Product Details

• Actors: Paul Newman, Eva Marie Saint, Ralph Richardson, Peter Lawford, Lee J. Cobb
• Directors: Otto Preminger
• Writers: Dalton Trumbo, Leon Uris
• Producers: Otto Preminger
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Letterboxed, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
• Dubbed: French
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
• DVD Release Date: October 15, 2002
• Run Time: 208 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (159 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00006FDAU
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,350 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "Exodus" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Otto Preminger's 1960 adaptation of Leon Uris's novel is a sprawling 220-minute tale of the founding of modern Israel, starring Paul Newman as a Resistance leader. The film works best as an example of Preminger's estimable skill with all levels of drama and action, but as a reflection upon history it is compromised by stereotypes, unpersuasive relationships, and a certain moral ambivalence about issues related to the subject. There are good and exciting sequences, however, particularly one involving an effort to break through a British blockade and get to the homeland. --Tom Keogh

Product Description

Inspired by Leon Uris' international bestseller, this "extraordinarily moving" (The New Republic) chronicle of the rebirth of a people and the establishment of a nation is the ultimate experience in human drama. Nominated* for three Academy Awards® and winner* for Best Score, Exodus is an "exciting, dramatic, scenic, panoramic and deeply moving" (New York Daily News) masterpiece. Ari Ben Canaan (Paul Newman), a commander of the Israeli underground, manages to lead 600 Jews from the detention camps of Cyprus onto a large freighter bound for Palestine. But British forces soon learn of his plan and insist that he turn back. Undaunted, Ari and his passengers refuse to give up, risking their lives for the greater cause of Israeli independence.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

147 of 151 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid, well-made epic, but reservations about DVD quality. November 8, 2002

By Joseph C. Jones

Format:DVD

Exodus is a sprawling, 3 and half-hour epic that sets several fictional characters against the backdrop of the founding of modern Israel after the Second World War. The story opens in Cyprus, where thousands of European Jewish refugees are being detained by the British. The refugees are trying to make it to Palestine--which the British control--and form a new Jewish state. Eva Marie Saint plays an American nurse, recently widowed, who becomes involved in the refugees' plight, especially that of a young girl, Karen (Jill Haworth), searching for her father. Paul Newman is an Israeli freedom fighter who is determined to get a shipload of the refugees out of Cyprus to Palestine--while finding time to romance Saint. Karen worries about her friend Dov (Sal Mineo), an Auschwitz survivor who wants nothing more than to join a Jewish terrorist organization, which happens to be facilitated by Newman's uncle (David Opatoshu).

Exodus was a huge blockbuster back in 1960-61, with Ernest Gold's memorable, Oscar-winning score even making the Top 10 charts. The film also places a footnote in Hollywood history, as it was one of two films that year that dared to credit blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo (his other 1960 credit was Sparticus); Trumbo's adaptation of the Leon Uris book is largely straight-forward, focusing more on the plotting than on the characters. Fortunately, with Otto Preminger in command, the flick moves along briskly, what with glorious wide-screen vistas of Cyprus and Israel and several genuinely exciting action sequences--especially a terrific prison break-out. The film's somber coda is even more moving considering that the issues it raises are still unresolved to this day....

Newman and Saint are nice to look at, but there's not much chemistry between them--he seems stiff and she's just, well, saintly. The supporting cast is much better. Mineo received an Oscar nomination for this (he lost to Sparticus' Peter Ustinov), primarily for his emotional interrogation scene where he recounts his experiences at Auschwitz. Haworth is delicate but headstrong. Opatoshu, for my money, was the best thing in the whole movie--methodical, yet quietly commanding--there's a wordless scene between him and Lee J. Cobb (playing his brother) that is just marvelous. The cast of thousands also includes Ralph Richardson, Peter Lawford, Hugh Griffith, John Derek, Gregory Ratoff, and George Maharis.

This being an MGM DVD, there isn't much in the way of extras--just the original theatrical trailer and several choices for subtitles. As noted elsewhere, the quality of the transfer isn't as high as one would like--the sound, especially, should've been remixed while the the picture quality is terrific sometimes and other times less than perfect. Hopefully, they'll reissue it with improved specs. Read more ›

52 of 55 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Great Movie but poor transfer to DVD October 7, 2003

By Solomon Fried

Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase

The movie itself is what I expected, having seen it before. It is a captivating epic motion picture faithful to the book by Leon Uris.
Sadly, the transfer to DVD was done on the cheap. Occasional artifacts from the worn master film are evident. And while it is a "Widescreen" format, it is not Anamorphic or "Enahanced for 16x9 TVs". This means that if you have a wide-screen TV, the picture needs to be viewed is zoomed 4X3 mode to fill the screen. This lowers the resolution of an already poor copy.
In sum, buy it for the story but don't expect a vivid viweing experience for your home theater system.

