THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL (1978) – Episode 141 – Decades of Horror 1970s

“Oh man, you're weird.” That ain’t the half of it! Join your faithful Grue Crew - Doc Rotten, Chad Hunt, Bill Mulligan, and Jeff Mohr, along with guest host Daphne Monary-Ernsdorff from the Classic Era - as they check out Gregory Peck, Laurence Olivier, James Mason, and Lilli Palmer in The Boys from Brazil (1978).

Decades of Horror 1970s
Episode 141 – The Boys from Brazil (1978)

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A Nazi hunter in Paraguay discovers a sinister and bizarre plot to rekindle the Third Reich.

IMDb

 

• Director: Franklin J. Schaffner
• Writers: Ira Levin (novel), Heywood Gould (screenplay) 
• Cast
  • Gregory Peck as Dr. Josef Mengele
  • Laurence Olivier as Ezra Lieberman
  • James Mason as Col. Eduard Seibert
  • Lilli Palmer as Esther Lieberman
  • Uta Hagen as Frieda Maloney
  • Steve Guttenberg as Barry Kohler
  • Denholm Elliott as Sidney Beynon
  • Rosemary Harris as Frau Doring
  • John Dehner as Henry Wheelock
  • John Rubinstein as David Bennett
  • Anne Meara as Mrs. Curry
  • Jeremy Black as Jack Curry, Jr. / Simon Harrington / Erich Doring / Bobby Wheelock
  • Bruno Ganz as Dr. Bruckner
  • Walter Gotell as Capt. Gerhardt Mundt
  • David Hurst as Strasser
  • Wolfgang Preiss as Lofquist
  • Michael Gough as Mr Harrington
  • Joachim Hansen as Fassler
  • Sky du Mont as Friedrich Hessen
  • Carl Duering as Maj. Ludwig Trausteiner
  • Linda Hayden as Nancy
  • Richard Marner as Doring
  • Georg Marischka as Gunther
  • Günter Meisner as Farnbach
  • Prunella Scales as Mrs Harrington
  • Raúl Faustino Saldanha as Ismael
  • Wolf Kahler as Otto Schwimmer

The Boys from Brazil is Bill’s pick, but alas, busy summer schedules created conflicts that could not be resolved. Luckily, Daphne was able to join the 1970s Grue-Crew on short notice. However, she was disappointed in The Boys from Brazil, especially with its amazing cast and being based on an Ira Levin novel. Chad didn’t enjoy the film either, calling it boring. He just couldn’t believe the batshit-crazy ending and refers to The Boys from Brazil as an oddity. On the other hand, Jeff loves the film. Being an Ira Levin fan, and having recently seen Gregory Peck in The Omen (1976) and Laurence Olivier as a Nazi doctor in Marathon Man (1976), Jeff thinks he was predisposed to like The Boys from Brazil. Doc splits the difference by admitting he enjoyed the movie even though he didn’t like it. To be clear, Doc enjoyed The Boys from Brazil for the acting and the cast of great character actors, not for the story and the weird ending. He will probably watch it over and over again just for the cast and even though it “zoinks,” he somehow had fun with it.

The Boys from Brazil is currently available on a variety of streaming services and on a Blu-ray disk from Timeless Media.

Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror 1970s is part of the Decades of Horror two-week rotation with The Classic Era and the 1980s. In two weeks, the next episode in their very flexible schedule will be Bloodsucking Freaks (1976), chosen by Chad! Be sure to join us for that one. 

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