Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7960 in VHS
• Released on: 1994-11-28
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Formats: Black & White, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 168 minutes

Customer Reviews

A powerful and inspirational story
This is a extremely powerful and absorbing movie that is recommended to anyone who has ever had a hunger to achieve something worthy.
It is rightfully called a masterpiece by many.

The characters are very believable and interesting. One can feel the absolute frustration in the main character. He is an individual with obvious flaws which make him ever so much human and not some 2 dimensional hero. Along his struggle-filled journey, he meets a kaleidoscope of other complex characters, all very well portrayed.

The soundtrack is very evocative yet very subtle and adds just the right flavor to the movie like oregano to spaghetti sauce.

The pace of the movie is at times slow, at times fast but the tempo is always appropriate for the scene.

This is one of those rare movies that will stay with you for days after viewing it.

Most highly recommended!!

TUNNEL VISION
This movie is totally engrossing for about three hours
Well known moviemaker ELia Kazan made this film as a tribute to about his uncle Stavros Topouzoglou and his struggles to come to America in the late 19th century .The thing l liked best about the film was how Kazan did not in- volve politics in the movie l am not an expert in Greek or Turkish history so bear with me .l know that Greeks were not happy about living in Turkey being a minority esp when they had a country to go back to [Greece].The Armenians were in a simular situation but they were hated by the Turks much more than the Greeks l am not sure why but l guess thats another movie.
The film touches on this subject a little but it was mostly about human nature in gereral .Stavros' family esp his father wanted him to go to lstanbul to work at his cousin's business .He intended to go there for awhile save money and go to America [keeping that a secret from his family]This was a grueling month trip riding a donkey and walking mostly though rural towns with extreme poverty .Being really kind hearted Stavros was taken advantage of and robbed on the way .When he finally arrives in lstanbul he is flat broke ,his cousin's business was failing and he was hoping Stavros would bail him out .When he finds out what happened he tries to marry off Stavros to a plain girl w/a rich father.When Stavros balks at this plan his cousin kicks him out and he wanders the streets of lstanbul looking for work and eating scraps while saving up for a ticket to the USA .He was working many hours a day doing dangerous work and he had a few bucks saved.After 9 monthes of saving his money is stolen by a prostitute and he was totally destitute .Then he was living in a dusty cellar with dozens of other folks ,some of them were plotting a violent attack on somebody l am not sure who or why .
Somehow the authorities got wind of this and the cops just randomly started shooting at the people in the cellar though the windows .Stavros was unconcious but not dead but he was put on a wagon with a whole bunch of dead people ,the police were throwing their bodies of a cliff into the ocean .He fell off the wagon and was badly injured .He somehow got back to his cousins store .His cousin nursed him back to health and Stavros agreed to marry his friends daughter .Stavros was planning to take the dowry money and go to America with it.His future wife sensed that something was wrong and he told her the truth ,she offered to go to America with him explaining that she had nothing else to live for! Meanwhile he ran into a friend he met on his trip to lstanbul .His friend was sick and weak like Stavros was a few months ago so he gave his some clothes food and shoes etc .
He ran into his friend again and he was going to America with a businessman that offered to pay for his ticket in exchange for work .He told his wife to be that the deal was off and he couldnt marry her l was hoping they would meet again but they didnt .He was finally on the boat to America and he had a tryst w/a young married woman that was married to an old man [a friend of his almost father in law ]When the man find out he gets Stavros charged with a crime and the authorities in New York sent him back to Turkey ,He was heartbroken but soon fate takes a turn and he get to America and eventually his whole Family arrives here too [end]

Amazing movie - but try to find it for a reasonable price!
Why, on Amazon, can you find Nazi propaganda films such as "Triumph of the Will" for about $20, but you cannot find a copy of "America,America" for less than about $61? The fact that it has not been released yet on DVD is very curious...
The film is a powerful telling of the family story of one of the greatest American directors. You cannot understand Kazan's love for America without seeing this film.