Excellent, Without a doubt!!

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I remember 1964 like yesterday, but it seems that I too have outgrown movies of this period. I had never seen this movie but know that it was loved by many. The opportunity arose for me to watch it in 2017 and I eagerly sat down to experience this missing link with the past.What a let down. Has the world changed that much that I consider this to be a complete disaster, let alone a comedy? Fair enough I have never been to Crete or Greece, but I do love Greek music. For this reason my rating is a notch higher then what I would otherwise have given it, but for the rest it was a big boring, non inspiring, wasteful, stretched out rumble on the island, devoid of any possible reality to life in those days.Perhaps I miss the point, but I certainly did not enjoy the movie at all.

The music from Zorba the Greek has been much imitated its become a cliché of a certain part of Greek life and strips the film and the novel it is based on part of its underlying dark themes.I was surprised that the film was based on the novel by Nikos Kazantzakis, author of The Last Temptation of Christ. Knowing that I knew in an instance that this was going to be more than some cod Greek feel good drama/comedy.Alan Bates plays Basil, a stiff English writer of Greek origin who has come to Crete where he has inherited a mine. On the way there he meets Zorba (Anthony Quinn) who is looking for a job and Basil takes a chance on him and they sail some choppy waters.The film is episodic filmed in startling black and white photography.Basil with whatever money he has entrusts Zorba to get the mine working. Zorba charms the well to do but lonely old French lady, Madame Hortense (Lila Kedrova). He also charms the local monks at the nearby monastery to help get the mine working. Basil is attracted to the ravishing wild widow (Irene Papas) someone every male in the village is also attracted to. She only has eyes for Basil but its a relationship that is imbued with tragedy as we come to understand the ways of local village life in Crete, something Zorba understand but not Basil. This also comes to the fore when Madame Hotense dies and local villagers descend like vultures to strip her house to prevent the government getting it all.A lot of the film is about Basil trying to understand Crete life. He is a genteel man of letters, shy and rather gauche. Just watch how hesitant he is with talking to the wild widow.Zorba on the other hand is passionate, life affirming, loyal, brave, foolhardy, hot headed and reckless. He also understands people and the underlying darkness of the villagers.The film is a drama with tragedy, comedy, music and dance. Bates, Quinn and Irene Papas are very good but the film is actually rather light on plot and Bates reaction when the widow is attacked and the aftermath is rather perplexing. Lila Kedrova who won an Oscar is also hard to understand.

Top-notch picture based on an adaptation of Nikos Kazantzakis's hugely popular novel . It deals with an uptight and poignant English writer called Basil (Alan Bates was Mihalis Kakogiannis's first choice for this part) traveling to Crete on a matter of business finds his life changed forever when he meets the zesty as well as joyful Zorba (in title role Anthony Quinn displays an awesome acting , he is a delight as Alexis) . Gregarious Zorba is an eye-opener to the visiting stranger . At a tiny village the writer meets an old spinster woman named Madame Hortense (Lila Kedrova was a win an Academy Award, though Simone Signoret was the original choice for this role and turned it down and she came to regret that decision) and a beautiful widow (a young Irene Papas) . Sensitive and thought-provoking film plenty of drama , emotion , Greek social habits and wonderful performances .Interesting and flavorful screenplay by the same filmmaker from Nikos Kazantzakis' novel who also wrote ¨The last temptation of Christ¨. Special mention to Anthony Quinn as an uncomplicated and jolly man , an earthy and humble peasant with a real lust for life , a character he has become identified with . However , in the earlier stages of filming, the filmmaker and Anthony Quinn had frequent disagreements as the director felt that his leading actor was being too over-the-top . Alan Bates as a sensible as well as intellectual writer is also very good and the young beauty Irene Papas is marvelous as a widow who originates a tragedy . Extraordinary Lila Kedrova as an aging and dying courtesan, she ended up receiving an Academy Award for her role. The original Broadway production of "Zorba" opened at the Imperial Theater in New York on November 16, 1968, ran for 305 performances and was nominated for the 1969 Tony Award for the Best Musical. Anthony Quinn and Lila Kedrova who starred together in this movie version appeared in the revival of Zorba in 1982-3 with Lila Kedrova winning the 1984 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical . Gorgeous , enjoyable cinematography in white and black by Walter Lassally that also won deservedly an Oscar. Rousing and immortal soundtrack by Mikis Theodorakis based on Greek traditional music , including breathtaking dances performed by Anthony Quinn. However , Anthony Quinn had a broken foot during filming, and thus couldn't perform the dance on the beach as scripted, which called for much leaping around ; instead, he did a slow shuffle . This brooding motion picture was stunningly directed by Michael Cacoyannis ,though the project was turned down by every major studio . Cacoyannis was an expert on adaptations based upon Classic Greek plays such as ¨Iphigenea¨ , ¨Elektra¨ and ¨The Trojan women¨ . ¨Zorba¨ rating : Better than average , worthwhile watching . Essential and indispensable seeing for Anthony Quinn fans .

Anthony Quinn's title character is a force of nature, and the rest of the people in the movie are tossed and buffeted helplessly by his whims. The writer played by Alan Bates is stunned into almost catatonic inaction by the strange, harsh society he encounters on Crete. Why he comes, and why he stays despite unnerving and sometimes horrific experiences, are questions that the movie raises but cannot answer. The pervasive unpleasantness of the place dims even Zorba's spirit until his only option is to embrace his powerlessness over his surroundings. Irene Papas, who had shown great chemistry with Quinn in "The Guns of Navarone" (1961) is tragically underutilized here.