The Formula (1980) User Reviews (41)

I actually liked this movie

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 19 July 2005]

The reviews for this movie have been rather consistently poor--both when it was released and on IMDb. For some reason, I actually liked this film--maybe I have bad taste, but I found it to be a very pleasant surprise! Maybe some of my positive regard for this is because I like George C. Scott so much and because I like paranoid and depressing movies (and this one has all these elements). In fact, I am guessing that the depressing nature of the film is much of the reason why others dislike it (there are a lot of murders in the movie). But I liked it for the odd plot--about the evil oil producers trying to suppress a secret for a cheaper fuel through murders and payoffs. But, if you do decide to watch this film, please try to remember that it's only a film. This is not a piece of non-fiction!

UPDATE--8/08. I re-watched this film (something I rarely do) and was surprised how dull I found it a second time. While I still liked the paranoid plot involving a worldwide oil conspiracy, this time I noticed that the film was a bit too talky and the plot a bit too convoluted. Plus, and I know Brando fans will hate me for saying this, but his acting seemed a tad over-done. Still, it's a decent film even if I did knock my original score from 8 to 6.

'Too bad the film didn't have its "formula" together.

[garrard · 5/10 · 28 January 2007]

What happened? The film had all the earmarks for success: two of the generation's greatest actors (Scott and Brando); a subject that is topical, even to this day; an international co-star that had made an impressive appearance years earlier in another political thriller, the film adaptation of Thomas Harris's "Black Sunday; and a director that had been responsible for two critically praised films ("Rocky" and "Save the Tiger").

Unfortunately the screenplay, penned by novel author Steve Shagan, just fell as flat as filling one's gas tank with water: no get up and go. There were no thrills in what should have had many; there were no chills, in what should have had more action. Even the two stars seems as though they were just drawing a paycheck, and possibly a free trip to Europe, where most of the film was made.

Even Bill Conti, who had written one of movie's most memorable melodies ("The Theme from 'Rocky'"), composed a score that was as exciting as listening to radio static.

The film's sole saving grace is the appearance of perennial heavy Richard Lynch as a former Nazi general with information about the sought-after formula.

Sadly, the movie just doesn't click with this viewer.

Standard suspense/ thriller with notable cast and deliberately realized

[ma-cortes · 5/10 · 23 March 2010]

Exciting story about a cop involved into an international intrigue referred to high-finance, it begins from the end WWII to the present. This thriller concerns about a veteran Inspector (George C Scott), Lt. Caine LAPD, he has to investigate two murders , it leads an insidious scheme to get a formula about a secret for synthetic fuel called Genesis and he will not stop at nothing . Caine is drawn into a criminal whirlpool. He becomes unwittingly involved to Nazi plots, along with a beautiful model (Marthe Keller). Hard-noised Caine is only helped by an agent, his oriental sidekick against a mysterious organization ruled by a mean billionaire (Marlon Brando). Meanwhile suspicious start to be killed one by one. Later on, Caine gets the formula that is hidden into a safety box and is aware which the nasties know whether or no it is safe to go to pick it up.

This intriguing movie packs action, suspense ,thrills,a love story, treason, and is quite entertaining. This intense thriller holds your interest throughout, however it contains some flaws and confusion. Certainly is worth watch seeing for George C Scott's brilliant, credible performance as obstinate cop. Good secondary cast as John Gielgud , G.D. Spradlin,Marshall Thomson,Wolfgang Preiss,Richard Lynch , among others. Interesting movie but with some holes and gaps and ridiculous scenes .

The film contains adequate and atmospheric cinematography by James Crabe. Suspesnseful and long-standing score by Bill Conti, director's usual . The picture is regularly directed by John G Avildsen. He is a nice director who has mixed more karate Kid and Rocky films with such feel-good message films as ¨Power of one, or ¨ Lean on me¨. Rating : passable and acceptable, 5,5.

Odd, talky, convoluted, but worthwhile

[Wuchakk · 6/10 · 14 February 2013]

Released in 1980, "The Formula" is a star-studded crime/thriller about a Los Angeles detective (George C. Scott) who investigates the murder of his friend, a retired cop, which leads to Germany and a Nazi formula for synthetic fuel that big oil naturally wants to suppress at all costs. Marlon Brando plays a shady oil tycoon but only appears for roughly 17 minutes of the almost 2-hour runtime.

