In the transfer from page to screen, The Boys from Brazil, Ira Levin’s popular novel has been diluted, losing the bite and the little credibility that it had; the book was kind of guilty pleasure reading.
Grade: B (*** out of *****)
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Theatrical release poster
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Cast against type, Gregory Peck, usually playing heroic roles, is a Nazi geneticist (a Josef Mengele type) whose ambition is to create millions of clones in the shape of genius Adolph Hitler.
Laurence Olivier steals every scene he is in as the Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal, a man obsessively committed to his cause.
Director Franklin J. Schaffner, who had made a much better job with the 1970 “Patton,” for which he won the Oscar, had the smarts of casting the secondary roles with skillful stage actors, such as Brits Rosemary Harris, Michael Gough, and Denholm Elliott, American Uta Hagen (better known as acting guru, in a rare screen appearance), Austrian Lili Palmer, and the always reliable James Mason.
The movie was moderately popular at the box office.
Oscar Nominations: 3
Actor: Laurence Olivier
Score (Original): Jerry Goldsmith
Film Editing: Robert E. Swink
Oscar Awards: None
Oscar Context
This was Olivier’s tenth and last Oscar nomination; the winner was Jon Voight for “Coming Home.”
The scoring Oscar went to Giorgio Moroder for “Midnight Express,” and the editing award to Peter Zinner for “The Deer Hunter.”
Cast
Gregory Peck as Dr. Josef Mengele
Laurence Olivier as Ezra Lieberman
James Mason as Col. Eduard Seibert
Lilli Palmer as Esther Lieberman
Uta Hagen as Frieda Maloney
Steve Guttenberg as Barry Kohler
Denholm Elliott as Sidney Beynon
Rosemary Harris as Frau Doring
John Dehner as Henry Wheelock
John Rubinstein as David Bennett
Anne Meara as Mrs Curry
Jeremy Black as Jack Curry, Jr. / Simon Harrington / Erich Doring / Bobby Wheelock
Bruno Ganz as Dr. Bruckner
Walter Gotell as Capt. Gerhardt Mundt
David Hurst as Strasser
Wolfgang Preiss as Lofquist
Michael Gough as Mr Harrington
Joachim Hansen as Fassler
Sky du Mont as Friedrich Hessen
Carl Duering as Maj. Ludwig Trausteiner
Linda Hayden as Nancy
Richard Marner as Emil Doring
Georg Marischka as Gunther
Günter Meisner as Farnbach
Prunella Scales as Mrs Harrington
Raúl Faustino Saldanha as Ismael
Wolf Kahler as Otto Schwimmer
Credits:
Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner
Screenplay by Heywood Gould, Based on “The Boys from Brazil” by Ira Levin
Produced by Martin Richards, Stanley O’Toole, Robert Fryer
Cinematography Henri Decaë
Edited by Robert Swink
Music by Jerry Goldsmith
Production companies: ITC Entertainment, Producer Circle
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release date: October 6, 1978
Running time: 125 minutes
Budget $12 million
Box office $19,000,000; $7,600,000 (rentals)
