The Boys from Brazil (1978)

Director:

Franklin J. Schaffner

Writers:

Ira Levin (novel)
Heywood Gould (screenplay)

Release Date:

12 October 1978 (Netherlands)

Genre:

Drama | 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:

Nazi | Mengele | Nazi Hunter | Paraguay | 1970s

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
Wolfgang Preiss	...	Lofquist
Michael Gough	...	Mr. Harrington
Joachim Hansen	...	Fassler
Sky du Mont	...	Hessen (as Guy Dumont)
Carl Duering	...	Trausteiner
Linda Hayden	...	Nancy
Richard Marner	...	Doring
Georg Marischka	...	Gunther
Günter Meisner	...	Farnbach
Prunella Scales	...	Mrs. Harrington
Raul Faustino Saldanha	...	Ismael
Jürgen Andersen	...	Kleist (as Jurgen Anderson)
Mervyn Nelson	...	Stroop
David Brandon	...	Schmidt
Monica Gearson	...	Gertrud
Wolf Kahler	...	Schwimmer
Gerti Gordon	...	Berthe

Directed by
Franklin J. Schaffner

Writing credits
Ira Levin		(novel)
Heywood Gould		(screenplay)

Produced by
Robert Fryer	....	executive producer
Stanley O'Toole	....	producer
Martin Richards	....	producer

Original Music by
Jerry Goldsmith

Cinematography by
Henri Decaë		(director of photography) (as Henri Decae)

Film Editing by
Robert Swink		(as Robert E. Swink)

Casting by
Alixe Gordin

Production Design by
Gil Parrondo

Art Direction by
Peter Lamont

Set Decoration by
Vernon Dixon

Costume Design by
Anthony Mendleson

Makeup Department
Ronnie Cogan	....	hair stylist
Patrick Grant	....	hair stylist
Bill Lodge	....	makeup artist
Christopher Tucker	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Ron Carr	....	production supervisor
Dieter Meyer	....	production manager: Austria

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Terence Churcher	....	second assistant director (as Terry Churcher)
Paul Esposito	....	assistant director: USA
Mike Jordan	....	assistant director: USA
José López Rodero	....	first assistant director (as Jose Lopez Rodero)
João Severino	....	assistant director: Portugal
Marijan David Vajda	....	second assistant director: Austria (as Marijan Vajda)

Art Department
Stephen Hendrickson	....	art director: USA (as Steve Hendrickson)
Michael Murchan	....	construction manager
Thomas Ricabona	....	assistant art director: Austria
Richard Mccarthy	....	plasterer (uncredited)

Sound Department
Derek Ball	....	sound recordist
Bill Barringer	....	sound assistant
Don J. Bassman	....	supervising sound mixer (as Don Bassman)
William Hartman	....	sound editor
Godfrey Marks	....	dialogue editor
Ken Nightingall	....	boom operator
Richard Overton	....	sound re-recording mixer
Edward Rossi	....	sound editor
Richard Sperber	....	sound editor
Richard Weaver	....	sound re-recording mixer

Special Effects by
Roy Whybrow	....	special effects

Stunts
Del Baker	....	stunts
Dinny Powell	....	stunts
Eddie Powell	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Bert Cann	....	still photographer
Jack Coggins	....	gaffer
Colin Davidson	....	assistant camera
James Devis	....	camera operator (as Jimmy Devis)
Michael Ginsburg	....	still photographer: USA
Ted H. Hauser	....	assistant camera: USA (as Theodore Hauser)
Dewi Humphries	....	assistant camera
Ed Irvins	....	assistant camera: USA
Bob Puglisi	....	camera operator: USA

Casting Department
Renate Arbes	....	casting: Vienna
Maude Spector	....	casting: London

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Rebecca Breed	....	wardrobe mistress
Richard Pointing	....	wardrobe master

Editorial Department
Jenny Schaffner	....	apprentice editor
Dennis Wooley	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Leonard A. Engel	....	music editor (as Len Engel)
Arthur Morton	....	orchestrator

Transportation Department
Gerhard Rupp	....	transportation manager (uncredited)

Other crew
Arie Bohrer	....	location manager: Austria
Derek Bromhall	....	technical advisor (as Dr. Derek Bromhall)
Pamela Carlton	....	continuity
Tony Cerbone	....	location manager: USA
Hunt Downs	....	publicist
Ann Ford	....	assistant to producer
Lew Grade	....	presenter (as Sir Lew Grade)
Peter Lancaster	....	production accountant
Marcella Markham	....	accent coach
Frederick Muller	....	location manager: Portugal (as Frederico Muller)
Francis Nugent	....	production assistant: USA
Tish Oulman	....	production assistant: Portugal
Cecilia Peck	....	publicity assistant
Fernando Pessa	....	location liaison: Portugal
Fernando Pessa	....	public relations: Portugal
Simone Pessa	....	location liaison: Portugal
Simone Pessa	....	public relations: Portugal
David Quintans	....	production assistant: Portugal
Mary Richards	....	assistant to producer
John Sargent	....	production accountant
Ilse Schwarzwald	....	production secretary: Austria
Jean Walter	....	production secretary
Scott Wodehouse	....	location manager

Production Companies

• Lew Grade (presents) (as Sir Lew Grade)
• Producers Circle (as A Producer Circle Production)
• Incorporated Television Company (ITC) (from) (as ITC Entertainment)

