The Boys From Brazil
1978 Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner
Synopsis
Nazi hunter Ezra Lieberman discovers a sinister and bizarre plot to rekindle the Third Reich.
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A movie about legendary evil starring legendary titans, all rekindled into a conglomerate of beautiful photography, gigantic Jerry Goldsmith score and superb acting, sometimes teetering on hammy but always under control. Olivier particularly phenomenal. When isn't he? There's also a half dozen recognizable supporting faces sprinkled throughout that really flesh out the cast.
Franklin J. Schaffner of the three classic P's: Planet of the Apes, Patton and Papillon, really reigns in what could be B-movie execution with high levels of committed acting and plausible plotting. This is ultimately my kind of globe-trotting political intriguer with some slow moments but it always kept me interested.
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Sometimes a brief synopsis is all you need to sell you on a movie. Dr. Josef Mengele, played by Gregory Peck, has been spotted in South America. Famed Nazi-hunter Ezra Lieberman's attempt to seek him out lead to the uncovering of a plot to murder ninety-four specific 65 year-old men around the world at specific times. The motive behind these killings turns out to be more nightmarish than anyone could have feared. How do you say no to that?
First things first, this movie is trash, and I mean that in a good way. Making a goofy potboiler out of real-life monsters is a risky proposition, but The Boys From Brazil easily succeeds in being frightening and mildly intense while…
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The less you know about The Boys From Brazil the better, A quite well known story based upon a Ira Levin novel. Is a good thriller, which allows two of the greatest actors there has ever been a chance to ham it up a bit.
The plot involves Nazi hunter Ezra Lieberman (Laurence Olivier) trying to unravel a devious plot by Dr Josef Mangele (Gregory Peck). Directed by Franklin J Schaffner of Planter of the Apes fame. Provides us with a nice slow burning build up in setting the story, and keeping me enthralled with it really quite ludicrous but entertaining story line. It has a great score adding dread to certain moments and heightening the tension. The film at…
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Sometimes a brief synopsis is all you need to sell you on a movie. Dr. Josef Mengele, played by Gregory Peck, has been spotted in South America. Famed Nazi-hunter Ezra Lieberman's attempt to seek him out lead to the uncovering of a plot to murder ninety-four specific 65 year-old men around the world at specific times. The motive behind these killings turns out to be more nightmarish than anyone could have feared. How do you say no to that?
First things first, this movie is trash, and I mean that in a good way. Making a goofy potboiler out of real-life monsters is a risky proposition, but The Boys From Brazil easily succeeds in being frightening and mildly intense while…
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Great concept and cast, but immensely longs and plodding. Did Goldsmith recycle this score for The Great Train Robbery? And the ridiculously young Steve Guttenberg reminds me a lot of Jesse Eisenberg -- and not just for the most obvious reasons.
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There is a lot of over acting going on in this movie and its mainly by Gregory Peck as Joseph Mengele, the movie itself is kind of a black comedy so I can see why but sometimes it was kinda bad. Laurence Olivier was great as Ezra Lieberman, a Nazi hunter looking for Mengele, he had all the best lines and was fun to watch. The first half was boring but the second half came along and really turned things up a notch.
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It is so weird to see Gregory Peck playing someone as loathsome as Dr. Josef Mengele. While I haven't seen him in a lot of movies, I've seen enough of him to think of him as a hero (and aren't all those old Hollywood stars heroes anyway?). I also think this may be the only movie I've ever seen with Laurence Olivier. It's an actor's showcase, and a pretty amazing one at that.
This movie reminded me a lot of a Marvel comic from the 1960s, in that it portrays a world where Nazis and World War II are still very much in people's minds. To many of us who grew up in the 80s and later, WWII is very…
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Nazi Hunters. Cloning. Rabid Dogs. Evil Children. Gregory Peck and Laurence Olivier chewing on every piece of scenery in sight. How did I just discover this?
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It isn't amazing, but it is an interesting idea. Gregory Peck and Laurence Olivier do good jobs (Peck is a bit cartoonish at times, but not a huge deal). As a biology major, I love the fact that the director included a scene on the explanation of how clones are created (same way Dolly the sheep was cloned, and a method that is still used today). I thought the ending raised an interesting moral question also.
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It's best to go in this film, like every other film, not knowing a thing about the source material. It's a tightly made thriller with solid acting by Laurence Olivier, who disappears into his role, and a terrifying Gregory Peck. It does have some questionable logic to the story, but otherwise, a really solid thriller.
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The Boys From Brazil is campy thriller with absurd, but very cool premise and a lot of fun over-the-top acting, but I think it was always intended to be that way. I reckon there are many ways (most of which are more serious and dramatic) to tell this particular story, but usually excellent director Franklin J. Schaffner and his actors stuck to their guns and made a movie that most people would never call a classic, yet you can't deny it is very entertaining.