And now returning you to your regularly scheduled Sunday Matinee with the entertaining 1978 thriller The Boys from Brazil.
Steve Guttenberg discovers a clandestine meeting of former Nazis in Paraguay. Also at the meeting is master criminal and wanted murderous fugitive Dr. Josef Mengele (Gregory Peck). Guttenberg calls Nazi hunter Ezra Lieberman (Laurence Olivier) who is skeptical and says it’s a known fact that Mengele is in Paraguay.
Guttenberg finds out when the next meeting is and sneaks in and records part of the meeting but is discovered and killed while making a call to Lieberman playing the tape. Lieberman over hears one the phone that the Nazis are planning on killing 94 men in several different countries around the world. Finally the aging Lieberman leaps into action.
While investigating he discovers that all the victims are men aged 65, all with wives 42 and all have sons that have black hair and blue eyes. Soon he discovers the terrifying plan that Mengele has hatched.
This 1978 thriller was based on a book by Ira Levin whose other works like A Kiss Before Dying, Rosemary’s Baby and The Stepford Wives had been turned into successful movies. The movie is directed by Franklin J. Schaffner who had a string of hits starting in 1968 with Planet of the Apes, Patton and Papillon.
The Boys from Brazil is really entertaining and both Peck and Olivier are excellent. While only Peck was nominated at the Golden Globes for his performance, Olivier was the only one Oscar nominated for his role as the Nazi hunter, I guess both award ceremonies could only nominate one or other but they both make the movie.
