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The Exiles

Released Jul 13, 1961 1h 20m Drama List
89% Tomatometer 38 Reviews 70% Popcornmeter 250+ Ratings
In a Native American neighborhood in Los Angeles, Homer (Homer Nish) lives with his pregnant wife, Yvonne (Yvonne Williams), in a crowded apartment. While Homer goes drinking with his friend Tommy (Tom Reynolds), Yvonne is left at a movie by herself. As the men get progressively drunker, Yvonne realizes her husband is not coming home. Meanwhile, Homer and Tommy wander through the nighttime city, looking for fights, playing poker and discussing their problems as Native Americans.
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The Exiles

The Exiles

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Critics Consensus

An historic film, The Exiles combines gritty realism and a loosely-spun, improvisational narrative to capture the lives of Native Americans adrift in a run-down Los Angeles neighborhood in the early 1960s.

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Critics Reviews

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Richard Brody New Yorker As much an impressionistic gallery of urban landscapes as a set of candid portraits, the film joins an ardent sense of place with the subtle flux of inner life. Jul 13, 2020 Full Review Joshua Rothkopf Time Out Kent MacKenzie's forgotten indie basks in the retroactive glow of never having had a theatrical release -- as if that somehow makes it a work of misunderstood genius. Rated: 3/5 Nov 17, 2011 Full Review Ann Hornaday Washington Post A fascinating hybrid of art and life, The Exiles may not hew entirely faithfully to literal truth but nonetheless conveys a form of artistic honesty that is inescapable. It's a mesmerizing marriage of poetry and prose. Sep 24, 2011 Full Review Sean Axmaker Stream on Demand ... there is also something singular and specific about these people and the culture they have created within the city: [Kent] Mackenzie's portrait may be fiction but this world is very real. May 4, 2017 Full Review Richard von Busack MetroActive The exiles of the title mean the Indians-exiled from their land and with no connection to the white-run city around them. The title also means us: anyone who has ever been trapped in a late-night city, caught by the neon's glare like a moth. Rated: 5/5 Jun 20, 2016 Full Review Amy Taubin Artforum The question of who is looking and to what end is barely posed, let alone answered. Mar 16, 2015 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (26) audience reviews
William L The perfect film for critics to love - barely recognized by the public upon release and still tightly distributed even today. Not quite a docudrama, but instead told in a documentary style with subjects that could pass for genuine (if the amateur acting style wasn't so prevalent), The Exiles focuses on culture clash in a generation of Native Americans nearing completion of the transition from traditional to urban life. There is still a distinctive identity to their subculture, but plenty of influence from the city - the slicked-back hairstyles, the cruising down Main Street, the blue collar lifestyle, and the young, aimless wandering. The film emphasizes the gaps preventing true integration, particularly the treatment of Native Americans as an uncomfortable 'other', taking on a topic that was certainly progressive for its time (more than a decade before Brando would be deemed a dangerous radical for turning down his Oscar in protest of the treatment of Native Americans), and features some great shots of mid-century LA portrayed as a harsh and hostile (if outwardly subdued) battle for survival, but is paced rather slowly without much in the way of major events over the course of its runtime, and with quite a bit of its delivery coming off as painfully inauthentic. (3/5) Rated 3 out of 5 stars 06/10/21 Full Review Audience Member THE EXILES is an excellent film about alienation in Los Angeles - a masterpiece which should be revisited again and again by filmmakers everywhere as a triumph of the will. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/19/23 Full Review Audience Member A fascinating hybrid of art and life, The Exiles may not hew entirely faithfully to literal truth but nonetheless conveys a form of artistic honesty that is inescapable. It's a mesmerizing marriage of poetry and prose. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/25/23 Full Review Audience Member has a doc-like quality to this look at native Americans Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member Crude and low-budget but fascinating film is a snapshot of a time (1961) and minority (Native Americans). Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Audience Member The cover features breathless reviews by phonies, enraptured at a film where we watch irresponsible adults stagger around in the dark. Hardly miraculous but still an interesting project taken on by the filmmakers. I just don't like the hyperbolic ejaculation smeared on the jacket. But seriously, no normal human being uses the term "bread" as much as the turd characters in this movie. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/16/23 Full Review Read all reviews
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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis In a Native American neighborhood in Los Angeles, Homer (Homer Nish) lives with his pregnant wife, Yvonne (Yvonne Williams), in a crowded apartment. While Homer goes drinking with his friend Tommy (Tom Reynolds), Yvonne is left at a movie by herself. As the men get progressively drunker, Yvonne realizes her husband is not coming home. Meanwhile, Homer and Tommy wander through the nighttime city, looking for fights, playing poker and discussing their problems as Native Americans.
Director
Kent MacKenzie
Producer
Kent MacKenzie
Screenwriter
Kent MacKenzie
Distributor
Pathé Contemporary Films
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jul 13, 1961, Original
Release Date (DVD)
Nov 17, 2009
Box Office (Gross USA)
$26.5K
Runtime
1h 20m
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