Surprisingly, this was the first time I saw this movie. That is partly surprising because I like “Marathon Man” which is similar to it. It is based on the best selling novel by Ira Levin which was published in 1976. The director was Franklin Schaffner (Patton, The War Lord). It was nominated for Academy Awards for Film Editing and Original Music Score. Laurence Olivier received his record setting 10th nomination, this time for Best Actor. (Jack Nicholson now holds the record with 12.) Olivier made the movie because he was getting old and wanted to build up his fortune for his family. Gregory Peck was nominated for a Golden Globe.
The film opens in Paraguay. Amateur Nazi hunter Barry Kohler (Steve Guttenberg) is on the trail of some shady characters belonging to a group called the Kamaraden. He contacts the Elie Wieselish Ezra Lieberman (Olivier) about the war criminals that he has uncovered, but Lieberman thinks he’s a nut and tells him to go home. When Kohler is murdered, Lieberman has a change of heart and picks up where Kohler left off. He discovers that Josef Mengele is in charge of an operation that involves assassinating 94 obscure middle-class drones. They are all old men and the assassinations must take place in the next two years. Mengele’s Renfield is a Col. Selbert (James Mason) Lieberman must figure out the connection between these men and thwart Mengele’s plot. I’ll give you a hint. It involves cloning.
“The Boys of Brazil” does not fit well into the war movie genre. It is more of a thriller and could even be argued to be a horror movie. In this case, Mengele is akin to Frankenstein – the doctor, not the monster. And you could argue that Mengele’s monster (Hitler) is worse than Frankenstein’s. You could call the movie a mystery because it has you wondering why these old men are being killed. Or it's a science fiction film - it was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film. The plot is a bit far-fetched, but it’s not inconceivable.
The main reason to watch it is for the cast. It is hard to name a movie starring Olivier or Peck that was bad. Peck is all in as the only clearly villainous character in his career. It is fun to see him playing a bad guy. Olivier is a bit off-kilter as he plays Lieberman as a dolt. Mason had wanted one of the two main characters, but settled for Selbert because he had never visited Portugal, where the film was shot. Peck and Olivier got to act out a fight that may have set a record for oldest actors to have a fight in a movie. They get to bite in the fight! That’s worth the admission alone.
“Marathon Man” is a better movie, but “The Boys from Brazil” is an enjoyable watch. It’s chilling to think that there are people who watch it wishing it was a true story and rueing the bad ending.
GRADE = B-
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please fell free to comment. I would love to hear what you think and will respond.