America, America (The Anatolian Smile) (1963)

67% of critics liked it
(6 reviews)
87% of users liked it
(817 ratings)

The story of director Kazan's uncle, who grew up in a small village as a member of the Greek minority in Turkey in the end of the 19th century. When the oppression by the Turks increases, his father provides the young man with the family treasures and sends him to Constantinople. There he is… More The story of director Kazan's uncle, who grew up in a small village as a member of the Greek minority in Turkey in the end of the 19th century. When the oppression by the Turks increases, his father provides the young man with the family treasures and sends him to Constantinople. There he is supposed to make money and get the family to join him. But his own dream is different: America...

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 2 hr. 54 min.
Directed By: Elia Kazan
Genres: Drama

In Theaters: Dec 15, 1963 Wide
On DVD: Feb 8, 2011

Critic Reviews

Bosley Crowther, New York Times
Elia Kazan's Greek uncle, who was the first of his family to emigrate to the United States, is paid a splendid tribute by his nephew in the new film, America, America.
Variety Staff, Variety
Elia Kazan gives a penetrating, thorough and profoundly affecting account of the hardships endured and surmounted at the turn of the century by a young Greek lad
Geoff Andrew, Time Out
The entire movie benefits from its authenticity, geographical, historical and emotional, and may be seen as one of the peaks of Kazan's career.
, TV Guide's Movie Guide
A nicely told, occasionally highly emotional story, but the main purpose of the film seems to be to give writer-director Elia Kazan an excuse to pat himself on the back.
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
Kazan's personal film, drawing on the immigration experience of his family, was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar but was a big commercial flop.
Sean Axmaker, Parallax View
... while rich with detail of the life and culture of early 20th Century Turkey, it doesn't flow as much as pool around various episodes on the road of Stavros' education.

Read all 6 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Bob S

really underappreciated film - near masterpiece
Walter M

"America, America" starts in Anatolia in 1896 where Stavros(Stathis Giallelis), a Greek, and Vartan(Frank Wolff), an Armenian, scrape by on bringing ice down from the mountains to sell in the market. As bad as things are them for right now, they are about to get a whole lot… More
"America, America" starts in Anatolia in 1896 where Stavros(Stathis Giallelis), a Greek, and Vartan(Frank Wolff), an Armenian, scrape by on bringing ice down from the mountains to sell in the market. As bad as things are them for right now, they are about to get a whole lot worse with the Turkish authorities using the excuse of a fire at the central bank to crack down on the minorities, leaving Vartan dead and Stavros frustrated to try and leave for America. After giving his shoes to a beggar on the road, he returns home at the end of the day. By then, his father(Harry Davis) has seen the writing on the wall, too, intending to send Stavros to Constantinople to seek out his cousin in order to pave the way for the rest of his family. Every family has a story to tell about how they came to live in America and this is Elia Kazan's personal one about his uncle, grandly told in a suitably epic fashion, with Haskell Wexler's sublime cinematography, that does get a little muddled towards the end. Along the way, we get a great sense of what it was like at the time and what it took to undertake such an arduous journey,(just getting to Constantinople is risky enough) which does not change a person so much as the people they encounter along the way. If you know the history of the region(specifically the Armenian genocide and what little I gleaned from Jeffrey Eugenides' novel 'Middlesex'), then you know what happens next and the timing could not have been any better for Stavros and family.

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America, America (The Anatolian Smile) (1963)

Critic Reviews

Featured Audience Ratings

Bob S

Walter M

Cast

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