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IMDb > Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. (1999)

Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. (1999) More at IMDbPro »

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Overview

User Rating:
7.4/10   2,405 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 26% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Director:
Errol Morris
Contact:
View company contact information for Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
14 January 2000 (USA) more
Plot:
A cinematic portrait of the life and career of the infamous American execution device designer and holocaust denier. full summary | add synopsis
Awards:
1 win & 3 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(2 articles)
Errol Morris: Come Along On My Death Trip
 (From The Hollywood Interview. 4 July 2009, 9:35 PM, PDT)

'The Final Destination' Trailer
 (From FEARnet. 4 June 2009, 12:24 PM, PDT)

User Comments:
Disturbing and Often Funny more

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)
Fred A. Leuchter Jr. ... Himself (as Fred Leuchter)
Robert Jan Van Pelt ... Himself
David Irving ... Himself
Caroline Leuchter ... Herself (voice)
James Roth ... Himself (analytical chemist)
Shelly Shapiro ... Herself
Suzanne Tabasky ... Herself
Ernst Zündel ... Himself
David Collins ... Re-enactment cast
Daniel Polsby ... Re-enactment cast
Jeff Brown ... Re-enactment cast
Robert Duerr ... Re-enactment cast
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
Mr. Death (USA) (short title)
more
MPAA:
Rated PG-13 for thematic elements.
Runtime:
91 min
Country:
UK | USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Dolby Digital
Filming Locations:
Auschwitz, Poland more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
All of the states which bought one of Leuchter's lethal injection machines have subsequently stopped using them because they were too difficult to operate and maintain. more
Quotes:
Fred A. Leuchter Jr.: The human body is not easy to destroy and it's not east to take a life humanely and painlessly without doing a great deal of damage to the individual's body. more
Movie Connections:
Features Triumph des Willens (1935) more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
8 out of 11 people found the following comment useful:-
Disturbing and Often Funny, 12 September 1999
8/10
Author: Stroheim-3 from Boston, MA

I saw a rough cut of this documentary last year presented by Errol Morris. At this point, I had never seen an Errol Morris documentary, but I have to say I loved it. It's the story of the man who reinvented the modern electric chair and other devices to carry out capital punishment.

The first half of the film is darkly funny. The juxtaposition of images with Leuchter's descriptions makes for hilarious irony. The shots are in and of themselves wholly serious, but Leuchter himself is very comedic (whether he knows it or not).

The second half of the film evokes anger more than humor. Leuchter becomes an advocate for Holocaust denial through his scientific (?) research for a Canadian Neo-Nazi. The cut that I saw didn't have an explanation as to why Leuchter got the results that he did until a little later in the film. I though Errol Morris should have had this description as soon as the results of the tests were determined. Maybe he changed it, and maybe he didn't.

At the film's heart is, like a Greek tragedy, the story of a man whose rise to prominence is cut short by his hybris - his inability to accept that he could be wrong. As a result, a man who was once in demand by state after state is left to rot in his own misery and mistake.

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No traces of cyanide oprescue999
Just plain stupid zumwildenhirsch
That poor little man sjhugo17
Steve, the step-son clavinwho
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Where is he now? rattbuttimus
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