boysfrombrazildvd

Studio: Lionsgate
Year: 1978
Release Date: April 7, 2009
Run time: 125 minutes
Rating: R

Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 mix
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Disc Spec: 1 DVD
Region: 1

Gregory Peck hams it up big time in this 1978 thriller based on Ira Levin’s bestselling novel. Peck plays an old German Nazi behind a mysterious series of murders, the investigation of which leads to an astonishing plot to create the Fourth Reich. Laurence Olivier is equally outrageous as a Nazi hunter who stumbles onto the scheme. Director Franklin Schaffner (Planet of the Apes) doesn’t make any bones about the preposterousness of the story or of his legendary stars’ performances, and a viewer is advised not to push too deeply into this tall tale for cautionary meaning. The film is a bit bloody–particularly unnerving in a climactic scene involving some attack dogs under the command of a young but familiar-looking monster.

Alive and hiding in South America the fiendish Nazi Dr. Josef Mengele (Geregory Peck) gathers a group of former colleagues for a horrifying project – he wants to clone Hitler. Barry Kohler (Steve Guttenberg) gets wind of the project and informs fames Nazi hunter Ezra Lieberman (Laurence Olivier) but before he can relay the the evidence Kohler is killed. Mengele continues his murderous plot creating 94 young Hitlers and killing their fathers to simulate the madman s own boyhood. As Mengele moves closer to producing global terror Lieberman alone must discover the terrifying extent of his plan and stop it.

Gregory Peck, playing out-of-type, one-dimensional, and over the top is the highlight of ‘The Boys From Brazil’ as Josef Mengele. Mengele/Peck is overseeing a plot to clone and produce hundreds of little “Hitlers” and to find the future leader for the hibernating Nazi’s. Ezra Lieberman (in an equally great performance from Laurence Olivier) is a Nazi hunter on the trail of Mengele.

The cloning aspect of the story is quite daring for its day and resonates implications of ethics of today’s headlines. Also, the film asks the age old question if a person’s personality is a result of inherited genes or outside environmental factors. Overall, a film which fits in well with some of the other 1970’s paranoid thrillers with the right mixture of action, mystery and suspense.
Movie Content: 7/10

Special Features

  • Text-only Cast and Crew bios and Filmographies
  • Production Notes
  • Trailers

Special Features: 2/10

The Final Word

‘The Boys from Brazil’ manages to be quite entertaining as two Academy Award winners, Gregory Peck and Sir Laurence Olivier, fling caution to the wind and let loose the dogs of overacting. For fans of the film they might be a tad bit disappointed that this DVD release didn’t receive the royal treatment with features.
Overall Rating: 6.5/10

Review by: George Theofanopoulos