Customer Reviews

Fixer [VHS]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
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If the term "entireness" adjusts itself to just a few North American filmmakers, then, John Frankenheimer should be included in this reduced catalogue.

This is a deeply moving drama about anti-Semitism in tsarist Russia around 1911. A Russian Jewish peasant (the formidable Alan Bates) is wrongly imprisoned for a unlikely crime - on the fragile humanity of a gentle child in Kiev. Bogarde plays the role of a very sympathetic tsarist defense attorney. Based on a true story on Bernard Malamud's Pulitzer-Prize winning novel, the movie is at certain passages unrelenting but at the end will reward you. Because such level of direction, and two giants actors as Bogarde and Bates are hard to find in those days.

A must- see.

when this film came out in the theaters I went to see it 10 times. Everyone I took to see it was horrified and did not understand why I liked it. It is powerful and moving. I so hoped Bates would win the Academy Award. I hope this will come out on DVD soon as well as other of Bates films that are only on VHS.

I saw "The Fixer" in a theater when it was first released. That was at least 40 years ago, and I have never forgotten the powerful and moving performance by Alan Bates. I am dismayed that it has not been released in DVD format. The world is missing a masterpiece.

Set in Tsarist Russia, the film focuses on one individuals (Alan Bates) suffering, who, falsely accused of an horrific crime is imprisoned and persecuted not only for a crime he would not confess to, but for being a Jew. Denied natural justice his only ally, a lawyer,(Dirk Bogarde) is eliminated. Eventually, his imprisonment draws the attention of the international community which calls for his release. Embarrassed, the Tzar offers him a pardon, but he refuses the pardon and demands a trial which infuriates the authorities even further.
The film is an allegory to the plight of Jewry at that time and is the forerunner to the horrors of the 'Shoa' during WW11. This film should be required viewing for everyone.

A powerful movie that re-affirms the strenght of the human spirit.

Malamud's novel dramatized the Beyliss "blood libel"; the movie brings to life the true anti-semitism of Czarist Russia. Bates as "everyman" thrust into role of martyr and hero is very credible without false sentiment. Fine supporting cast. Does justice to both the novel and the underlying historical events. Good educational tool for HS and undergrads. Truly the most authentic movie look at Jewish life in Czarist Russia.