By: Vickie J. Rubinson
"The Boys from Brazil" is a British/American science fiction thriller starring Gregory Peck and Laurence Olivier with James Mason and cameos by Uta Hagen and Steve Gutenberg.
George C. Scott was originally set to play Dr. Mengele but he dropped out before principal photography began and was replaced by Gregory Peck. The film was shot on location in Austria, England, Paraguay and Lancaster Penn.
Aging Nazi hunger Ezra Liberman (Laurence Olivier), must discover and thwart a plan by surviving Nazi death camp doctor Josepf Mengele (Gregory Peck), to resurrect Adolf Hitler through cloning. Mengele is still hiding in South America.
To make sure a new powerful Fourth Reich is launched, he summons a group of former SS officers in hiding along with several young new nazis. The purpose: to kill 94 men in Europe, Canada and the United States. Mengele's intention is to recreate the conditions that will bring about a new Hitler into the world many times over into the future.
The film fits neatly in the paranoid thriller vein popularized by films like the Manchurian Candidate (1962) and the Parallax View (1974). Sir Laurence Olivier's Nazi hunter Ezra Liberman was modeled on real life Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal.
The Boys from Brazil remains a thrilling sci-fi/paranoia yarn with surprising twists and a 'ripped' from the headlines topicality.
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