"Exodus" centers on the successful escape, masterminded by the Palestinian underground leader, Ari Ben Canaan, of over 600 Jewish refugees from Cyprus to Palestine; the underground activities in Palestine; and the first Israeli-Arab conflicts following partition
Surrounding these and other events are many personal dramas, including Ari's romance with American nurse Kitty Fremont (Eva Marie Saint) and his friendship with a sympathetic Arab chieftain Taha (John Derek). It's a stirring and visually beautiful film, but it contains one of Newman's least exciting performances
Some contend that Newman's motivational Method conflicted with Preminger's authoritarian approach; others that he was miscast
But Ari is the kind of dedicated, single-minded loner Newman is expert atexcept, of course, that the dedication is to a cause, not to himself
When Newman insults the well-meaning Cypriot, Mandria (Hugh Griffith), his friends tell severely that his action is wrong, affirming that Mandria is a real friend
He replies: "When the showdown comes, we will always stand alone. Mandria will sell us out like all the others. We have no friends, except ourselves." Those lines are also in the novel, but they could almost have been written expressly for Newman, whose self-sufficient characters often speak in this manner
The real problem is that Newman never gives Ari warmth or humanity
His initial impatience, hostility, arrogance and indifference to individual problems are understandable, since he is planning crucial events
But even when he is supposed to be getting warmer, more understanding, aware that outsiders can be trusted (Kitty, a Christian, becomes deeply committed to the cause), his behavior remains almost exactly the same
He never comes to life until the last scene, a passionate funeral oration, and by then it's too late
There's none of the charm or vitality that makes us interested in even the most vicious of Newman's antiheroes
In the one instance where Newman is supposed to be funnyhis impersonation of a British officerhe is forced and uneasy
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