The film is top-of-the-line as far as cast, location, cinematography and score go. It starts off like a Dirty Harry flick substituting Scott for Eastwood with his Asian sidekick, but the plot's complicated and there's not enough action for Dirty Harry fans. The rest of the film seems like an episode of Columbo mixed with Scott's "Hardcore" (1979) where he goes undercover in Southern California investigating his daughter's disappearance.

The highlights include the WW2 & Nazi elements, acting giants Scott and Brando, the lovely Marthe Keller, the rest of the cast, the great locations (California, Germany and Switzerland) and the emphasis on dialogue above thrills, which may be a detriment to some. Regarding the Nazi elements, there's a brief strip club scene in Europe where Nazi imagery is used as a backdrop for the dancers, fittingly showing how yesterday's unspeakable horrors are forgotten by the next generation and utilized for entertainment or recreation.

Brando has proved time and again that he has a knack for playing weird, quirky characters ("The Missouri Breaks", "Apocalypse Now", "The Godfather" and "The Island of Dr. Moreau") and he does this here with his portrayal of an oil executive based on Armand Hammer of Occidental Petroleum, but with so-so results. Still, you've gotta give him credit for trying and Brando is always entertaining.

The main problem here is the convoluted plot. There are so many names it's hard to keep up. So I recommend using the subtitles as it helps you keep track. Another issue is how the fate of certain people is redundant and therefore becomes predictable (I'd say more, but I don't want to spoil anything).

So "The Formula" is a mixed bag, but its strengths outweigh it's weaknesses. It's worthwhile if you're a fan of the stars and if you're in the mood for a thought-provoking, globetrotting crime/drama/thriller that's heavy on talk and light on thrills.

GRADE: B-

" Want to know why fuel is so high, don't ask me, I'm only a customer "

[thinker1691 · 7/10 · 21 September 2012]

Steve Shagan wrote this novel long before the film emerged and became a prophetic warning to the world. After reading the story, I concluded the book is much more informative and a hell of a lot more more interesting. Still, the power of George C. Scott makes for a good understanding of the world's fuel problems and the greedy men who neatly arrange for it's sale and distribution. John G. Avidsen directed this film and although he used the star power of Marlon Brando to attract a large audience, he fail to capitalized on the combination of his leading men. The story as found in the novel begins with the murder of a retired LAPD police officer and assigned to Lt. Barney Caine (George C. Scott). Although evidence suggests the dead Officer died from Cocaine, Caine suspects it was blatant murder. With a gut feeling and growing suspicion of multiple involvement by others, Caine travels to Europe to learn who was behind the killings in America. This eventually leads to Adam Steiffel (Marlon Brando) a very rich and powerful Oil Executive based in the US who explains where and how the world works. A Plethora of Hollywood stars including John Gielgud, Marshall Thompson and Wolfgang Preiss, makes for a solid movie, but one wonders why Brando is only given minimal screen exposure. Still, with name recognition alone this will become a Classic George C. Scott milestone. ****

The wrong formula

[mls4182 · 1/10 · 14 August 2022]

Less of the budget on overrated gasbag Brando and more on a good scriptwriter.

Talk, talk, talk, increased body count and no suspense.

Don't bother. It is a complete waste of film.

How To Keep Coal Alive.

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 10 January 2018]

Two slightly aged actors who have in the past turned in magnificent performances. Well, one, really, George C. Scott as a detective sent to Germany to investigate the death of his friend. Marlon Brando, the phenomenally wealthy oil tycoon appears for some minutes at the beginning and end of the film. Scott is magnetic as usual, a Los Angeles cop out of his element in Europe, picking up Marthe Keller along the way, and unable to trust anyone. As in most detective stories, Scott bumps into one oddball after another in his search for the reason for the murder of his partner.

There are some pretty good odballs though. Sir John Gielgud is memorable as the terminally ill ex Nazi scientist, claiming that the civilized world runs on oil and excoriating Scott because the US has its hands bloody too. Watch Gielgud lurch around with his walking stick and rasp out insults and self congratulations.

Equally memorable is Brando as the slightly deaf old chap who chews out the "monkey" who chlorinated the pool at Brando's mansion and thereby seems to have killed a frog. "Well, I just hope that frog has Blue Shield! You pay these guys five dollars an hour and they think they own the place."

