Film Review: “The Boys from Brazil”

Hello, website blog.  It’s been a while.  I recently did a little poll on the vivandlarry.com facebook fan page about what visitors most wanted to see on the website.  One of the suggestions was more film reviews, and I thought that was a good idea.

I just finished watching Franklin J. Shaffner’s 1978 film The Boys from Brazil, which Turner Classic Movies aired as part of their month-long salute to the thriller genre.  The film stars Gregory Peck and Laurence Olivier in surprising roles.  Surprising for Gregory peck because he plays a ruthless Nazi, Dr. Joseph Mengele, a total departure from Peck’s all American screen persona.  Surprising for Laurence Olivier becuase he had just done a turn as a ruthless Nazi in John Schlessinger’s 1976 film Marathon Man, and in The Boys from Brazil he plays a frail Jewish Nazi hunter.

I have to admit that The Boys from Brazil isn’t a very good movie (so this review may contain some sarcasm and/or mockery).  Disappointing because it has so many big names.  Aside from Olivier and Peck, the cast includes James Mason and Lilli Palmer, and that guy who plays the creepy cart operator who lures the children to Willy Wonka’s factory of wonders in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the one with Gene Wilder, not the Tim Burton movie that I refused to watch because no one beats Gene Wilder as the Candy Man).  I just checked, his name is Günter Meisner.

The story is based on the book of the same title by Ira Levin, in which we follow a Nazi Hunter named Ezra Lieberman as he unfolds a plot by Nazi-on-the-run Joseph Mengele to clone little Hitlers (I know, right?  Huh?).  According to the recent documentary about thrillers that aired on TCM last weekend, the 1970s were prime for making people paranoid about the potential second rise of the Nazis, and Hollywood really took advantage of this.  War criminals on the run and hiding in South America, waiting to come to the US to wreak havoc after they find out “Is it safe?”  Interesting plot point right there.

DVD poster

The Boys from Brazil had a lot of potential.  The story was just weird enough to border it on horror, but unfortunately the cheesiness of the 1970s and the bad acting all around, especially by Jeremy Black who plays the Hitler clones, didn’t help it any.  Plus is had Steve Guttenberg.  Remember him?  Laurence Olivier received his 10th and final Oscar nomination for this film, and while I say “Huzzah to Larry!” it feels like one of those films that he did later in his life because he needed the money to put his younger kids through school.  It also made me really sad to see him looking so gaunt and frail.  It’s like he dropped about 30 lbs between 1976 when he did Marathon Man, and 1978 when he did this film.  There was even a scene at the end when Lieberman and Mengele are having a fighting match and they’re rolling around on the ground trying to strangle one another, and Gregory Peck looked so much meatier than poor Larry.  I hope he used a stunt double.

I want to say that this movie probably would be better with today’s special effects, but then I’m not so sure the story would hold up today because it doesn’t involve vampires or robots.

Sadly, I’d give it a C- rating.

Gregory Peck and a pack of vicious dobermans

~ by Kendra on October 10, 2009.