97 of 111 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars See Exodus March 9, 2000

By Fred T. Lopez

Format:VHS Tape|Amazon Verified Purchase

The screenplay by Dalton Trumbo differs from the book but captured the essence of the story of Exodus. A close obsever and listner will learn much of the climate and environment of the time, noted scene, the broadcasting of news to refugees aboard the Exodus while declaring a hunger strike in a harbor on the island of Cyprus. Paul Newman is not particularly strong as Ari Ben Cannon. The character in the book was a bit more masculine. Eva Marie Saint and Sal Mineo are great, and Sir Ralph Richardson. Sal Mineo desrved an oscar. Otto Priminger was atypical for the day, choosing to film outside of a sound stage on location as much as possible. There are mistakes, shadows of the camera on the faces of actors at times but his unique style of direction is the film's power. Ernest Gold's score is stirring and powerful and beautiful. Some may find the story telling a bit slow by today's standards. If patient, a complex, historical and significant drama will unfold. This is an excellent film. See Schindler's List first and then Exodus. Actually, the sequence here should go somthing like this: Lawrence of Arabia, Schindler's List, and Exodus. What a history lession of the Middle East. Enjoyable, too. The widescreen format is the only way to thoroughly enjoy this film.

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Dreadful DVD Transfer Of A Major Film January 16, 2007

By Michael P. Ofarrell

Format:DVD

The One Star is not for the film but for MGM Home Video's abominable DVD transfer. What a disgrace! How MGM could release this epic film in such a fashion is beyond belief. The image is virtually unwatchable. I'm surprised more readers on this site haven't complained about how this famous movie has been treated by MGM Video. This DVD edition does not represent the movie whatsoever. Hopefully a remastered DVD edition will come out in the not too distant future to rectify the problem.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars WORSE TRANSFER EVER!!!! February 26, 2007

By Robert M. Bonnett

Format:DVD

I wont even go into the story line or the actors roles. I want to ..I have to tell everybody about the transfer to DVD of this classic movie. The picture looks like a bad VHS copy done by an amatuer! The sound.....oh my God the sound is absolutely horrible! I watched this on my Sony 36 inch tv and I immediately cleaned my DVD player thinking there was something wrong with it! I adjusted the sound on my Sony ES (Professional Grade) Reciever several times and into several modes from Mono to Theatre EX to basic stereo and nothing would improve it. MGM be ashamed!! LOUIS B MAYER is rolling over in his grave!!!

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Great Movie..Really Bad Transfer July 28, 2006

By chuck canuk

Format:DVD

Love this movie BUT the transfer was so pathetic that I returned it to the vendor. This DVD is absolutely the WORST transfer I have ever seen. MGM goofed on this classic.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An epic drama that works May 4, 2003

By Scott Grau

Format:VHS Tape

I love this movie. Beyond capturing the drama of the events leading to the establishment of the state of Israel in May 1948, this film suggests some of the political, ideological, and social conflicts within the Zionist movement as the British Mandate came to an end while hundreds of thousands of displaced Jews, homeless and without other refuge, were smuggled into Palestine. The film is a fictionalized account of a very real crisis, and does a good job of fairly representing both the attitude of the British authorities (including the anti-Semitism of some British officials and officers) and of different factions that threatened to rip the Zionist movement apart.

Of particular interest to me was the way in which the tension between the Haganah and the Irgun was represented. The Ben-Gurion-like character, Barak ben Canaan, is played by Lee J. Cobb, representing the mainstream Zionist movement, with its emphasis on diplomacy and maximizing the number of immigrants who could reinforce the population of the Yishuv. This character reflects the pioneering spirit of early Labor Zionism and the kibbutzim, with their emphasis on building a new homeland and constructing viable productive and self-sufficient communities. The military arm of this movement, the Haganah, is ably represented by Paul Newman through the character of Ari ben Canaan, the young Sabra who is prepared to use force to defend the Yishuv but desires peace. Against this is the quasi-Begin-like charismatic character of Akiva ben Canaan, played by David Opatoshu, one of the leaders of Irgun (this character, unlike Begin, did not survive the period represented in the movie). The Irgun and Stern gang spirit is ably represented here, as is its tension with the Haganah.... My own instincts and sympathies are with the Haganah in this quarrel, but the film represents both sides fairly and seems to suggest that both were necessary for Israel to achieve statehood.

The film also suggests the sinister role of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem in the violence of 1947-1948, who, as the film points out, spent World War II in Berlin as a guest of the Fuhrer (and this foreshadows the increasing influence of anti-Semitism in the Arab world). As is too often forgotten, none of the Arab states in 1948 -- not Egypt, not Syria, not Jordan -- had any intention of allowing the establishment of any kind of Palestinian state, hoping rather to carve up the territory amongst themselves (as they demonstrated by their policies of control over Gaza and the West Bank from 1948 to 1967). Yet the Grand Mufti rejected the 1947 partition, thus losing the best chance that the Palestinians had of achieving their own independent state through cooperation rather than conflict with the Israelis.

In my own view, however, the film is more charitable toward the Irgun position than is justified. At the same time, the filmic representation of the bombing of the King David Hotel is spectacular, and Sal Mineo gives a brilliant performance as the young embittered Auschwitz survivor struggling to give a new meaning to his existence. Unfortunately, Eva Saint Marie completely fails to move me as the American nurse who falls in love with the Paul Newman character. The film also fails to give adequate treatment to the situation and dilemmas facing ordinary Palestinians caught in this crisis. On the other hand, the film is a movie, not a historical study, and it's already more than three hours long. A great movie, and good companion film to follow "Schindler's List." Read more ›