There's a puckish wit in his every line and every movement. He never REALLY gets angry and never shouts. He doesn't have to. He owns 75% of all the coal in the country, ready to be converted to synthetic oil when the diminishing supply or real oil drives the price high enough. It's not a matter of morality and there are no dark ethical questions lurking in the background. It's all very simple. Money makes the world go round. And it must be true because Thomas Jefferson said something to that effect.

Most of the film was shot in Germany, in murky, night-time, rainy atmospheres with menace in every shadowy cranny. As the detective Scott does a credible job although he's no longer the human dynamo of his films from the early 60s. (Who is?) There's very little violence. Dead bodies, yes, but not cascades of gore. Nor are there pursuits, people running with guns in their hands or speeding care rolling over before bursting into flame. It's a mystery, and a convoluted one at that.

It teeters on the brink of boredom but the performances manage to keep it stable enough to be enjoyed.

A confusing mess

[jrs-8 · 4/10 · 14 June 2005]

"The Formula" is a mess of a movie. It's a mystery/thriller in which the mystery is almost impossible to follow and the thrills are few and far between. The plot becomes confusing almost from the start and never turns itself around. Ones only reason to watch this movie would be to see two of our greatest actors, Marlon Brando and George C.Scott, performing together. Sadly even that falls short as they only have two scenes together, albeit these are the two best scenes in the movie. Brando's speech about the oil companies is terrific. Too bad the rest of the film didn't live up to that scene.

I can remember that just prior to the opening of the film at Christmas of 1980 it became public knowledge that the studio (with the backing of writer Steve Shagan) took the film away from director John Avildsen. Shagan wanted many changes made so Avildsen sent a long memo to the studio outlining Shagan's apparent wrong decisions with the editing. The studio seemed to agree - somewhat. Some of Avildsen's suggestions were restored while others weren't. Thankfully the Brando speech that I mentioned above was not cut per Shagan's request. Avildsen believed that because Brando basically improvised the scene Shagan was not happy with it.

Come to think of it I think I would have rather seen a movie based on the internal battles of the studio/writer and the director then this mess. Whomever is to blame, and it's probably 50-50, "The Formula" is a major disappointment considering all the talent involved.

Was Expecting the Worst

[evanston_dad · 7/10 · 22 March 2023]

Given the user reviews "The Formula" has gotten on Internet movie sites, I was expecting the worst from this maligned 1980 thriller. Maybe that's why I found myself pleasantly surprised, but I kind of liked this movie. It's schlocky for sure, and I'll admit it doesn't make a lot of sense. I couldn't with any confidence tell anyone why George C. Scott's grizzled police character is pulled into the central plot in the first place. That plot has something to do with big corporations wanting to get their hands on a secret Nazi formula for making synthetic fuel and using it to bilk customers out of more money. What it actually means for the movie is that there is scene after scene of George C. Scott growling at someone for information, leaving the room, and then that someone immediately getting shot in the head from an unseen assassin. This literally happens like four times, and it becomes actually laughable after a point. I found myself warning random characters on screen not to talk to George C. Scott, because it doesn't end well for anyone who does.

Scott acts the hell out of this movie, giving a much better performance than it deserves. He's a joy to watch. And Marlon Brando represents evil corporations, and gives a gonzo performance that's worth the price of admission. I don't know if my favorite scene was the one of him reaming out the pool guy for putting too much chlorine in the pool, or offering George C. Scott a milk dud.

"The Formula" is maybe a guilty pleasure, but I was sure entertained by it.

Inexplicably this movie received an Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography. Mmmmm.....'kay.

Grade: B+

Needs to be more thrilling

[SnoopyStyle · 5/10 · 23 June 2014]

Near the end of WWII, the Nazis hope to trade a truck load of secret documents for amnesty with the Americans. General Helmut Kladen (Richard Lynch) is tasked to bring the truck to the Americans at the Swiss borders. Years later, LAPD Barney Caine (George C. Scott) is investigating the murder of Tom Neeley. Neeley was the Major who intercepted the Nazi truck. With his last effort, he writes 'Gene' with his blood. Titan Oil chairman Adam Steiffel (Marlon Brando) becomes part of the investigation but he has powerful influences. Caine goes to Germany to investigate an old secret operation codenamed Genesis which he suspects is connected to the case. He uncovers a Nazis formula for making gasoline from coal which oil interests are willing to kill to bury.

