taking those risks under the aegis of a first-rate writer-director, Mihalis Kakogiannis.First, Anthony Quinn in the title role, who apparently was giving such an over-the top performance that Mr Kakogiannis was concerned he'd have to rein him in. To what extent he did so I don't know, but the result is Quinn's brave, multi-layered, superbly wrought characterization.Next, Irene Papas, who brings all her skills as a tragedienne to a role with few lines of dialogue. Everything has to be expressed in her gestures, her face, her eyes...The sheer intensity of Ms Papas, the furnace of passion that powers her through the film, takes your breath away.Finally, Lila Kedrova, who won a thoroughly deserved Oscar for her role as a vulnerable, care-worn French woman with a huge heart. What we have here is a performance of utter fearlessness, ranging from broad comedy to heart-rending pathos. And these emotions change in a flash. That is what is so remarkable about Ms Kedrova. She gives pretty much the same performance in Hitchcock's TOPAZ: it may well be she gives the same performance in everything she ever did. Doesn't matter. It's worth watching. It is drawn from a deep well of emotion, filtered through a considerable technical imagination, an extraordinary tightrope-walk between pillars of sincerity and artifice.Against these three titans, a somewhat miscast Alan Bates does as well as he can. Bates played a wide variety of roles in his distinguished career, and in most he was unbeatable (A KIND OF LOVING, THE GO-BETWEEN, THE MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE, AN ENGLISHMAN ABROAD to name just four of many) but he also could struggle a bit when the fit was not perfect, and here, as in GEORGY GIRL, he isn't quite right, not believably upper-class donnish. The story ZORBA tells gives its two remarkable female characters a tough time. Whether this was intended as a critique of the misogyny of the Cretan peasant society of the time or simply a reflection of it is difficult to say. What is shocking is that the fate Ms Papas' character endures is one that is still common in parts of the world today.ZORBA THE Greek is beautifully filmed and edited, the music - by one of Greece's great composers - is life-affirming, but the movie as a whole, though shot through with humour (both warm-hearted and cruel), is darker than its original advertising campaign seemed to realise.