The formula
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The formula |
| Original title | The Formula |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English , German , Spanish |
| Publishing year | 1980 |
| length | 117 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | John G. Avildsen |
| script | Steve Shagan |
| production | Steve Shagan |
| music | Bill Conti |
| camera | James Crabe |
| cut | John Carter |
| occupation | |
| |
The Formula is an American thriller from 1980 by John G. Avildsen with George C. Scott , Marlon Brando and Marthe Keller in the lead roles. Producer Steve Shagan also wrote the script from his own novel.
action
Germany in the spring of 1945. On behalf of the Reich leadership, Panzer General Helmut Kladen is dispatched to the German-Swiss border with an important secret mission. He is set to take an extremely significant formula out of the country. It records the steps the Nazis took in making synthetic gasoline from hard coal. The leadership in Berlin, meanwhile encircled by Soviet troops, hoped to have a bargaining chip in negotiations with the Western Allies, above all the USA. Before General Kladen can set foot on safe Swiss soil, however, he is intercepted by the Americans at the border and passed on to US military intelligence.
Los Angeles in 1980. Police Ltnt. Barney Caine is tasked with investigating the murder of his former boss and friend Tom Neeley, who is believed to have died in a failed drug deal. Neeley was found dead with the name "Gene" next to him, which he had obviously scribbled on a newspaper with his own blood. Right next door Ltnt. Caine discovers a map of Germany with the name "Obermann" written on it. Caine learns that Neeley apparently got drugs for parties hosted by economic boss Adam Steiffel. Barney Caine then interrogates Neeley's ex-wife and catches her lying in rather obvious lies. Caine decides a little later to check Mrs. Neeley again, but he comes too late: The divorced widow lies dead in her swimming pool, shot.
Ltnt. Caine then asks the seedy Steiffel personally. He claims to the police officer that Neeley was in his service and was on the road as a messenger. His travels also took him to Europe, where Neeley was supposed to deliver money to business partners on Steiffel's behalf. Caine is certain that if he wants to solve the death of his friend, he has to fly to Germany himself. His boss, John Nolan, gives him the green light, and before Barney Caine can set off, Nolan is seen calling one of Steiffel's henchmen, Arthur Clements, and saying that Caine has swallowed the bait.
In Berlin, Caine meets a certain Paul Obermann at the Berlin Zoo. The German explains to the US police officers about the ominous "Operation Genesis". Caine sees his assumption confirmed that Neeley's death must be in connection with "Genesis". Shortly afterwards, Obermann is murdered outside the zoo. Obermann's niece Lisa was later questioned by the police in his apartment. During the memorial service for Obermann, Caine asks Lisa to accompany him to interpret for him. Lisa is ready, the first trace of the two leads her to a certain Professor Siebold, who once worked on the formula. Siebold reveals that the formula was invented by the now quite elderly Dr. Abraham was Esau, but he is still alive. No sooner have Caine and Lisa Siebold's apartment left than the professor is murdered with a shot in the head from a window opposite.
Caine and Lisa decide to meet Dr. To seek out Esau. He shows himself ready to write down the formula for Caine again and gives it to him after Caine has promised the scientist to make it known to the world public for the benefit of all. Lisa and Caine make photocopies, and Caine sends them to the Los Angeles Police Department and a Swiss energy company. Caine hides two more copies from Lisa and deposits them in the hotel safe in Switzerland. He suspects that the young woman is not Obermann's niece, but rather someone whom a stranger has set on him to keep an eye on him. Lisa confirms Caine's premonition.
Back in Berlin, Ltnt. Caine follows up another lead. At the border with East Berlin he meets a certain Frank Tadesco, who is none other than that Panzer General Kladen from 35 years ago. He tells the American that he knew Neeley and what happened back then after his capture by the GIs. When Tadesco, aka Kladen, approaches his car, Lisa kills him and then crosses the border into East Berlin. Caine wants to go back to the USA when he finds out that Lisa, before she has gone behind the iron curtain, had stolen both of Caines’s formula copies deposited in the hotel safe and replaced them with forgeries. Now in the west there is only the copy sent to the LAPD and the one in Switzerland.
