Zorba the Greek

[cookie]

I just found a VCR of this around somewhere for like AUD5 and had not seen it since the first time c15 years ago.

This would be a film that has had a role in changing the course of my life ...how about other Loungers?.

RE: the clothes

It it was made in 1965 from memory but is supposed to be in the late 40s or early 50s? Please advise as the clothes that Allan Bates wears seem to be that era or earlier in that uni prof Cambridge spy look.

The scene where Zorba gets caught up "in town" is a classic.

The other thing that hit home was the horrific "honour killing" (of the widow Irene Pappas) that is so much the talk of the UK at the moment in certain migrant communities.

Shows us that a lot of Europe is only a generation or two removed from what we see today manifested in other cultures.

 

[JohnTheGreek]

Good Movie.....better book. Surely, I am biased but I think Kazantzakis is one of the more important authors of the 20th Century and might not be fully appreciated to this day.

I also agree that Europe is hesitant or unable to realize that it houses or recently housed pockets of valuable as well as unfortunate tradition. For example, I had an uncle killed in Crete for breaking a marital engagement and the year was 1973. Probably still happens today to be honest. Not that this particular tradition should be upheld but I really worry about Crete becoming "Europeanized" to death. Frankly, maybe its time for an end to the embrace of "Enosis". Kazantzakis would likely approve.

Best,

John

 

[Senator Jack]

Though I've watched this film three or four times, my favorite memory of it is my Greek girlfriend teaching me the naftiko (sailor dance) to the credits at two a.m. on a boiling summer night with the windows wide open and us drunk and in our underwear. But I suppose that's the sort of influence Zorba would have on people.

 

[Doctor Strange]

I saw it as a kid and loved it. My parents had the great soundtrack LP, which interspersed the hypnotic instrumentals with great bits of dialog from the film, e.g.:

Zorba: "Life IS trouble, only death is not! To be alive is to undo your belt and LOOK for trouble."

I've seen it fairly recently and think it still holds up pretty well, but I have to agree that the original novel is even better than the film adaptation.

 

[K.D. Lightner]

I read the novel a few years before the movie came out. The novel is better, but the movie is a classic.

If Zorba taught me anything, it was to throw caution to the wind and just live for the moment, for the joy of living.

Too bad Quinn could not have won an Oscar for his role as Zorba, probably the best part he ever played. In any other year he might have won it, but the year Zorba came out, so did My Fair Lady, and Harrison won for his equally memorable -- on stage and screen -- Henry Higgins.

MY favorite actress for many years has been Irene Pappas. I got to see her on Broadway in The Bacchae.

karol

 

[JohnTheGreek]

Hey Zorba, are you married???

"Am I not a man? Is a man not stupid? I am a man and therefore I am married – wife, kids, house – the whole catastrophe"


Or my favorite quote....

"If a woman sleeps alone, it puts a shame on all men"

Best,

John

 

[cookie]

I saw it as a kid and loved it. My parents had the great soundtrack LP, which interspersed the hypnotic instrumentals with great bits of dialog from the film, e.g.:

Zorba: "Life IS trouble, only death is not! To be alive is to undo your belt and LOOK for trouble."

I've seen it fairly recently and think it still holds up pretty well, but I have to agree that the original novel is even better than the film adaptation.

Yes me too I listened to the soundtrack first and was - yes- hypnotized and even until today can repeat all the phrases and riffs - amazing!

 

[cookie]

Hey Zorba, are you married???

"Am I not a man? Is a man not stupid? I am a man and therefore I am married – wife, kids, house – the whole catastrophe"


Or my favorite quote....

"If a woman sleeps alone, it puts a shame on all men"

Best,

John

John how many times have you used that expression "the full catastrophe"? It's even better because 'katastrofia' is a Greek word originally - like a lot of English 'adoptions'. I like to use it with Greeks - they immediately recognise the reference and chuckle!

