The Fixer is a 1968 British drama film directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Alan Bates, Dirk Bogarde and Georgia Brown.[1]
The Fixer | |
---|---|
Directed by | John Frankenheimer |
Screenplay by | Dalton Trumbo |
Based on | The Fixer by Bernard Malamud |
Produced by | Edward Lewis Productions; John Frankenheimer Productions |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Marcel Grignon |
Edited by | Henry Berman |
Music by | Maurice Jarre |
Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date |
|
Running time | 132 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Plot
editThe film is based on Bernard Malamud's 1966 novel The Fixer, which in turn was inspired by the 1913 trial of Menahem Mendel Beilis, a Russian Jew who was falsely accused of having ritually murdered a Ukrainian boy named Andrei Yushchinsky, an example of the Blood Libel.[2][3]
Cast
edit- Alan Bates as Yakov Shepsovitch Bok
- Dirk Bogarde as Boris Bibikov, investigating magistrate
- Georgia Brown as Marfa Golov
- Hugh Griffith as Lebedev
- Elizabeth Hartman as Zinaida
- Ian Holm as I. N. Grubeshov
- David Opatoshu as Latke
- David Warner as Count Odoevsky
- Carol White as Raisl Bok
- George Murcell as Deputy Warden
- Murray Melvin as Priest
- Peter Jeffrey as Berezhinsky
- Michael Goodliffe as Julius Ostrovsky
- Thomas Heathcote as Proshko
- Mike Pratt as Father Anastasy
- Stanley Meadows as Gronfein
- Francis de Wolff as Warden
- David Lodge as Zhitnyak
Critical reception
editThe Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Despite all the obvious effort and time that has been put into the production, it remains a protracted, and terribly dull, attempt at the 'serious' treatment of a literary subject – the kind of film in which one has to admire much of the acting simply because it is all there is to admire. ... Frankenheimer used a Hungarian crew to make The Fixer. It is just a pity that one of the first really ambitious attempts at East-West co-operation should turn out so limp."[4]
Accolades
editAlan Bates was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.[5]
References
edit- ^ "The Fixer". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
- ^ Ebert, Roger. "The Fixer Review". Roger Ebert. Retrieved 24 October 2018.
- ^ "Reviews. The Fixer".
- ^ "The Fixer". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 36 (420): 230. 1 January 1969. ProQuest 1305830594 – via ProQuest.
- ^ "The Fixer". Academy Awards. Retrieved 26 February 2024.