The Formula (1980)

Director:

John G. Avildsen

Writers:

Steve Shagan (novel)
Steve Shagan (screenplay)

Release Date:

19 December 1980 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

In a world starved for energy, no secret is more valuable.

Plot:

A detective uncovers a formula that was devised by the Nazis in WW II to make gasoline from synthetic products...

Plot Keywords:

Oil Company | Oil | Gasoline | Library | Horse Track

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 4 nominations

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

George C. Scott	...	Lt. Barney Caine LAPD
Marlon Brando	...	Adam Steiffel, Chairman Titan Oil
Marthe Keller	...	Lisa Spangler
John Gielgud	...	Dr. Abraham Esau, Director Reich Energy
G.D. Spradlin	...	Arthur Clements
Beatrice Straight	...	Kay Neeley
Richard Lynch	...	General Helmut Kladen / Frank Tedesco
John Van Dreelen	...	Hans Lehman, Prefect of Police Berlin
Robin Clarke	...	Major Tom Neeley
Ike Eisenmann	...	Tony
Marshall Thompson	...	Geologist #1
Dieter Schidor	...	Assassin
Werner Kreindl	...	Schellenberg
Jan Niklas	...	Gestapo Captain
Wolfgang Preiss	...	Franz Tauber, Swiss businessman

Also Known As:

Die Formel (West Germany)

Runtime:

117 min

Country:

USA | West Germany

Language:

English | Spanish | German

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Company:

CIP Filmproduktion GmbH

Trivia:

George C. Scott and Marlon Brando played chess together during waits during the shooting. In his PLAYBOY interview of December 1980 (Vol. 27, Iss. 12, pg. 81-138), Scott told Lawrence Grobel - who had conducted the famous interview with Brando for PLAYBOY a year earlier - that Marlon was not that good a player. Many years later, Christiane Kubrick would level the same charge against Scott, who was beaten regularly by her late husband Stanley Kubrick on the set of Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) between setups.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: At the beginning of The Formula, a Nazi General is given the task of driving a truck to the Swiss border. In the next scene the truck has been captured by the US Army. The scene is shot in the snow. This is supposed to take place in the first week of May 1945. There is nowhere that would be covered in snow between Berlin and the Swiss border in May, even if he went the long way i.e. via Austria.

Quotes:

Barney Caine: You're not in the oil business; you're in the oil shortage business!

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Rise of Two Legends (2006) (V)

The oil business

With two screen giants such as George C. Scott and Marlon Brando (even in a cameo), this film is worth seeing. One line from the film that has stuck with me is from Scott to Brando, "You're not in the oil business, you're in the oil shortage business." How true.