 

[Senator Jack]

One of my favorite Greek words is 'anestitos'. Means what it sounds like and perfectly describes too many people you see around today.

The other Hadjidakis score I love is to 'Topkapi'. Well worth picking up and I've read it's been released on CD.

 

[Harp]

I also agree that Europe is hesitant or unable to realize that it houses or recently housed pockets of valuable as well as unfortunate tradition. For example, I had an uncle killed in Crete for breaking a marital engagement and the year was 1973. Probably still happens today to be honest.
John

I spent a tour as an adviser with the Greek Army in Macedonia
and a guy in my unit made a false promise, then had a contract placed
on his head. He was spirited out of the Hellenic battalion hdqts inside
a mail sack for a very fast drive to Salonika Airport. A subtle warning
was sent to the rest of us to behave ourselves.

 

[Senator Jack]

One of my favorite places to visit was The Mani. There were actual blood feuds going on there till the 70s and the rest of the Greeks thought the inhabitants were cannibals!

The towers were built higher and higher so as to get the advantage to shoot at your neighbor.

 

[JohnTheGreek]

Cookie,

Not surprisingly, I use that phrase all the time. I am also fond of "stolen meat taste's better".

Harp,

I think you meant to write, "I was an adviser with the Greek Army in Greece" right? There is no "Macedonia" as a separate entity....only as a part of Greece.

Jack,

Have you been to the Arkadi Monastery in Crete? A bunch of villagers (and monks) held of the Turks for days and when the force broke through exterior of the courtyard, sought refuge in a room filled with powder being supplied to the freedomfighters in the area. Rather than surrender their women to Turkish caresses, they surrendered them to flames. There is a wonderful little chapel there lined on the interior with the bones of those brave souls.

Best,

John

 

[Harp]

Harp,

I think you meant to write, "I was an adviser with the Greek Army in Greece" right? There is no "Macedonia" as a separate entity....only as a part of Greece.
John

Endaxi. 'Macedonia' is NATO regional sector lingo.

 

[cookie]

Endaxi. 'Macedonia' is NATO regional sector lingo.

Lipon!

 

[Senator Jack]

I'm ashamed to say I have yet to travel to Crete. It was on my list for the next trip over, but I haven't been back since the conversion to the Euro; everyone tells me everything is 3x the price these days. Apart from the beautiful weather, fabulous beaches, friendly people, and tavernas loaded with stifado, one of the reasons I kept going back is that in September all the tourists were gone and we could get a room on the beach for around $20 U.S. a night. No more, as I've been told.

I've seen the piles of bones displayed in a monastery on Chios, though. Some skulls had bullet holes through them. How tragic. Sometimes you wonder about the animosity that still exists between the two nations, and then you see something like that...

Regards,

Senator Jack

 

[Harp]

Lipon!

or, "Land North Zulu." Ohee provlima, felos.

 

[JohnTheGreek]

 

[cookie]

Nikos Kazantzakis

Just bought the book and started it yesterday (AUD20) and obviously being reprinted due to big interest - it was on the shelf easy peasy to grab - no need to go on search and destroy mission. Ohi Provlima!

Oh the days when I went to Greek Islands every year on holidays - so many fun times - cosmopolitko atmosfera!

Am I the only one who hallucinated on ouzo or is this a common provlima?:eusa_clap lol

 

[JohnTheGreek]

Ouzo shouldn't get you as bad as tsikoudia. That there is the stuff dreams are made of.....amazingly realistic dreams. I always sneak 12 litres of tsik back into Cairo when I come back from summer vacation...and it never seems to last more than half way to the next july.

Best,

John

 

[cookie]

Ouzo shouldn't get you as bad as tsikoudia. That there is the stuff dreams are made of.....amazingly realistic dreams. I always sneak 12 litres of tsik back into Cairo when I come back from summer vacation...and it never seems to last more than half way to the next july.

Best,

John

John is this some type of Mastika or Arak? Teen afto?

C