Distributors

• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (1978) (USA) (theatrical)
• Tuschinski Film Distribution (1978) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Sandrew Film & Teater (1979) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• National Broadcasting Company (NBC) (1980) (USA) (TV)
• CBS / Fox Video (1984) (USA) (VHS) (Pan and scan for ITC Entertainment)
• Ascot Filmverleih (1985) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• VCL Video (1986) (West Germany) (VHS)
• Media Transfer International (1996) (Sweden) (VHS)
• Scanbox Entertainment (1996) (Sweden) (VHS)
• Video Film Express (2001) (Netherlands) (DVD) (VHS)
• Filmax Home Video (2002) (Spain) (DVD)
• Atlantic Film (2004) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Elephant Films (2004) (France) (all media)
• Scanbox Entertainment (2004) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2004) (Germany) (DVD)
• LW Editora (2005) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Maple Pictures (2007) (Canada) (DVD)
• Carlton (2008) (UK) (DVD) (Blu-Ray Disc)
• ITV DVD (2008) (UK) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Adams Filmi (1979) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Artisan Entertainment (USA) (DVD)
• CBS / Fox Video (1986) (Greece) (VHS)
• CBS/Fox (laserdisc)
• Concorde Home Entertainment (2007) (Germany) (DVD)
• Fox Video (VHS)
• Fox Video (laserdisc)
• Future Film (2004) (Finland) (DVD)
• Image Entertainment (USA) (laserdisc)
• Magnetic Video (????) (USA) (VHS) (pan and scan for Twentieth Century Fox)
• Magnetic Video (????) (USA) (video)
• Mainostelevisio (MTV3) (1984) (2001) (Finland) (TV)
• Showtime (1980s) (Finland) (VHS)
• TV3 (1990) (Finland) (TV)
• Top Tape (19??) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (1996) (1998) (Finland) (TV)

Other Companies

• Anvil Film and Records Group  music recorded at
• Elstree Film & Television Studios  movie studio
• Intrada  score album released by (limited edition)
• Pacific Title  titles and opticals
• Panavision  photographic equipment by (as Panavision®)
• Twentieth Century-Fox Studios, Hollywood  rerecorded at

Also Known As:

"Boys from the Brussel" - Philippines (English title)

Runtime:

125 min | West Germany:100 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:18 (original rating) | Finland:K-18 (1979) | France:-16 | Norway:18 | South Korea:15 (DVD rating) | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:X (original rating) | USA:R | UK:18 (video rating) (1986) (2000) | Finland:K-16 (1988) | Netherlands:16 | Iceland:16 | 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:13 (re-rating) | Peru:14

Filming Locations:

Kölnbrein Dam, Austria

Company:

Lew Grade

Trivia:

Jeremy Black receives an "introducing" credit.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: At the end of the film, Lieberman is in the hospital in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, but there is an English-style TV on the wall.

Quotes:

Ezra Lieberman:You're not a guard now, madame! You are a prisoner! I may leave here today empty handed. But you... are not going anywhere.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in A Night at the Movies: The Suspenseful World of Thrillers (2009) (TV)

Soundtrack:

The Blue Danube

One Of Schaffner's Best...

THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL opens in scenic and remote Paraguay where Barry Kohler (a young Steve Guttenburg) is on the trail of a mysterious gathering of former Third Reich heavy hitters, including Eduard Seibert (James Mason), now in exile. As his information becomes more detailed, he contacts Ezra Lieberman (Laurence Olivier), a renowned Nazi hunter. In the meantime Dr. Josef Mengele (Gregory Peck) makes the scene and after Kohler's bugging of a secret meeting goes wrong, Lieberman is left with only a thread of a much deeper story, which he sets about to unravel...

Even though the plot is fairly well known by now, I will assume some people are not familiar with Ira Levin's book or the film. In fact the less you know about the plot the better; I think that the dust jacket gives far too much of the story away...Anyway, THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL is a film that toes a very dangerous line, I mean few film makers want to turn a man like Menegele into a camp figure. But the cast and crew handles the material with deft intelligence. The cast is fantastic: Peck, as Mengele, delivers a strong performance that never falters. In the tired yet determined Lieberman, Laurence Olivier creates a wonderful character; a late highlight of a distinguished career. James Mason, as Seibert and Bruno Ganz as a mouthpiece for outdated genetic research, do well to support the action, but are given little to do. It is Peck and Olivier that propel the film along; the violent showdown between the two men is a must see.

Jerry Goldsmith supports the on screen action with a Straussian waltz to tie in the Austrian backdrop. Goldsmith also provide some terse action music for the third act of the film. This is one of the last films that Goldsmith and director Franklin J. Schaffner would collaborate on. On that note, it would seem to me high time for a more detailed retrospective of Schaffner's body of work; which includes THE WARLORD, PATTON, ISLANDS IN THE STREAM, PLANET OF THE APES, PAPILLION, LIONHEART. It is Schaffner's sensibilities that keep THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL from jumping the track. He uses steady camera work and smooth style to create a world the characters can inhabit (something "over" directors of today know little about). Schaffner's style is more subtle, workman like, which may explain why he is not better known among the general populace. He keeps THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL grounded and allows his actors to flesh the characters out, which makes all the difference in the world. 8/10.