It stars Anthony Quinn as Zorba, an earthy and boisterous Cretan peasant, and Alan Bates as Basil, the buttoned-up young intellectual he befriends.

Much of the film's interactions focus on the lead characters' views and attitudes, culminating in the final scene where they dance joyfully before parting ways.

Though the film has elements of comedy, and Kazantzakis's anti-hero Zorba has been generally understood as a 'life-affirming' personality (faithfully reproduced in Cacoyannis's screenplay), it features a gruesome femicide, and Zorba's cynical, egotistical and manipulative personality combined with his determined optimism is explicitly shown to be a response to, and in defiance of, the cruelties and vicissitudes of life.

Produced in Greece for under $1 million, Zorba was a considerable critical and commercial success, grossing over nine times its production budget at the U.S. box office alone.

Other nominations included Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor for Anthony Quinn, whose performance has been cited as one of the most iconic in film history,[6][7] and which spawned the folk dance known as the sirtaki.

Basil explains to Zorba that he is travelling to a Cretan village where he owns some land with the intention of re-opening a lignite mine and perhaps curing his writer's block.

They lodge initially with an elderly French former cabaret dancer named Madame Hortense in her self-styled "Hotel Ritz".

Hortense relates her glamorous and exotic past as a courtesan among the competing Mediterranean powers, hinting that she was the lover of an Italian Admiral called Cannavaro (after whom she has named her pet parrot).

Zorba admits to Basil that he has a chequered past, having been guilty of rape and murder as a soldier, his excuse being that they were 'only' Bulgarians and Turks.

Zorba then has an idea to use the forest in the nearby mountains to source lumber to make new pit-props to replace the rotten timbers of the mine.

Word spreads of Basil's visit to the Widow and the men of the village, to make trouble, tell the youth who is in love with her, whereupon he drowns himself.

The villagers close ranks around the father and his accomplices, shielding them as they all disperse, leaving only the outsiders, Basil, Zorba, and the idiot Mimithos, who is distraught.

The film cuts to a scene in which Basil, Zorba and the villagers construct the zip-wire system for the timber, to the accompaniment of light-hearted music on the soundtrack.

Zorba conjures up a story that he had ordered a white satin wedding dress, lined with pearls and adorned with real gold.

Zorba remains unfazed and signals for the third log, which accelerates with such violence that it destroys the entire contraption creating havoc among the crowd.

Specific locations featured include the city of Chania, the village of Kokkino Chorio in the Apokoronas region and Stavros Beach in the Akrotiri peninsula.

[9] Simone Signoret began filming the role of Madame Hortense; Lila Kedrova replaced her early in the production.

[5] Reviews of the film were generally positive, with Anthony Quinn and Lila Kedrova receiving numerous accolades for their performances, although a few critics found fault with the screenplay.

"[14] Margaret Harford of the Los Angeles Times declared that the film would "stand among the year's best motion pictures, an unusual, engrossing effort" with spots both "outrageously funny" and "painfully sad and tragic.

"[15] Richard L. Coe of The Washington Post deemed it "a memorable picture" with a "bravura performance" from Quinn, adding that "Lila Kedrova as the dying Mme Hortense is spectacularly touching.

"[17] Brendan Gill of The New Yorker wrote that Cacoyannis had directed the film with "enormous verve" but had written a "not very tidy, not very plausible screenplay."

[22] In a January 15, 1968 Peanuts comic strip, Snoopy is happily dancing atop of his doghouse with Lucy looking on until the final panel where she comments: "Zorba the Greek, you aren't!".