The Boys from Brazil (1978)

A Nazi hunter in Paraguay discovers a sinister and bizarre plot to rekindle the Third Reich.

Director:

Franklin J. Schaffner

Writers:

Ira Levin (novel), Heywood Gould (screenplay)

Stars:

Gregory Peck, Laurence Olivier, James Mason

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 10 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

Barry Kohler, a young Nazi hunter, tracks down a group of former SS officers meeting in Paraguay in the late 1970s. The Nazis, led by Dr Mengele, are planning something. Old Nazi hunter, Ezra Lieberman, is at first uninterested in Kohler's findings. But when he is told something of their plan, he is eager to find out more. Lieberman visits several homes in Europe and the U.S. in order to uncover the Nazi plot. It is at one of these houses he notices something strange, which turns out to be a horrible discovery.

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Plot Keywords:

nazi | nazi hunter | nazi war criminal | paraguay | 1970s | 

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Taglines:

If they survive...will we?

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 October 1978 (USA)

Also Known As:

Los niños del Brasil

Filming Locations:

Kölnbrein Dam, Austria

Box Office

Budget:

$12,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$19,000,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sir Lew Grade,Producers Circle,ITC Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

125 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Sir Laurence Olivier and Gregory Peck played General Douglas MacArthur in two separate movies: Peck in MacArthur (1977), and Olivier in Inchon (1981).

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Goofs

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

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Quotes

Dr. Josef Mengele: You are a clever boy. Are you not? You do not well at school, but it's because you are too clever. Too busy, thinking your own thoughts. But you are much smarter than your teachers, hah?
Bobby Wheelock: My teachers are nowhere.
Dr. Josef Mengele: You are going to be the world's greatest photographer, are you not? Have you ever felt superior to those around you? Like a prince among peasants?
Bobby Wheelock: I feel different from everyone sometimes.
Dr. Josef Mengele: You are infinite different. Infinite superior. You are born of the noblest blood in the world.

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Alternate Versions

A somewhat shorter version has been (still is?) available on video in the UK, Sweden and Denmark where all scenes related to a necklace found by Mengele in his old South American hospital have been removed. This meant that the film ended with Liebermann in the hospital bed burning the list of the boys remaining to be found. Perhaps a somewhat more optimistic ending than the original showing Bobby Wheelock in possesion of the necklace and developing pictures of the wounded Mengele and Lieberman.

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Connections

Referenced in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: Split Decisions (2012)

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Soundtracks

The Blue Danube
(uncredited)
Music by Johann Strauss
Arranged by Arthur Morton

User Reviews

Overlooked

This is such a classic piece of mystery drama, it's inconceivable that it's not better known. A late seventies film starring the cream of cinema from 20 years earlier, this follows a Nazi plot (in the present day) and the efforts of a Nazi hunter to put the pieces together. The elements include a number of apparently unrelated children, a decades-old plot, a series of murders, Josef Mengele, and a short appearance by one `Steven' Guttenberg, in an early film role. When you finally realise what has been going on, it ups the stakes dramatically. Well worth seeking out.