Hardly at home, Caine immediately goes to Adam Steiffel. In the meantime, the oil magnate has kidnapped a colleague of Caines and demands the formula Caine had in his possession for his release. Caine agrees and his partner is released. Caine finally wants answers to his most burning questions from Steiffel. Steiffel speaks of an oil cartel that has been after the formula since the end of the war in 1945. If some absolutely want, for the benefit of mankind, that the formula is available to everyone, the oil cartel has absolutely no interest in it, as this means that it would break the power of the oil production giants. Therefore, everything was done to keep the formula secret or to make it disappear forever. But one day the Swiss businessman Franz Tauber had started looking for the members of the Operation Genesis team who had once come into possession of the formula. He really wanted to reconstruct the formula with it.
But this now called Steiffel and the cartel on the scene, who wanted to thwart Tauber's plan. Caine was therefore sent to Europe with bogus evidence to track down and kill those very remaining members of Operation Genesis. Caine, however, believes he has an advantage over Steiffel and says that his efforts have been in vain because he has already sent the formula to his manager at the Los Angeles Police Department and to Mr. Tauber. As soon as Caine has left, Steiffel makes the most important phone call of his life: Mr. Tauber is at the end of the line, and energy magnate Steiffel offers him 25 percent of his anthracite stocks if, in return, he can use the formula in his possession for another ten years keep under lock and key. Tauber accepts this deal.
Production notes
The film, which was shot in Germany (Berlin and Hamburg), Switzerland (St. Moritz) and the USA (Bel Air, Newhall, Los Angeles) as well as in the MGM studios in Hollywood and the CCC studios in Berlin, was shot on 19 First performed December 1980 in the USA. The German premiere of Die Formel was on March 19, 1981.
Willy Egger was the production manager in Germany . The film structures were designed by Herman A. Blumenthal , Lee Poll provided the equipment. The German film buildings were designed by Hans-Jürgen Kiebach . Theo Nischwitz created the special effects . Bill Thomas took care of the costumes.
useful information
As the journal Cinema reported, the film was preceded by controversy just before its premiere in the United States. American oil companies tried to “torpedo” the film with advertising campaigns. They did not like the basic idea of the film that it is not the Arab oil producers who are trying to drive up oil prices by scarcity of raw materials, but the US oil industry. “Then the rental company Universal countered with double-sided ads in the daily newspapers. Slogan: The film the US oil companies wish they would never see. "
Awards
Apart from an Oscar nomination for James Crabe's cinematography, the film received an abundance of negative award nominations: The Golden Raspberry was earmarked for the categories of Worst Film, Worst Director, Worst Supporting Actor (Brando), and Worst Screenplay.
Marlon Brando was nominated twice for the Stinker Award , which was also conceived as an anti-prize : firstly as the worst supporting actor and secondly in the bizarre category of annoying false accent.
Reviews
The Movie & Video Guide wrote: "Scott and Brando are always worth a look, but screenwriter and producer Steve Shagan always shows too early where the journey is going."
Cinema said, “But despite the controversy that preceded it, the film is primarily a fictional thriller. Unfortunately not a very good one ”.
In the lexicon of international films it says: “Espionage thriller with caricaturing swipes at American oil millionaires; plus numerous flashbacks to the Nazi era and incompetent excursions into the two-part Berlin. Naive, tasteless and badly staged, the film escalates into silly distorted images and miserable charging of famous actors. "
Halliwell's Film Guide called the film a "nested thriller that shows a lot of MacGuffin but arouses no interest."
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Cinema No. 3, March 1981 (issue 34), p. 32
- ^ Leonard Maltin : Movie & Video Guide, 1996 edition, p. 449
- ↑ The formula. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed February 18, 2019 .
- ^ Leslie Halliwell : Halliwell's Film Guide, Seventh Edition, New York 1989, p. 368
Web links
- The formula in the Internet Movie Database (English)