- The Boys from Brazil is perhaps the best example of a film whose successes are largely a result of sheer audacity. Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner, whose other distinctive works include Planet of the Apes and Patton, the film's bold premise involves nothing less than the cloning of the 20th Century's most infamous dictator, Adolf Hitler. Hooked yet? If not, you should know that the madman behind this diabolical plot is real-life escaped Nazi doctor Josef Mengele, played with his usual basso gusto by Gregory Peck. If you're somehow still not convinced, I should also mention that Mengele is being doggedly pursued by Sir Laurence Olivier as professional Nazi-hunter Ezra Lieberman. With so much talent and such an epically absurd plot, what could possibly go wrong?
- In fact, very little goes wrong in the film's first half as we learn of an inscrutable puzzle that has something to do with Mengele and a mysterious worldwide plot to assassinate 65-year-old male civil servants. After getting a tip from an ill-fated independent investigator (Steve Guttenberg!), Lieberman begins visiting families whose elderly patriarchs have recently perished under mysterious circumstances. There's no obvious connection between the dead men, but Lieberman is stunned at how similar in appearance their sons are (indeed right down to their shared portrayal by Jeremy Black). But why would anyone want to kill the fathers of multiple bratty, black-haired, blue eyed children with artistic tendencies? Realistically, anyone who sees this movie these days probably already knows the answer, but rest assured that having the surprise ruined hardly diminishes one's enjoyment of the setup. When an especially haunting young puppeteer cackles offscreen, the chills still crawl up your spine.
- Once the cloning cat is officially out of the bag, however, the film faces the much more difficult challenge of resolving a conflict between two immensely respectable aging superstars. Its bizarre final solution, involving vicious dobermans in rural Pennsylvania, is both unconventional and unconvincing, but then this is a film about Brazilian Hitler clones. Fortunately, the film's stars render even the ridiculous scenes eminently watchable, even when Olivier's exaggerated mix of Simon Wiesenthal and Dr. Van Helsing must compete with Peck's rabid scenery-chewing. Add in a wonderful supporting cast, including the always-excellent James Mason and a powerful array of character actors including Denholm Elliott, Michael Gough, and Walter Gotell, and you have a unique film whose strange postwar Nazi plot has been imitated, but never duplicated.
- It is worth mentioning that Mengele was still alive when this film came out and that Olivier also played a Nazi based on Mengele in Marathon Man.
