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The Fixer (1968) More at IMDbPro »


Overview

User Rating:
7.0/10   516 votes
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Director:
John Frankenheimer
Writers:
Bernard Malamud (novel)
Dalton Trumbo (screenplay)
Contact:
View company contact information for The Fixer on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
8 December 1968 (USA) more
Genre:
Drama more
Tagline:
This is "The Fixer" who didn't know he had courage...until courage was all he had left.
Plot:
In Czarist Russia, unjustly jailed Jewish handyman tries to get out. full summary | add synopsis
Awards:
Nominated for Oscar. Another 4 nominations more
User Comments:
Worth watching for Alan Bates more (9 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Alan Bates ... Yakov Bok

Dirk Bogarde ... Bibikov
Georgia Brown ... Marfa Golov
Hugh Griffith ... Lebedev
Elizabeth Hartman ... Zinaida

Ian Holm ... Grubeshov
David Opatoshu ... Latke
David Warner ... Count Odoevsky
Carol White ... Raisl
George Murcell ... Deputy Warden
Murray Melvin ... Priest
Peter Jeffrey ... Berezhinsky

Michael Goodliffe ... Ostrovsky
Thomas Heathcote ... Proshko
Mike Pratt ... Father Anastasy
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Additional Details

Runtime:
132 min
Country:
UK
Language:
English
Color:
Color (Metrocolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono
Certification:
Australia:PG | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | USA:PG-13 (re-rating) (1993) | Argentina:13 | Sweden:15 | USA:M (original rating)
Filming Locations:
Hungary more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Pg. 96 of Steve Martin's memoir ‘Born Standing Up’, relates a story in which Trumbo's daughter tells Martin: "He's got a screenplay due in four days and he hasn't started in yet." This is in reference to her father writing 'The Fixer' at the last minute. more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in Lionpower from MGM (1967) more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
10 out of 11 people found the following comment useful.
Worth watching for Alan Bates, 8 July 2000
7/10
Author: William Ploch (wbploc0@pop.uky.edu) from Louisville, Kentucky

Alan Bates is one of the most sadly forgotten actors from the 60's and 70's. While he's been doing mostly stage work recently, many seem to have forgotten the extraordinary output that he had: Zorba the Greek, A Kind of Loving, Georgy Girl, Far From the Madding Crowd, An Unmarried Woman, Women in Love, Butley, and this.

His performance as Yakov Bok, a Jewish handyman wrongly accused of murder, is the the driving force behind Dalton Trumbo's adaption of Bernard Malamud's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. While John Frankenheimer's direction is rather clunky at times (a disappointment, seeing as he was coming off a good run with The Manchurian Candidate, Seven Days in May, and The Train), the length is about twenty minutes too long, and a few supporting characters remain under-developed, his gritty performance keeps The Fixer going. It's interesting to see Yakov go from being a non-religious Jew who agrees to work for an Anti-Sematic official for money to a political prisoner who will proclaim his innocence despite whatever torture is inflicted on him. As the brutality of the officials grows harsher, his religious feelings grow stronger, and Bates makes it believable from beginning to end.

Dirk Bogarde also does well as a lawyer who will defend Yakov at any cost (even though his character's intentions remain unclear), as does Ian Holm as an investigator who considers Jews to be inhuman criminals.

The Fixer had a brief run on video a few years ago, but I am not sure if it is still being circulated.

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Recent Posts (updated daily)User
Harrowing film, but wonderful performance by Alan Bates gwen24
Any Plans for a DVD release? REISMAN74
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