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The Night of the Generals (1967)
Rate:
6
Viewed:
5/18
5/18:
Five years after becoming international stars in their debut film Lawrence of Arabia,
Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif team up again for The Night of the Generals as a favor for Sam Spiegel.
Hoping to see the same chemistry again from these two, I thought it, a giant money-loser with interesting Nazi themes,
would be decent enough to sustain my interest, but unfortunately, the threadbare story is what did it in. The long running
time of two hours and twenty-eight minutes is exhausting as well. The idea of Nazi generals and soldiers
speaking in pristine British accents is a definite no-no.
A Polish prostitute, who's actually a German agent, is murdered during the middle of WWII, and one brave Nazi decides
to investigate the matter. Come on...like anyone cares. And who did it will become predictable within a minute after
taking a gander at the three main suspects.
In the interim, it's confusing to follow the timeline when flashbacks are used. Also, there's no point
in paying attention to the love story between Lance Corporal Hartmann and General von Seidlitz-Gabler's daughter who have sex
with their clothes on. At one point, a solider is gun-machined down bloodlessly. The ending is unlikely and thus laughable.
I know Omar Sharif is an Egyptian, having been born in Alexandria, but I can't, for the life of me, understand
why anyone thought he would make a convincing Nazi. His caked face makeup is a constant eyesore. I don't like Tom Courtenay
and find him a boring actor. Hence, there's no reason to include him because Peter O'Toole, whose character may have
been a precursor to Ralph Fiennes' Amon Göth for Schinder's List, is more than enough.
Donald Pleasence is okay, being no different from anything else, while Philippe Noiret is fun to watch.
By the way, you'll save time by skipping Valkyrie with Tom Cruise to see
The Night of the Generals as it'll show Colonel von Stauffenberg's failed assassination plot which may be the first ever in
cinema history. However, I refuse to believe the conspirators like Kahlenberge and Seidlitz-Gabler are able to survive afterwards.
All in all, The Night of the Generals needs a more polished story, but please...reduce the running time by a great deal.