Apt Pupil (1998)

A boy blackmails his neighbor after suspecting him to be a Nazi war criminal.

Director:

Bryan Singer

Writers:

Stephen King (novel), Brandon Boyce (screenplay)

Stars:

Ian McKellen, Brad Renfro, Joshua Jackson

6 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Brad Renfro	...	Todd Bowden
Ian McKellen	...	Kurt Dussander
Joshua Jackson	...	Joey
Mickey Cottrell	...	Sociology Teacher
Michael Reid MacKay	...	Nightmare Victim
Ann Dowd	...	Monica Bowden
Bruce Davison	...	Richard Bowden
James Karen	...	Victor Bowden
Marjorie Lovett	...	Agnes Bowden
David Cooley	...	Gym Teacher
Blake Anthony Tibbetts	...	Teammate
Heather McComb	...	Becky Trask
Katherine Malone	...	Student
Grace Sinden	...	Secretary
David Schwimmer	...	Edward French

Storyline

Neighborhood boy Todd Bowden (Brad Renfro) discovers that an old man living on his block named Arthur Denker (Sir Ian Mackellan) is a Nazi war criminal. Bowden confronts Denker and offers him a deal: Bowden will not go to the authorities if Denker tells him stories of the concentration camps in World War II. Denker agrees and Bowden starts visiting him regularly. The more stories Bowden hears, the more it affects his personality.

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Plot Keywords:

nazi | blackmail | murder | cat | war criminal | 

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Taglines:

If you don't believe in the existence of evil, you've got a lot to learn.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for scenes of strong violence, language and brief sexuality

Details

Country:

USA France Canada

Language:

English German

Release Date:

23 October 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

El aprendiz

Filming Locations:

USA

Box Office

Budget:

$14,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$3,583,151, 25 October 1998

Gross USA:

$8,863,193

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$8,863,193

Company Credits

Production Co:

Phoenix Pictures, Bad Hat Harry Productions, Canal+ Droits Audiovisuels

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS (8 channels) Dolby SR

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Sir Ian McKellen said that one of the things that convinced Bryan Singer to cast him as Dussander, despite him being English, and considerably younger than the character, was when Singer raved to McKellen about a performance by an actor he had recently seen in Cold Comfort Farm (1995), and McKellen informed him that he was the same actor Singer was talking about.

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Goofs

When Mr. Dussander opens the box containing the Nazi costume, he comments that it is a very good recreation and reads that it is from a costume shop in "Tappan, New Jersey". Tappan, however, is just over the border in New York state.

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Quotes

Kurt Dussander: [seeing the SS uniform Todd has bought for him] Mary, Mother of God!

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Crazy Credits

The film has a 1997 copyright date in the credits.

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Connections

References The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)

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Soundtracks

Too Much Of Nothing
Written by Paul Nelson, Sue Fink & Carl Verheyen
Performed by Dante Marchi

User Reviews

Apt Pupil: Evil comes in many forms

This critically acclaimed multi award winning Stephen King adaptation is a weird creature, a dark thriller tale which makes you question the definition of evil.

It tells the story of a boy who discovers that a neighbour is an infamous war criminal, a high ranking nazi responsible for the deaths of countless people. He decides to blackmail him, he is fascinated and wants to know more about the nazi history. But the more he learns the more he takes a turn for the worse and the mind games between the man and boy escalate.

Not only is Apt Pupil dark and highly thought provoking but its also oddly homoerotic, heavy undertones from several different sources and I cannot figure out for the life of me why these were included.

The cast is stellar and really helps the film, full of veterans like Ian McKellen, Bruce Davison, James Karen & Elias Koteas. Also along for the ride we have Joshua Jackson and Friends alumni David Schwimmer.

Despite this cast and despite it being a King adaptation I don't see the grand appeal. It's not a terrible movie it's just poorly executed and difficult viewing in places. As a psychological thriller it delivers and is very thought provoking. As nearly 2hrs of entertainment it kind of fails (For me anyway)

The Good:

Outstanding cast

Great concept

The Bad:

Deeply uncomfortable viewing

Unnecessarily homoerotic

Some of the movie defies logic somewhat

Many cast members are badly wasted as barely on screen

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

David Schwimmer with a moustache looks like someone who shouldn't be trusted alone with children, or animals, or even remotely sexy looking fruit

73yrs since they surrendered and 20yrs since this film and Nazi's are not only still a thing but going strong, this is a terrifying fact.