The Odessa File (1974)

A true classic from my youth, both the book and the movie. Watching the movie again in 2018, it holds up well but it's hard not to imagine a bit of modern film technique touch-ups here and there. I only have a couple of criticisms of this fine film that I enjoyed thoroughly each time I have seen it. It's just corny to see a movie about Germany yet hear barely a word of German, and even worse, have everyone speaking English with phony German accents. It would have added tremendously to the verisimilitude of the movie had some of the speeches been spoken in German. I think that filmmakers underestimate the intelligence of viewer when they do this, either that or they know the audience well enough to understand that most slobs don't want to listen to a foreign language.The music is pretty awful throughout the film. It's like the borrowed most of the music from a porn flick. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the story and it's one that towers above most of the rubbish of most films of this genre. Today it's all about how many people you can kill inside of idiot plots that all seem basically the same.

I think this is an enjoyable film. It is not very much like the book though.Jon Voight is great as the journalist (Peter Miller). His German accent is very good too.Maximilian Schell is also great as the German war criminal (Eduard Roschmann) now living as an apparently reputable businessman.There are some tense moments including when Miller fights and kills the man who was sent to kill him. This is just before he obtains the Odessa File of the title which gives the new identities of Nazi war criminals. This shows him where he can find Roschmann. He has a personal reason for wanting revenge on him as he murdered his father in the war. He found this out from the diary of an ex concentration camp inmate who had killed himself because he had seen Roschmann living comfortably and felt that nobody was doing anything about war criminals. The ending is very good. Roschmann denies that he actually killed any concentration camp inmates. Even when Miller makes it clear that, although he is sickened by what Roschmann and the Nazis did, he is only really there because he wants revenge for his father Roschmann rambles on about being innocent of any killings of Jews. Miller is so disgusted by Roschmann that he can't even kill him although he is forced to when Roschmann tries to shoot him.I found the acting to be excellent. There are a couple of faults including obviously 1970s cars in one scene when the film is set in the 60s but overall I think this is a tense and enjoyable film.

This film is remarkable on many levels, but two stand out: 1) the realistic portrayal of the events in Riga, wherein thousands of Jews were massacred by the Nazis, and 2) the fact that the "butcher" of these events in the film was not a fictional ploy but an actual SS officer named, as in the film, Rosschmann. The latter point is of interest, since the film provoked a world wide hunt for this murderer, who was located in South America, and who then fled to Paraguay where he died in 1977. The first part of the film is near perfect, though it gets more melodramatic in the latter part, with a number of unconvincing dramatic events added. One example: the journalist(Voight)attacking the burly professional hit man sent to kill him, and then actually winning a hand to hand struggle with him.

THE ODESSA FILE is filmed in authentic European locations which give the story an added touch of realism, the kind needed in this sort of espionage thriller. JON VOIGHT does an excellent job of portraying a journalist who comes across a journal vividly describing what happened at a Nazi internment camp during the last days of WWII. He decides to go on a personal hunt for the much hated man he believes caused the death of some 80,000 Jews (MAXIMILIAN SCHELL). In doing so, he also reveals another purpose that will come as a surprise at the story's conclusion.But first he searches for "The Odessa File," full of documents on a band of former SS German soldiers who are now operating a secret society of former war criminals who still hold firmly to their former beliefs. The plot thickens once he begins to tackle the assignment, pitted against members who want him out of the way lest their true identities be revealed.Not quite as brilliant as THE DAY OF THE JACKAL, it's a Frederick Forsyth thriller that deserves the attention of anyone looking for an intelligent, well-paced thriller that benefits from excellent cinematography and a good background score with some music courtesy of Andrew Lloyd Webber long before his big show biz fame. The action scenes are handled for maximum effect and the final confrontation between Voigt and Schell makes for a satisfying climax.