This thing is slower than molasses. Director John G. Avildsen is very hit and miss. This is definitely a miss. The investigation is a grind. It reminds me of TV police procedurals of that era. George C. Scott is the only driving force in the movie. He is pushing this through only by his will power. Marlon Brando looks old and fat. He's fine as a villain and it's nice to see him. The movie isn't asking much from him.

The premise is compelling and would make a good thriller. The movie is just too slow for too long. It desperately needs more action and much better pace. It's good to see two acting icons but I wish they had a better movie to act in. I have to comment on the Nazi strip club. I don't like it not because it's controversial, but because it looks so cheesy. Like the movie, it needed better style to make something more compelling.

Synthetic fuel, anyone?

[mdewey · 8/10 · 1 September 2008]

This film may have even more relevance today than in 1980, when it was released. Most in this country would love to be left to their own devices by marketing/consuming fuel based on American coal derivatives like those delineated in the "Genesis" formula instead of depending upon foreign petroleum. The parallels outlined here are close to today's, especially the popular theories these days that big oil is suppressing valid fuel alternative projects that would undercut their energy dominance, hence, their financial status.

Unlke some other reviewers, I thought the film moved along at a nicely orchestrated pace, making it, perhaps, a more analytical movie than a Hollywood flash-and-dash melodrama. The film follows a logical progression of events that lets the viewer absorb the contents in easy to swallow doses, that is, as long as he/she pays attention to the plot development.

I was impressed by mostly all the actors, especially Marthe Keller, who acquitted herself very well in her portrayal by staying well within her character and by her impeccable timing and fluid delivery. Mr. Brando's rather short stint in the film was punctuated by terse, cynical and penetrating dialog, playing the enterprising villain who continually cuts to the chase with large doses of street-wise metaphors. George C., as usual, is a no-nonsense good cop who only wants to see justice prevail, regardless of who gets burnt. Yet inside him, demons from the past lurk and can't help but surface from time to time: you can see it in the non-verbal communication that Mr. Scott so characteristically exudes.

Thanks to TCM for showing these kinds of films that are usually omitted on other movie channels.

This formula didn't work.

[drew-121 · 6/10 · 28 July 2002]

What a waste of talent.

George C Scott looked almost disinterested.

Brando looked and acted like a pretentious idiot.

Beatrice Straight must have felt lucky to be shot so early in the movie.

The editing was very poor and with such a complicated plot this only added to the sense of incomprehension that descended whilst watching this dire film.

It appeared that the whole story was some sort of warning about the way global conglomerates are controlling oil production and prices.

Why spend so much time and money to tell us something we could get from the front page of The Observer or The Independant?

Boring - useless

[diotis · 2/10 · 23 August 2008]

I am a big fan of retro movies. So when I started watching this, knowing that Brando is playing and that its an espionage movie including WW2 elements I was pretty excited. Unfortunately it was a big waste of time. The plot is so complex that you simply cannot follow it. Many names in the script and subplots under the main plot and at the end...you really wonder what the **** happened! I mean there's a key issue in the movie, synthetic oil, but besides that, you really can't figure out who's working for who and what's going on! Scott is a great actor and I also liked Brando's performance (he plays for 10 minutes or so in this 2-hours movie) but that's simply not enough. The main problem with this movie is the script and the way the director used it. You simply do not have the time to figure out what is going on in each scene. There's a scene at the end where almost all the names are referenced but instead of making things clear, hell broke loose! If you like a good movie, choose something else.

"Chinatown" Without Water

[skullislandsurferdotcom · 23 August 2011]

There are decent moments as George C. Scott investigates the death of his cop friend, who was involved with a "formula" that has to do with… well that's revealed in the second half of the film, which gets weighed down by too many conversations with characters being killed off right after revealing the secrets that carry Scott from one person to the next.

The main problem is the lack of situations between the dialog – more chatter than the necessary suspense which would make our protagonist seem in real danger. Marlon Brando plays a stateside oil tycoon, and while it's fun watching him on screen – as he continuously purses his lips and revels in a shady persona – he's doing an obvious performance.

Once in Germany, where Scott becomes drenched in a Nazi secret (teased in the prologue with Richard Lynch), he meets a brooding, sexy Martha Keller, perhaps the most fleshed-out character. But fans of Film Noir will see her deception way before love-struck Scott does.

