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Exodus (1960)

Actors: Paul Newman, Eva Marie Saint, Ralph Richardson, Peter Lawford, Lee J. Cobb
Directed By: Otto Preminger
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Run Time: 208 minutes
Theatrical Release Date: December 15, 1960
DVD Release Date: October 15, 2002
Format: DVD
Genres: Military & War, Classics

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.

movie review

Amazon.com Editorial Review:
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