"Boys from Brazil - junk or classic ?" Topic

Rewatched this recently and I can't decide if it was quality junk (so bad it's good) or just quality.

Help me out here TMP bredderen.

The Boys from Brazil is a Masterpiece of a movie
The Boys from Brazil is a flawed masterpiece
The Boys from Brazil is ok
I saw the Boys from Brazil – what a waste of 2 hours
Trash, trash, trash
Never saw but thinks it's great
never saw but hate it
Never heard of Boys from Brazil and too lay to do a google search to find out about it but would like a vote anyway
Not a wargamer

Thanks !

Seen it years ago when I was in my teens but can't recall much about it.

Never seen the movie, but the Simple Minds song of the same name is very good.

It was on BBC2 the other night, I'd not seen it for a while and rather enjoyed it. It's not the greatest film by any means but it's not junk.

Any film in which Steve Guttenberg is killed is okay by me.

I never saw it, and have no opinion on it…. (this vote is missing from the poll…)

Needs more Zardoz…

Any film in which Steve Guttenberg is killed is okay by me.

He was surprisingly good (I thought)…in a different world he could have been a reasonable actor.

Not a wargamer.

Missing from the poll:

Read the book (enjoyed) haven't seen the movie.

Buckeye stole my post.

Needs another option:
Never heard of it and not going to do a google search at work for "Boys from Brazil" to find out about it but would like a vote anyway

(Note: it is a good film.)

You forgot needs more boobies.

There really ought to be something in between "OK" and "flawed masterpiece."

There is a big gap between those two and my opinion falls into this hole. Just get rid of "flawed masterpiece" and replace it with something that says it's good. Like maybe "It's good."

And "What a waste of 2 hours" and "Trash, trash, trash" are surely the same opinion really?

You need to rethink your options, I think.

You forgot needs more boobies.

I did not forget it – I chose to not include it…..

I think "trash,trash,trash" is a bit stronger than "what a waste of 2 hours" after all the later suggests that the film was seen from start to end without making the viewer foam at the mouth. "Trash, trash, trash"….there's an implied foaming at the mouth.

Would everyone just prefer a scale of 1-10 ? It's just as arbitrary you know, even though it appears more scientific, because my 8/10 may not be the same as someone else's 8/10.

I've seen some of it, but have no coherent idea of its merit.

The problem is that you have options that are (to me) quite close together in opinion (good and bad) and have left big gaps of opinion between them that aren't covered.

I don't get your 'waste of time' and 'trash' distinction. They are both at the "dislike extremely" end of the scale to me, whereas you have no option that expresses "dislike a little."

You have exactly the same problem with the "I like it" end of things: Redundant options and missing ones.

This, then, would be a good time to suggest some alternatives/additional rating levels. Such as the input from Buckeye (above).

I already did. "It's good" instead of "flawed masterpiece."

Instead of trying to think of clever phrases why not just have two levels of good and bad and a neutral. Then you have a nice spread of opinion instead of the options all being bunched at the very good and very bad ends:

I love it.
I like it.
It's okay.
I dislike it.
I hate it.

Quite what the point of the "I haven't seen it but here's my opinion anyway" options are I cannot see.

I LIKED IT

Needs more Boobies!

8)

Gregory Peck as a villain? Perfect!

Putting an actor who is normally a good guy as an evil guy usually works for me.

Gregory Peck in this and Henry Fonda in Once Upon A Time in the West

Read the condensed version of the book once or twice. Wasn't interested enough to see the movie.

Quite what the point of the "I haven't seen it but here's my opinion anyway" options are I cannot see.

Have you never taken part in a TMP poll before ?

Lots of people will want an option like this

Perregvay….

Another oiption…
"I saw it when it came out, but don't remembr much about it."

I'd forgotten about Mengeler's jungle lair – subtley creepy. Reminded me of a CoC adventure I (accidently) ruined – we walked into a room completely decorated in human skin. My character decided to torch it because it was revolting. The GM was…..slightly annoyed.

"Don't you want to explore ? Don't you want to look for clues ?"

"Err, no, the wallpaper is skin, the chairs are made from body parts, you know what, I think I've found out all I really need to know about this room".

At the rate he was making us take SAN rolls I still think that was a totally reasonable response !

Some good moments, but even Olivier and Peck couldn't save a whitewashed screenpolay version of a thoughtful novel.

Case in point: The last scene, where Olivier burns the list of the children rather than hand it over to the Mossad agent is nice enough, but now here's the ending in the book:

The Mossad agent wants the list so the agency can eliminate the Boys before they come of age. Wiesenthal informs him that won;t be posible as he has personally destroyed the only copy. The Mossad agent is furious, declaring that it was people like Wiesenthal who let the Holocaust happen the last time.

Wiesenthal's answer: "Nobody let it happen. People made it happen. The kind of people who were willing to kill even children to get what they wanted."

THAT is a powerful message: Evil is infectious, and no one is immune.

It's so bad it's good.

"Ach Liebermann! You accursed Jew!"

That kind of dialogue is worthy of Victor book for Boys

Is it safe?

Is it safe?

Is it safe?

Said by a dentist, can still send shivers up my spine.

My main gripe is that it taught two generations of gringos that Brazil loved the Nazis… When Brazil fought against the NaIs in WWII.

You're right, the Nazis in South America were overwhelmingly in Argentina.

I rate it a 7 (sorry, I don't like your scales). It was creepy enough and an interesting concept. Peck as the villian cool. And yeah, Guttenberg was good in this movie. Great actors all around.

Between the acting and tone of the movie (and creepy kid and jungle lab), you believed this could happen and that was good enough for me.

Well to be fair, the actual Dr Mengele's remains turned up here, although Paraguay under Stroessner, Bolivia under Banzer or Argentina under Videla would have been better candidates.

Remember, Hollywood also brought you that light heated comedy about Brazil called Turistas a few years back. Hollywood hasn't really been that good with depictions of the country ever since the days of Donald Duck and Ze Carioca.

If you have ever been to Joinville or Blumenau, you will have seen what the world would have looked like if the Nazis had won the war. The cathedral in Joinville resembles the fuhrer bunker the Tannenhof hotel looks like some sort of faux Bavarian flak tower and the place is full of plastic bier kellers. Awful place.

I suspect that American ignorance is just as deeply rooted in their custom of installing and/or aiding fascist regimes in the region and then simply assuming that the populace share that outlook.

You really want to turn this into a political debate, don't you Chacrinha?

What you call American ignorance is American apathy. We neither know nor care about Brazil.

This can be summed up by a comparison of two recent media events:

1) A leaker reveals that the U.S. spies on Brazil: The President cancels her trip to Washington, and Brazil's chattering class erupt in self-righteous indignation.

2) A leak reveals that Brazil spies on the U.S.: No one in America pays attention or cares.

Shrug.

Apathy, ignorance, self absorption, same effect. Can't question the history of it though.

These days, we can skip cloning and go right to 3D printing.