Director John G. Advilsen strays from his colorfully creative styling of JOE and SAVE THE TIGER, and his latter, more popular flicks like ROCKY and THE KARATE KID that make you want to win at all costs. This lacked either color or stamina, and leads to a dull conclusion where all those conversations, some of which are genuinely intriguing, seem a waste of time.

For More Reviews: http://cultfilmfreakreviews.blogspot.com

The Formula

[dkterry · 7/10 · 5 April 2005]

Great Movie. Again George C. Scott and Marlin Brando did an excellent job of acting. Great plot. The movie develops as a wonderful mystery which evolves into a Good versus Evil. Brando excels with his portrayal of a greedy oil-rich company executive who is bent on keeping a synthetic oil production substitute a secret. Scott is a police detective trying to solve the murder of a long time friend who is associated with "the formula". The end is one the best performances of both actors. The plot and the relationship gets a little confusing with Marta Kellor's role. I think it is realistic of today's corporate scandals.

Just imagine! The great German nation defeated by men who never saw a toilet!

[sol-kay · 7/10 · 1 January 2010]

***SPOILERS*** Very complex and confusing film about the Nazi Genesis Project during WWII in the mass production of synthetic fuel to run its war machine. It was that fuel, made from liquefied coal, that had Germany hold off defeat while inflicting millions of allied casualties for some two years after it's supply of oil, mostly from the Romanian Ploesti Oil Field, was obliterated by allied daylight bombings in 1943.

Seeing in the spring of 1945 that the war was lost, for Germany, German General Helmut, Richard Lynch, makes a desperate dash with a truck full of Nazi secret documents towards the Swiss border only to get intercepted by a US Army patrol. It's then that Gen. Helmut makes a secret deal with US Army Major Tom Neeley, Robin Clark,to trade the documents for his safety out of the country and possible being tried as a Nazi war criminal. It's now 35 years later and Neeley now a retired L.A police chief is found murdered in his home with it made to look like it was some kind of mob hit. In fact it was but the mob wasn't the Mafia but those running the world's oil cartels.

With Neeley's good friend in the LAPD Let. Barney Caine, George C. Scott, put on the case it becomes evident to him that those who ordered Neeley murdered originated, by a check on Neeley's recent travels, from Germany. That becomes even more clear to Let. Caine when within days Neeley's estranged wife Kay, Beatrice Straight, is also fund murdered in her Jacuzzi with the same murder weapon that murdered her husband! The film follows the same formula in that as soon as we're, or Let. Caine, introduced to a major character in it he, or she, ends up being murdered! Let. Caine traveling to, at that time in 1980, West Germany on official business starts to put all the loose ends in Neeley's murder together and uncovers his involvement with the Nazi Genesis Project! If the secret of the Genesis Project were made public it would put the world's oil cartels out of business!

Hard to follow and very boring at times, with the action in the film about as long as a one minute TV commercial, the best part in it is the confrontation between Let. Caine and Titan Oil CEO Adam Steiffel, Marlon Brando, at the conclusion of the movie. It's that scene that explains to the audience what exactly is going on in the film.***SPOILER ALERT*** Steiffel who's the man behind all the murders in the movie comes across so likable, due to Brando's comedic mannerisms of him, that you find it hard to dislike him. In fact you look at Scott, as Let. Caine, to be more of a villain that he does in is verbally abusing the what seems like the helpless balding fat-man that Steiffel is. In the end it's Steiffel who ends up getting the last laugh by checkmating Let. Caine, despite all his efforts, in his trying to get the Genisis formula out to the public. Which shows that big bucks not morality or the public interest is the way to get things done in this world. There's also in the movie the husky voiced and very athletic looking Marthe Keller as Lisa Spangler in a role that she seemed to play in every film she was in back then; The mystery woman. Lisa was so mysterious that even when the movie was finally over you didn't quite know on just who's-Let. Caine or Adam Steiffel-she was on?

P.S The film "The Formula" has the distinction of not only having two Academy Award winners, Geroge C. Scott & Marlon Brando, for best actor in it but also the very two who turned the coveted Oscar down for, in Brando's case, political and, in George C, Scott's case, personal or professional reasons.

