The Boys from Brazil (1978)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Franklin J. Schaffner

Writers:

Ira Levin (novel)
Heywood Gould (screenplay)

Release Date:

12 October 1978 (Netherlands)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

If they survive...will we?

Plot:

A Nazi hunter in Paraguay discovers a sinister and bizarre plot to rekindle the Third Reich.

Plot Keywords:

Adoption | Female Nudity | Civil Servant | Doting Mother | Multiple Murder

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 1 win & 7 nominations

Cast

Gregory Peck	...	Dr. Josef Mengele
Laurence Olivier	...	Ezra Lieberman
James Mason	...	Eduard Seibert
Lilli Palmer	...	Esther Lieberman
Uta Hagen	...	Frieda Maloney
Steve Guttenberg	...	Barry Kohler (as Steven Guttenberg)
Denholm Elliott	...	Sidney Beynon
Rosemary Harris	...	Mrs. Doring
John Dehner	...	Henry Wheelock
John Rubinstein	...	David Bennett
Anne Meara	...	Mrs. Curry
Jeremy Black	...	Jack Curry / Simon Harrington / Erich Doring / Bobby Wheelock
Bruno Ganz	...	Professor Bruckner
Walter Gotell	...	Mundt
David Hurst	...	Strasser

Also Known As:

Boys from the Brussel (Philippines: English title)
The Boys from Brazil – Geheimakte Viertes Reich (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
Anthropokynigito se dyo ipeirous (Greece) [el]
Brasilian pojat (Finland) [fi]
Ces garçons qui venaient du Brésil (France) [fr]
Chlopcy z Brazylii (Poland) [pl]
Comandos da Morte, Os (Portugal) [pt]
Exontosate ton dimio tou Auschwitz (Greece) (reissue title) [el]
Meninos do Brasil (Brazil) [pt]
Niños de Brasil, Los (Argentina) [es]
Niños del Brasil, Los (Spain) [es]
Pojkarna från Brasilien (Sweden) [sv]
Ragazzi venuti dal Brasile, I (Italy) [it]

Runtime:

123 min | West Germany:100 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) (re-rating) (2002) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Canada:R (Nova Scotia) (original rating) | Canada:R (Ontario) | Australia:M | West Germany:16 | Brazil:14 | Argentina:18 | Finland:K-18 | France:-16 | Norway:18 | South Korea:15 (DVD rating) | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:X (original rating) | USA:R | UK:18 | Finland:K-15 (DVD rating) | Netherlands:16 | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Ateliers der Wien-Film G.m.b.H., Sievering, Vienna, Austria

Company:

Incorporated Television Company (ITC)

Trivia:

When this movie was being made, the real Josef Mengele was still alive in Sao Paolo, Brazil. He died in 1979, shortly after the movie's release.

Goofs:

Continuity: The train seen in the film's first shot is suddenly moving about 1/3 faster in the close-up that comes immediately after it.

Quotes:

Ezra Lieberman: Did you kill Wheelock?
Dr. Josef Mengele: [sarcastically] No, he's in the kitchen mixing us some cocktails!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Justice League: Epilogue (#4.13)" (2005)

Soundtrack:

WE'RE HOME AGAIN

Better than you'd think

Had I seen the film without reading the back of the video cassette, I would have enjoyed the film a lot more. But for some reason, a major plot point, revealed 1 1/2 hours into the film, is plainly written in black on orange. Since the movie moves in ever decreasing circles to reveal this secret quite efficiently, I don't see why the publicity department chose to sabotage it.

Nevertheless, the plot is more plausible than it sounds when you try to describe it (which, as I have just said, should be avoided anyway), and the leads play beautifully. Especially incredible is Laurence Olivier as the doddering, worldly-wise jewish Nazi hunter, Dr. Lieberman. You'd never expect the frail form in this movie to be the same man as Hamlet. Gregory Peck also plays Dr. Joseph Mengele as suitably and calmly evil. A lesser actor would find playing the part of a Nazi Death Doctor, responsible for some of the worst atrocities in human history, a perfect excuse to ham it up and click into the black-hatted, moustache-twisting token villain.

The less impressive acting of Steve Guttenberg overacting into a telephone and Jeremy Black with a really strange german accent as Erich Doring. This I can forgive. The ending is also comfortable and understated, with a moral instead of a huge explosion, as could have been expected in a 90's movie. Worth seeing, especially if you know nothing about the film.