Exodus (1960)

The years have dimmed my memory of EXODUS but I realized that I should have written a review for it long ago. What stayed with me, after seeing the film, was the gorgeous and uplifting "Theme from Exodus" by Ernest Gold.

I never read the Leon Uris novel, but understand that a lot of incidents had to be underplayed in the film because the huge novel required a long film of over three hours to do it justice. As it is, it's a bit overlong and full of rich, episodic incidents in the story of the creation of the Palestian war of liberation. It's a sprawling epic and does get a bit tedious at times but the performances all hold the interest.

Especially good are PAUL NEWMAN and EVA MARIE SAINT in the leads, with SAL MINEO giving what is arguably his best performance as a rebel with a cause, and numerous other international players lending their talents.

But the overall effect is somewhat blunted by too much exposition and a lethargy that seems to build during the middle of the story. However, no denying it's quite an achievement on an historical basis and that Ernest Gold score is still worth admiring.