THE FORMULA (DIDIER BECU)

[Didier-Becu · 4/10 · 29 August 2003]

I admit it, the sole reason I wanted to see this was because of Marlon Brando but once you see his appearance you can't imagine that this is the man from Elia Kazan-movies or Don Corleone...at contrary, he plays like an idiot... Okay, George C Scott is the kind of actor that never works on my nerves and he also was the only reason why I kept watching as this movie sucks... You can write thrillers and spionagescenarios but please don't forget that an average watcher cant follow thousand plots in 100 minutes, director John G Avildsen doesn't even give us the time to let us discover who is who as from the moment a new personage appears he ends up being shot three minutes later plus you are wondering what the hell it's all about.... There used to be a formula created during the Third Reichregime that creates synthetic oil and cos that's quite nasty for those who gain their money with oil, everyone must be eliminated who comes in touch with the formula...that's it...and the big problem is that after 10 minutes you know who did it (you probably already know it yourself, not?) but before all this you have to watch thousands useless plots... Bad cinema!

Could be remade today

[cmayerle-41064 · 6/10 · 1 September 2018]

The plot could be recycled today without a lot of revisions to the script or even a sequel. Lets face it, the energy sector is just as important and just as screwed up (at least in perception) and everybody loves a good conspiracy.

Having said that, this movie suffers from the type of cinematography in the early 1980's. The direction, camera work and most of the acting was plain uninspired. Brando was a good baddie, but he's not seen too much. Scott is pretty good for the most part, but when he stumbled over a couple of lines, the director decided not to reshoot the scenes. One of the difficulties of acting in a foreign language is that its hard to emote. And the cast here have that problem, unfortunately.

This Is No Formula for Entertainment

[bkoganbing · 4/10 · 2 May 2008]

Of course any chance to see a film with George C. Scott and Marlon Brando is not to be missed, but I do so wish that they had done something better than The Formula.

The Formula referred to in the title is in fact a formula that the Nazi scientists developed for getting oil fuel out of coal. The only source of it in all of Europe is in Ploesti in Romania. Which was why the Nazis made damn sure to occupy the place and also wanted to get to the Soviet Union oil fields as well.

Anyway a former cop who in retirement found working on the other side of the law, a lucrative supplement for his pension is murdered in Los Angeles. George C. Scott is the LAPD detective put in charge of the case. The former cop's widow Beatrice Straight is also murdered along with just about everyone else who talks with Scott during the course of the investigation.

Said investigation takes Scott from LA to Germany and back to LA and mysterious gazillionaire Marlon Brando. The story takes in old Nazis, new Nazis, Arab terrorists, and the oil establishment who wants The Formula on its terms.

What I don't understand is that if the powerful conglomerate that Brando controlled wanted things shut down, why in heaven's name was Scott put in charge of the investigation? Doesn't make a lot of sense when you think about it.

Brando and Scott together in their final confrontation scene are fabulous. Would that the rest of The Formula was done so well.

Brando was the best thing about this film

[BenHur59 · 7/10 · 17 September 2023]

This is not to say it is a very good film. It isn't. And Brando only did it for the money and just tried to have fun with his character. But Brando acted rings around GC Scott in their scenes together. He sold his character's world view far better than Scott sold his character's world view. When Brando talked about the way the world is, he made sense. When Scott ranted about people being made to eat out of garbage cans, he just sounded stupid. Perhaps Scott simply got saddled with the hokey lines. It was fun to watch Scott seething about all the injustices while Brando just coasted along, kind of floating, and calmly fixing things his way at the end. This was very good going up against great.

Formula for boredom

[ArtVandelayImporterExporter · 4/10 · 14 August 2022]

Somebody cooked up a good idea. And cast one of the all-time great actors, George C Scott, in the lead role.

Problem is, everything else is second-rate. The direction is flat and uninspiring. The acting is borderline hambone. The dialogue isn't half as interesting as the screenwriter thinks it is.

But other than Scott, there are two reasons to watch this movie:

Marthe Keller is a stunningly beautiful woman.

The strip club scene in Berlin, with Nahzi strippers performing in front of B&W footage of Hilter and various henchmen. I burst out laughing.

John Gielgud and Marlon Brando have basically cameo roles. They barely manage to avoid embarassing themselves.

Eerie believability based in historical fact...

[artistsnwriters · 10/10 · 16 March 2011]

I went out and rented this film after thirty-odd years to simply see it again and to revisit my first impressions; and after thirty-five years in oil.

