The Good German (2006)

While in post-war Berlin to cover the Potsdam Conference, an American military journalist is drawn into a murder investigation which involves his former mistress and his driver.

Director:

Steven Soderbergh

Writers:

Paul Attanasio (screenplay), Joseph Kanon (novel)

Stars:

George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, Tobey Maguire

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 3 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
George Clooney	...	Jake Geismer
Cate Blanchett	...	Lena Brandt
Tobey Maguire	...	Tully
Beau Bridges	...	Colonel Muller
Tony Curran	...	Danny
Leland Orser	...	Bernie
Jack Thompson	...	Congressman Breimer
Robin Weigert	...	Hannelore
Ravil Isyanov	...	General Sikorsky
Christian Oliver	...	Emil Brandt
Dave Power	...	Lieutenant Schaeffer
Don Pugsley	...	Gunther
Dominic Comperatore	...	Levi
John Roeder	...	General
J. Paul Boehmer	...	British Press Aide

Storyline

Berlin, July, 1945. Journalist Jake Geismer arrives to cover the Potsdam conference, issued a captain's uniform for easier passage. He also wants to find Lena, an old flame who's now a prostitute desperate to get out of Berlin. He discovers that the driver he's assigned, a cheerful down-home sadist named Corporal Tully, is Lena's keeper. When the body of a murdered man washes up in Potsdam (within the Russian sector), Jake may be the only person who wants to solve the crime: U.S. personnel are busy finding Nazis to bring to trial, the Russians and the Americans are looking for German rocket scientists, and Lena has her own secrets.

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Plot Keywords:

nazi | prostitute | head held underwater | sex shop | striptease | 

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Taglines:

If war is hell then what comes after?

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language, violence and some sexual content

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Germany] Warner Bros. [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English German Russian

Release Date:

19 January 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

El buen alemán

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$32,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$76,817, 17 December 2006

Gross USA:

$1,308,696

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$5,914,908

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sunset Gower Studios, Warner Bros., Section Eight

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

DTS SDDS Dolby Digital

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film was shot as if it had been made in 1945. Only studio back lots, sets and local Los Angeles locations were used. No radio microphones were used, the film was lit with only incandescent lights and period lenses were used on the cameras. The actors were directed to perform in a presentational, stage style. The only allowance was the inclusion of nudity, violence and cursing which would have been forbidden by the Production Code.

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Goofs

Upon Geismer's first visit to her apartment, Lena lights the stove and begins heating a kettle. Shortly, she announces she is going to bed, leaving the kettle over the stove's flame (as well as a lit candle on the table).

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Quotes

Hannelore: It's easy now to say Hitler was wrong about the Jews. Let me tell you something. Nobody said he was wrong at the time.

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Crazy Credits

All the logos appear in black and white, while the Warner Brothers logo appears in the forties old style

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Connections

Referenced in Best! Movies! Ever!: Airports (2007)

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Soundtracks

You're Some Pretty Doll
Written by Clarence Williams
Performed by William Marsh, Chris Ross, Johnny Britt and Gary Stockdale

User Reviews

Effective Thriller With A Couple Of Flaws

I went in to see this movie with expectations relatively low . The company I was in had dragged me to see INLAND EMPIRE which I am on record as saying was the worst movie I have paid to see . It should also be remembered that this movie had a very limited release both sides of the pond which considering has an Oscar winning director and three big names in the cast is not a good sign , so I went in with fairly low expectations

Perhaps my low expectations worked in the film's favour because it's a very effective film noir/ political thriller . Soderberg has brought a metonym to the story . He directs in monochrome and has mixed his own filmed material with stock footage of a devastated Berlin . Remember all those old movies where someone is driving a car and it's painfully obvious that it's filmed on a studio set with back projection ? Well there's a scene featuring Toby McGuire and George Clooney in a jeep where the same technique is used . The film also contains a title sequence straight out of the 1940s and has scenes with an overlong shot duration same as film from yesteryear

Unfortunately by doing this Soderbergh draws attention to the fact that Paul Attanasio's screenplay wasn't written in the 40s because there's a sex scene and several uses of the F word . If you're making a film that's a homage to 1940s cinema shouldn't you go the whole hog and write a screenplay in the same manner ? Hasn't the producer shot himself in the foot ? You'll be left scratching your head wondering why sex and bad language has been included

Still it's a minor complaint and one that doesn't destroy the movie which has a plot and if you had no idea that Cate Blanchett has been cast as Lena Brandt then you'd genuinely believe that her character was played by a European actress . Blanchett is the best actress in the world today and the fact that she wasn't Oscar nominated is another symptom that the annual academy awards are becoming more and more worthless . Tobey McGuire as Tully is considered less effective mainly because he has a sex scene which brought the cry from a couple of my cinema companions " That under no circumstances should spidey be seen to have sex " but seeing as they were both females I'm sure they were upset that George Clooney didn't get the opportunity to do some on screen horizontal jogging . Students of film studies will know the term " Impact aesthetics " and there's a great example of this when Captain Geismer studies a hundred dollar bill which will have you jumping out of your seat in fright

This is a fairly good thriller which while it isn't a film for everyone did hold my attention through its running time and despite it's somewhat retro formalist technique has me asking why it didn't get a wider release in both Britain and America ?