Great Character: Alexis Zorba (“Zorba the Greek”)

One of my absolute favorite movie characters of all-time: Alexis Zorba from the 1964 movie Zorba the Greek [screenplay by Mihalis Kakogiannis, based on the novel by Nikos Kazantzakis.

Played by Anthony Quinn, who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor, Zorba is the story’s ‘heart’ in relation to Basil [Alan Bates] who is the ‘head’ in this tale of strange sojourners. Here is the plot summary from IMDB:

An uptight English writer traveling to Crete on a matter of business finds his life changed forever when he meets the gregarious Alexis Zorba.

Gregarious? Oh, yes. And much more. Zorba is opinionated, impulsive, stubborn, visionary but most of all passionate. Here are some Zorba quotes:

“If a woman sleeps alone, it puts a shame on all men.”

“Damn it boss, I like you too much not to say it. You’ve got everthing except one thing: madness! A man needs a little madness, or else… he never dares cut the rope and be free.”

“Am I not a man? And is a man not stupid? I’m a man, so I married. Wife, children, house, everything. The full catastrophe.”

“You think too much. That is your trouble. Clever people and grocers, they weigh everything.”

As far as Mentor characters go, Zorba is the opposite of a sage, grandfatherly type like Obi-Wan Kenobi, and yet Zorba is every bit the teacher. We see this on display in the movie’s denouement, one of the most joyous and improbable of any I can remember:

Alexis Zorba, a truly great movie character.

You know, watching that beach scene again, where Zorba teaches Basil to dance reminded me of another great example of characters dancing on the beach:

And the long distance shot at the very end of the Zorba beach scene reminded me of this:

I wonder if Darabont had Zorba in mind when he framed the very last image of Shawshank?

Any Zorba the Greek fans out there? Go to comments and I’ll be happy to swap cinematic memories with you because I love this movie so much.

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