Wow! Such a good movie.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

"The shadow of human cloning tugs like a heavy ball and chain" Nominated for 3 Academy Awards

It's a terrible feeling when you have to admit that an actor you love did a bad job in a movie. But, as much as I love Gregory Peck, he was pretty awful in The Boys from Brazil. Whoever thought it was a good idea to cast Atticus Finch as a Nazi should have his head examined. It just didn't work. Greg is a wonderful actor, and he's been very convincing in villainous roles in the past, but in this movie, I found myself wondering how he could keep a straight face while delivering his lines. His German accent was pretty atrocious, flowing in and out during every sentence, and when he would shout and try to act passionately "Hitler-esque", it felt like a bad community theater performance. I actually felt sorry for him. Obviously, as talented as he is, this role asked him to use talents he didn't have.The movie starts out introducing us to Steve Guttenberg in Paraguay as he follows James Mason, Gregory Peck, and other Nazi war criminals. He takes pictures of them, records their conversations, and reports his findings to famous Nazi hunter Laurence Olivier. The entire movie is supposed to be a tension-filled mystery, but since I guessed the big surprise an hour before Laurence Olivier did, I was disappointed. How stupid is he? He's supposed to be brilliant and famous and good at what he does, but it sure took him forever to figure out Gregory Peck's master Nazi plan! The Boys from Brazil is a very famous movie, so I suppose you have to watch it in order to decide that it's grossly overrated. Besides Gregory Peck's nice suits, there wasn't really anything I liked about this movie. Jerry Goldsmith must have thought he was writing a theme for Doctor Zhivago 2, but his ridiculous waltz didn't fit this "thriller" at all. And for the life of me, I can't figure out why Laurence Olivier was nominated for an Oscar for his performance, expect that Hollywood wanted to reassure the public that yes, they do indeed hate Nazis.

Like its sister film MARATHON MAN, THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL is a sinister and realistic thriller that looks at the question of surviving Nazis hiding out in South America. Did they survive and did some of them continue their sinister human experiments that were started in the concentration camps? While I think MARATHON MAN has the edge in terms of being an enjoyable, all-time classic, THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL is still a very good, taut thriller that just happens to have an excellent ensemble cast to boot.Two old-time heavyweights are pitted against each other here: a virtually unrecognisable Gregory Peck as sinister Nazi scientist Dr Josef Mengele, and Laurence Olivier as the doddery old Jew hot on his tail. The two men don't meet until their climatic showdown, but what a treat it is when they do! Throughout the film, both actors remind us why they were considered worldwide stars. Peck is utterly repulsive as the ruthless Nazi, but Olivier steals the film as the sympathetic Nazi hunter in a reversal of the role he played in MARATHON MAN.The film is slow paced, but remains engaging throughout, and the suspense never ceases. There's globetrotting action, assassins and a scary storyline including cloning as well as Jeremy Black playing an extremely creepy child. This is an unashamedly old-fashioned film that doesn't rely on fight scenes or car chases to tell the story, and here intelligent scripting and fine cinematography win out over the usual humdrum staples. The supporting cast is remarkable: James Mason as a Nazi, Denholm Elliott as a shifty bureaucrat, Steve Guttenberg surprisingly good in one of his earliest roles as a tragic investigator, along with the likes of Walter Gotell, Michael Gough, Wolfgang Preiss and even a couple of British actresses in brief roles: Prunella Scales and Linda Hayden. The last twenty minutes or so are absolutely riveting as the story comes to a head, and it finishes in an extremely satisfying way too. As chilling a film as any horror, THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL is a fine example of the thriller genre at its best.

This is a classic old science fiction slash drama slash thriller with even a bit of a mystery feel thrown into it as well. You can't say the acting isn't great when it stars two of the best actors of their generation in Sir Laurence Olivier (a personal favourite of mine) and Gregory Peck. If you like old-ish science fiction movies I recommend it highly!SPOILERS TO FOLLOW!The movie concerns the cloning of Adolf Hitler by a hardcore Nazi who plans to use the Hitler clones to start a new Nazi Reich and a third world war. Obviously our hero wants to stop him from succeeding in creating his vision of the master race and the domination of the entire world.I want to read the book it's based on now! I am assuming it is a great read.