The year was 1974. By this time of the 70's,Jon Voight was riding high with two very brilliant commercially released films of that year...In director Martin Ritt's "Conrack",he portrayed a school teacher who is sent to the Gullah regions of Georgia and South Carolina to teach a handful of children that nobody wanted and eventually took over and taught them the ways of life and about each other. That film brought him an Oscar-nomination and Best Director category for Martin Ritt. That same year,he also starred in a adaptation of Agatha Christie's "Murder On The Bridge",with an all star British cast that included Sean Connery and Micheal Caine along with Ralph Richardson.
When Jon Voight's next theatrical feature,"The Odessa File",based on the novel by Frederick Forsyth was released the same year,it really didn't do much for his career as well. In fact with the exception for early 1975's "End Of The Game",before he completely vanished from Hollywood for two years,until his brilliant portrayal of an Vietnam Veteran won him the Oscar for best Actor for 1978's "Coming Home",which starred Jane Fonda and was directed by Hal Ashby(of "Harold and Maude",and "Shampoo" fame),and another Oscar nomination for 1979's heartbreaking drama "The Champ" which starred Ricky Schroder and Faye Dunaway.
In "The Odessa File",Frederick Forsyth wrote the best-selling novel(about a 1963 Nazi conspiracy in Hamburg)that inspired it and Ronald Neame("The Poseidon Adventure")directed it with his brilliant melodramatic style. Basically every "cliche" you can possibly imagine is recycled here in this top notch thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat and on the brink of suspense as well. This is a grand example of brilliant film-making from the 1970's and the apex of what the cinema is to come. Jon Voight's character is caught up within a conspiracy between himself and evil Nazis who escaped justice to form and underground of their own. And with the obligatory sequence when come psycho Nazi screams about ruling the world is enough,but the rest of the film is classic suspense at its finest hour. The film itself is grand,but watching Maria Schell going through the motions is one of the tragic consequences that occurred within the film's running time of 128 minutes. The final showdown between Jon Voight and Maximillian Schell is worth viewing.
When Jon Voight's next theatrical feature,"The Odessa File",based on the novel by Frederick Forsyth was released the same year,it really didn't do much for his career as well. In fact with the exception for early 1975's "End Of The Game",before he completely vanished from Hollywood for two years,until his brilliant portrayal of an Vietnam Veteran won him the Oscar for best Actor for 1978's "Coming Home",which starred Jane Fonda and was directed by Hal Ashby(of "Harold and Maude",and "Shampoo" fame),and another Oscar nomination for 1979's heartbreaking drama "The Champ" which starred Ricky Schroder and Faye Dunaway.
In "The Odessa File",Frederick Forsyth wrote the best-selling novel(about a 1963 Nazi conspiracy in Hamburg)that inspired it and Ronald Neame("The Poseidon Adventure")directed it with his brilliant melodramatic style. Basically every "cliche" you can possibly imagine is recycled here in this top notch thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat and on the brink of suspense as well. This is a grand example of brilliant film-making from the 1970's and the apex of what the cinema is to come. Jon Voight's character is caught up within a conspiracy between himself and evil Nazis who escaped justice to form and underground of their own. And with the obligatory sequence when come psycho Nazi screams about ruling the world is enough,but the rest of the film is classic suspense at its finest hour. The film itself is grand,but watching Maria Schell going through the motions is one of the tragic consequences that occurred within the film's running time of 128 minutes. The final showdown between Jon Voight and Maximillian Schell is worth viewing.