2.5 stars out of 4
Added 1/28/2009
The Bottom Line:
The first half of the Boys from Brazil works brilliantly, luring the viewer into the mystery and keeping him or her interested in what will happen next, but the film's second half leaves a lot to be desired and often severely strains disbelief; don't devote 130+ minutes to this film when there are many better options out there.
1 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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Chilling Thriller
Added 11/30/2008
An all star cast, headed up by Gregory Peck and Lawrence Olivier, makes this a great thriller about the cloning of Hitler. As others noted at the time this movie was made cloning was off in the future but as science makes science fiction reality, it makes the movie more powerful in having a basis for "What If?"
The DVD itself was okay in terms of picture quality and played well on my DVD Player and I did not find that it detracted from the movie.
Great acting, great story great movie.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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boys from brazil
Added 7/19/2008
this is a good story but it was not the one I was looking for.
0 out of 5 people found this helpful.
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My Review of Ira Levin's Story
Added 3/25/2008
This is a really neat story and it makes a great movie! It's kind of difficult at times
to see Gregory Peck as the bad guy, but, it just takes some getting used to and he's
a "wonderful" bad guy! Ira Levin's stories always made great pictures-it's just too
sad that he died recently. I loved this movie!
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Nature or nurture?
Added 11/16/2007
This movie has probably ended up playing the role of a "predictor" of events. When it was made, probably one could not have imagined that cloning or genetic sequencing would advance so rapidly. The evil Dr. Josef Mengele gathers all his Nazi cronies with a view to creating 94 "little Hitlers" and killing their fathers in order to recreate the actual environment surrounding Hitler's boyhood. As they say, the final product is determined both by Nature and Nurture. Mengele's aim is to try and recreate both with a view to eventually ruling the world through this half-crazed plan. One of the best movies of all time.
6 out of 7 people found this helpful.
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Marathon Man - Good 1976 Movie Worth Buying
Added 10/28/2009
Another 1970's suspenseful thriller movie worth buying and watching. Many great actors; Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Olivier, William Devane, Roy Scheider, to name several.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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EXCELLENT ! HOFFMAN & OLIVIER ARE A BLAST
Added 9/25/2009
Terrific film directed by John Schlesinger of MIDNIGHT COWBOY [1969] fame. All about an exiled ex-Nazi monster, played unsettlingly well by Laurence Olivier, who must leave his hideout in South America and come to New York to claim millions in diamonds he has accrued, the whereabouts of which are in question. Roy Scheider, as 'Doc', plays a covert US government agent who follows him. Dustin Hoffman, in one of his finest performances, plays his brother---an unwitting graduate student who believes his sibling is in the oil business. Hoffman, an avid jogger, seems to be running from the childhood memory of witnessing his father's suicide. He can't seem to confront the reality that his dad, a brilliant and prestigious college professor who was under McCarthyism scrutiny, committed the ultimate act of mental attenuation. The misanthropic Hoffman, with major abandonment issues and anger towards the establishment/government at fault, lives in a dump, modestly and alone. Scheider's short part in this film is memorable as the seemingly smart, sophisticated and strong-willed agent who undergoes two successive murder attempts---the first by a hired assassin, barely surviving, and the second a harrowing successful impalement with a concealed blade by the brutally nefarious Olivier. Olivier, playing the ex-Nazi dentist and torturer known as 'Szell', obviously just a little annoyed that Scheider would not reveal the whereabouts of his diamonds. Hoffman's shriek as brother Scheider staggers mortally wounded into his apartment, only to die on his living room floor, is startling. All hell breaks loose now as Szell and his accomplices believe that Doc revealed info regarding the jewels to his brother just before dying. Cops, government agents and bad guys now come knocking on his door. Hoffman now becomes cognizant of his brother's true identity and becomes enmeshed in this international pursuit and intrigue. Interesting how he incurrs another shattering personal loss and must now stop running and confront the system [government] he despises if he wants to find out who killed his beloved Doc. Hoffman shuns the cops, is kidnapped by Szell's heavies and is conned by an avaricious rogue US agent, working with Szell, who supposedly was his brother's partner---the latter played deliciously well by William Devane. The kidnapping is highlighted by the now classic dental torture scene and the now familiar "is it safe?" quote by Olivier. The actual torture scene is brief. What disturbs and unsettles is Olivier's matter-of-fact delivery, his countenance, the instruments, the unfathomable motive. Hoffman escapes but decides to confront the gunsels, Devane and finally Szell. Nice scene early in the film where Hoffman is jogging and can't seem to catch up to another runner who passes him by---possibly symbolic of his inability to attain resolution of his losses. Driven by the need to find his brother's killer, Hoffman now 'resolves' by confronting Szell in the film's finale. Blast of a film. A great New York film with both earthy & iconic NYC locations. A tour de force by both Olivier and Hoffman with Olivier nominated for Oscar and Hoffman deserving of one.
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"Chilling"
Added 7/23/2009
Dustin Hoffman plays a young history student and marathon runner who gets embroiled with the Nazi's who are trying to smuggle diamonds out of the United States. The film is known for the powerhouse performance of Sir Laurence Olivier who plays a Nazi dentist who tortures the Hoffman character by drilling holes in his teeth without anesthetic while muttering the words "is it safe?". Olivier would receive an Oscar nomination for his performance. Roy Scheider and William Devane also star. William Goldman, who wrote the original novel, also wrote the screenplay.
The "Marathon Man" DVD comes with cast and crew interviews, rehearsal footage, and an original featurette of the film. The movie is presented is superb widescreen format enhanced for 16:9 TV's and english subtitles are included.
Leonard Maltin says "Hoffman and arch-villain Olivier are superb!".
The movie was filmed in beautiful New York City.
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