I was actually in petrochemical engineering and construction---a builder, not a driller---but the drillers were my clients and I learned from both. Everything revolving around the basic premise of this film, the situations, the dialogue, the revelation of world economic truths, the actual history behind the modern-day, post-war plot line, the intrigue, and the superb conflict-acting by both George C. Scott and Marlon Brando made this cinematic foray into a little-known history of my former business all the more believable---and here's why:

During the war, the Third Reich, and out of sheer necessity from its failed campaigns in both North Africa and the Caucasus Mountains, actually DID develop synthetic petroleum extracted from coal (called "coal hydrogenation", or "Kohleveredelung") in the Ruhr Basin for everything from lubricants to fuels to other synthetic by-products. The principal synthetic refineries at Merseburg, Magdeburg, and Gelsenkirchen, Germany, and Ploesti, Romania (11 facilities all-told), and a number of related others, were raided by both the US Army Air Forces and RAF Bomber Command as "maximum-effort" targets to be destroyed at all costs. The Wehrmacht had it and we didn't and we wanted it, and after the war, we got it and kept it, and kept it a secret, so the movie really is a loose form of cinéma vérité. This was more than alluded to in George C. Scott's final scene of excoriation of Marlon Brando's character, which was eerily similar to Ned Beatty's soliloquy and not-dissimilar treatment of Peter Finch in the earlier 1976 feature film, "Network", however, much shorter.

The one tag line that brought it all into focus by Scott at the end was, "You're not in the oil business; you're in the oil SHORTAGE business!"

Although panned by a number of reviewers (including The New York Times, amongst others) for everything from goofs (all movies have them), acting, and art direction, I gave it five stars, simply for the combination of a familiar hypothesis and idea, and with the raw dynamic acting talent of those two splendid late giants of the film industry, Scott and Brando.

To someone as me who cut his teeth in the oil business out of college, and whose father actually bombed some of these plants from a B-17 during the war, it was once again mesmerizing to see this both rumored and storied mystery come to life.

"I don't envy you your profession, Mr. Caine. It must be one long tragic view of life."

[utgard14 · 5/10 · 14 August 2014]

LAPD detective George C. Scott investigates the murder of an old friend. More and more murders happen as the investigation leads him into a conspiracy plot involving a formula for synthetic fuel created by Nazi scientists in World War II.

Overlong thriller with dull stretches. Main selling point being that it's the only movie to costar heavy hitters George C. Scott and Marlon Brando, coincidentally the only two actors to refuse their Best Actor Oscars. Brando only appears in three scenes. For some reason he insisted on making himself up to look ridiculous with fake teeth, a comb-over, and something stuck up his nose. Beside that, he does fine and so does Scott. Nothing special in the career of either man but not the stinker some make it out to be. The plot involving the formula conspiracy is interesting. It's not a terrible film. It goes on too long and the fact that everybody Scott talks to seems to be murdered almost immediately afterward is pretty funny. But it's watchable.

You're The Reason Why Old People Have To Eat Of Garbage Cans!

[florida87 · 2/10 · 1 August 2007]

Caught this while doing some work at my desk and saw it had George C Scott, a favorite of mine. It had a really bad feel to it on a made for TV movie level, so I kept it in the background so I could get some snippets as this looked really really boring and it's all that was on at the time. Anyway if your political bents swing towards the Greenpeace crowd than you will rate this a 7 to 10, since I'm on the other end of the political spectrum it gets a 2. I love secret Nazi formula thriller stuff, and one that holds as much promise as the "formula" here did along with Scott should have come much better. That said the movies only redeeming qualities was it's similarities of Brando's character to Dick Chaney, and the speech in the end when Scott says "Your the reason why old people have to eat out of garbage cans!". That and a weird scene with strippers on stage in Germany with swastika pasties on, that was kind of interesting, you had to be there. I think both of these actors pulled some stunts during the academy awards and they were the forerunners of todays mostly leftist Hollywood actor crowd, and this movie has a clear political bent to appeal to that audience with dialog like the old people and trash cans. I'm surprised he didn't mention anything about soup lines, but I might have just missed it as this movie was hard to stay focused on and for once I preferred to do some work than follow this boring drivel. 2 of 10 stars, Scott didn't make all that many truly great movies in his career, but I certainly remember the ones he did do, this one wont be remembered as one though.

An anticapitalist fantasy

[robert3750 · 1/10 · 21 August 2021]

The film is pure drivel, a screenwriter's anticapitalist fantasy exploiting anger over high gas prices in order to portray oil companies as all-powerful oligarchs. The formula for coal gasification is hardly a "secret" formula.