Exodus (1960)
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The story
After the Second World War, a widowed American nurse named Kitty Fremont is sightseeing in Cyprus when she learns of a Jewish internment camp where refugees are being denied passage to Palestine by the British. Despite her initial discomfort, she volunteers to help. She forms a bond with a Danish-Jewish teenager named Karen, who is searching for her missing father and promoting the Zionist cause. When a group of refugees attempts an illegal voyage to Palestine aboard a ship named Exodus, Kitty uses her influence to board the vessel to ensure the refugees' safety and voluntary participation.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Following the WWII, Kitty Fremont volunteers at a Cyprus internment camp for Jewish refugees. She befriends Karen Hansen Clement, a teenager seeking her father and supporting Zionism. When Ari Ben Canaan smuggles 611 Jews onto the ship 'Exodus' for an illegal voyage to Palestine, Kitty joins to ensure their safety. As the ship sails, tensions rise between the Haganah (led by Ari's father Barak) and the radical Irgun (led by Ari's uncle Akiva). Karen's beau, Dov, joins the Irgun and reveals his skills as a Sonderkommando in Auschwitz. After the ship reaches Palestine, Ari and Kitty fall in love, though Kitty is initially hesitant. Ari works to find Karen's father, who is in a dissociative state in a Jerusalem hospital. Meanwhile, Akiva is imprisoned in Acre fortress after the Irgun bombs the King David Hotel. Ari plots a prison break with Dov's help; hundreds escape, but Akiva is fatally wounded. Ari is later wounded and saved by Kitty in an Arab village. Tensions escalate as Arab nationals plan to attack the Jewish kibbutz Gan Dafna. Karen is murdered by Arabs while visiting Dov, and Taha, Ari's Arab friend, is also killed. The film ends with Ari, Kitty, Dov, and a Palmach contingent heading to fight in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.
- First release year
- 1960
- Runtime (minutes)
- 208
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Otto Preminger
- Writers
- Dalton Trumbo · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Paul Newman · Ari Ben Canaan; Eva Marie Saint · Kitty Fremont; Ralph Richardson · Gen. Sutherland; Peter Lawford · Maj. Caldwell; Lee J. Cobb · Barak Ben Canaan; Sal Mineo · Dov Landau; John Derek · Taha; Jill Haworth · Karen Hansen Clement
- Genres
- epic historical drama; war drama
- Themes
- Zionism; Holocaust survival; Intercommunal conflict; National identity
- Tone and mood
- Epic; Dramatic; Reverent
- Premise and plot tags
- Historical Drama; War; Based on a Novel; Based on Real Events
- Source material / true-story basis
- 1958 novel by Leon Uris
- Content notes
- Violence
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 65% · review count: 17; Metacritic · score: 70 · scale: 100 · review count: 11
- Awards and nominations
- Academy Award · Best Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture · Won
- Production trivia
- The film is credited with ending the practice of blacklisting in the US motion picture industry.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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