ZORBA THE GREEK (1964) ***1/2 "A turkey!" How can you go wrong with a Kazantzakis novel, so long as the actors say what he wrote? Anthony Quinn, Anthony Quinn yes, without any question, but in some of the scenes Alan Bates is nearly as good playing Apollo to Zorba's Dionysius. Of course actors will assure you that Dionysius is the better role. For that matter Irene Papas has a look or two, and who amongst us doesn't feel bad for the way we treated Lila Kedrova somewhere along the line? Give the bag lady a fiver, dammit! The rest of the cast is the "people of Crete" which makes me wonder about the little old ladies dressed in black...surely they knew that they were mocked, how did they feel about that...I mean, didn't they? Or did Michael Cacoyannis just say "Ok, here's the scene where we murder the widow because the slept with the English guy..." Everyone is right Quinn is great, and guys like Zorba strike me as knowing a bit more about God than the standardized guys in pointy caps. And that's got to be worth knowing. Life is trouble. Only death is not.
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