The Odessa File

Original title: The ODESSA File

1974
PG
2h 10m

IMDb RATING

7.0/10

12K

YOUR RATING

Jon Voight and Mary Tamm in The Odessa File (1974)

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2 Videos

92 Photos

Political Thriller Spy Drama Thriller

Following the suicide of an elderly Jewish man, a journalist in possession of the man's diary investigates the alleged sighting of a former S.S. Captain, who commanded a concentration camp d... Read allFollowing the suicide of an elderly Jewish man, a journalist in possession of the man's diary investigates the alleged sighting of a former S.S. Captain, who commanded a concentration camp during World War II.Following the suicide of an elderly Jewish man, a journalist in possession of the man's diary investigates the alleged sighting of a former S.S. Captain, who commanded a concentration camp during World War II.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.0/10

12K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Videos2

Photos92

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Storyline

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Trivia
Eduard Roschmann was a real-life wanted war criminal living in South America. He became even more wanted after the book and movie, and he turned up dead, rumored to have been killed by O.D.E.S.S.A. to stop the search for him that the media had begun.

Goofs
Peter Miller infiltrates the Odessa organization by claiming to have been a member of the firing squad which executed Admiral Canaris at Flossenburg concentration camp in April 1945. Canaris was hanged on the gallows rather than shot for his role in the attempted coup against Hitler in July 1944. Franz Bayer who interviewed Miller and accepted his story would have known this and therefore deduced he was an imposter and didn't serve at Flossenburg as an SS guard. The error may have come from a misunderstanding of an ambiguous statement "...the bodies of Admiral Canaris and the other officers that we shot for their part in the assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler" in Frederick Forsyth's original novel.

Quotes
Peter Miller: [SPOILER] Do you remember a man with the name of Tauber?
Eduard Roschmann: Who?
Peter Miller: Salomon Tauber. He was German and Jewish. One of your prisoners at Riga. Try to think, Roschmann.
Eduard Roschmann: I can't remember all the prisoners' names.
Peter Miller: He died in Hamburg last November. He gassed himself. Are you listening?
Eduard Roschmann: If I must.
Peter Miller: Yes, you must.
Eduard Roschmann: All right, I'm listening.
Peter Miller: He left behind a diary.
Eduard Roschmann: Is that why you came? Because of the diary of some old Jew? A dead man's diary is no evidence.
Peter Miller: There was a date in the diary I want to remind you of. Something that happened at Riga docks... on October 11,1944.
Eduard Roschmann: So what? The man struck me. He disobeyed my orders. I had the right to commandeer that ship.
Peter Miller: Was that the man you killed?
Eduard Roschmann: How should I know? It was 20 years ago.
Peter Miller: Was that the man?
Eduard Roschmann: All right! So that was the man. So what?
Peter Miller: That was my father!
Eduard Roschmann: Your father. So you didn't come about the Jews at all. I understand.
Peter Miller: No, you don't understand! What you and your kind did to all those people sickened the whole of mankind. But I'm here for my father.
Eduard Roschmann: How could you possibly know from that diary that man was your father?
Peter Miller: October 11, the same date, the same place. The Knights Cross with the oak leaf cluster, the highest award for bravery in the field. Given to very few of the rank of captain. The same rank, the same decoration, the same man!
Eduard Roschmann: I don't even remember. You're not going to kill me. You can't. You called me a butcher. Wouldn't killing me make you a butcher, too? What's the difference?

Crazy credits
Prologue: "This film is based on carefully documented research. There really was a secret society called Odessa, linking former members of Hitler's murderous SS, among them Roschmann, the 'butcher' of Riga Concentration Camp. Nasser did seek to perfect a strike force of 400 rockets to wipe Israel off the face of the map. His key scientists were mostly from Hitler's former rocket programme. For obvious reasons the names of some people and places have been changed.--Frederick Forsyth"

Alternate versions
West German TV version was edited to remove the text at the beginning (which provides background information) and flashback scenes of Roschmann's atrocities in the KZ.

Connections
Featured in I Have Never Forgotten You: The Life & Legacy of Simon Wiesenthal (2007)

Soundtracks
Christmas Dream
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Lyrics by Tim Rice (English) and André Heller (as Andre Heller) (German)
Sung by Perry Como

User reviews85

Review

Featured review

7/10

effective thriller

Just a sad reminder of how gripping thrillers were a dime-a-dozen in the 70's, as compared to the suspense-bankrupt modern day. 2 hours of entertainment & not one single explosion!! Jon Voigt once again establishes himself as one of the best actors of the decade in his principal role as the tenacious journalist bent on revenge. The film & its subject matter could have easily been more confusing, and tho some scenes defy logic (a supposedly lethal hit man is reduced to dunderhead status in the film's pivotal fight scene), the story steams ahead fluidly til the climactic denoument. This is Voigt's movie, but the supporting cast is effective in small roles, especially Maximillian Schell in his few scenes & Mary Tamm, as Voigt's along-for-the-ride girlfriend who also happens to be very easy on the eyes. And look, there's Derek Jacobi, long before he met Kenneth Branagh, in a tiny, yet pivotal role! Forge, Derek, forge!! Not as good as "The Conversation" but infinitely better than any movie starring Sharon Stone or Steven Seagal (or both). 7 out of 10.