ETERNAL 'ODYSSEY'
These retellings bring Homer's epic into the modern age
"Dr. Cyclops" stars albert Dekker.
Gary Lockwood (left) and Keir Dullea play the astronaut scientists of Stanley Kubrick's "2001: a space Odyssey."
"Happy Birthday, Wanda June" was adapted for the screen in 1971, starring Rod Steiger and Susannah York.
From left, John Turturro, Tim Blake nelson and George Clooney in a scene from the 2000 film "O Brother, Where art Thou?". Clooney starred as fast‑talking escapee Everett in the Coen brothers' creative interpretation of Homer's "The Odyssey" set in 1930s Mississippi.
A good story never gets old.
But a great story always gets new.
A classic like "The Odyssey" inspires people to update it, rework it, mine it for contemporary meanings. It's one thing to make a movie of "The Odyssey" and call it "The Odyssey" – as Christopher Nolan has done with his blockbuster, now in theaters.
It's another thing to tell "The Odyssey" in disguise – which people also love to do. Here are some classic examples.
'Ulysses' (1922)
In James Joyce's novel, a seminal work of 20th century fiction, Odysseus is Leopold Bloom — a nondescript Jewish salesman whose 24-hour ramble through Dublin, dropping in on a funeral here and a brothel there, is the most famous day in literature: June 16, Bloomsday. The adventures in this modern "Odyssey" are little ones: The world has gotten a bit tamer since Homer's time. Joyce also gives us a Penelope (Molly Bloom) and a Telemachus (Stephen Dedalus).
'Dr. Cyclops' (1940)
Available to stream on Prime Video
This neat little "B" picture — the first sci-fimovie in color — concerns a mad scientist (Albert Dekker) who miniaturizes people to the size of dolls. Just as Odysseus and his men defeat the cyclops by putting out his eye, so these little people defeat the doctor by breaking his glasses.
'Contempt' (1963)
Available to stream on Tubi
Jean-Luc Goddard's film is about a Hollywood director (Fritz Lang) who wants to film "The Odyssey." But it's also a version of "The Odyssey" — with the screenwriter hero, Paul (Michael Piccoli), worried that his wife Camille (Brigitte Bardot) will succumb to her suitor, a flashy producer (Jack Palance). The film, incidentally, was inspired by real events. There was a Hollywood movie version of "The Odyssey" — "Ulysses," 1954, starring Kirk Douglas. Alberto Moravia, who wrote the book on which "Contempt" is based, worked on the "Ulysses" screenplay. Carlo Ponti produced both films.
'2001: A Space Odyssey' (1968)
Available to stream on Hulu
An astronaut (Keir Dullea) on a hazardous voyage battles a one-eyed monster, HAL 9000, in order to survive and reach his home: Earth. Like Odysseus, he comes back a near-god — transformed, via alien intervention, into a superior being. In Arthur C. Clarke's novel, the parallel is even more explicit. The returning "star child" sets off earth's orbiting nuclear warheads — ridding the world of them, just as Odysseus rids Ithaca of the parasitical suitors who are despoiling his house.
'Happy Birthday, Wanda June' (1970)
Kurt Vonnegut's stage comedy (filmed, unsuccessfully, in 1971) concerns a braggadocious big game hunter, presumed dead, who reappears to find his wife Penelope being courted by a pacifist and a vacuum cleaner salesman. The toxically masculine hero was modeled on Hemingway. But he's also, clearly, Odysseus.
'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' (2000)
Available to stream on Prime Video
George Clooney plays a character named Ulysses — an escaped convict — who encounters sirens (three seductive lady singers), a cyclops (John Goodman as a one-eyed Bible salesman), a blind prophet (Lee Weaver), and assorted other "Odyssey"-inspired characters on his way to reunite with his wife, Penny.
