Delayed Reaction: Exodus

Premise: Holocaust survivors being held at a British internment camp in Cyprus sneak on a boat headed for Palestine and help to establish a Jewish state once they arrive.

My god, I'm not a fan of this era of Hollywood movies. No wonder the "New Hollywood" wiped it out. This is from Hollywood's epic craze, when studios put down huge budgets on star-studded, 3+ hour movies in hopes of becoming the next Gone with the Wind. I respect some of these movies. Spartacus and Ben-Hur have their moments. Lawrence of Arabia is worthy of its place in the film pantheon. I'm getting to the second-tier movies now though, and I'm not impressed.

Sure, Paul Newman is a goddamn movie star. Eva Marie Saint holds the screen as well as anyone. It will never stop being cool to see some of the huge shots with hundreds of extras that I know a computer didn't touch. This movie is so god-damn long though. There's no reason for it. Few things kill my excitement for a movie more than finding out it has an intermission. The idea of an intermission is a welcome one. I have a poor bladder. A 5-minute intermission for any 2+ hour movie would be great (in the theater). Sadly, only a certain kind of movie in my experience includes an intermission, and those are movies of a certain era that seem to take pride in how ungodly long they are.

I'm not stupid. I understand that this is a reflection of the cinema I've been raised on. I'm used to shorter takes, more cuts, and constant action in movies. I'm annoyed by dull older movies the same way that my parents are annoyed by frenetic movies that refuse to take a breath. When it comes to classic cinema though, I'd rather devote my time to zippy 100-minute movies than learn how to set aside 3.5 hours to appreciate Cleopatra. It's just not the best use of my time.

So yeah, this isn't going to be a helpful Reaction for a substantive discussion of the movie Exodus (How many of many Reactions really are?). If I wasn't so committed to write something about every single movie I see, then I'd skip this. It's too late for that though. I've made my bed. Now I must lie in it.

I'm also not that excited to talk about this movie because it's a lot of the things that people most disliked about classic [and present Hollywood]. I mean, what percentage of the cast was actually Jewish? It was a lot of size for the sake of size too. I appreciate the "let's all just get along" ethos of the movie, but it sure felt reductive.

Mostly though, this movie was sand through my fingers. Almost as soon as I watched it, I'd forgotten everything about it. That's when I decided I definitely wasn't going to waste nearly 500 words on it.

Verdict: Weakly Don't Recommend