The Odyssey (1997) (TV)

Director:

Andrei Konchalovsky

Writers (WGA):

Homer (epic poem)
Andrei Konchalovsky (teleplay) ...

Release Date:

18 May 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Fantasy | Drama

Plot:

This lavish small-screen adaptation of Homer's ancient epic--replete with exotic Maltese and Turkish locations...

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman | Cyclops | Impalement | Odyssey | Blood

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Golden Globes. Another 2 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

Armand Assante	...	Odysseus
Greta Scacchi	...	Penelope
Isabella Rossellini	...	Athena
Bernadette Peters	...	Circe
Eric Roberts	...	Eurymachus
Irene Papas	...	Anticleia
Jeroen Krabbé	...	King Alcinous
Geraldine Chaplin	...	Eurycleia
Christopher Lee	...	Tiresias
Vanessa Williams	...	Calypso
Nicholas Clay	...	Menelaus
Adoni Anastassopoulos	...	Perimides
Paloma Baeza	...	Melanthe
Ron Cook	...	Eurybates
Reid Asato	...	Cyclops

Also Known As:

Abenteuer des Odysseus, Die (Germany)
Homer's Odyssey
Odysseia (Greece)
Odisea, La (Spain) [es]
Odisseia (Portugal) [pt]
Odyssée, L' (Canada: French title) [fr]
Odysséen (Sweden) [sv]
Odysseia (Finland) [fi]

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for violent sequences and some sensuality.

Runtime:

176 min (2 parts)

Country:

Italy | UK | Germany | Greece | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Germany:12 | Spain:13 | UK:12 (video rating) | USA:PG-13 | Canada:PG (Manitoba) | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Malta

Company:

American Zoetrope

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: After Achilles dies, he is laid on the pyre. However when we zoom in on his body, he is still breathing.

Quotes:

Eurymachus: [Odysseus has started to kill the suitors who are locked in a room with him] Wait, wait! What is our crime? We lived off you're land, that can be replaced. We did not kill anybody.
Odysseus: Your crime is that you tried to steal my world. A world that I built with my bare hands...
Eurymachus: Wait, now anybody...
Odysseus: with my blood, and my sweat. A world that I shared with a woman who bore me my son, and no one will ever take that from me. And now, you will die to a man in a river of blood.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Cruise (1998)

As good a book adaptation as you will ever see!

I watched this movie last evening after not seeing it for at least four years and was completely absorbed by it again. I used to show it to my year eight high school classes as a tie-in to our introductory ancient history syllabus and the movie was well received. One of the most important aspects of movie/doco watching for adolescents is the time a particular scene stays before their eyes-the longer it stays the sooner adolescent-fidget sets in and the movie/doco, regardless of its inherent strength, is lost for them. Seen from this perspective, The Odyssey is a superbly made film.

Besides this superlative editing, the strength of the characters is dominant from the opening scenes and simply becomes stronger as the movie progresses, climaxing with the wonderful Calypso scene near the end. Vanessa William's superb rendition of her character is but a mirror of the other great acting roles distributed throughout the movie. It says much about the film adaptation of a mythological work that is roughly three thousand years old that the actors can make the essential humanness of the epic ring true. Dare I say it was "believable!"

If you want to view an extremely watchable movie then make every attempt to see this one-in my opinion, everything about it is fabulous!