The Fixer (1968)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

John Frankenheimer

Writers:

Bernard Malamud (novel)
Dalton Trumbo (screenplay)

Release Date:

8 December 1968 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

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.

Plot Keywords:

Russia | 1910s | Pulitzer Prize Source | Child Murder | Based On Novel

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 4 nominations

Cast

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

Runtime:

132 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

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

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer British Studios

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.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Lionpower from MGM (1967)

Worth watching for Alan Bates

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.