America America

1963

America America

Critics Consensus

No consensus yet.

85%

Audience Score

User Ratings: 969

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Movie Info

This film chronicles the story of a young Greek immigrant who dreams of going to America in the late 1890s. Based on Elia Kazan's uncle's experiences, this is a moving story of hope and pathos, movingly depicting the trials and turmoil of the period.

Rating:

NR
Genre:

Drama
Directed By:

Elia Kazan
Written By:

Elia Kazan
In Theaters:

Dec 15, 1963 wide
On Disc/Streaming:

Feb 8, 2011
Runtime:

174 minutes
Studio:

Warner Home Video

Cast

Stathis Giallelis
as Stavros Topouzoglou

Frank Wolff
as Vartan Damadian

Harry Davis
as Isaac Topouzoglou

Elena Karam
as Vasso Topouzoglou

Estelle Hemsley
as Grandmother

Gregory Rozakis
as Hohanness Gardashian

Lou Antonio
as Abdul

Salem Ludwig
as Odysseus Topouzoglou

John Marley
as Garabet

Joanna Frank
as Vartuhi

Paul Mann
as Aleko Sinnikoglou

Linda Marsh
as Thomna Sinnikoglou

Robert H. Harris
as Aratoon Kebabian

Katharine Balfour
as Sophia Kebabian

Katherine Balfour
as Sophia Kebabian

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Critic Reviews for America America

All Critics (8) | Top Critics (2) | Fresh (5) | Rotten (3)

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

Feb 3, 2012 | Full Review…

Variety Staff
Variety
Top Critic
The entire movie benefits from its authenticity, geographical, historical and emotional, and may be seen as one of the peaks of Kazan's career.

Feb 3, 2012 | Full Review…

Geoff Andrew
Time Out
Top Critic
America America goes on for three hours, which is too long. The characters are picturesque and predictable.

Aug 12, 2019 | Full Review…

Dwight MacDonald
Esquire Magazine
Kazan allows the viewer to be removed from the film but also engage in the emotion of the moment

Oct 14, 2013 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

Kevin Carr
7M Pictures
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.

Jan 31, 2012 | Rating: 2/4 | Full Review…

TV Guide
... 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.

Feb 13, 2011 | Full Review…

Sean Axmaker
Parallax View
One of Kazan's most autobiographical films, drawing on the immigration of his uncle, was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, but never found an audience.

Feb 1, 2008 | Rating: B- | Full Review…

Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
One of the greatest ever immigrant pics.

Jan 28, 2008 | Rating: A | Full Review…

Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

View All Critic Reviews (8)

Audience Reviews for America America

Mar 30, 2016

"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.

Walter M Super Reviewer
Mar 30, 2016

really underappreciated film - near masterpiece

Bob S Super Reviewer