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Bookmark this pageThe Night of the Generals (1966)
Director: Anatole Litvak
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Outraged Nazi general to German major: 'Are you wearing perfume?' 'I occasionally wear a light after-shave, sir.' O'Toole and Sharif utter lines like these with absolutely straight faces in what is ostensibly about the generals' plot to assassinate Hitler. There's also a subplot involving a prostitute murderer (quite obviously O'Toole, since he's nutty as a fruitcake). O'Toole's performance is as over the top as it was in The Ruling Class, but this film (also an analysis of the elite) is far funnier since it takes itself so seriously. Ignore the plot, just revel in the clichés. (From the novel by Hans Helmuth Kirst.) CPe.Author: CPe
User reviews of this film
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- Steve Brook said...
- Posted on Aug 24 2011 14:29 This film has been described as "highly under-rated". One reason for this might well be the lenient treatment given to former Nazi war criminals after 1945 -- a theme strongly alluded to in the film's conclusion at an ex-Wehrmacht reunion. Not quite politically incorrect, but at the time, certainly awkward.
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Cast & crew
Director: Anatole Litvak
Producer: Sam Spiegel
Cast: Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif, Tom Courtenay, Donald Pleasence, Joanna Pettet, Philippe Noiret, Charles Gray, Coral Browne, Harry Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Juliette Gréco full cast
Genre(s): War
Duration: 147 mins
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