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Rogue Male

Rogue Male (1977)

January. 01,1977
|
6.6
|
NR
| Drama War TV Movie

In 1939, Sir Robert Thorndyke takes aim at Adolf Hitler with a high powered rifle, but the shot misses its mark. Captured and tortured by the Gestapo and left for dead, Sir Robert makes his way back to England where he discovers the Gestapo has followed him. Knowing that his government would turn him over to German authorities, Sir Robert goes underground in his battle with his pursuers.

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Reviews

clanciai
1977/01/01

Fritz Lang made this film in 1941, but the two versions are very different and compliment each other - none will spoil the other. Peter O'Toole's version is more actionlike, the dialogue is very much reduced and replaced by more credible action, while in the Fritz Lang version the dialogue is all, and there are many interesting conversations. Above all, the original film stresses the actual theme of the book, which is British sportsmanship, while this tends to get lost in the Peter O'Toole version. However, Peter is a much more suitable actor for the role than Walter Pidgeon, who is not quite convincing and certainly no hero. Peter makes a hero with terrible ordeals to go thorugh, while Walter is rather unscathed throughout. Peter is more convincing as an absolute gentleman, you can judge him for what he is just by his appearance, while Walter Pidgeon is a bit overgrown in maturity almost lijke a middle aged bore - his opponent George Sanders actually outshines him. Peter is also assisted by the incomparable Alastair Sim for his uncle, who still in his old age remains perfectly irresistible. Walter Pidgeon's uncle you forget at once.So although Fritz Lang's film has a better script, is more literary and more brilliantly composed, while Peter's suffers from bad TV quality and is action for large audiences, Peter's version is more efficient and credible, realistic and dramatic. It's a great story, who wouldn't have dreamed of assassinating Hitler in time if he had the chance, and no matter how much you depart from the original story, you can't make a bad film on it.

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Lorenz Freimann
1977/01/02

Just few hours ago I saw for the first time this film and I am very impressed. So sad but I never read the book - the plot is so strange but Peter O'Toole is fantastic. For me especially worthy was seeing Old England and unspoiled countryside, Holborn tube station are remarkable - extra points for refreshing my memories. The idea of tandem bike also unusual. Some week points of the story is that being captured by Gestapo and killed by throwing from the cliffs our hero is ... alive. In Poland the movie is available on DVD.Is somebody who knows what kind of song was at the party sung? It's high time for looking for the book and red it.

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lemon_magic
1977/01/03

I first read "Rogue Male" as a young boy (of perhaps 10 or 11), and although the themes and the prose were obviously too mature and dense for even an avid reader of that age, even I was deeply impressed by the grittiness and elemental brutality of the plot and the relentlessness and implacability of the unnamed protagonist's pursuers. Say what you will about the technical shortcomings of this made-for-TV version, the script preserves the essence of that story. And although O'toole is perhaps the last "high-end" British actor of that era that I would have chosen for the role (it's hard to imagine anyone less believable as a big-game hunter), he does right by it. The supporting cast ranges from fair to great, and the result is quite watchable for any fan of the suspense/thriller genre. Glad I finally got a chance to see it.

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FelixFlanken
1977/01/04

I found this film lurking in the BBC Archives with dust on it.Last viewed the year it came out.It is an immensely atmospheric film shot in that typical seventies film which has aged - slightly murky and blurred with low and dark colour range, a bit like Bergerac or outside scenes of Fawlty Towers! I think Peter O'Toole does a great job in this and is so suited to the role and is really the only real acting presence apart from perhaps the chap he shoots at the end.There are a couple of nice quirky characters though who he meets on the , like the couple who sell him a tandem in a quaint village in Dorset and his plump uncle who we only ever see in a Turkish steam room.This a a good bit of greyish British seventies TV.

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